Reality TV has hit a chord in Loudoun, a chord they are hoping will bring in the tourists.

They’ll be splattered with paint bullets, drenched by raucous rapids, and spooked by haunted buildings, all in the name of reality television; or, in this case, a Web reality series.

Loudoun County will launch a weekly series entitled “Lost in Loudoun” early this September.

The show, which will consist of nine, 20-minute episodes, follows two men and two women around the county competing in two-on-two challenges meant to showcase the area’s activities.

In the vein of “The Amazing Race,” contestants will do everything from cook competitively to duel for supremacy on a paintball field. The series will air on a micro site of visitloudoun.org and on their YouTube channel.

The contestants are not from Loudoun—the majority actually come from Texas. They responded to a casting call on YouTube and Facebook as well as one by a production company in Austin, Texas.

Those interested submitted a two-minute video making their case to be on the show, and were picked from a pool of 16 people. The hope is to awe viewers with the range of activities the area has to offer, stepping away from traditional weekend jaunts to the movies or ice cream expeditions.

If the contestants had this much fun, why can’t the people who live there do the same?

By Brian Truitt

Psychic tag-team Mary Phelan and R. Neville Johnston probe the realms of metaphysics twice weekly on their cable show that lures callers from around the globe. Courtesy of Telepathic TV/ Tom Petersen

Perhaps you don’t know much about interpreting your dreams or what to think when you feel that, yeah, maybe there really are angels watching over us. That’s where Mary Phelan and R. Neville Johnston come in.

The two Reston residents and partners co-host “Telepathic TV,” a live, call-in cable-access show that airs on Cox Cable at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays and on Comcast at 8:30 p.m. Fridays. The pair have been sharing their metaphysical thoughts on everything from past lives to quartz crystal bowls for 15 years. While it used to be predominantly women who were into metaphysics, these days viewers come in all ages and sexes. And thanks to the wonders of streaming Internet video, Phelan and Johnston have found fans all over the country and the world, in such faraway places as Romania, Croatia, Switzerland and South Africa.

“Over the years, as the baseline of human awareness has shifted, we have been able to introduce steadily more sophisticated ways of thinking,” Phelan says. “One of the taglines to our show is that what separates us from other television is that we teach you HOW to think, not WHAT to think.”

Both hosts have held a long interest in metaphysics, which led to the pair’s extensive knowledge. Born in Washington, D.C., Phelan, 50, began reading books on palmistry, tarot and other topics as a young child, and when she was 14, she started to do automatic writing (writing that comes without conscious thought) in the form of spiritual poetry.

“I was born remembering my past lives,” she says, “and it took me a while to realize that not everyone did.”

Johnston, 59, who had a near-death experience in 1977 after getting shot during a mugging in New York City, says his path has always led him toward a greater understanding of the world around him. “At a young age, the word ‘spirit’ defined itself in my thinking as essence inside. Prior to the NDE, I was already reading palms and held regular classes on the subject. I had never in my life thought about the subject of past lives, yet I awoke in the hospital seeing them. From then on, my steps on this path became bolder.”

Whether or not you share their interests in Mayan astrology, hidden language codes or sacred geometry, Phelan and Johnston frequently cover topics universal to many, such as fear, depression, disease, overcoming stress and understanding death.

“Most of us were raised in such a way that we never recognized how powerful a human being actually is,” Johnston says. “The show provides a very different perspective. Metaphysics is teaching us to see the creation of reality, not as predestined, but as a system of beliefs. And we have power over the creation of these beliefs. Change your beliefs; change your reality. We are all limitless creators.”

(April 2009)