E! has a knack for bringing exciting and addictive reality TV series to viewers around the world – and do just that with their exciting new property ‘Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules’.
The show centers around eight celebrity offspring that venture from Hollywood and come together to live and work as ranch hands for four weeks in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, hoping to prove to themselves, their parents, and the world that they are more than their last names.
They’ll take on a series of outrageous, messy and challenging jobs in an attempt to prove they’re more than just their famous last names, and, more importantly, try and reopen the ranch after a year of shutdown and loss due to the pandemic. Each episode throws the cast members into fish-out-of-water situations and hilarious misadventures as they work to restore and reopen Saddleback Ranch to the public.
Harry James Thorton, is the son of a famous actor, singer, writer Billy Bob Thornton and former playboy model Pietra Dawn Cherniak. Following in his father’s footsteps, Harry is involved in the movie business and is an assistant property manager. Harry stars in this exciting new series alongside Jasmin Lawrence, the daughter of famous actor and comedian Martin Lawrence and stepdaughter of three-time Super Bowl Champion and NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith; Hana Giraldo, daughter of rock icons Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo; Myles O’Neal, son of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal and reality matriarch Shaunie O’Neal; Austin Gunn, son of Wrestling Hall of Famer Billy Gunn; Ebie, the daughter of hip-hop legend and pioneer rapper Eazy-E; Taylor “Tay” Hasselhoff, daughter of Hollywood beach hunk David Hasselhoff and Redmond Parker, son of Grammy-Award-winning musician and actor Ray Parker Jr.
As the show officially premieres on South African screens, we caught up with Harry Thorton who opens up about this exciting chapter in his career:
Tell us about the show and how you became involved?
I randomly got reached out to do it. I was working on my dad’s TV show and I got a phone call one day, and they said: ‘Hey, we’re doing a TV show about celebrity kids, would you be interested in doing it?’ At the time I didn’t know anything about it, and I was really busy with work, but they shut our TV show down because of COVID so I was able to call them back. And then they told me about it and I made the decision to go forward with it.
How was your experience being part of the show?
I got a lot out of it. A lot of the anxiety problems I have, I still have a lot of those problems, but I think I got better with a lot of things. I learned a lot about myself too, what I feel comfortable doing and what I don’t, and I’m just glad I did it.
How challenging was it being on the ranch? Was there any situation that was particularly stressful?
We were in a position where we couldn’t leave, we were stuck on the ranch, so I think during some of the times where I was having some issues with Austin, there was no way to get out of it. It’s like having an annoying brother or something – that’s your brother and you can’t do anything about it! So, me and Austin, during some of the problems we had, it was hard because normally you’re able to go home and refresh yourself and come back and do it again – but there, it was 24 hours a day. We were with these people, we were in it and there was nothing we could do about it!
What was the hardest and what was the funniest moment during filming?
Overall the hardest thing was that we were working very long hours, it was long, long days of hard work. That’s literally what the ranchers do every day so I don’t know why I’m complaining! But as far as a job that was hard, the sheep shearing was really difficult, I don’t know if you can see how hard it is, but being there and doing it, shearing 20 sheep is no joke and those guys are out there doing it every day which is amazing. For me that was the hardest job to do. The funniest… honestly there were so many situations that were so funny! We had a lot of situations and moments. One of my favourites was a moment with Ebie driving a horse carriage and she had a little accident with it, and Redmond’s response to it was hilarious. She was so serious about the situation and Redmond just thought the whole thing was so funny. So just the whole interaction between them, watching that was so funny.
Would you say you’ve made some friends for life from the experience? What were your relationships like with your other cast members?
Definitely! I would say I’m friends with all of them. There are people I talk to everyday, people I talk to once a week and there are people I talk to if there’s an event or we’re going out to something. But you don’t have to talk to someone every day to be good friends with them. Literally everyone on the ranch, I’m good friends with all of them and they’re definitely friends for life, all of them.
Was there any drama or romance?
There was romance, if you want to call it that! Very confusing romance is what I would call it! As far as drama, there was definitely drama. As I said, me and Austin had a very interesting relationship. There was a little bit of everything.
Have you ever worked in a ranch like this or completed any similar activities before? Did it feel out of your comfort zone?
Harry: I mean I’ve worked as a prop master – I’ve worked on western movies and stuff like that – so, yeah, on movie sets I’ve had my share of farm or ranch movie sets. But as far as actually being on one and all that, no! I’ve never ridden a horse but there are horse stables a block away from my house. So, it’s nothing I’ve never seen but it’s not something I’ve done before.
Would you ever go back to working and living on a ranch again?
If I was forced to! [Laughs] It’s not something I necessarily want to do but I’m not so against it. But no, to answer that, it’s not something I want to do! [Laughs]
As we know, the cast of the show is comprised of well-known surnames. How has it been having a famous relative and last name? Has it been a help or a hindrance growing up and in your career?
Initially a lot of people are impressed by stuff like that, but it doesn’t go very long in a good direction when people find out who your parents are. And as a hinderance in terms of careers and stuff like that, it absolutely has. You’ll hear rumours going around on whatever job you’re working on, like ‘Do you know who his dad is? Why are you here? If I was him, I would be sitting in a mansion somewhere.’ There’s a lot of judgmental things people say about you, there’s rumours that spread and then also growing up, my dad had a lot of publicity and stuff like that. We had a big issue with paparazzi at one point, you know just being out and getting recognized. It’s awesome and it is a good thing – when you think of fans of anyone, those people wouldn’t be able to do what they do if they didn’t have fans, so I’m not saying that fans are not a good thing! But what I am saying is when you’re trying to go out to eat with your dad and you literally can’t sit there for four minutes or eat a bite of your food without someone walking up to you going: ‘Hey Billy, can I get a picture with you?’ and stuff like that. It’s different for him – I don’t think he has a problem with it – but when I was younger it was annoying. I didn’t know who these random people are, so it was hard with that. And then outside the restaurant there would be a hundred photographers who would follow us all the way down the sidewalk and my dad would just be like: ‘Let’s just go home.’ So there have been a fair share of positives and there’s been a lot of negatives.
What has been your biggest learning from the ranch? Did you learn any new skills that you’ll use going forward?
I learned a lot of skills that I’ll never have to use going forward! [laughs] I’ll never have to shear sheep in LA but at least I’ll know in the back of my head that I know how to do it!
What are your upcoming projects this year?
I took a little break when we were filming, but I’m a real estate agent now. I’ve joined Taylor Hasselhoff’s real estate team, so we’ve been doing a lot of work with the real estate team, and I’ve gotten a few job offers to take on a few movies. I haven’t accepted those yet but that’s what I’ve got going on now!
Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules airs every Sunday at 19:05 on E! (DStv Channel 124)
