Jun 2, 2013 2 min read

DUNEDIN – She knows what she is saying sounds as phony as a $3 bill.

Kirsten Stiff Walker insists that she had good reasons for joining husband Seth Walker on We tv’s new bluntly named series “Marriage Boot Camp: Bridezillas,” less than a year after admitting appearances on several past reality TV shows were some of the worst decisions in her life.

There were two goals: first, to pay for therapy helping their daughter Karsen Stella, a 2-year-old struggling with developmental issues as she toddles, wide-eyed around their small, ranch-style home. Second, they might offer an example to other couples with strained marriages caring for special-needs children.

But the first “Boot Camp” episode, in which five couples from past “Bridezilla” episodes face intensive marriage counseling, reveals a different reality. Kirsten is shown drinking steadily and clashing with other couples. Even for a woman who admits playing an exaggerated version of herself on “Bridezillas” in 2009, this was new territory.

“We went there with the understanding that it would be about helping our marriage and not so much about the craziness between the ‘Bridezillas,'” she said, acknowledging that sounds naive. “I went in there hoping I’d be the mommy of the house, not the most hated one. But it didn’t work out like that.”

Since their 2009 wedding on “Bridezillas,” the Walkers have appeared in update segments and on two other so-called reality TV shows: fighting with their wedding band on “Judge Jeanine Pirro” and arguing on “Divorce Court,” in a performance they agree was largely a lie to earn a free trip.

Last year, she told another Tampa Bay Times reporter she was so bothered by fan reaction that she dyed her hair black so strangers wouldn’t recognize her.