It seems to be a federal law or something: Every reality show on TV must include at least two people from Florida.

Usually, I get lucky and they're from South Florida or the Orlando area, but the cast list from CBS' latest incarnation of Big Brother includes 21-year-old "Crazy James" Zinkand, a guy who claims roots in Sarasota who has spent a serious amount of time riding around the world on his bicycle.

According to a Creative Loafing story from January, Zinkand is a Sarasota High alum who spent seven months last year biking across the world with just $100 in his pocket, developing colorful stories about flopping on strangers' couches and occasionally urinating on them. He's got a wacky MySpace page -- WARNING, this site is filled with profanity and provocative images -- a pink mohawk and penchant for posing in pink underwear.

Turns out -- surprise -- Crazy James has a bit of history. He was among the four teens who taped themselves jumping from the roof of a building into the pool at the Sarasota Surf and Racquet Club in 2003. They made national headlines when one of them (not Crazy J, of course) missed the pool and broke both legs, fractured his arm and cracked his pelvis. I think this is the video here.

Zinkand shared some insights on his trek with Creative Loafing's Sarasota arm here. He also seems to have  founded a collective of folks posting prank videos on YouTube called Pink Bus. Oh yeah, there's a guy from Del Ray Beach who is also on the new Big Brother named Adam. (I didn't even bother figuring out his last name)

This Big Brother edition, which debuts next Tuesday, is the first to debut during a regular TV season -- something else to thank the Hollywood writers' strike for. It will also feature a record 16 "houseguests" cooped up in a makeshift home on CBS' Studio City complex for months.

We can only hope a strike resolution is found quickly enough that the returning scripted series bury this godforsaken reality TV concept once and for all. (See a sample here.)

Or is that a little too harsh?

Check out Crazy James explaining his philosophy of life on this video clip. Judging by the stuff on his MySpace page, he's got just the right combo of crazy and exhibitionist to make CBS producers' hearts swoon:

And here's a link to a pretty explicit video of Crazy James partying with his buddies in Sarasota. BE WARNED: lots of cursing, drinking and even some on camera vomiting takes place here.