Professional Snowboarder Jesse Csincsak – Snowboarding’s Greatest B-List Celebrity

Wikipedia’s definition of a B-list celebrity:

“Someone that somehow achieves a small amount of transient fame, through hype or mass media, is stereotyped as a B-list celebrity. Often the stereotype extends to someone that falls short of mainstream or persistent fame but seeks to extend or exploit it.” 

And in the snowboarding world Jesse Csincsak is that stereotype. If you want to know how he achieved these dizzy celebrity heights, or if you fancy becoming a B-list snowboarding celebrity yourself, here’s how it’s done…

Two weeks ago in the Wisdom of Crowds article we found a way to rank the snowboarders who have the most influence on our sport. One of the things we looked at for each rider was a comparison of the quantity of information in the internet against the quantity of news coverage. This comparison gave us a sort of ‘publicity factor’, that showed which riders captured the most publicity in comparison with their snowboarding ability. If we had included Jesse Csincsak within our look at 100 great snowboarders, he would have come in at an incredible 3^rd place in that comparison. 

That’s bonkers for a snowboarder who at the peak of his career reached a summit of 559^th in the FIS rankings and 607^th in the TTR rankings. 

The difference between Jesse Csincsak and the other famous snowboarders is the way he became and is maintaining his celebrity. Let’s compare him against two A-List snowboarding celebrities; Shaun White and Jesse’s friend Louie Vito (who’s probably B-list celebrity outside of the snowboarding world, but that’s a whole different kettle of fish) 

Jesse strikes a pose with Louie Vito and Shaun White

If you run a Google search for ‘Jesse Csincsak’ and you ignore the sites he runs himself, you have to wade through 14 pages (132 sites) before you’ll find him mentioned on a site that is even remotely snowboard focused (here’s the article on The Ski Channel). Even then the article is about his personal life and not about snowboarding. If you run the same test against Shaun White you find your first snowboard-inspired link on page 1, and for Louie Vito you hit it on page 2.

All right, cheap joke. Here he is with Shaun White

Here’s another way of looking at it. This is a timeline of people searching for information on Jesse Csincsak and Louie Vito. Two of the three peaks in the searches for Louie Vito are snowboard-related, but none of the things Jesse Csincsak is famed for involve snowboarding.

So he’s famous for appearing on the reality TV show ‘The Bachelorette’ back in 2008. Some of you might already know that. What really makes Jesse special though is just how mercilessly he is eking that fame out. Here’s a timeline of the last few years Jesse’s life…

“Someone that somehow achieves a small amount of transient fame, through hype or mass media, is stereotyped as a B-list celebrity.”

Feb 2008 – While working as a Breckenridge snowboard instructor he was selected to appear on an episode of MTV’s 'Made', teaching a 15-year-old girl called Tara Weldon to snowboard.

May 2008 – After getting his first 15 minutes of fame Jesse wanted more and he got a big opportunity when he successfully applied to appear on season 4 of ‘The Bachelorette’. He rocked up wearing this jacket.

Jul 2008 – Despite the ropey start Jesse managed to charm the socks of the Bachelorette and won the competition and her heart. He proposed in the season finale and the wedding was set for May 2009.

Nov 2008 – Things didn’t work out. 

Nov 2008 – Two days later he decided to tell everyone through the medium of YouTube...

Jan 2009 – A couple of months later he got right back on that horse and started dating ‘The Bachelor’ contestant Holly Durst, in front of the paparazzi. 

Mar 2009 – He turned to crime solving  when he appeared on an episode of 'America’s Most Wanted' when they tried to solve the murder of snowboarder Ben Bradley. Or as Extra TV put it; “Jesse Csinscak – Snowboard Sleuth” “Is it true "The Bachelorette" hunk and pro-snowboarder Jesse Csincsak is now fighting crime? That's not a snow job -- it's true!” 

Jesse and America's Most Wanted host John Walsh

Jul 2010 – To keep himself busy he got a second shot on MTV’s 'Made' in season 10 teaching a girl called Ashley Bachman to snowboard. 

Aug 2010 – Gets some dogs

Aug 2010 – Gets engaged to a different contestant from ‘The Bachelor’ called Ann Lueders. 

Sep 2010 – Gets married in Las Vegas  

Sep 2010 – Honeymoon 

I could have put this part of the definition anywhere in this list but it’s pretty impressive how much effort Jesse really puts in to keep things moving….

“Often the stereotype extends to someone that falls short of mainstream or persistent fame but seeks to extend or exploit it.”

Nov 2010 – Is pictured taking his dogs for walk with pregnant wife 

Dec 2010 – He gives a snowboard lesson to Vienna Girardi, another contestant from ‘The Bachelor’. Here’s the take from celebrity site Wetpaint; “Since pro snowboarder Jesse can't seem to do anything without then telling RadarOnline, he filmed Vienna's first ever snowboarding lesson and gave the video of Vienna falling on her butt to the celeb site.”  

Dec 2010 – Crashes car. Takes pictures, makes video and tells RadarOnline. Reality TV Magazine run with the headline “The Bachelorette: Jesse Csincsak Survives Terrifying Car Crash”. 

Jesse was unscathed.

Jan 2011 – The world awoke to the headline “Jesse Csincsak of 'The Bachelorette' saves snowboarder's life”. In reality though, he just bumped into some lad that was slightly lost in a ski resort and gave him a lift. How often do people get lost in ski resorts – lots. How often do they die – not so often. 

Jan 2011 – Announces birth of baby son Noah the world 

Feb 2011 – His dogs meet baby son Noah 

Feb 2011 – He’s currently pitching to work for Ashton Kutcher as the “Vice President Of Pop Culture at Popchips”. 

Feel free to vote for him here

Before we go, here are some other Jesse facts…

He constantly refers to himself as the “Pro Snowboarder Jesse Csincsak” which over the years seems to have done the job of convincing the celebrity press that he is actually a professional snowboarder. The snowboarding press however seem to be a bit more discerning and drop the ‘professional’ bit. Transworld Business for example call him ‘”Breckenridge Boarder Jesse Csincsak” 

He has his own site http://www.jessecsincsak.com where you can find out that he wears medium-sized t-shirts and that each day, “Jesse eats 5 small meals a day consisting of Grilled Meats, Steamed Veggies and Fresh Fruits... He also Takes a daily supplement of Bazi Liquid Vitamins every morning...”  (Jesse’s tendency to refer to himself in the 3^rd party all the time gets creepy very quickly)

He’s on Linkedin where you get to find out that his specialties include; “Snowboarding, Surfing, Rock Climbing, White Water Rafting, Mountain Biking, Wakeboarding, Snowmobiling, Traveling, Camping, Watching Movies, Eating, Cuddling” 

He’s on Facebook, where it’s no surprise to learn that “Jesse never turns down a request to host a charity event or appear on a TV Show when asked.” 

Jesse also gives back to the community though a charity he set-up and runs called JSAK Snowboarding. The charity offers some sponsorship to six riders, including the two girls from the MTV Made shows. This is an extract of an interview with Westworld in 2005 “J-SAK sponsors five other riders, one of whom, naturally, is Csincsak. But he says the real kick is being the guy who doles out the cash rather than being the one begging for it. "People come to me now. I get the phone calls instead of me calling them." It’s a creative way to fund your own snowboarding career and become a pro snowboarder.

Here's the promised snowboarding shot

His YouTube video channel, which includes his show reel. 

He can sure do a lot of push-ups.

The one site that Jesse doesn’t run himself is his creepy fan site. 

And that's how you do it.

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