Reality Rumors

Ashlee Simpson’s first reality role worked so well in launching her singing career, a similar plan is apparently in the works to help promote her upcoming album.

Simpson family patriarch Joe Simpson is “pushing” a new I Love New York-like reality dating series starring his youngest daughter, OK! Weekly reported in the magazine’s January 28 issue.

“It will put 14 guys in a house and they will compete to date Ashlee,” the insider told OK!, adding the show is tentatively titled Lipsync Jungle, a reference to Ashlee’s October 2004 Saturday Night Live lip-synching mishap.

Ashlee’s first foray into reality television was Summer 2004’s The Ashlee Simpson Show, which aired on MTV immediately following third-season episodes of Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica, the reality series starring Ashlee’s big sister Jessica and her husband at the time Nick Lachey.

It followed the then-19-year-old as she recorded her debut album, “Autobiography,” which made its July 2004 debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album sales chart — presumably prompting Joe to push Lipsync Jungle prior to the release of Ashlee’s third album “Bittersweet World,” which is schedule to drop in March.

However there’s a small snafu, as Ashlee has been dating Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz for more than a year — a problem Joe apparently doesn’t find too troublesome.

“He wants Ashlee to break-up with Pete,” the insider told OK!. “[But] no way will Ashlee dump Pete. Ashlee doesn’t listen to her father’s crazy schemes.”

Despite his daughter’s unwillingness to dump her beau, Joe has apparently already started to plant the seeds for an eventual break-up.

Ashlee and Wentz ventured to Los Angeles’ The Grove theater earlier this month to catch a flick, In Touch Weekly reported in its January 28 issue, and the two were overheard arguing by fellow moviegoers about how Joe likes Jessica’s current boyfriend — Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo — more than he likes Wentz.

“Your dad doesn’t love me, but he loves Tony,” Wentz was heard telling Ashlee, according to In Touch. “You know it.”

A Simpson “family friend” told In Touch that while Joe doesn’t “dislike” Wentz, “he really loves Tony, and that’s where the tension is.”

“Pete is getting insecure about his relationship,” a “pal” told In Touch.