The camera-conscious duo were first spotted playing up their "budding relationship" on various high-profile red carpets, saturating media gossip sites with same-sex photo ops.

Within weeks of this initial publicity salvo, a "friend" of Semel—probably Semel—played tattletale to the Sun with a lurid account of an affair Semel claims to have had with Lindsay Lohan.

Piggybacking on Internet coverage of the Lohan details, Semel and Tequila met at L.A.'s Standard Hotel pool on Monday to seemingly stage this supposedly candid poolside photo-set.

The 60 photos and accompanying video reveal a lot of skin, a bit of lover's playfulness and a complete lack of spur-of-the-moment authenticity.  It's as if stunted self-promoters Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt had been transformed into a pair of bikini-clad women who aren't really that into one another.

Courtenay was supposedly at the Standard to support Tila while she was "being interviewed by a magazine," according to the photograper.  But where was Tila the next night, when Courtenay was being arrested in Las Vegas for slapping a security guard?

Tila's support of the gay lifestyle has been unstinting—ever since she used feigned girl-on-girl action to boost the A Shot at Love ratings.

Tila has even taken credit for California's acceptance of gay marriage: "It is because of me—I definitely think [my show] has helped the movement."

And, thanks to Tila, people like Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are tying gay knots.

"I thought it was awesome," Tila gushed about the DeGeneres-de Rossi nuptials. "I was really excited when I heard about it, and the fact that they are openly out there... they look so happy together."

As happy as these two video lovebirds?

Will Courtenay and Tila ever look as happy together as Ellen and Portia do? Only time, and the success of the next Tequila-Semel reality-TV pitch, will tell.

Check out 60 exclusive photos of Tila and Courtenay in the gallery.

Photos by Tom Vickers, Todd Seligman/Splash News.