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Effects of Modern Reality TV on Contestants

Reality TV became popular in the United States in 1973 where an ordinary family’s life

was broadcast on national television in order to show what happens day to day in many of our

homes. Since the airing of this American Family reality television has changed drastically. In

recent years reality television has become everything but reality. Writers and producers have

disrespected, dehumanized, and exploited people in order to deepen their own pockets. The

concept behind exaggerating every day circumstances in order to increase viewership which

increases the advertising dollars firms are willing to spend for commercials is not new.

However, this concept has started to get out of hand because there does not seem to be a limit on

how far writers and producers will go to earn an extra dollar or in many cases millions of dollars.

Reality TV has been in America since the 1950’s with shows such as Candid Camera,

where humorous situations were created and ordinary people’s reactions were filmed and

broadcasted. I was not around in the 1950’s but I certainly remember re-runs of Candid Camera

and each segment ended with SMILE YOU’R ON CANDID CAMERA, everyone laughed and

then I’m sure life went back to normal. However when most people think of reality TV in the

modern era no one remembers the innocence of shows like Candid Camera.

The more common idea of reality TV probably started with An American Family in 1973

when a seemingly ordinary family had their life aired for public entertainment. This show aired

things from a parent’s decision to divorce to the son coming out as gay. These circumstances

were absolutely unheard of on television at the time. Personally I have done both of those things

my parents divorced when I was 6 which was a difficult pill to swallow at such a young age. I

was 17 when I told everyone that I love and cared for that I like women. That was probably the
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hardest conversation in a teenagers life, now imagine all of that happening on national television.

Life probably did not just go back to normal after the filming of An American Family, and in

many cases it has not gone back to normal after the filming of recent reality TV shows. An

article found in Waikato Times, named “Reality TV repugnant” states “What is also known is the

programmes generate, through artificial environments, demeaning human struggles for the

voyeuristic pleasure of viewers and the wealth of television companies. For what good end?”

(para 6). This very much goes back to the beginning when the divorce decision and the son on

An American Family coming out as gay was first aired, and is still very prevalent in today’s

reality television programs.

The demeaning struggles that contestants often face on reality TV shows are in many

ways depriving the contestants of important basic human needs. We watch this happen and I

believe often do not think about it because it is difficult for us on the outside to separate real

people with actors and actresses on TV. One of the most common human needs that I saw in my

research that contestants are being deprived of is their need for self esteem. The directors and

producers fabricate reputations by editing the film to be more dramatic for viewers but after

filming is over and the show airs this is what the public really thinks about the people that were

on the show. This often lowers their self esteem as they are unable to escape this reputation. In

an interview with James Poniewozik for Time, regarding her time on Joe Millionaire, Sarah

Kozer states “The problem is that makers of reality TV have the power to imply or outright

fabricate things about real people who have to carry their fake reputations into their real lives.”

She also states “producers doctored a scene in which she went for a walk behind some trees with

the show's bachelor, Evan Marriott, to make it seem as if they had oral sex. The producers added

sound effects and captions, she says, and dubbed in a line--"It's better if we're lying down"--that
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she had said earlier in the day in a different context. "It couldn't have been more misrepresented

and fictional if it had been completely scripted," (para 11). This personal testimony is just one

example of participants having to continue to take life from reality TV into reality. Just like

rumors being spread in high school that upset us and lowered our self-esteem, these people are

having to try to continue their life, start real relationships and get real jobs with these perceptions

hanging over their heads.

Fabricating these types of reputations for people is a blatant disrespect on many levels.

Contestants that sign up to be on these reality TV shows should be respected just like they would

be with the cameras off. I feel all people should be treated with an equal amount of respect no

matter what walk of life they come from. People should be valued for all skills they offer a

situation whether in a game show where they have the ability to win the show or in an everyday

situation where someone has a skill that can be used even if it is not how originally planned.

Every human has the right to be respected and not viewed as replaceable just to increase

someone else’s profit. Each contestant should be valued for what they offer the show not for

what they say that can be edited to increase drama. Reality TV should be just that, reality, if a

contestant has the ability to survive in survivor than they should be given a fair chance to do so

not cut to increase drama or made to seem like a bad or dramatic person to increase ratings. This

testimonial given by David Wilson in an article for Daily Mail brings light to just how far the

producers will go and how much disrespect they have for the contestants and how they cause the

contestants to turn on each other. Wilson says this about his experience being a consultant on big

brother
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Because I had designed the prison units for some of the most violent

inmates in the country, I was hired by Endemol to advise the show on how to deal

with personality clashes in a confined environment. As I knew from my

experience, there is a host of measures that can be taken to make the atmosphere

of a restricted place less explosive, such as lowering the temperature, ensuring the

place is clean, and avoiding over-crowding. I had, perhaps naively, thought that

would be the advice Endemol wanted from me. What the company was actually

seeking was the very opposite. The producers turned the lesson of my experience

on its head. They wished to make the environment in Big Brother house even

more combustible, thereby promoting violent antagonism between the characters

and plunging the programme into a ratings boosting controversy. (para 16-18)

Writers and producers are willing to go to a lot of trouble in order to assure tensions are high

among contestants and that the public sees what they want us to see instead of the truth. As

evident by the testimonial Wilson gave, they will spend a lot of money for a consultant to learn

how to keep tensions low and then intentionally ignore everything they learned during the

consultation.

Reality TV contestants are often disrespected on many levels. The personal lives of

ordinary people have been broadcast for the world to see for many years. This has caused the self

esteem of these people to plummet. Contestants on reality television shows should receive the

respect they deserve as a human. All humans have different skills and abilities to offer for all

situations and that should be respected per the individual rather than all treated the same way and

just manipulated for the situation at hand. Contestants are perceived completely inaccurately the
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real people are shown as characters that fit what the writers had in mind. Catherine Gourley

explains this saying ”In reality shows, the director and the producer create these character types.

Writes Barney, "On the first Survivor, B. B. will forever be known as the bossy old coot, Stacey

as the snooty lawyer, and Ramona as the sickly slacker, despite claims by each that those

portrayals of them were skewed." (para 12). The reality of it is that Reality TV is not real and it

is causes lasting, damaging effects on those who participate in an attempt to make their life

better, not worse.

The sensationalism of reality television has been around since the early 1970’s it

has built its reputation around exploiting the ordinary, the vilification of its subjects, its

impersonal attack on human dignity. Writers and producers have no concept of reality when it

comes to making a reality TV show. They have no concern for the participants and what may

happen to them after the show is complete and on air. They are not bothered by the lives ruined

or the people affected by what they do in order to put money in their own pockets. It truly is as

James Martin says, “Nothing seems beyond the pale of producers interested in increasing ratings

and marketing revenues.” (1-2). We cannot completely blame the shows’ producers, after all

millions of us tune in every night to see the latest drama and vote off the person perceived to

create it, when we should be voting off the writers and producers. We all as television viewers

are responsible for the direction reality television has gone. Without our viewership the

advertising dollars would not be spent and shows would be removed from production.
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Works Cited

Gourley, Catherine. "How Real Is Reality TV? (Cover Story)." Writing 23.6 (2001): 4. Academic

Search Premier. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

Martin, James. "Coarse TV." America 183.7 (2000): 30. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Feb.

2014.

Poniewozik, James, and Jeanne McDowell. "How Reality Tv Fakes It." Time 167.6 (2006): 60-

62. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

"Reality TV repugnant." Waikato Times 28 June 2005: 6. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 6 Feb.

2014.

Wilson, David. "WHY I REALLY DO HOPE THIS IS THE DEATH KNELL FOR CRUELTY

TV." Daily Mail 20 Aug. 2008: 12. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.