We live in a Pop TV culture of overnight celebrities being made and c-list celebrities dominating the newspapers for doing very little of note. Members of the general public who have always had a desire to be famous or on the television now know they have a very realistic chance of doing that whether they have any discernible talent or not. But what have been the main reality TV shows in the noughties?
Big Brother The First Reality TV Show
Big Brother was the instigator of reality TV taking off into the stratosphere. Originally designed as a social experiment of what would happen if a group of strangers were locked away together for weeks, it launched people such as Nasty Nick Bateman, Kate Lawler and Chanelle Hayes into the public consciousness where they managed to forge decent post show careers in presenting, modelling and inevitably...panto.
Arguably Jade Goody was the most infamous contestant ever on the programme making two appearances, the first made her a national treasure, and the second vilified her as an alleged racist. The fickle finger of celebrity has never been more evident. It was this latter appearance, and an encounter with Shilpa Shetty, which led to the show being accused of allowing bullying and racism rather than rightfully condemning it. As further examples of this became evident in more recent shows audiences switched off in their droves. Apparently this years Big Brother will be the last we see of the show but dwindling audiences suggest that this is probably three years too late.
I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here takes over
When a programme offers to pay an alleged £450,000 to lure someone, Katie Price (aka Jordan), back into the jungle for a second stint, desperation has set in. I'm a Celebrity's latest jungle line up of alleged celebrities must contain the least well known people yet. Once the public has had an insight into celebrities real natures coming out when all home comforts are stripped away it becomes two weeks of people eating certain kangaroo genitalia or being covered in creepy crawlies. One suspects that Ant and Dec’s near the knuckle humour is now the main reason people tune in. Admittedly entertaining when the series first started the formula appears to have reached its natural conclusion.
X-Factor takes over the charts
Possibly the most successful reality TV programme ever and still watched by millions, possibly due to the fact that some of the contestants have some modicum of talent. However continuous rumours of vote fixing and acts apparently being signed to contracts before the show has even got half way through its run means the shows shine has started to fade a little. The barbed comments between the X Factor judges are extremely false and maybe audiences are beginning to see the transparency of them, particularly after Simon Cowell did a dramatic turnaround with regards Jedward when he saw that they were adding numbers to the viewing figures. The British public were not buying that at all.
Has Britain Got Talent?
Perhaps a scintilla if this show is anything to go by. While dance act Diversity have a genuinely entertaining act on their hands the rest of the entertainment on the show ranged from mildly interesting to frankly appalling. But what largely damaged this show was the handling of Susan Boyle. Clearly Boyle was not ready for the glare of the spotlight and after being heavily lauded for her singing ability she was then propelled into the maelstrom of the media spotlight and went into meltdown. The shows support network that should have been in place was sadly found wanting. All credit to her for eventually bouncing back. The country builds its stars and then knocks them down, but this was particularly vicious. Will Britain's Got Talent be able to survive this backlash?
The next couple of years will determine if this cultural monster will really come to an end. These programmes are essentially brands and people are still tuning in, but further negative publicity to the level they have been courting lately might make their demise sooner rather than later. It will be interesting to discover if the old adage of there is no such thing as bad publicity is actually true.
Steve Bartle - Steve Bartle, is a 33 year old from Bradford in the UK. He has had a successful and varied career to date performing such roles as a ...
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