Reality TV

Youth Voice: Real or fake?

Since the millennium, a string of “reality” TV programmes have been broadcast from Big Brother to the Next Top Model.
 
Even celebrities are cashing in on this phenomenon with I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here and Celebrity Big Brother. Even rock legends have sold out and cashed in with The Osbournes and Rock School respectively.

However, how many of these are actually reality? Firstly, the entire footage we see is edited, even the so-called “Live Action” shown on E4 of the Big Brother show.

Secondly, if it were “Reality TV” the participants would live in the real world. They would be going to work, the bank, college, paying the bills, driving around and living normally. They wouldn’t be cut off from the outside world, getting everything handed to them and not being allowed to interact with anyone other than their housemates.

None of these shows are in fact reality.

Big Brother has 12 people living together in a house covered in cameras, with the mysterious Big Brother controlling then while they’re completely cut off from the real world outside of their bubble.

Then we have the pop star shows, which are definitely not reality, because, in my opinion, pop stars do not live in the real world. The contestants are simply having their dreams crushed in front of the nation’s eyes!

And there there’s ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’. That can’t be reality when the celebrities are living in the jungle. Fair enough, some tribes do live in the jungle but I highly doubt that they have a toilet with toilet paper and/or waterproof coats.

I think that all these shows should just be called “Situation Shows” because in all of the “reality shows” the “stars” are simply part of a situation they have to solve!

By: Michelle O'Connor

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