Reality shows create train wrecks
When people agree to live on camera things can go wrong
Nearly two decades after the reality TV craze took a firm grasp on our culture, viewers are really good at pretending the stars of these shows are only characters.
In the last month, viewers have been forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about reality television as ugliness behind the scenes spilled over into real life, giving everyone a rare glimpse at what can happen to people’s psyches when they agree to live on camera.
There’s no better example than Rob Kardashian, the 30-year-old reality star who has become a tragic figure of his reality TV-famous family. Struggling with his own demons and serious health problems, he once shunned the cameras on the Keeping Up With the Kardashians franchise, only to reverse course last year and land his own spin-off with his fiance´e, Blac Chyna. Rob & Chyna was a painful viewing experience that displayed all of the couple’s problems. The first season ended with the birth of their baby girl and Kardashian claiming on social media that Chyna cheated on him and had taken the baby away. She denied this and urged him to get help. Regardless, E! renewed the show for a second season, though it’s reportedly in jeopardy given that they broke up earlier this year.
On Wednesday, Kardashian had a stunning meltdown on Twitter and Instagram in which he posted nude images of Chyna, published a video of her kissing another man, accused her of drug use and many more lurid claims. Now, news.com.au reports, Chyna has signed a sworn statement that Kardashian physically abused her during their relationship. It’s a disturbing example of what could happen if you’re used to living your life as the world watches.
Last week, Big Brother cast member Megan Lowder suddenly disappeared from the show after two episodes. The 28-year-old military member trained in the Middle East as a navy interrogator. “I was taught to lie, manipulate and get into people’s heads,” she said in the first episode. “So I think I’ll have things handled in the Big Brother house.” On the series, which features 16 people in a house where they vote each other out week by week, Lowder was immediately put up on the block for eviction because, as one of the contestants stated: “I just don’t like you that much.” Later, Lowder thought she heard another contestant call an Asian woman “panda”; it was a misunderstanding that led to a blowup fight. Hours later, Lowder was gone because of a “personal matter”. Afterwards, she posted a video online and explained: “When I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, I was sexually assaulted and I got really bad PTSD from it,” she said. “So in the house . . . I had a lot of guys yelling at me and attacking me and it started really affecting me and making my anxiety severe and I was starting to get physically ill.” Lowder’s statement was a stark reminder that, even though all reality contestants go through a psychological vetting process, you never know what will trigger something under the surface. Reality TV fans saw that lesson firsthand in mid-June when E! posted a short item that ABC’s hit Bachelor in Paradise had abruptly halted production because of alleged “misconduct” on set. In the following days, conflicting details leaked out at a dizzying pace, revolving around an incident in the pool between contestants Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson. People magazine reported the show allegedly filmed “a drunk sexual encounter with a female contestant who may have been too intoxicated to consent”.
Olympios hired a lawyer and said she was seeking therapy to “deal with the physical and emotional trauma stemming from that evening”.
Jackson said he did nothing wrong and that his character was being assassinated; he promised “swift legal action” against “false claims and malicious allegations”. About 10 days later, Warner Bros said footage of the incident revealed no misconduct had taken place — production has resumed, and producers noted they would implement changes to the show’s “policies and procedures” .
Author and New York Times columnist Jennifer Weiner wrote that the only surprising element is that it took so many years to happen. “We always want more drama, more sex, more fights, more tears” — but only to a point. Weiner wrote: “There’s an implicit bargain that gets made at the start of every reality show’s season.
“We want our stars to suffer, and we’ll watch them drop 30lbs while subsisting on a mostly rice diet on Survivor. We do not, however, want to watch them fall into the campfire and sustain second-degree burns. We want steamy hookups, drunken antics and tearful regret. We do not want to be faced with a woman saying she was too intoxicated to consent to sexual activities.”