IAN HYLAND
on last night’s telly
Make Me Famous, BBC1 ★★★★
There were some handy hints in this BBC1 drama last night for anyone thinking of applying to be a contestant on a reality TV show.
Reading between the lines, the main recommendation appeared to be “Don’t”.
Well, I say reading between the lines. It wasn’t actually that subtle though.
It was a very clear message that while appearing on a reality show might sound fun, the reality of what follows can often be anything but.
Given the recent tragedies involving Love Island, you’d have thought that would not have needed saying again. However, TV companies are still making the shows
and fame-hungry kids are still queuing up to get on them.
So no wonder former TV presenter turned documentary maker Reggie Yates decided to add another string to his bow by becoming a dramatist.
Much will be made of the powerful statements Reggie’s script made about mental health and the negative effects of social media.
The thing that made the biggest impression on me, though, was that when you strip away the
adulation, the freebies and the easy sex, being a professional celebrity has the potential to be just as tedious and unfulfilling as the supposedly dead-end job you were trying to escape from in the first place.
It’s also not as lucrative as you might imagine. As Billy Fearon (Tom Brittney) pointed out 18 months after his Joey Essex smile had charmed the ladies on dating show Love Or Lust: “I’ve got blue ticks and millions of followers but I can’t pay my f***ing phone bill.”
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Being a pro celebrity isn’t as lucrative as you might imagine