Reality stars forced to deal with haters on social media.
After being sequestered for nearly three months while competing on CBS’ “Big Brother” in summer 2007, Daniele Briones got a warning from producers after the finale was broadcast.
“They were like, ‘Don’t go on the message boards. … People can be really mean and cruel,’ ” recalled Briones, who came in second place and won $50,000. “So obviously, the first thing you do is go online and read the message boards.”
Really, who wouldn’t? Of course, back in 2007, new reality stars could still decide when and if they wanted to go to the trouble of reading what strangers had written about them. But now that social media is the most basic tool for anyone hoping to extend their reality-TV fame — and certainly, a familiar daily habit from their pre-fame days — one click on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook unleashes a torrent of opinions from strangers. And while reality-TV hopefuls often think they understand what they’re walking into, former contestants say nothing prepared them for the brutal onslaught of commentary they received when they exited a show.
“Girls on my season are getting death threats, I’m getting told to go kill myself,” Caelynn Miller Keyes vented in an Instagram post in March, describing the shock of seeing her mentions filled with offensive comments after a stint on “The Bachelor.” “This show is super easy to make fun of, I get it. But viciously tearing people down is absolutely disgusting. … The internet can be very dark, and instead of feeding into it, try taking a step back. We are real people.”
When two stars of ITV’s “Love Island,” a popular British dating show, recently died within nine months of each other, reportedly by suicide, it prompted the British Health Secretary to urge stronger “aftercare” for reality contestants.
“There also needs to be much more guidance on how to interact with social media after the show, in particular how to deal with trolling,” Alex George, a London doctor who appeared on the show, wrote an editorial in the Guardian. George, who saw his Instagram account grow from 200 followers to 1 million, added that “there is not one former islander I have spoken to who has not experienced anxiety about their Instagram and other social-media accounts.”
The impact of reality TV on mental health has been a concern since the early years, even before the days of “American Idol” goading emotionally fragile singers into terrible auditions. Networks and production companies have established strict vetting processes and conduct multiple psychological screenings of cast members. But even when support systems are available, contestants still struggle with the social-media backlash.
“Big Brother,” which just returned for Season 21, pits more than a dozen contestants against each other, competing for a $500,000 while cooped up together in one big house; hundreds of cameras and microphones capture their every move, and viewers can watch a 24-hour live feed. After last fall’s finale, two-time player Paul Abrahamian noted on Twitter that the newly released competitors were likely “experiencing whirlwinds of emotions, shock, euphoria & stress.” He reminded viewers that the stars’ reacclimation to society “is a fragile process, especially with the nature of social media. Keep your vile opinions/ hateful messages to yourselves.”
Several fans scoffed: “Cmon man it’s only been a few months you act like they were prisoners of war and tortured.” But Abrahamian was serious. “Imagine having a relatively normal life, then being isolated from society for a little while, & coming out to strangers telling you that you should kill yourself about 20 times a day,” he responded in a tweet. “So because they signed up to be on a reality show, they deserve to be harassed, stalked & cyber bullied?”
In an interview, Abrahamian — a controversial player known for ability to manipulate his allies and enemies alike — described the chilling messages on social media.
“‘Go kill yourself ’ is a walk in the park,” he said dryly. Some trolls even bully contestants’ family members and loved ones. While “Big Brother” is considered a “social experiment,” with players attempting to share space with each other while simultaneously choosing which one of the group to vote out week by week, Abrahamian thinks the actual experiment is how the so-called “houseguests” interact with fans in real life.
“I’m most fascinated that regular viewers treat houseguests so poorly,” said Abrahamian, who coped by focusing on his music career. “If harassing people on a TV show … is ultimately entertainment for you, I don’t know what that says about modern society.”