Has reality TV become too cruel?

By Tom Bishop
BBC News entertainment reporter
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On Tuesday, author Germaine Greer quit reality TV series Celebrity Big Brother saying programme makers used "superior bullying" tactics against contestants.

Greer complained that the Channel 4 show behaved irresponsibly towards contestants, whose cold and dark bedroom resembled a "fascist prison".

It was the latest in an increasing number of early exits from reality TV shows, which continue to attract millions of viewers.

Last November, pop star Natalie Appleton quit ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here after being plunged into glass tanks containing putrid waste and live animals.

Police alert

Fellow contestant and ex-E17 singer Brian Harvey soon followed, but not before he was required to sink his teeth into pies filled with insects.

In 2003, actress Danniella Westbrook left I'm A Celebrity, saying her participation in the show was affecting her recovery from drug addiction.

But celebrities are not the only people to face this new, grimmer reality.

Last June, Emma Greenwood was ejected from the non-celebrity version of Big Brother after being told to spy on fellow contestants from a secret bedsit.

Having overheard unflattering remarks from fellow contestant Victor Ebuwa, a fight broke out between the pair when she re-entered the house and police were called.

Brian Harvey quit ITV's I'm A Celebrity after an insect challenge



It seemed a far cry from 2002, when Sunita Sharma and Sandy Cumming quit the Big Brother house as Cumming complained he was "bored".

"We no longer want to watch people sitting around knitting or making cups of tea," said psychologist Dr Cynthia McVey, senior lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University.

"We have become desensitised to reality shows, so programme makers must devise new ways to keep our attention.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif We want to see contestants tried and tested, and a bit frustrated http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Psychologist Dr Cynthia McVey

"We want to see contestants tried and tested, and a bit frustrated. People now entering these shows should realise that absolutely anything could happen."

Last year's "evil" Big Brother, deliberately devised to be "a lot more oppressive" for contestants, drew nine million viewers - more than twice the previous year - proving that tension could be a ratings hit.

'Public taste'

While Dr McVey agreed that aspects of the current Celebrity Big Brother were "a bit cruel" , she questioned whether programme makers had behaved irresponsibly, as Greer alleged.

"Programme makers must take public taste into account, otherwise they would screen public hangings," Dr McVey said.

"But whether they should be required to do any more than cater for public taste, however awful that may be, is still open to question."

Channel 4 and Big Brother production company Endemol declined to comment.

Former Big Brother housemate Emma Greenwood said she and her fellow contestants were required to undergo a series of psychological tests before they entered the Big Brother house.

"We were also told what to expect and warned about the pressures of being filmed all day," she said.

"Of course there were surprises - such as being put into the bedsit - but I thought that was a really good idea. I could see it made brilliant television."

She felt programme makers had been "a bit mean" in isolating her from fellow housemates for three days, but said her dispute had been with contestant Victor Ebuwa rather than Big Brother.

"The best approach is not to take any of it seriously," Greenwood said. "I loved every single minute of it."

The Times columnist Caitlin Moran maintains a similar healthy distance from reality television.

"Reality shows are a chance for failed or failing celebrities to be put through test after test lorded over by the Gods - that is, the viewers who vote for their favourites.

"If they pass with humour and grace they are allowed to present a fitness show on ITV1, which is usually the goal they desire."

She believes celebrity contestants are required to face particularly difficult or cruel challenges because they must "prove their humanity" to the general public. Reality shows can spark healthy debate about issues of morality, Moran adds, but the morality of the viewers themselves is rarely in doubt. "The fact is, viewers usually vote out the evil but interesting people early on, to keep the nice but dull contestants," she said. "It is our way of celebrating heroism."

you was obviously in a rush Eternity.....are you called that because you have all the time in the world to do things?? - just messing :)

yes i think CBB is cruel, but then so is watching a pride of lions chase down a wildebeest and then devour it, or witnessing images of a several chimpanzees close in on a monkey through the treetops and then tear its limbs apart. Nature repeats itself, and this is none more evident than in the CBB house. Except this time the lions didn't hunt down the wildebeest - they ran as far away from it as they possibly could (Jackie at the dinner table) and the chimpanzees didn't give chase to the monkey - they allowed it to pass in the darkness as it kept on bumping into branches until it reached its own little cage and then they all broke out into a chattering laughter (Jackie's bedroom bumps) and we watched as the cameras focused in on the poor little monkey as it looked, still and silent in the direction of the comotion that was going on......and it didn't seem right. If one looked beyond the disaster zone that is Jackie Stallone's face, you would find a very sharp, witty, funny person that would have brought far more to the ambience of the house than say, Caprice does or Jeremy, both of whom appear to be a complete contrast to Mrs Stallone - they have the looks but not much else to back it up.

"Who will be the next celebrity to be singled out on.....Celebrity Big Bully?"

you was obviously in a rush Eternity.....are you called that because you have all the time in the world to do things?? - just messing :)

yes i think CBB is cruel, but then so is watching a pride of lions chase down a wildebeest and then devour it, or witnessing images of a several chimpanzees close in on a monkey through the treetops and then tear its limbs apart.

Nature repeats itself, and this is none more evident than in the CBB house. Except this time the lions didn't hunt down the wildebeest - they ran as far away from it as they possibly could (Jackie at the dinner table) and the chimpanzees didn't give chase to the monkey - they allowed it to pass in the darkness as it kept on bumping into branches until it reached its own little cage and then they all broke out into a chattering laughter (Jackie's bedroom bumps) and we watched as the cameras focused in on the poor little monkey as it looked, still and silent in the direction of the comotion that was going on......and it didn't seem right.

If one looked beyond the disaster zone that is Jackie Stallone's face, you would find a very sharp, witty, funny person that would have brought far more to the ambience of the house than say, Caprice does or Jeremy, both of whom appear to be a complete contrast to Mrs Stallone - they have the looks but not much else to back it up.

"Who will be the next celebrity to be singled out on.....Celebrity Big Bully?"

PARAGRAPHS WOODY....look I've done it for you. The last one of which I especially agree with.

LOL! I have very good reason for calling myself Eternity, but that's for only me to know Woodstock! :)

Your reasoning about the animals is not really on, they do the 'beast' thing to keep themselves and their offspring alive, without it they would die.

However, you do have valid points in there. The truth is, Jackie is an old woman, and you really don't see "pretty" old people, aging is cruel, but the alternative (death) is even crueler. She has done her best to aleviate aging, and I don't blame her for it, I bet she started off, as a lot in Bev Hills do with one maybe 20+ years ago and has been unable to stop - she is nowhere near as bad as some others who like her have kept going with them. More on the eyes and less on the lips and she would be passable, but that is what the surgeon did - period!

I find it sad that youth and beauty are assumed to always be the winners, just because they have youth and beauty....one day they too will be old (God willing), and they too could be mocked for it, unless attitudes change.

Jackie was classic of her age and lifestyle, and like you I could see beyond the face, and I liked what I saw - a person with a whole wealth of wit and knowledge you only learn from having lived.

We are all on the road to being a Jackie, like it or not - some deal with age one way, some another, Jackie chose the knife to allay age, her choice, her life!

Thanks for the paragraph idea Cat.

I've got it Eternity - you're real name is Calvin Klein.....;)

The comparison I was drawing with the lions/wildebeest/chimps/monkey was that yes, the animals do it for a valid reason. The biggest mistake we, as humans often make, is that we forget that we too are animals, with true animal instincts. And unfortunately, as human beings, we hunt in packs, single out, target the easy prey etc etc...and yet we should no longer have reason to behave this way. However there does have to be a reason why we do it. I just don't think we're as far removed from our animal instincts as we like to believe. And CBB is the ideal theatre in which to witness that assumption first-hand.

Why did all the other housemates have to leave the table so abruptly?
Could not one, even two have remained even if they were loathe to do so? They could have stayed seated if only to make Jackie not feel so terrible. (and although she didn't openly show her feelings I'm sure she must have felt badly about what had just happened) One housemate got up from their seat, followed quickly by another, then another, then a couple more. And just as you thought John was doing the right thing...he gets up too and takes his meal elsewhere. The point is, the pack leader/s got up and the rest followed suit. The worst was yet to come with the "Jackie that goes bump in the night" scenario and when she had finally got to her bed and was sat down - I just felt so bad for her while she was listening to the people in the adjacent room laughing, because she had no idea what it was they were laughing about but she really must have felt the joke was on her and it was something more personal than it actually was. And the comments about fumigating the room and burning the bed were equally unsavoury. What amazed me was the kind words she had for the whole group prior to departing. Well done Jackie.

Sorry about the paragraphs Cat....I failed again :(

Thanks for the paragraph idea Cat.

I've got it Eternity - you're real name is Calvin Klein.....;)

The comparison I was drawing with the lions/wildebeest/chimps/monkey was that yes, the animals do it for a valid reason. The biggest mistake we, as humans often make, is that we forget that we too are animals, with true animal instincts; unfortunately, as human beings, we hunt in packs, single out, target the easy prey etc etc...and yet we should no longer have reason to behave this way. However there does have to be a reason why we do it.

I just don't think we're as far removed from our animal instincts as we like to believe. And CBB is the ideal theatre in which to witness that assumption first-hand.

Why did all the other housemates have to leave the table so abruptly?
Could not one, even two have remained even if they were loathe to do so? They could have stayed seated if only to make Jackie not feel so terrible; although she didn't openly show her feelings I'm sure she must have felt badly about what had just happened, one housemate got up from their seat, followed quickly by another, and just as you thought John was doing the right thing...he gets up too and takes his meal elsewhere.

The point is, the pack leader/s got up and the rest followed suit. The worst was yet to come with the "Jackie that goes bump in the night" scenario and when she had finally got to her bed and was sat down. I just felt so bad for her while she was listening to the people in the adjacent room laughing, because she had no idea what it was they were laughing about but she really must have felt the joke was on her and it was something more personal than it actually was.

The comments about fumigating the room and burning the bed were equally unsavoury; what amazed me was the kind words she had for the whole group prior to departing. Well done Jackie.

Sorry about the paragraphs Cat....I failed again :(

I am not going to follow you around correcting your posts you know.

LOL!! :unsure:......you're worse than my wicked old english teacher ever was!!

Has reality TV become too cruel ?

Yes I definately think it is cruel for some and may be a positive experience for others. At the end of the day, those who go in do choose to go in. They are willing to take their chances in the hope of finding fame, winning money, enhancing their career or placing themselves in the limelight. We are not responsible for their choices. Personally- I wouldn't take part in something like Big Brother as I wouldn't like my every move to be scrutinised by an often cruel and cynical public. I enjoy watching although their have been times when I've found things unneccessary. I stopped watching the other Big Brother as I don't care for all the nudity. If I wanted to see that, I'd go to a nudist beach.

I think reality TV is the modern-day equivalent of stocks and public executions.

Yes it brings out the worst in us, but hell it's fun :devil:

I think reality TV is the modern-day equivalent of stocks and public executions.

Yes it brings out the worst in us, but hell it's fun :devil:
YES...like a good stoning...

You are right my friend.

Love you
x

You are drunk my friend.

Love you too.

You are drunk my friend.

Love you too.
Yes.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Is this a private love affair - or can anyone join in?? :blink:

Pull up a beanbag, we're having a love-in.


No tongues though