reality TV's cruel & unethical working conditions | Internet Analysis

TIME STAMPS:
00:00 - intro
4:31 - competitions & social experiments
6:01 - artificial, isolated settings
7:37 - step 1: isolation
8:22 - step 2: exhaustion (example, Love is Blind)
12:10 - step 3: emotional warfare
14:33 - why don't they just leave or quit the show?
15:27 - Squid Game: The Challenge
19:10 - pushed to your moral limits
24:00 - "they signed up for this"
26:43 - silenced by NDAs
27:53 - reality tv working conditions
29:27 - lawsuits, pushback, and reality stars unionizing?

RESOURCES & REFERENCES:

B-ROLL:

Tiffany Ferguson (she/her), 28 years old. #internetanalysis #realityTV #LoveIsBlind

This episode was co-written by Sheriden Smith!

FTC: This video is not sponsored. Links with * are affiliate, meaning I am compensated monetarily if you join or make a purchase.

[appleciderwitch]

When "isolation" and "sleep deprivation" came up, I was like, um, those are considered psychological torture methods!

[soapytoastpants]

the one that really blew my mind was the one about "I wanna marry "Harry"" where women were competing to date the prince harry look alike but they didn't know he was a rando lookalike and when they would express doubts to producers they would send them to therapists who told them they were imagining it like literal actual gaslighting occurring for the sake of reality tv

[monicaniblett]

Also with the writers strike that just happened, a TON of networks started pumping out reality shows because they don't need writers for that. Even more profit for the network.

[EyeGlassTrainofMind]

And THIS is why I watch Bake Off. Contestants are obligated to go home each week and live their everyday life and just come to the white tent each weekend. I hope more reality shows follow that premise but sadly, I don't think it's going to happen with how much people love drama :(

[arianamitchell]

i had ppl constantly asking me if i watched the new squid game reality show and i go “did… you… not watch the show? and the message you’re supposed to take away….?” i was dumbfounded and felt like i was in the twilight zone

[KhaiNguyen-vmet]

The squid game reality show should have never been made in the first place. Did they miss the whole point of the original show? Anything is a cash grab no matter how morally wrong I guess. F*ck the producers and showrunners of that damned show

[emmaj]

There's a woman named Sarah who was a participant on the The Challenge. She actually won once but in a end of game twist lost a very significant amount of money to her teammate.

She's now a psychologist who specializes in helping people recover from being on reality TV.

[TheAshleybruno]

Hilarious that Rosanna has come out saying that Mr. beast did exactly what these shows do: misrepresent the activity and more importantly who won and how.

[anna]

The last reality show I watched was Terrace House...which was canceled after one of the participants committed suicide after the bullying she endured as a result of the producers forcing her to be the "villian" of the season. I think about her all the time. :(

[kasterborouskitten]

For those intrigued by these shows I really recommend the show UnReal - it's a (fictional) behind the scenes look at the producers on a bachelor style reality show and their outrageously unhinged manipulative behaviour. Like a car crash piling up and up and then being hit by a train. 😅

[DNSxDK]

I was on a reality tv show many years ago - isolated for over 3 months.

We confirmed that there is an A and B cast. Producers forgot a piece of paper in the house when we were locked in a bedroom to prepare for a live show. It stated who was important and who wasn’t. The winner was one of the A cast.

If you left without a medical issue yourself or your family, you would be fined.

The show was definitely different than the experience itself when I watched it after I got booted off, which explained a lot of why I and others were bullied by the public. I was suddenly a villain, which really wasn’t the case in the house - I’m outspoken but treat people fairly, suddenly I was a bully. Therefore I also got a lot of death threats etc.

We weren’t scripted or saw people from the outside, but 24/7 footage can be manipulated in many ways.

After the show we did get free therapy for a year’s time, some used it, I didn’t. But I probably should have cause I did not like to take public transportation or walk around the city alone.

I don’t regret doing it - it was a fun, hard, boring experience, and I learned a lot about myself. But I probably wouldn’t do it again.

[dob]

also relevant: the wave of suicides linked to love island and big brother in the uk - many linked to the person's narrative on the show as a villian. contestants who are vulnerable, mentally ill, have had difficult backgrounds are all often more compelling as narratives and to watch, will have more emotional / explosive outbursts and ofc will be so much more vulnerable to criticism. its totally within a shows power to make it a great show and have some ethical standard (for example shows that focus less on interpersonal drama and more on skill level and challenges or creative output) but so many productions (and viewers) just dont care and are happy to watch people in distress as entertainment

[natatatm]

I used to know a woman who was a talent scout for reality TV. It was fascinating hearing her talk about trying to find contestants who were stable enough to not pose a threat, but unstable enough to make for good TV. Also about finding a group of people who's personalities would intentionally clash in order to cause more drama. Apparently the company she worked for also had a social media follower range they'd cast in. They didn't want someone who was an internet "nobody, " but they also didn't want someone who already had a fully established following. I believe that could be because it would take too much power out of the producers hands and into the contestant's. Obviously ppl seem to assume that's happening already, but it was really interesting and sort of disturbing to talk to someone directly about that process

[meganruthw]

The fact that the actual squid game reality show had the same (minus the unaliving obviously) terrible conditions as the fictional show? Disgusting. I can’t believe they even made that show. It’s dystopian.

[doginabox]

The irony of the squid game show 😭😭😭. It’s like society completely disregarded the actual meaning and instead chose to capatlise on it. Love humanity 👧

[abbyzinger]

I work in reality TV as a producer (primarily in post production). This past year has been HELL for our industry - there has been VERY little work, the networks haven't been buying and greenlighting anything. I was excited to see this video in my subscription box! I personally care a lot about treating cast members well - I care a lot about getting to know who they are, learning their stories, and figuring out the best way to tell their stories to audiences in a way that makes sense (because real life rarely makes sense or has a clear concise storyline!). Not everyone in this industry is like me - not everyone cares about the well-being of their cast members and making sure the stories we tell will make them feel PROUD and SEEN instead of erased and misportrayed. But unfortunately not everyone is like me! And I wholly agree about how the working conditions are harsh, unreasonable, cruel, and not conducive to a good work environment - and frankly, not necessary to make great television. Another thought - reality TV producers have no union, no working protections, nothing. We are routinely forced to work untenable hours without any kind of paid overtime (while other people on the crew who ARE protected ARE paid more for the overtime). We are all freelance and many of us are mistreated as well by the wealthy higher ups (the networks and production companies, who set the budgets and the schedules and make MOST of the decisions). And not a lot of people are talking about that! We're seen as the "guys in power" when most of us are being mistreated just the same as the contestants. Bethenny has actually been VERY supportive, and I think if anything is going to change, it's going to happen from someone like her bringing us together and leading the way. Anyways, I have a thousand thoughts about this video as I was watching, that's just a small part of it, love that you covered this topic and would love to see you cover it more (and if you ever wanna talk to a reality TV producer when researching a video, I'm totally down)

[UnOthodoxFruit]

RuPaul's drag race also infamously treats their cast members terribly

[rikkipoynter]

I'm friends with Jackie, the deaf contestant on the show. And yup, she got lots of deaths threats, racism, ableism... after the whole TJ and women alliance thing. The only reason I gave in and watched it is because I remember when the drama came out, I talked about how I would be intrigued to see how it would work with a disabled contestant on it. I mean, I was one of those that didn't see the point in a reality adaptation, but... you know, still intrigued. There's obviously so much more she can't talk about legally, but the mess with Tim was a lot more than was shown on screen.

[sapphic.flower]

I don’t really watch Reality TV but I watch Drag Race content and the stories and scandals and mistreatment that is so abundant in that series with basically no improvements or comment being made from production is frustrating. It low key feels like that franchise has a monopoly on drag itself and drag artists can’t risk taking action against the franchise because they also depend on it.

[isabellefrance]

My friend works at one of the main UK broadcasters and she told me she was out having drinks one night with some people. One of them worked in the reality tv show division and was apparently complaining because of all the new uk regulations in reality tv, saying stuff like ‘we used to be able to do whatever we wanted with the contestants’. Given the pretty dark and tragic stuff that’s happened to contestants over here, that was pretty sickening to hear. I hope the manage to find a proper way to get protections.