Although I practically never watch reality TV, I made an exception last year in 2012 when I saw an ad for New Zealand's Next Top Model.
The ad was of a tanned girl with smug hostility in her voice, telling another girl 'I think you have the fattest arse ever! Ha! Ha! Ha!' After seeing that, I thought the show would be amusing. It wasn't. It turned out that the comment from the tanned girl had a sad context, which was as follows...
(Incidentally I apologise for not knowing the names of any of the models. As I said, I only saw the show once.)
The contestants were all getting along fine chatting with one another, when the host, Sara Tetro came over to their table and asked them who they each thought should be sent home next.
All the models froze. None of them wanted to needlessly say anything that would insult any of the other contestants.
Sara then told them that there was an understanding that they were in a competition so it was okay to voice an opinion on this topic. Foolishly, they believed her, and everyone other than the tanned girl said that they thought that the tanned girl should be sent home next. Feeling she had been undermined, ganged-up on and betrayed, the tanned girl angrily lashed out at the girl sitting next to her! 'I think you have the fattest arse ever! Ha! Ha! Ha!'
It was very cringe-worthy for me how Sara manipulated the circumstances and played the contestant's emotions to give the show more drama and ratings. There was no need to insist on the discussion of a topic that was guaranteed to cause distress.
The social damage from this incident only compiled as the show went on. The other contestants were mad at the tanned girl for her outburst and didn't seem to empathise with the situation she was put in. The girl who the tanned girl had lashed out at told the camera, 'we all hate her.' On top of this, it was clearly the tanned girl who performed poorest in the photo-shoot challenge, so in addition to now being on the wrong side of all the other contestants, it looked as though she would be sent home during eliminations.
Sara Tetro was also in charge of the eliminations. Knowing that the tanned girl was in a scary position already due to the likelihood of being sent home, Sara asked her in a harsh, judgemental tone, 'Why did you tell (insert name here) she has a fat butt? What has her butt got to do with you?' To this, the tanned girl said something to the effect of, 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I was just angry.' To this, Sara snapped 'Keep making excuses. That's a good way to get sent home!'
AAAAAAARGH! I'm cringing so hard right now!
How much audacity can a person have? Sara was the one who deliberately rocked the boat and upset the harmony of the group in the first place, while hoping someone would lash out! Then, once she gets the drama she was hoping for, she uses it to verbally bash the girl who she's already hurt, and make her squirm during the elimination proceedings! And that's what Next Top Model LET'S IT'S AUDIENCE SEE! There will be other calculated tortures we don't see because they get set up behind the scenes!
This is everything that's wrong with reality TV in a nutshell. The pain of the contestants is real and the ratings are real, but the situation isn't. And there's an incentive to make their contestants miserable, to make their shows more interesting. In summary, I advise against watching this show, taking part in this show and the existence of this show.
And for the record, the final decision was that the tanned girl would not be voted off that week. Apparently Sara wasn't done fucking her life up for ratings.
