To think reality shows of the early 2000s have not aged well! Doing a rewatch

One I absolutely loved and would still watch today was the early Davina McCall vehicle Streetmate (guessing more late 90s than early 2000s though).

Also Ibiza Uncovered.

I would be interested to know how many of them made a permanent healthy change to their lives as a result of this important realisation and are healthy weights now. I did see that show a couple of times and the thin people ate just as badly in a different way. Neither person had anything to teach the other.

It was designed not to encourage people to eat better, but to make them feel superior and to enjoy the shaming under the pretence of doing good, much as this comment indicates ("at least it made them realise" etc). On that, it was certainly successful.

Yes and no.

Personally I love seeing the un-botoxed faces of the girls on Laguna Beach (for example) and there was less of an obsession with social media and image so it all felt more real and raw.

Even the early Housewives franchises tackled addiction and other issues like surrogacy in what felt like a confronting but honest way. Those emotions were real for those people and it was interesting and triggered loads of conversations amongst groups of people.

There's certainly bad examples and things that wouldn't stand up now, but there's also a lot that made reality TV magic that is just lost now.

That’s what I like about ‘Secret Eaters’. They were all saying stuff like ‘oh I don’t know why I’m so fat, cos I don’t eat hardly anything’. Watched an episode yesterday (it’s all on Amazon prime 🤣), and Anna Richardson said to one of them ‘you don’t get lardy inhaling fresh air’ 🤣😂.

I used to work for a charity that asked users not to go on "day time talk shows", I wish I was joking the producers would put out a metaphorical net to catch vulnerable people.

I loved supersized v superskinny. I've even got the book somewhere. The fat shaming was horrific. But at least it made people realise why they were fat or thin. So none of well I'm 20 stone but I only eat 500 calories a day. No you don't.

To be honest I think all reality shows are unadulterated, exploitative pish.

Hate them,and veer between pity at, and lack of respect for, those who appear on them.

I used to love that 🙈

One 2000s show I genuinely miss is Holiday Showdown. I think about it often!

Children cannot consent to having their intimate moments of emotion recorded and replayed for the entertainment of strangers, forever.

It’s child exploitation.

There's also how you get status. A uni professor already has it through their job and won't worry so much about what people think of the state of the house.

I didn't get the impression it was always academic types though.

The thing is, the people with the most dirty homes would never let the TV in to see it!

Was that the Asian kid who went onto be a maths teacher? If so he’s a gem.

I didn’t even watch the original but I’ve seen clips and used to follow him on his social media accounts (when he was an adult)

One other observation and then I'll get my coat...

I've met a few TV people in my career and I'm sorry to say that they've invariably been smug and superior with a very patronising opinion of the viewers and public in general. Very depressing, and it explains a lot.

I know that's an unfair generalisation but when you consider some of the programmes being discussed here, it's not a surprise.

this.

Yes - definitely.

Oh - one other thing. I don't often watch the house-hunting programmes but what I have noticed is that some telly person seems to be telling couples to hold hands all the bloody time as they parade round the viewings.

It really irritates me! I know I'm a miserable, joy-killing old bat, but it looks so naff, soppy and false. I bet it's reality TV manipulation most of the time.

The difference between reality shows now and back then is that back then the sole purpose of them was for the audience to laugh at the contestants and feel good about how much better they are than them. Then people like Jade Goody started making a career out of being terrible people and things devolved to where a significant number of people see being on a reality show as a valid career choice.

I'm sure there are still some people who watch to mock and feel smug, but the calibre of viewer is probably closer to the calibre of contestant these days.

Entertainment.

Also, while neither person eat healthily, I think there was possibly a very slight educational benefit to be had from realising that one big meal won't kill you neither will a few tiny meals.

I agree!

There was the awful Changing Rooms in which arrogant and snooty 'experts' belittled and bullied people into creating the most revolting 'themed' rooms for their friends and neighbours. The results were unbelievably tacky and were done very grottily, more like am-dram sets than decor meant to last. The staple gun and glue played a big role. I remember one woman's treasured collection of teapots was topped and broken by one of the professional designers. In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure this was an accident because...

...some of the designers involved have since tried to distance themselves from the naff programme and admitted that a lot of the time they were taking the p*. Lawrence Llewelllyn Bowen admitted that if he took a dislike to the 'clients' he 'gave them the room they deserved', and not in a nice way. It was in that era when the public were constantly being bossed and bullied by 'experts' (see also Trinny and Suzannah in What Not to Wear. Ghastly, cringey stuff. Punters were seen as fair game for a general sneer-fest from their superiors.

Also there was a horrible programme where some smart-Alec, arrogant film-makers had asked people to let them into their homes to film their rooms while talking about their choices. Needless to say, there was a lot of the camera panning around very ordinary (not design-conscious, trendy or sophisticated) homes with snide comments and a general invitiation to viewers to sneer at these people. Horrible!

There are lots of things wrong with today's TV output but I think they've learned to hide the sneering a bit.

There’s a couple of episodes of Would Like to Meet on YouTube, the presenters are incredibly cruel!

Another shocking one on YouTube from the Channel 4 series Man Hunters:

He used to fondle their breasts on TV and then always put them in 50s dresses. Might have worked in London, but they couldn't walk around their small towns looking like that so I'm sure they went straight back to their old jeans.

What was the name of the British show where they persuaded a woman she could be a model? She converted her garden shed into a spa and bought a glamour photo shoot and a white Corsa. She was in her forties I think. I've been trying to remember the name of the series, it may have been a spin-off from Benefits Street.