To say if you don't like reality TV you don't GET it

[MissBax]

Obviously lighthearted, and just for the record - I used to think things like TOWIE / Love Island / MIC etc were utter drivel and would have been disgusted by them.

However, I have realised that I was always going at them from the wrong angle. Now, I don't love them despite the trashiness, I love them because of the trashiness.

Once I let go of my snobby pants I was able to fully get stuck in and now think they are actually genius television. It is people watching in its absolute glory!

Can you tell I'm ecstatic that Love Island is back?? 😂

I kind of feel that most reality TV just glamourises stupidity. I’d rather go for a run or get an early night, but each to their own I guess 🤷‍♀️

It’s the modern day equivalent of travelling freak shows and brings out the worst in people. Plus it’s completely fake and scripted. Utter bilge.

I “get it” it’s just not my thing. No offence to anyone who enjoys it, we’re all different and all that, but I really really can’t watch it.

‘Reality TV’ is a misnomer.

There is absolutely nothing ‘real’ about it, in any way. It’s all completely scripted and directed, then edited to fit the producers’ pre-existing ‘storylines’. One of the Geordie Shore women (who appeared to have the intellect of a plant pot) said she was instructed to sit in front of a green screen and told exactly what to say about fancying someone else’s boyfriend ‘for the edit’.

Mitchell and Webb have a take on it:

I remember a few years ago being highly insulted when my late DM expressed surprise that I didn't want to watch Big Brother. She said 'I thought it was the sort of thing that you liked'. I thought 'Thanks mum!'.

I used to love Big Brother. When it was ordinary people doing ordinary things and having ordinary conversations. But over the years it just got more and more extreme and out to shock. Actively pitting the contestants against each other to cause conflict. Now I watch the Celeb version, but not the main series.

Never seen things like that Essex thing - but they're not reality anyway, surely? The situations are are set up and scripted. It's not a fly on the wall documentary.

Those sort of shows are different from Strictly or Bake Off where you need at least some talent to get through. The main criteria to get on most of hte other reality shows appears to be to have as few brain cells as possible, fake tan, scary eyebrows and an account at a plastic surgeon.

I'm not interested in watching other people, to be honest....

I agree with the pp who said it is exploiting the vulnerable. The people who do this have some sort of "need" to be famous. Why? Because they think that they will be, literally, celebrated. That people will admire them. Whereas the TV companies who set this up know that, in fact, they make money out of these shows because the public want people to laugh at. To ridicule. It's in a similar vein to the way, say, newspapers exploit the victims of crime or their families. These people have been destroyed; they are desperate to feel some sort of "justice". The papers promise them that this exposure will give them that....knowing full well that what they can do is sell papers because of the ghoulish, prying interest of the public.

I watched love island to see what I'm not missing. The women - sorry, "girls", wearing the skimpiest of skimpy bikinis were a model, an air hostess, a barmaid, a dancer, and a shop worker. Absolutely nothing wrong with any of those occupations. I'm not judging them I'm judging the show. Because the men - sorry, "boys" included a doctor, a nuclear engineer, a student, a self employed personal trainer. One woman was asked whats the longest word you've ever used and she proudly said she doesn't use long words.

I mean come on, what the fuck? Could this show be any more sexist?

You do know that some people 'get' perfectly well that you are supposed to embrace the trashiness and still think it's shit , don't you?
This ^^. I don't have a problem with trashy, but there's trashy & fun, and then there's just trash(y). It's like watching a film that's so bad it's good, and turning off a film that's just bad.

I'm another one who's glad I don't 'get' it. These people are exploited, because reality TV is incredibly cheap to make. Just promise some fame hungry desperados that you'll put them on TV and have an endless supply of people willing to do anything to get their face in the next episode or a magazine spread and throw them to the wolves. The ones that get famous have to live on an endless treadmill of failed relationships, babies with unsuitable men and shagging to keep their spot in the limelight. Others like them look at them and see an easy route to make a buck and it rolls on. The crappy magazine industry with their horrific pointing and staring at women's cellulite depends on the reality TV industry. It's crap. And I agree that proper programme making with actors that are trained and can demand equity minimum pay rates is being squeezed out by this cheap trash.

yawn.

I love people watching but I don't want scripted people watching. So some 'reality' shows are ruled out on that score. Others are ruled out as they really do take advantage of sometimes vulnerable people. Anything else - I'm there watching!

And I definitely don't want to laugh at people.

I fully get it's trash, I just don't find orange airheads with a craving for fame and shagging interesting, and I wish as a nation we would stop encouraging these twats. These are the people your teenagers start idolising.

I 'get' it, I just don't find them entertaining. These shows rarely star the sort of people I'd be interested to know about their lives.

And yes, there's often an element of "let's all laugh at the thick, fame hungry people and see what we can make them do for our attention!"

I agree with everyone who has pointed out the un-reality of it all. People are edited and cut and manipulated. It's all a bit yuck to me. The Amazon show unReal is a series all about this exact thing. I love that but wih a morbid fascination. I don't think I could watch another reality show without feeling desperately sorry and sad for the "contestants" now.

If YOU enjoy it, it’s never a waste of time.

m.facebook.com/uokhunni/photos/a.1134242433343273.1073741829.1129970740437109/1413978275369686/?type=3&source=48&ref=bookmarks

Could this show be any more sexist?

Exactly. Do these men not want to date their intellectual equal? I would hate thinking my man thought I was thick or dating someone without any substance.

Dd wanted to watch Glam Masters a couple of times then got bored. That is far more tolerable. And at least the contestants have to have talent / flair. The trans presentator gets on my nerves. It would be really nice if she could just ‘be’ instead trying to act a persona by constantly pursing her lips, crossing one leg in front of the other to seem super sexy and jiggling her hips.

I preferred dds short lived obsession with master chef. She wants to watch the child vs adult one. We also watch the Apprentice. That’s good entertainment but obviously run to a formula. We also love The Sewing Bee and Strictly Come Dancing. Things, which engage people’s brains to some extent really.

But sorry. I don’t get it. There are so many far more interesting shows around. If I had the choice of watching an hour of Love Island, Peppa Pig, Night Garden or the Loud House, I’d probably choose Peppa. If it was a choice between love island and Sam and Cat, I’d reluctantly choose Love Island because Arianna Grande’s voice in that sets my teeth on edge so I’d probably prefer a trip to the dentist.

But I shall persevere till the end of the show later on away from little eyes and ears just for you Miss Bax and report back on the slimmest of off-chances that it grow on me. 😳

Watch what you like. Just stop belittling other people because they prefer other programmes.

These are people your teenagers start idolising.
Yes, that’s what is incredibly worrying. It’s not real life. I hate hate hate all this pursed lips, selfie, narcissistic bollocks.

I used to watch all of it but it's getting too much. I think it's the way they look on LI for instance. I think some of the contestants look down on you, intellectual Mnetters. The doctor on LI is already being sneered at. Most contestants have the hide of a rhino. I still have a sneaking love for TOWIE. The idea that they are thick is not true.

I watched it last night...i thought it was trashy but I secretly love it!

Anyway, one thing that I found astounding was how they talk about potential partners... literally nothing about personality. Nearly everything being discussed was to do with looks...how tall? How tanned? How muscly? Blah blah blah. I get you need to be attracted to someone but to base relationships on looks like that is just appalling to me.