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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

334 replies

Imcomingovertoyourplace · 30/05/2025 08:35

So far I’ve watched
Playing it Straight (the homophobia is rife!)
Fat Families (just horrific, ‘lard busting’ and shaming overweight kids)
Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (did the producers never want to intervene with what is essentially child abuse?)

OP posts:
Dramatic · 30/05/2025 16:40

ObelixtheGaul · 30/05/2025 16:23

The thing is, I know a lot is scripted now, but there was a time when it wasn't.

Before reality TV was a 'thing', we had fly on the wall documentaries. And they really were what they purported to be. Documenting the lives of other people.

Most famously, 7 Up. Genius idea. Take a group of kids from different backgrounds and film them every 7 years. Last one they were 63. Next one should be 70 Up, due next year, but might not happen as the original filmmaker has died. It was an experiment exploring the impacts of social class in early years and what truth there is in the idea of 'give me a child until the age of 7 and I will show you the man'.

There was a fascinating one about a boy with Tourette's called, 'John's not Mad'. It wasn't about exploitation, it was about giving the public insight into a little-known condition at the time. Not mockery, but education.

It's all become too 'knowing' now. The shows aren't made to educate or inform, they are made to shock, manipulated for maximum drama and too far removed from 'reality'.

And it all started with bloody Driving School.

7 up is a masterpiece, however I do think it's shown how this sort of thing can affect people's lives, a lot of the participants really dislike the series

ObelixtheGaul · 30/05/2025 16:49

Dramatic · 30/05/2025 16:40

7 up is a masterpiece, however I do think it's shown how this sort of thing can affect people's lives, a lot of the participants really dislike the series

Yes, that's true. Some chose not to continue. The whole thing was groundbreaking and I do think at the time nobody had any idea it would keep going as long as it did, or the implications.

I suppose that was the innocence we have now lost when making these programmes. Too many people looking to make their name by appearing, too many production companies looking for cheap entertainment banking on people's desire for fame to exploit them for the voyeuristic public's edification.

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 16:54

@Emilysmum90 I know the exact clip you mean and it's horrendous. What makes it worse is that Simon Cowell is smirking as he sticks the boot in and enjoying trampling on that girls self esteem.

The one small crumb of comfort I take is that it would never be allowed to happen now. Cowell would be cancelled before the credits had even rolled.

JoeTheDrummer · 30/05/2025 17:03

I remember one called the Dinner Party Inspectors where two posh older ladies nosed on people’s dinner parties and were aghast at anything which wasn’t ‘proper’. I remember as an impressionable teen when they were horrified at someone arriving at a dinner party with some champagne (acceptable) in a plastic bag (very much not acceptable) and thinking ‘when I’m a grown up I will not carry my gift of champagne in a plastic bag’. Unfortunately I don’t seem to go to any posh dinner parties, and even if I did I don’t think my friends would give a shit if I carried the booze in a plastic bag.

Also enjoyed ‘Ladette to Lady’ which was of a similar vein.

SnowfallSnowball · 30/05/2025 17:06

I used to love Property Ladder with Sarah Beeny, she had great ideas but hardly anyone ever used to listen to her advice!

Someone mentioned upthread about America's Top Model and I sometimes see reels of it now and a lot of it was really awful. Especially when they would make them get a makeover and there would be some poor girl with waist length hair and give them a pixie cut and then they'd be told to go home an episode later. Does anyone remember the episode where one of the contestants friend died and then she had to pose in an open grave the next day, awful? Janice Dickinson was dire, I loved Twiggy on there though she was always so kind!

legsekeven · 30/05/2025 17:09

JoeTheDrummer · 30/05/2025 17:03

I remember one called the Dinner Party Inspectors where two posh older ladies nosed on people’s dinner parties and were aghast at anything which wasn’t ‘proper’. I remember as an impressionable teen when they were horrified at someone arriving at a dinner party with some champagne (acceptable) in a plastic bag (very much not acceptable) and thinking ‘when I’m a grown up I will not carry my gift of champagne in a plastic bag’. Unfortunately I don’t seem to go to any posh dinner parties, and even if I did I don’t think my friends would give a shit if I carried the booze in a plastic bag.

Also enjoyed ‘Ladette to Lady’ which was of a similar vein.

If I remember ladette to lady was very tongue in cheek

SnowfallSnowball · 30/05/2025 17:11

HarperStern · 30/05/2025 11:50

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 used to love both of these, I know they tried to do a remake of Streetmate a while ago with Scarlett something or other from Gogglebox.

You can watch episodes of Ibiza Uncovered on Youtube! I used to love the arguments between the two women - can't remember their names now and one was always getting fired from her jobs! Also watching the resort reps, I always wanted to go and do that.

Coffeetostart · 30/05/2025 17:22

I haven’t read all the posts so it might have already been mentioned but the programme that made me really angry at the time (and now) is The Undateables.

Helloworlditsmeagain · 30/05/2025 17:25

Anyone remember watching Jordan back in the early 2000's?

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 18:32

Helloworlditsmeagain · 30/05/2025 17:25

Anyone remember watching Jordan back in the early 2000's?

Her BFF programme

evilharpy · 30/05/2025 19:36

I haven't read the whole thread so apols if this was already mentioned, but I loved Faking It where they trained someone up to pretend they had a certain profession and they had to fool a panel of experts. My favourite episode they had a professional cellist learning to be a DJ.

Slatterndisgrace · 30/05/2025 20:57

Helloworlditsmeagain · 30/05/2025 17:25

Anyone remember watching Jordan back in the early 2000's?

And Kerry Katona!

Slatterndisgrace · 30/05/2025 20:58

evilharpy · 30/05/2025 19:36

I haven't read the whole thread so apols if this was already mentioned, but I loved Faking It where they trained someone up to pretend they had a certain profession and they had to fool a panel of experts. My favourite episode they had a professional cellist learning to be a DJ.

It has been mentioned and someone kindly posted a YouTube clip so I’m looking forward to watching that.

Helloworlditsmeagain · 30/05/2025 21:58

Slatterndisgrace · 30/05/2025 20:57

And Kerry Katona!

Car crash telly with her and Mark.

RunningNananananananananana · 30/05/2025 22:19

I thought of one I used to enjoy, decided to read the full thread to see if it was mentioned now can't remember it 😫

EmeraldShamrock000 · 30/05/2025 23:14

Helloworlditsmeagain · 30/05/2025 17:25

Anyone remember watching Jordan back in the early 2000's?

No. I remember watching Paris and Nicole's reality show, the simple life. 🫠

Helloworlditsmeagain · 31/05/2025 00:29

EmeraldShamrock000 · 30/05/2025 23:14

No. I remember watching Paris and Nicole's reality show, the simple life. 🫠

I remember that they are very likable people. Did you ever watch 'Flavor of Love' Flava Flav looking for love it was cringe. I think that's where New York or aka Tiffany Pollard started her career on TV.

LookingAtMyBhunas · 31/05/2025 00:32

ThrowawayAccount29 · 30/05/2025 08:48

I really loathe Rich House, Poor House. Now I see they’ve started Rich Holiday, Poor Holiday. It’s all just so condescending to the poor people and that doesn’t appeal to me. I watched about two episodes and that was it for me.

I agree. I also always feel so sorry for the kids from the poor family and wonder what the hell they're parents are thinking. 'Look kids! Look how green the grass is! This child has horse riding lessons and holidays and their own massive room! OK now back we go to share with your three brothers on a pull out bed'

bumblenbean · 31/05/2025 01:59

I remember nearly all of these!

To my shame I used to love all the trashy reality in the early 00s - wife swap, brat camp, top model, BB, the one on a desert island…. I remember watching the BB with Jade Goody and Shilpa open-mouthed, it was so uncomfortable and yet somehow compulsive. It was clear even then that the program makers were revelling in the controversy whilst outwardly making a show of the gang’s casual racism…

Does anyone remember the BB with Pete Burns and Jodie Marsh? It was really painful to watch, he was absolutely hideous to her. Think Michael Barrymore was on it too.

What was the show where a guy would be sitting with the presenter and a stream of girls would strut past vying for his attention, and he would pick one out (presumably for a date)?! Talk about meat market!

bumblenbean · 31/05/2025 02:03

I’ve remember another one which really took the exploration biscuit - ‘There’s something about Miriam’ I think it was called. Group of lads competing to be chosen by a gorgeous ‘woman’, with the big secret being she was actually trans- before a live reveal at the end.

it was awful for both Miriam and the men- they felt duped and humiliated and she ended up being treated like a pariah. I think the men ended up taking legal action against the producers and Miriam died a few years later, all very sad

MorrisseysMisery · 31/05/2025 03:29

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 09:25

Me too. I had a bit of a thing for the Yorkshire headteacher. And the iconic moment that the boy with the stammer is able to speak fluently...😭.

My 14 year old was clowning around on the corridors at his high school when he kicked a bottle of water....
It landed all over his Headteacher and the Educating Yorkshire Headteacher. He was visiting for the day and just walked around a corner to be met with my silly teen kicking a bottle of evian.
It went all over both of them
Punishment was quick and he was thoroughly ashamed of himself.

Caligirl80 · 31/05/2025 03:46

very little from the early 2000s has aged particularly well! It's unsurprising that reality shows - which sadly often feature rather ignorant/uneducated/desperate people (they are the ones who need the money to be on the shows!) - have a higher percentage of offensive material/opinions being expressed on them.

mermaid101 · 31/05/2025 04:26

Does anyone remember the one which I think was in channel 4. It was called The Panel or The Jury or something.

The premise was that there would be an individual with a life dilemma and the show provided a large group (I think maybe 30/40) of a cross section of society who would help you decide what you should do. The group would be with the person who had the dilemma for several days; be around thier house, friends, family, local community, workplace etc to get a sense of the situation and to pick up on the things the dilemma person might not have noticed and to give the panel a better perspective and then at the end of the allocated time period would say what they thought should happen and give a rationale.

the one I remember most clearly was a man in his early twenties who wanted to know if he should leave his job to go traveling with his girlfriend. However it became apparent that he had had a very troubled childhood with both his parents dying, after which he and his two brothers were looked after by their grandparents, who also died when the eldest brother was 16. He then took over caring responsibilities and the three brothers continued to live a a unit.

Clearly they were all traumatized, but I remember the panel were very kind and measured and had a number of people who were able to give very helpful advice: people who were grandparents themselves, someone who worked in the industry the man was considering leaving and also a nurse who was able to explain something around the circumstances of the death of the grandparent to the siblings who had carried a lot of guilt about it.

Although there were elements of exploitation in this, it did seem like the participants gained something from the experience. I think the strength of the show was the compassion and kindness shown my the members of the panel.

I think there were only a few episodes shown. I really wish I could remember more about it. Does anyone else remember this?

Slatterndisgrace · 31/05/2025 05:43

bumblenbean · 31/05/2025 02:03

I’ve remember another one which really took the exploration biscuit - ‘There’s something about Miriam’ I think it was called. Group of lads competing to be chosen by a gorgeous ‘woman’, with the big secret being she was actually trans- before a live reveal at the end.

it was awful for both Miriam and the men- they felt duped and humiliated and she ended up being treated like a pariah. I think the men ended up taking legal action against the producers and Miriam died a few years later, all very sad

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/miriam-death-of-a-reality-star

Is it about this person?

Watch Miriam: Death of a Reality Star | Stream free on Channel 4

In 2003 a British reality show firebombs the life of beautiful model Miriam Rivera. The story of one of the most controversial TV events of the last 25 years and the questions that remain unanswered.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/miriam-death-of-a-reality-star

greycross · 31/05/2025 08:09

I think one of the earliest reality shows I watched was Shipwrecked on T4. I think my DC would really enjoy that actually, along with Coach Trip. I wonder if they’re available to watch anywhere…

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