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

[Imcomingovertoyourplace]

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?)

Black T shirt, leggings and DMs was pretty much my own outfit for several years.

Riccardo from The Salon! That was a pretty harmless programme compared to many of these.

Aww Ricardo 💗

Embarrassing bodies. Too embarrassed to go
to my gp and into just a private consultation room. But happy to have a whole camera crew to be filming it for the nation to watch. That’s fine with me

I watched that exact episode a couple of weeks ago! They had a ridiculous amount of people living in a tiny 3 bed house and the twins parents had given up their bedroom and were sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor.

I remember Shattered! I thought it was brilliant! The girl that won it stayed awake for seven whole days!! 😬

Was it the one with the couple who had 2 daughters who swapped with a couple who were black?

Christ I watched one episode of wife swap on YouTube where the stedad openly admitted to smacking his wife's son! I just shook my head in disbelief (yes i know it happens, my ex stepdad used to wallop me but how fucking dare they!!!)

Yes that’s the one! It was amazing editing- they focussed on the twin who already had a baby for a bit then dropped the bombshell that the sister was heavily pregnant 😮 They seemed a nice family and I did feel sorry for them all, especially the little sister who was just caught in the middle of it all. Their 2 babies will nearly be grown men by now, I wonder how they are all getting on.

Yes I remember Shattered! I remember them bringing in a triangle expert to do an hour-long lecture 🤣

I googled why Jo Brand used to wear black and it seems it wasn't to do with her weight, but some kind of rejection of femininity.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/apr/09/question-time-jo-brand

She goes into more detail here about the problem with dressing in pretty clothes and getting male attention https://littlewander.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/36Who-Are-You-Wearing_-With-Jo-Brand.pdf

One that I actually don't think was problematic (although I haven't watched it since) is Make My Body Younger, presented by George Lamb.

They took a youngish person every episode who had an unhealthy lifestyle – too much drink/drugs/junk food/smoking/late nights/no exercise etc – and ran tests on their heart and liver and everything and came up with their 'age' according to their body. It was quite shocking sometimes how much 'older' people's bodies were than their actual age. They'd have family members gathered when they got the initial results and there'd be crying, hugging, the lot.

They'd spend the rest of the ep trying to reform, with the help of various experts, and do the tests again at the end. They'd always have shaved off some years.

I always fancied, and still kind of fancy, having all those tests myself, although another part of me doesn't want to!

Interesting. 'I did look like what people assumed was a radical feminist 70s lesbian' gave me a wry smile.

All of it was interesting. Seems the main reason she doesn't wear as much black now is that other people often choose her clothes for TV.

Does anyone remember Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum? They put a bunch of lazy obnoxious teens/young adults in a house and the parents have to watch. The idea was they were sposed to learn basic life skills like budgeting/housework etc. Each week one would be voted off by the parents. Kinda similar to Sun Sea and Suspicious Parents, the parents are always in so much denial about their kids behaviour.

Young dumb and living off mum, made us better parents we vowed our kids wouldn't be waify lay abouts ! It used to infuriate me.

Wedding stories on bbc3 around 2004. Fly on the wall following wedding but they mainly made fun of the wedding. I remember one bride actually screaming at her guest and another saying reminding her husband to be careful with the “women” he may meet on his stag party in Amsterdam “if you cane be good be careful love”

You just made me think of Don't tell the Bride. I loved that when it first came out. Has it been mentioned yet?

May have been mentioned but do you remember The Farm? Where Rebecca Loo's w%$ked off a pig....

So many memories of these programmes, thanks everyone for continuing to contribute!

The show "your face or mine?" Couples had to decide whether their partner is more or less attractive then random people/ celebrities, also voted by the audience. At the end they had to guess who the audience thought was the most attractive out of the couple. There was one couple ( one obviously more attractive than the other) the show decided to put a picture up of both their mums instead and they had to choose whose mum was the most attractive...lol

16 and Pregnant Star Whitney Purvis’ Son Weston Dies at 16: 'My Worst Nightmare Come True' (People Magazine)

'16 & Pregnant' Star Whitney Purvis’ Son Dead at 16

I agree in principle but Fat Families was fine. Fat shaming is not outdated or necessarily bad. The shock treatment often works with that sort of thing and we should not normalise being obese. Stuffing your face full of crisps and chocolate isn’t something innate like your upbringing/class, sexuality or being trans.

@DonnaBananafat shaming doesn’t work though. I remember at a family party a relative said to me ‘for gods sake, stop eating, you’re supposed to be on a diet and you’re just eating more than ever, put down the sausage roll!’ I went home and ordered a take away.
When I lost weight I was in a really good place, being recognised at work, feeling fulfilled, happy about my appearance… that is the best position for making a drastic change to your lifestyle and eating habits. No one who has a third helping of mashed potato is happy about themselves. You need to love yourself first.

Oh that was funny I actually didn't feel sorry for the brides they knew who they. Were marrying !

I liked 4 weddings it was on Living tv they just sat at each other's weddings with faces like slapped behinds !