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Original poster

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:
PorgyandBess · 30/05/2025 10:07

BarchesterTowels · 30/05/2025 10:05

The Faking It reboot on Channel 5 is well worth watching because it's a reality format that is much more heartwarming than cruel. One of the newspaper reviews made the point that the original series was an outlier in the noughties reality TV boom, because it wasn't about humiliating the contestants but giving them a chance to learn a new skill and mix with people from a totally different background. And, mostly, they got a huge amount out of the experience.

I agree. We watched the first one with lovely Rex. Heartwarming stuff.

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 10:08

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 10:03

Oh I'm thinking that was in the early bbc3 days and yes an atomic kitten presented.

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Jenny Frost IIRC.

blacksantanapkin · 30/05/2025 10:09

mepipesneedlagging · 30/05/2025 10:04

I still think about the one where they put a crawling baby in a leopardskin swimming costume and the Dad said lightheartedly: " Oh, she looks like a little Tart" It's stuck with me all these years. The Dad was loathsome.

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I haven’t seen that one but there was an awful one where the toddler was very neglected. The mum made her stay in her cot in a soaked nappy until midday because she wanted a lay-in then ignored her all day whilst she went on the computer. They never went out anywhere and the house was dirty. I watched it when I was about 14 but have never forgotten it.

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 10:10

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 10:07

The first one was brilliant. All the controversy over Nasty Nick, which essentially boiled down to the fact a man had smuggled a pencil in 🤣.

I found one and two genuinely fascinating viewing. But the fourth or fifth series the contestants were openly admitting they were going in to get a showmance and a magazine deal and I stopped watching as it was no longer interesting to me.

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.Nick Bateman "wrote" a book about it 😂

My favourite big brother was 3 with Brian Dowling I think after that series it went really downhill.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 30/05/2025 10:10

I don't disagree but also don't think today's are any better, and we're looking at them now with a critical eye, not in 20 years' time. We haven't really evolved, have we?

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 10:11

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 10:08

Jenny Frost IIRC.

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Yes Jenny Frost.

Trumptonagain · 30/05/2025 10:11

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 08:48

Aww I liked the educating programmes the Yorkshire one especially,

Yes....agree those were good.

I'm old enough to remember Castaway 2000 which was enjoyable.

blacksantanapkin · 30/05/2025 10:13

Oh and Gok Wan when he’d get a pair of scissors out and start attacking somebody’s clothes to show them what shape ‘suits them’ and his obsession with a ~ waist cinching belt ~ for everything.

sideeyes · 30/05/2025 10:13

Coach trip was amazing!

ThatCyanCat · 30/05/2025 10:13

They were just as clearly awful then. Obviously exploitative, sensationalist and horrible.

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 10:14

sideeyes · 30/05/2025 10:13

Coach trip was amazing!

Oh I loved Brendan 😍

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 10:14

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 10:10

.Nick Bateman "wrote" a book about it 😂

My favourite big brother was 3 with Brian Dowling I think after that series it went really downhill.

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I remember 🤦

Something like "how to get away with being a total bastard". Which is ironic considering he didn't 🤣.

OneFunBrickNewt · 30/05/2025 10:14

PorgyandBess · 30/05/2025 10:07

I agree. We watched the first one with lovely Rex. Heartwarming stuff.

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I agree too.

itsnotabouthepasta · 30/05/2025 10:15

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 10:14

Oh I loved Brendan 😍

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me too! Brendan was such an utter gem. Coach Trip was fabulous viewing

Coffeeishot · 30/05/2025 10:15

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 10:14

I remember 🤦

Something like "how to get away with being a total bastard". Which is ironic considering he didn't 🤣.

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They caught him red handed 😀

PeonyBlushSuede · 30/05/2025 10:17

AnAlpacaForChristmasPleaseSanta · 30/05/2025 09:17

Agree. I felt uncomfortable with it at the time so would probably be bursting blood vessels if I watched it now.

I'm trying to remember what the name was of a show on around the same time where people used to go on and get actual plastic surgery done, usually to their face. They very rarely looked like they needed it (or looked better afterwards) and I used to think that surely some therapy would have served them better.

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10 years younger?

with the blonde lady - Nicky something.

they used to make them stand in a shopping centre and then have the public guess their age - and it would always be brutally many years above their actual age

BIossomtoes · 30/05/2025 10:17

I wonder what people will think of Love Island and Naked Attraction in 2045?

itsnotabouthepasta · 30/05/2025 10:17

@blacksantanapkin I'd absolutely forgotten the constant references to a "waist cinching belt" 😂

and as someone else referenced up thread, the constant day-to-night dressing. An absolute mainstay in issues of Bliss and J17. I was absolutely convinced when I started work I would be headed out for drinks and cocktails straight from the office!

itsnotabouthepasta · 30/05/2025 10:19

to be fair @blossomtoes I think they are both a bit crap now. I can't understand why anyone would want to flash their bits on national telly! Or have sex on telly just to get a brand deal.

Love Island is so over saturated now anyway, and it's full of people who just want to get famous

BunnyLake · 30/05/2025 10:20

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?)

I’ve recently watched the Gypsy wedding programmes for the first time and they are pretty shocking really. That ‘grab’ tradition is assault and marrying girls off at 16 to some awful guy they only got with 3 month’s earlier was a real wtf moment.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 30/05/2025 10:20

The Faking It reboot on Channel 5 is well worth watching because it's a reality format that is much more heartwarming than cruel

That's one of the reasons I liked it, @BarchesterTowels

The same applied to Home From Home on C4, a series about home exchanging experiences which my own family featured in on Series 1 and 2
Trouble is, come Series 3, they decided they wanted something much "edgier" with family arguments, kids wreaking havoc and so on, so we gave that one a swerve

JasmineAllen · 30/05/2025 10:21

The one which stand out for me was the very first series of Big Brother (2000 I think) which I watched and was fascinated by. I'd never seen reality TV before and I did find it interesting partly because the people who were on it were normal people and it was interesting to see how they interacted.

Now reality TV is a mix of cosmetically primped up freak show and sexually incontinent wannabees.

sparrowflewdown · 30/05/2025 10:22

StepawayfromtheLindors · 30/05/2025 08:40

Reality shows from 2025 are pretty shocking. The genre is basically a modern form of a voyeuristic freak show. Never a comfortable watch.

I agree it has got a lot worse. That programme where they strip off and gawp at each other's genitals!?

PeonyBlushSuede · 30/05/2025 10:22

blacksantanapkin · 30/05/2025 10:03

Does anyone remember the obsession with outfits that ‘take you from DAY TO NIGHT’

They would have somebody stood there in office job attire then swap their handbag for a clutch and put some sparkly earrings on. This was supposed to demonstrate they could then go out and eat/drink/party.

I was early teens around this time and used to think adults genuinely did this and how cool and sophisticated it was. Now as an actual adult I have never looked for a day-to-night outfit 🤣

100% I was so disappointed as an adult I have never needed a day-to-night outfit.

the magazines made out it would be an every day occurrence when I was a teen

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