And just like that... MAFS is over

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8pz1k4r2lo

It was coming. You dont get good reality TV without people suffering.

This news however is awful. Bloody awful.

I think a line has been crossed here obviously but to try and defend such programming working class women have been given hands up into minor celeb status where opportunities to get into entertainment are incredibly scarce.

I preferred it when there weren't a plethora of "minor celebs" all over the TV. And being featured on any kind of reality telly doesn't automatically mean they have any kind of talent for wider TV work (Scarlett Moffett got her break on Gogglebox. She seems like a lovely person but makes a lousy presenter).

It won't happen but I would like to go back to the pre reality telly and pre nepo baby (looking at you, Barney Walsh) days when people were on there due to talent and hard work. And with the rise of social media it's not like there isn't a way for anyone to make show reels and get spotted if they're good enough.

As I understand it, setting lions to kill humans in amphitheatres used to generate huge enthusiastic audiences. Is it puritanical that we no longer kill people for entertainment despite the large audiences who would turn out?

Or perhaps it is a good thing to prioritise ethics over viewing figures and profit.

I don't think it's puritanical to recognise and reflect. To take Love Island as a comparison point, I've never seen the show in my life, but personally I feel it should have been cancelled after the suicides. Much as I've enjoyed MAFS in the past, right now I'm feeling like it too needs to be axed as a result of the revelations.

I think you're right about the human impulses behind shows like MAFS. The more I think about the whole premise of the show... I mean, its contestants are, by definition, people who have been struggling to create happy relationships. It's no wonder we only ever seem to get one Abi and John/Jeff and Rhi/Filip and Stella per series. The producers are deliberately recruiting, for the most part, people who are insecure/bitchy/damaged/arrogant/out-and-out trainwrecks in the name of 'entertainment'. It's never been a healthy premise, and lots of ways it's unsurprising that some contestants have turned out to be abusers. Tbh at this point I'm feeling quite grubby for having watched and enjoyed the show these past few years.

I do see your point about the shows providing a leg up into celebrity, but quite honestly I'm starting to feel that society needs to stop holding up celebrity as the ultimate goal when it appears little or no support is being offered to ordinary people who are suddenly propelled into the public eye and struggle to cope. I think influencer culture has a lot to answer for here too. Young people never used to venerate and chase after celebrity status the way they do now, and personally I think most of them were happier for it. It's been 20+ years since Jade Goody, it's probably time for a rethink.

In lots of ways I'm being hypocritical here given how much I've watched MAFS and discussed it on MN, but if it does continue I very much doubt I'll be watching it unless drastic changes are made, which I don't think will happen because 'drama' and 'ratings'. 😕 Also if Channel 4 dropped all its reality programme it would be left with a massive revenue hole. They might be forced to axe MAFS, but another dating show of some kind will no doubt spring up in its place if so.

How is any rape accusation provable in law.

Jfc

Very much this.

Same with all those 'Survivor' programmes. Would be a bit boring if all the contestants got on with one another, pulling their weight, being nice. Instead the biggest egotistical bullying twats are parachuted in to cause mayhem and misery for viewing figures.

I'm actually feeling really uncomfortable having watched the documentary and now MAFS USA showing. After the first night they were all interviewed and asked if they were intimate. There is a lot of pressure for them to have sex!

It went over your head I see.

It’s always one word against another and “consensual” is usually the defence.

Playing devil's advocate to an extent does the criticism of programs such as Mafs and love island as it those who believe may be with cause that such programs are populist lowest common denominator programming which people shouldn't be watching any way?.There is the 'snob' factor potentially of educated elites deciding these programs are immoral at their core with the potential for harm so shouldn't be watched with people guided to BBC4.

Doesn't this show in any society there will always be some sort of cruel entertainment (just of different forms?). I am certainly don't support it but won't society always seem to come up with populist entertainment that involves some sort of moral problem?

Would banning TV programs such as these be akin to banning gaping i..e. possibly suing a moral high ground to limit people's tastes to what others in society feel acceptable?

You’re working very hard to defend the indefensible here @mids2019, while completely missing the point. Nobody’s condemning this kind of entertainment on political grounds or out of intellectual snobbishness. In what world is entertainment that allows women to be abused acceptable?

You’ve now cycled through: a) it’s a rare opportunity for working class people to become celebrities; b) objection is by educated elites who hate populism; c) it’s intellectual snobs who object and want to censor entertainment that appeals to the masses.

None of that flies.