Monday, 23 April 2012

'Celebrity' reality shows - a flawed premise from the beginning.

For almost every 'successful' reality show, there's a spin off with the word 'Celebrity' prefixed to the title.



It seems logical enough, I guess - how do you make a TV programme more popular? Throw celebrities into the same wacky situation! Ratings!

Would I want an episode of Celebrity Survivor with Celebrity Angelina Jolie and Celebrity Jennifer Aniston battling it out over the Celebrity Immunity Idol, Celebrity Brad Pitt? Yeah, probably - and I bet a lot of you would, too.

The problem is, actual celebrities never want to participate in reality TV shows, because, quite frankly, they have better things to do than to embarrass themselves and ruin their careers.So, instead of the Jolie/Aniston showdown, we get Kinda-Celebrity David Hasselhoff trying to sell more drunken 5am hamburgers than some random Not-Celebrity Comedian, or look less ridiculous on the dance floor than a generic Not-Celebrity Former Athlete.

They are what I call grade A celebrities! ...Or not. Tania Zaetta should dig Mike Whitney up and make more episodes of Who Dares Wins instead.

The result is a show that is just a complete joke from top to bottom. The world 'celebrity' is used way too flippantly in western culture - being on TV for five minutes years ago does not make you a celebrity.

Which leads to my next complaint - WHY do former reality TV show contestants always inevitably end up on the celebrity editions of different reality shows!? Yes, I get that they want to extend their fifteen minutes of fame, but are the producers that hard up for guests that they have to resort to former reality 'stars'? Apparently so. Note to former reality 'stars' - you aren't famous. You never will be famous. We hate you. Please just fuck off.

Sigh. Unfortunately, it seems like reality TV shows are here to stay. I just hope that, one day, we get a celebrity edition that's actually worthwhile - such as Kate Beckinsale and Scarlet Johansson battling for the least amount of clothing in Celebrity The Biggest Loser.

Yes, this is just an excuse to use a picture of Kate Beckinsale. Got a problem with that?

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