“Reality TV is ridiculous, it’s just real people that are put into unreal situations to create an entertaining story,” states Jacob Nord, 23. Nord being a media student at the University of Western Ontario feels like “networks just keep creating reality shows because people keep watching them.”
Alana Kirstein, 18 enjoys watching reality TV because it makes her feel better about herself. “My favourite show is the Bachelor because it seems so fake, which makes it all the more entertaining.”
Erin Takagi, 17 knows that these shows are fake, but she finds the over dramatic people on The Hills hilarious. “Viewers just seem to enjoy watching other people suffer, and I am definitely guilty as charged.”
But it’s not just young people that enjoy watching these mindless shows, adults like it too. “I know it sounds bad but Kitchen Nightmares is my absolute favourite show, you just can’t help but laugh at these idiots who get screamed at by Ramsay,” says Lloyd Eidelman, 48. “But some shows I just don’t know how scripted they are, I don’t know if what I’m watching is real.”
We don’t see everything that happens on set. Editors cut out tons of footage to eliminate anything that seems boring. Parts of reality shows are scripted to create more drama, which ultimately draws in viewers. “It should be called kind of scripted television because that’s exactly what it is,” says Nord.
Nobody wants to watch someone brushing their teeth or reading the newspaper. If it was all real then it would be pretty boring. Fans of reality of TV don’t care if it’s real or not, they just want to be entertained. The whole purpose of TV is to entertain the viewers, so who cares if the make up things to create drama.
“It may not be real but it sure it fun to watch,” says Takagi.
By: Carly Eidelman
