The chair lands across the dining room in a fit of rage. Jaws drop and with a now deafening silence, her perfectly polished heels click across the floor as she stalks out of the room in tears. Everyone’s food lays untouched, yet someone is still being fed: the viewer.
The meltdown was captured on camera for all to see. Millions of viewers tune in weekly to feed into the frenzy of reality television. They relish in the spectacles and personalities flashing across their screen, loving every moment. The enormous drama – and often enormous wealth- aid in an escape for the average person to slip into. When reality and the stage collide, the question of why society tunes in for these champagne problems arises.
“During filming, [plot] is 100% influenced by production or self-production,” former “Southern Charm” star Naomie Olindo said.
The filming of these shows such as “Southern Charm” generally depict the lives of groups of frenemies and their day to day blows. They often face criticism for their staged components. The mess attracts an audience much like a car crash on the side of the road, people are unable to tear their eyes away. What is usually forgotten is the production process for these shows.
“I think angry outbursts are real-ish, but everything is dramatized. Many people on shows strategize for months about how they will act or who they will associate with for more air time,” Olindo said.
Behind the reality star personas, there are real people. However, they go unseen because the producers of these shows create villains and the heroes in order to drive a common enemy for viewers to engage with and generate emotional investment. People keep watching because these shows are created with a formula designed to entertain and attract.
“We’re obsessed with reality TV due to the exploitation,” Psychology Today said.
From the “Real Housewives” to the “Jersey Shore,” a certain image has to be portrayed. As producers manipulate behind-the-scenes, the stars can feel pressure to entertain. That Pressure creates drama, drama creates public intrigue, and intrigue leads to a rise in the viewer counts stars all vie for.
“People on reality shows are usually posturing. People see these housewives with fancy Birkin bags and think that if they work hard enough, one of their goals could be to buy one themselves,” Olindo said. “What they don’t know is that usually the bags are fake or borrowed for filming.”
For the devoted viewers of these shows, the emotional investment and connection can lead to negative impacts facing mental health, body imagery, and altering real life behavior. The consumption of these shows affect viewers and their perception of their reality.
“Reality TV has historically been more diverse demographically than other forms of media,” Danielle Lindemann, a sociology professor at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania said. “[It] casts a spotlight over patches of the social landscape that we don’t always see, so in that way, it can be a tool for greater social understanding.”
At the end of the day, reality television provides millions with a platform to indulge in the simple escapism of others’ bizarre behaviors. Viewers watch for an opportunity to view others’ problems and escape the burden of their everyday life. The look into others and their behavior, emotions, relationships, and motives is what keeps viewers so engaged. It is a concept that humans want to analyze and through reality television, they act as social experiments. Viewers feel like a part of the star’s lives, through both the good and bad.
“Studies have shown various behaviors to be associated with watching reality TV. Heavy viewers of the genre are more likely to drink alcohol, get fake tans, and use hot tubs on dates. While correlation does not necessarily equal causation, one well-known study established a link between viewership of ‘16 and Pregnant’ and reduced teen-pregnancy rates,” Columbia Magazine said. “The genre reveals some of the worst things about society — sexism, racism, classism, materialism.”
Society is willing to forget these wrongs when it brings them something to talk about. For example,“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul was videoed assaulting both her daughter and former partner Dakota Mortensen with multiple metal barstools. The viral TMZ video leak resulted in the cancellation of Paul’s season of “The Bachelorette.” Countless responses seem more focused on their resentment for the reality tv shows cancellation than over the genuine fact Paul committed an act of domestic violence. The pull of reality drama detaches its viewers from these horrors as they focus on the less pressing issues. While reality television often brings tragedy into the spotlight, it also shows the successes of the stars and allows viewers to celebrate along with them at home.
“It was both a blessing and a curse, and the fastest way to learn about myself,” Olindo said. “I realized rather quickly it was unhealthy and chose to step away for my future.”
