What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words “reality TV”? Some may love it. Some may love to hate it. Some may hate that they love it. Some may love it so much; others hate them.
No matter how you feel, you’ve gotta admit that reality TV has brought gusto to television. These shows, typically, are cash cows that draw devoted audiences. It doesn’t seem like reality TV is going away anytime soon, even though many reality shows have flopped.
To me, reality TV is interesting because it gives the viewers a voyeuristic angle into the lives of people more famous, more talented, or better looking than them. What better way to remind yourself of how boring your life is than by watching someone else’s life play out onscreen?
Reality competitions, in particular, have provided some great watercooler talk over the past 16 or so years. Undoubtedly, these shows have had some hilarious moments.
With the spring TV season fully back into swing, consider some lessons of famous reality shows.
“Survivor (season 16)”: During Tribal Council, when contestants air grievances before voting one of their tribe mates out, Erik, a nerdy superfan of the show, had the immunity necklace, which kept him safe from being voted out. It was Erik against four women, who had long conspired against him. In a stunning twist, Erik gave away the necklace to Natalie, whose manipulation worked like a charm. Erik did this in an attempt to curry favor with the tribe, but was instead voted out and dubbed the dumbest player in the history of the game.
The lesson here: Life truly is a battle of the sexes. Seems like women have secret powers that guys like me just haven’t figured out… yet.
The Bachelorette (season 19): Who could forget last year when Nick was humiliated on national television? His immaturity and lack of self-awareness caught up to him, and you were either empathizing with him or chastising him. This was his second run on the show after he reached the final two during the previous season. How do you get to keep leaving your day job to go on reality TV, Nick?
The lesson here: If at first you don’t succeed, do the exact same thing again the next chance you get. That’ll show em, Nick.
American Idol (season three): William Hung. Remember this guy? He was so bad at his audition that he left the one and only Simon Cowell speechless. He put his spin on Ricky Martin’s hit song “She Bangs.” It was probably the funniest Idol audition ever.
The lesson here: It is better to be horrible at one thing than to be pretty good at anything.
They call it reality TV for a reason, folks. It’s 100-percent real.
