How Real Is Reality Television

Reality television is gaining popularity throughout the world lately because of the "realness" of it and the interesting scenerios that some of the reality shows contestents are placed into. But is that reality? For example, if a television network take 12 individuals and places them in a pre-staged scenerio to compete for a prize, how can that be a real? First, the setting is fake, because these 12 individuals would not be in that place or circumstance if they were not "led" there so to speak. Secondly, people in general
have a tendency to act differently when faced with possibly winning a large sum of money. They may
also say and do things they normally wouldn't do in normal life in order to win the prize. Here are a couple of quotes from J. Rupert Thompson, who is a director and producer of reality shows such as 'Big Brother' and 'Fear Factor'

“Certainly, reality TV is a very manipulated format where the basis of it is that real people are put into unreal situations to create a story,”

“As soon as they get into an unreal situation,” Thompson said, “one could argue that it’s scripted, because the situation is created by the producers. What makes it so compelling is that you never know what a real person’s reaction to an unreal situation will be. That’s why you get such great stuff on reality TV.”

If some reality shows are in fact scripted or partially scripted, an argument could be made if these
shows should even be called reality television. A good rule of thumb to live by is that if large sums of money are at stake, it will be as real as the directors and producers want it to be. Which in my mind, is decided by ratings. That is just my personal opinion.