Every so often I am approached here by people researching television programmes. Presumably my text contains the relevant keywords. Twice in the past couple of months I’ve had emails asking me to take part in a documentary or reality type television. The most recent is looking at doing a Wife Swap Brexit special (eugh!).
I’ll be ignoring the approach as I always do. Not just because reality television is cheap, nasty, tacky and exploitative, such that I wouldn’t be seen dead watching it, let alone take part in it; but because, without any media training, I’d be vulnerable. Indeed, even with media training, I’d be vulnerable. It doesn’t matter how calm, reasonable and erudite you might be in reality, by the time the footage has been edited, you will appear an obsessive nutcase. After all, these people are about making entertainment and calm, logical, fact and evidence based observations don’t make for good entertainment. Obsessive nutcases, on the other hand, do.
I have never understood why people put themselves through this nonsense. It’s the modern equivalent of the old Victorian freak shows.
So, again for the third time in a year, I’ll be passing on this wonderful opportunity…
Update:
I since realise that this was announced back in January on Twitter and such when the programmers were looking for a family of remainers and a family of leavers. Yet here we are with them soliciting me, specifically seeking someone from the leave camp nearly three months later. Looks like they might be scraping the barrel.
Or they recognise an obsessive nutcase when they see one?
You’re so cruel. 🙁
Well, if the tin foil hat fits … >};o)
Heh!
Wife Swap Brexit special? I’m beginning to suspect that most ideas for new TV programmes are now generated by picking random words out of a hat.
Talked to a bloke once who worked on so-called reality shows. He said the greatest fear is that nothing much happens, so the ‘reality’ makers do things to stir the televisual pot. Like in a well-organised workshop, they hide a spanner so they can film the mechanic going spare it had been moved from its known, marked place.
Nothing like a frothing angry man to entertain the idiots watching, right?
Which is why I don’t watch this trash and wouldn’t touch the idea of taking part with the proverbial barge-pole.