2 Mar 2021

I have, for many years, eschewed a lot of reality tv shows. Anything that involves cooking leaves me cold. I’ve watched maybe an episode or two of the popular sort, and know enough that I wouldn’t eat what they are ‘plating up’, but likewise they would not touch anything I throw on a plate for dinner either. It’s a mutual aversion, I’m sure.

I’ve never watched a second of anything Kardashian related, Housewives from wherever, or runway shows. I attempted one of the Bachelor series but didn’t last through the whole thing, and I accidentally saw a small amount of a sequel to that sort of thing, that’s on an island but with not a lot of clothes.

It didn’t keep my attention.

There have been a few different types of the genre that I’ve seen a bit of – survivory type shows or semi famous people in a jungle. And in the early days, the concept of locking a bunch of people in a house and filming them 24/7 was interesting. But those days are a long time ago.

The reason I’ve lost interest in reality television is that it appears, to me, to be that the only reason people go on these type of shows, is to become famous. Or more famous than they apparently already are.

The fact I don’t watch them has been detrimental to my general knowledge of who ‘famous’ people are, when they crop up on other shows. So this year, I’ve made a conscious decision to watch one of those shows where they ‘expertly match’ people and they get married sight unseen.

I have always been highly critical of this particular type of show, mainly due to the write ups in the newspaper about the sort of drunken chaos that happens. They seemed, to me, to be purely set up for melodramatic bulldust. The sort of bulldust that they unfortunately keep churning out, because of the people who watch it. The more drama they create, the more people talk about it, the more ‘famous’ the couples become, and the more seasons of the show they churn out.

But, and mainly because there wasn’t much else in tv, I thought I’d give this series a shot. I’d watch it as long as I can, and try to see why they keep making them.

I’m about four or five episodes in, and I’m struggling. It started out as if the people were genuinely seeking out a life partner…. for about the first hour or so.

And then we went to the research tool, the internet, to see how successful these type of shows have been in ‘expertly’ finding couples who are perfect for each other.

My research assistant (my husband) informs me that in Australia, there has been maybe four couples out of 60 ‘expertly selected’, that have remained together. There are ones who finish the show together, only to realise within months that the match is not quite what they hoped for.

But fortunately there are always other reality shows they can move into, in their hope for eternal happiness, or at the very least, social media fame. They could pop up on a bachelor type show, or a jungle show, or a cooking show, or they could even show up on one of those island shows.

I’m not sure how much longer I can keep watching these people on this marriage experiment show. It’s cringe worthy, for sure, and it surprises me sometimes how many people I know are also watching it, but….

The fact that I’m writing today’s episode of diarrhoea while tonight’s show is streaming, tells you how enthralled I am.