Villains have become so synonymous with Australian reality TV, but what would our reality TV world look like if we got reality TV shows that weren’t based on so much drama?
We first saw the villain portrayal in the generational defining Big Brother. If you’re not sure what Big Brother is, it is a show where contestants are locked into a house, blocked off from the wider world. Left to interact and perform challenges amongst themselves, each week voting one of their housemates out with the help of the public.
Through the format of the show, it was easy to see how having a villain would be enticing for producers as it could be a character that viewers could all collectively despise, hopefully tuning in each night to see what drama they were causing and if they were going to be eliminated.
Characters like John Cass also known as ‘Johnnie Rotten’ (Season 1 Australia), Michael McCoy (Season 6 Australia), Omarosa Manigault (Big Brother Australia VIP), are all famous Big Brother villains known for stirring up the pot and gaining notoriety. I personally remember my older sister referencing Johnnie Rotten all the time growing up.
Big Brother has since stopped making the series, so we had to look to new shows in hopes of getting our villain fix.
Next came along the Apprentice from ex US President Donald Trump. A show where Trump himself puts contestants through a series of challenges with the winner getting the opportunity to work as an apprentice under Trump – although they would pay a significant emotional price for this ‘honour’.
It has been called one of the most consequential shows in history by The Atlantic, and for good reason as Trump’s role as a savage billionaire who constantly put down contestants on the show, raised his profile from that of a sleazy New York property investor to ‘reality TV legend’, which can some argue, helped him on his way to become the US president in 2016.
My personal favourite though would have to be Married at First Sight – notorious for its drama, and its creation of so many reality TV villains.
For those who haven’t seen the show it is about two singles who meet at the altar and take on the challenge of being married to a complete stranger, until they both decide to call it quits.
You can literally smell the drama.
MAFS has developed a giant fanbase (myself included) and I’m sure at least one person you know from work is an active viewer of the show. And what do they love it for? The villains.
Brides and grooms like Cyrell Paule, commonly referred to as Cyclone Cyrell (Season 6), Bryce Ruthven (Season 8), Olivia Fraser (Season 9) and Jack Dunkley (Season 11), have made multiple headlines from their ‘villainous’ exploits in the show. From misogynistic comments, throwing wine, showing someone’s explicit images and just plain old emotional manipulation, they’re the characters we remember the most.
What would reality TV look like without villains?
The answer is pretty bleak. It would definitely be less entertaining, that’s for sure. There have been shows such as The Block which started out as a wholesome renovation show, but have since reverted to using drama directly from villains as a way to keep viewers hooked.
The question I ask myself sometimes is would Australia be a friendlier place without reality TV villains? I am sure the people who are made out to be villains aren’t actually like that on the outside of the show, and don’t go around speaking to members of their family or friends like they’re depicted on screen.
But would reality TV actually be interesting without drama, as I personally find that characters who are too nice on reality shows are kinda icky. It would surely be way too exhausting to be that nice all the time?!
I reckon we actually all have a reality TV villain inside of us, but we keep it hidden because we know it is not appropriate to say or do the things we’ve seen on TV. We’ve all wanted to throw wine on someone, yell across the table at a rude guest and even just be a serious arse to someone we hate, but we don’t.
Watching other people on TV act this out gives us some kind of crazy relief, that we aren’t the only ones who feel this way and even though the majority of it is scripted and produced, it still makes us feel less insane for having these wild feelings pent up inside of us.
Maybe the world would be more positive without villains, maybe it wouldn’t, but we will never know because drama is the lifeblood of reality TV and no one brings the drama quite like a classic villain.
Written by Jack Larkin.
Image credit: Channel 9, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
The post Could Australian reality TV survive without its villains? appeared first on Punkee.
