Reality TV has become insanely popular within the last few years. Why? Because people love to watch people. For some reason, we find it so interesting to see other people interact, drink excessively, fight, make up, cry, laugh, etc. Shows such asThe Real World, Jersey Shore and The Hills have all achieved success through televising and scripting "real life" scenarios.
More specifically, reality romance shows such as The Bachelor, Are You the One? and Next seem to be captivating audiences like never before. With all the fame, are contestants really going on to find their perfect match or are they exploiting the shows in order to gain celebrity status?
Obviously, all people have different motives. I'm sure there are some good-hearted people out there, such as Chris Soules on The Bachelor, who really just want to find love, or those on Catfish, who just want to discover if they have found real love or have been fooled by a pseudo Facebook user. However, I do believe that, often, contestants on shows such as The Bachelor and Are You the One? may decide that finding love on television is the way to go in order to both find love and get their name out there.
The MTV hit show Are You the One? is like reality TV and a game show combined, having girls and guys on the show at once, each having a perfect match there that they need to find, while playing games to win dates to take people on. There's drama, of course, and the contestants definitely benefit, winning a $1 million if they can all find their matches by week 10. In addition to winning money, many then go on to compete in other MTV reality game shows such as Battle of the Exes or The Challenge or begin to sponsor brands and do other celebrity-typical things. Here, it seems obvious that many people go on this show for the fame, money and love, and it seems appropriate, because everyone knows that's why everyone else is on the show, too.
On the other hand, with shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, typically, the Bachelor/Bachelorette is genuinely there to find their soulmate, not fame or money. On the contrary, throughout the seasons, there are several contestants that stick out as fake or shallow, using the show to promote themselves and their music careers, modeling, acting, or just themselves in general, instead of finding love with the Bachelor/Bachelorette. And many succeed. Several contestants from the show go on to do another season or other Bachelor airings, which brings in some dough, in addition to competing on shows such as Dancing With The Stars — where they are considered the celebrity and are paired with a professional dancer.
Now, I'm a firm believer in the phrase "to each his own," but isn't it sad that we, TV viewers, encourage people to go on these shows in order to become famous? And what are they even famous for? They have no talent, aside from attempting to fall in love, getting drunk or fighting with other cast mates. It's sad that we have allowed ourselves to be entertained by this junk, but as ridiculous as these shows are, we can't get enough!
Love them or hate them, reality love shows have become a huge phenomenon on TV, generating a lot of social media buzz, and money and fame for some — but not all — of their participants. Watch them or don't watch them; that's up to you. And if you want to sign up for an experience like this — go for it. Just don't be surprised when people's intentions aren't what you thought they were ...
