Would you do reality TV?

[Turtle]

Hell no.

My kids are wonderful most of the time, but I guarantee that they'd do something horribly embarrassing if they had a large audience.

I think that parents who throw their kids under the bus for their 15 minutes of fame on a crappy reality show are really disgusting.

[Conuly]

1. How good is the money? If not that great, are there other payoffs, like vacations?

2. How long is it, and is the point more than "watch this train wreck"? Like, if it's a competitive one like amazing race, or a short term one like House Hunters, that's not at ALL the same as an every day one, right?

3. Am I mandated by contract to act ridiculous?

[Morton Fan]

I would love to be on Survivor!!!! But, something where they show my house before I've had a chance to put away the dirty clothes and clean up the baby's thrown food, and the occasional stray diaper sitting in a corner somewhere? Never.

[Kellbells]

Sure. 19 Kids By 19 Different Daddies. Game on!!

But seriously, no. I was in an episode of WE Platinum Weddings. My friend was the bride. While they didn't create drama as we would've had NONE of that, the questions they asked us were leading and the final product was a video of a wedding that was nothing like the event actually was. And that is my gripe over a one hour episode, can't imagine what a whole season of something would do. No thank you!

[tropaka]

I'd only do a "reality" show where they renovate my house (any Love it or List it fans? It's so predictable I know already what part of a house reno would be scrapped) or have a dinner party. There's no reason to film my life in general and it seems like the kiss of death to marriages etc.

[Chibi Author]

I don't think I'd go for a Duggar type show. Maybe a few years down the line, I could handle a special, but not a actual show; especially at the moment, my relationship with my sister is rather ... strained, and you know the producers would be all over that.

That said, I'd give my left leg to be on Say Yes to The Dress (I'm a writer, and I sew and draw, so losing an arm would be inconvenient. Legs are slightly more expendable). Probably the bridesmaid version, actually, because I doubt I'd actually wear any of the dresses on the show down the aisle, but yeah. One of my guilty pleasure dreams.

[Trudestar]

Those shows are so manipulated by the producers, you could never hope to be portrayed accurately.

I would absolutely HATE strangers (or acquaintances for that matter) knowing anything about my personal life, most especially if they only get to see the parts considered juicy enough.

Gee's, my Mother can be critical enough, bugger letting the general public have comment on my decisions in life! ;)

I agree The Amazing Race would be cool, but still, they do try to score extra ratings by exploiting the relationships between the teams....

Great question, but my answer is No Way.

[Flossie]

I'd only do a reality show if I were one of the background characters who never has to talk to the camera's or interact with the 'leads.' For instance, I've worked at call centers before, I'm actually quite good at it, but the stuff that goes on there is insane!

I've worked as a phone tech for ISP's and satellite TV. I've worked as Sales, Customer Service, and Order Management for various companies.

I had a woman who couldn't focus on her connection issues because she was obsessed with the maggots she found at the bottom of her garbage can. Or the woman who called at 10 pm and threatened suicide because she couldn't access her email due to a virus on her computer, and she had a repair tech who was scheduled to visit her home the next day! Or the man who called drunk from his hot tub to order something but wouldn't actually order it because he really wanted to talk about his daughter's rape. Or the guy who decided he liked me so much he wanted to fly me across country to 'have lunch' with him; he didn't appreciate it when I asked him if that offer also included my husband and kids. And there was a woman who kept trying to get me to talk about my periods, she found it inexplicable that as a woman I felt that was something that was too private to talk about to a stranger. Oh, and the guy who couldn't get up and try to work with me on his problems with his satellite dish because he had two broken legs and a concussion. He'd fallen off a bar stool. Turned out the bar stool was motorized and he was sitting on it and racing other motorized bar stool sitters in a race down a public highway when he wiped out and fell over a 20 foot embankment. The woman who called from Disney World and cursed her way through her call because FedEx mistakenly delivered a package to her office from the company I was working for.

The people who work in those places are also a trip, we come from everywhere. College kids, parents, grandparents; all crammed together in a large building where we can all hear each other's phone calls and chats with other workers. The sheltered young man who was socially awkward and in his early 20's who finally got his first job. He was so hoping for a girlfriend it was painful to watch. He kept hitting on the girls and when it didn't work out, he'd decide that they were actually lesbians (but if they ever decided to 'switch', they'd all totally go for him!) The ass who was trying to get everyone involved in a pyramid scheme. The poor woman who was always showing up with black eyes and an unbelievable story about how she got it. The young lady who would talk normally to women, but suddenly start talking in a baby voice, complete with 'adorable' lisp, whenever she was talking to a man. Or the guy who admitted he was distracted because he was getting a blow job from his boyfriend while on the phone.

The Team Leader who was a complete bitch to everyone, but when a superior came around she was suddenly sweet and walking around complementing people, giving them pats on the shoulder, and condescendingly talking about how great they all were. She would also send an email around to her team a week before her birthday telling them that she expected a birthday party, and would list gifts and the type of cake we should have for her. The email was full of lol's, but we all knew that if we didn't do it she'd torpedo our employee reviews and we wouldn't get our next scheduled raise. The manager who got too drunk at the Christmas party, jumped on a table and started to do a strip tease to Jingle Bells, except he was singing Jingle Balls.

The times someone was going to be fired and the center would call in the police to show up and escort the person out, because they were afraid said employee would get violent. The times someone called in a bomb threat and we all had to evacuate. The time someone smelled burning insulation and suddenly there were firemen wandering around sniffing the air trying to see if anyone else smelled it too.

I'd go on that kind of reality show.

[ladyaudley]

They did a documentary on my boarding school while I was there. The crew lived with us for a month and it was good fun. You get to be friends with them, really. So not *exactly* reality tv, but close enough.

You then watch it and think "ooh, clever editing".

[Trudestar]

Crikeys Flossie, working there sounds like a hoot.

They just can't make stuff like that up. Now THAT'S a reality show!

[Papagena]

I would do a show that was a one-time episode where I got something out of the deal, like What Not to Wear. (In fact, I keep begging friends to nominate me for that, to no avail.)

I would not do an extended in-home reality show like 19Kids. My life looks crazy enough without an editing team making me look even "better" for ratings.

[Savoring Samsara]

Actually, contrary to my earlier post, there is one reality show I might enjoy being involved with: SyFy's Face Off.

It's about designing and producing movie makeup, and that's all that it focuses on - no snooping into the contestants' private lives, and no contrived drama that I've seen. The contestants even sometimes help each other out when there's a difficulty, like a mold not opening properly. The only aspect of the show that I wouldn't like is the short deadlines the artists must work within; I need time to think and reflect about creative work, and I think that might mess things up for me.

Minus the time constraint, it might be quite fun! I don't think it's very typical of the reality-show genre, though.

Face Off is quality. Did you see the season finale earlier this week? I thought the person who won was very deserving. :D

Like many others here, I would not do the sort of reality show where they followed me or my family around all day with a camera. I would definitely do The Amazing Race, though! My partner would be my college roommate; we backpacked around Europe together, so we have lots of experience with international travel and with being together in less than ideal situations for a long period of time. I honestly think we would totally dominate the competition. :dance:

I would also definitely do a singing competition show. I'm too old for American Idol now but I guess I could try out for The Voice. Mind you, I wouldn't want to win The Voice and be stuck with that record contract - better to get eliminated too early, when people still like you and aren't sick of you yet, and use the exposure to launch a career.

[gezykah]

I could only image what I'd look like after editing. I know I can have a polarizing personality. For example the high school I went to didn't have a category for nicest student in the year book. A friend tried to get the year book committee to add one and started a write in campaign for me. They refused to add it since I had criticized their decision remove a section of the yearbook where students use to be able to submit baby pictures of themselves. If somebody I was close to had a reality show I wouldn't exactly hide from them when it was filming but I could never be on the cast of one.

[Syd+Marky]

A very popular reality TV show from MTVs early days just aired the 1st episode of their new season,filmed in the city I live in.My city has become somewhat "trendy"in the last seversl years.

Im too old to have applied by the time they decided to film here,but when they were looking for local applicants, I definitely thought about those things.

If it was this show,considering how they typecast, I would have had to make the ultimate local.A bipolar,lazy free- living artist/writer,tortured soul type-whos worn the Portlandia glasses since the 90s.Depending on what age of my early 20s, or late teens,the film crew would have been following me to cop heroin or to the methadone clinic every morning.LoL.(Im not sure how the confidentiality laws would work with that though)

At this point in my life,however,I wouldnt do it.I have a family, and kids that could be affected by certain skeletons.It would be good PR for my career as a writer,if things were portrayed in exactly the right way,but that never happens..

[Syd+Marky]

If it was some kind of contest, sure, I don't mind if we're judging talent (one of my lifelong dreams is to be on Jeopardy, which although not strictly "reality" has much of the same principles behind it). "Randomly follow people around all day" kind of stuff? Hell no.

I didnt think of that one.I've wanted to be on Jeopardy since I was 9:-)

[Fargood]

We actually just had somone approach my husband about participating in a reality TV show centered around his job. He did fill out the paperwork and I noticed that one of the producers was trolling my LinkedIn profile recently. We decided that as long as the show was about him and his work and not about the family, we'd consider it.

He's not exactly Hollywood material, so I'm sure we won't make the cut. There's plenty of good looking twenty-something males in this state who probably fit the bill a lot better. In fact, this state is chocked full of twenty something males who have more money than brains.

[RosyDaisy]

No way in Hell!

[keen23]

It would depend. I do like some of the skills based reality shows- Top Chef comes to mind as one that does not seem to overly edit for controversy. But, I can't cook. I think Amazing Race would also be fun to be on. But, I'd never want to be on a show that exploited my kids.

[moodygirl86]

No. I don't watch reality TV because it bores me shitless; and while I'm not shy, I do like my privacy. I don't even have a Facebook/Twitter or whatever's "in" at the minute; although if/when I next get a band together and write some songs, I wouldn't mind putting them up on a website/Myspace. I like getting up with my guitar and singing, but that's art and something you're putting a lot of thought into. People participating in Big Brother and programmes like it think they're stars, but they're just puppets being dangled at the public. Disposable minor celebs is all they are; they're forgotten after six months and the fat cat producers are laughing all the way to the bank.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

I would do a show that was a one-time episode where I got something out of the deal, like What Not to Wear. (In fact, I keep begging friends to nominate me for that, to no avail.)

I would not do an extended in-home reality show like 19Kids. My life looks crazy enough without an editing team making me look even "better" for ratings.

During my freshman year of college, my friends and I tried to nominate each other for that show. Then, we found out the person who nominates forks over the money the nominee spends. At which point we said "I love you, but if I'm spending $5000 on a make over, it'll be my own makeover."

[redcurls]

During my freshman year of college, my friends and I tried to nominate each other for that show. Then, we found out the person who nominates forks over the money the nominee spends. At which point we said "I love you, but if I'm spending $5000 on a make over, it'll be my own makeover."

:shock: What? Well, that's another reality show I can never enjoy again...

[Syd+Marky]

:shock: What? Well, that's another reality show I can never enjoy again...

No shit??! That, I did not know.

[Spider Burps]

No shit??! That, I did not know.

Where did you hear that?? Google disagrees, as does a woman who has been on the show... cheyenne-whatnottowear.blogspot.com/ The person who is nominated has to pay taxes on the $5,000 but nothing else, according to this: voices.yahoo.com/how-tlcs-not-wear-43034.html

[FeministShrew]

I didnt think of that one.I've wanted to be on Jeopardy since I was 9:-)

My second exhusband applied to be on Jeopardy and invited to come to come out & do the in-person interview, nut he couldn't afford the trip to CA.

Edited because Jeeopardy is a completely different show. :oops: