Reality shows have been around for a long time.  I remember when Survivor and Big Brother premiered.  These shows were supposed to be fun and entertaining, but they evolved into something entirely different.  The amount of booze, sex, and violence have far exceeded the amount of fun and entertainment.  I’ll be honest.  I think the sex and booze has changed since the advent of Covid.

My common go-to complaint has always been Dance Moms because of the long hours the girls had to work and Abby’s attitude toward education.  In fact, more has come out about the treatment of the girls and their moms.  The show, according to Holly Frazier and Christi Lukasiak, was supposed to be a six-part series of the mother/daughter relationship.  Evidently, the network and production company loved the concept.  It evolved into the Abby Lee Miller scream fest most remember today.  Recently, a commentator on the show, MackZBoss did a short reveal on the salaries that the girls and moms made.  To me, it wouldn’t have been worth putting my child through it but by the time it evolved into what we see, the moms/girls had iron clad contracts with Lifetime and breaking though was tough.  If you are interested in her recent piece on the salaries, view her video on YouTube entitled “How Much Was the Cast Paid” (https://youtu.be/7185FBHF2zk). 

Big Brother in its early days didn’t have as many showmances (romances between house guests) with sex going on under the covers.  Yet this began to change around Season 10 when couples became more romantically involved and the Head of House room became a common site of lovers’ adventures.  With “live feeds,” they could tantalize viewers over to see more of the sexual escapades.  And let’s not forget the fights and drunken parties where secrets were spilled, and fights broke out.  I should also mention here that the mental harassment of Taylor Hale and mental instability of one house guest played a role in last year’s fiasco of a show that made it hard to watch.  I gave up on live feeds but saw enough during the three recaps during the week to wonder where Taylor’s strength came from.

Last night though things were taken to a new level with Below Deck Down Under. To be honest, I only liked the original Below Deck because Captain Lee wouldn’t have some of the shenanigans with the crew that appeared on the Mediterranean and the Yacht versions.  On Below Deck Down Under last night, we saw a crew member take it too far. After the usual night of drinking and partying after the cruise, one of the stewardesses came back passed out and was put to bed.  The Bosun, Luke, decided that he wanted to “go to bed” with her and took off his clothes, went to her room, shut-the door, and crawled in bed.  This was a first as I thought: “A sexual assault.  I’m out of here.”  Luckily the producer stopped it, the chief stew was made aware of the situation and went to Captain Jason.  Captain Jason wasn’t going to have that kind of behavior on his ship and basically fired Luke sending him to the motel for a night.  The next day, Luke packed without seeing the crew.  The third stew, Laura, got upset that Luke was fired and took it out on the victim.  Luckily, the chief stew found out about it and Laura’s behavior to a deckhand (wanting sex).  She reported it to Captain Jason who fired her also.  Laura didn’t understand why and said that she should have been given a warning.  Laura, my dear, you were and didn’t listen to the rules Captain Jason laid out.  My opinion of Captain Jason rose but my opinion of Bravo sank.

All this came as a story broke last week of a lawsuit brought against NBCUniversal (parent company of Bravo) by Bethenny Frankel (Real Housewives).  Granted I have never watched a full episode of Real Housewives because I didn’t like the concept, but this lawsuit encompasses all the reality TV stars as she is purposing a union.  Deadline has an interesting article at entitled “NBCUniversal Offers Circumspect Response to ‘Sordid and Dark Underbelly’ of Reality TV Allegations; Porn, Sexual Violence, Booze Abuse Claimed as a Lawsuit Looms”  (https://deadline.com/2023/08/porn-violentce-claims-bethenny-frankel-lawsuit-reality-tv-nbcuniveral-bravo-1235454964/). A lawsuit isn’t something to be taken lightly.  For a reality star of Frankel’s caliber to bring it, the issues must be grave.    I’m taking this straight from the article and will list examples of things I have seen on various reality shows (not necessarily NBCUniversal).

• Deliberate attempts to manufacture mental instability by plying cast members with alcohol while depriving them of food and sleep.  (My example:  Big Brother.  Let’s give them alcohol and have all stay up to 2:00 A. M. so we have plenty of footage for the weekly shows.  By the way, are the Have-Nots (those in punishment) eating any of the others’ food today.)
• Denying mental health treatment to cast members displaying obvious and alarming signs of mental deterioration.  (Again, Big Brother.  There always seems to be one contestant who goes off the deep end each season.  Paloma, from last year, quickly comes to mind.)
• Exploiting minors for uncompensated and sometimes long-term appearances on NBC reality TV shows.  (The video I linked above from Dance Moms is a talking point for this.  The children sometimes didn’t leave the studio until 12 midnight, cast didn’t get food while crew did, and fights were staged.  But this is a Lifetime show?)
• Distributing and/or condoning the distribution of nonconsensual pornography.  (Below Decks Down Under come to mind here.  When a person is drunk and has passed out, they can’t give permission.)
• Covering up acts of sexual violence.  (Okay, I’m not sure what show this came from as it is worded.  There have been questions about the various programs and what we don’t see.)
• Refusing to allow cast members the freedom to leave their shows, even under dire circumstances.  (Again, let’s go with Big Brother which has an exit plan.  The problem is that you must wait 24 hours to be allowed out and then it’s after “counseling.”)

So, do you see a case for the lawsuit to be continued.  NBC has issued their own statement that they are committed to providing a safe environment for the reality shows and throws it back on the production company.  Yet, it is NBC’s name/network that goes on the show, so I don’t buy it.  NBC also says in their statement that they work with production companies when it is brought to their attention.  Yet couldn’t rules about alcohol and behavior be incorporated into the contract along with the truth about the freedom to leave the show and what happens if you do.  All this is ongoing so much more will come out.  Deadline does provide a link in their article to the complaint.  Wonder what else Bethany has to reveal?  And could other networks like CBS/Paramount, A&E/Lifetime and TLC become involved?