Complex factors

The 24-year-old receptionist from North London is full of hope as she prepares for her audition. ""I want to be a star," she says. "I want to be a legend!" But when the time comes to sing, she breaks down in tears and has to start again. The judges hesitate - but finally give her the thumbs up. "I think she's one of those people who's going to divide opinion," says Cheryl Cole:

"You're either going to love her or to hate her. But at least you're going to have an opinion on her."

That was Katie Waissel in 2010 - and when she performed on The X Factor, there was no shortage of opinions. Emerging as the "most hated" person in the series, she was threatened with murder and acid attacks. As a result, she says, she contemplated suicide and suffered from panic attacks.

But last year she decided to fight back. She trained as a lawyer, and is now suing Simon Cowell's company Syco Entertainment for breach of duty of care. She has also started the OWHL Foundation - a charity "Overseeing the Welfare, Human Rights and Liberty" of people in creative industries.

She claims¹ that there is a pattern of manipulation and coercionForcing someone to do something. It derives from a Latin verb meaning "to restrain". in reality TV shows. "Company A, who is in a position of power, seeks person B, who is vulnerableat risk of being harmed. Company A says: 'This is the biggest opportunity of your life and without it, you would be nothing.'"

During the show, she says, "I didn't eat, I didn't sleep. It felt like they owned all of me".

In 2019, British reality TV was described by the New York Times as a "theatre of cruelty". That year, The Jeremy Kyle Show was cancelled after the suspected suicide of one of its guests, Steve Dymond. Another guest, Erica Pawson, had killed herself 14 years earlier.

According to Graeme McAulay, who made a documentary about the show, former members of the production team revealed "a catalogue of exploitation... they told us of a culture whereby guests were manipulated - and where staff were made to feel like their job, first and foremost, was to provoke conflict on stage for the show."

Love Island's record is even worse. Since 2018, three people involved in it have committed suicide: former contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis and former producer Caroline Flack.

Now, however, the producers seem to be making a genuine effort to look after participants, who are offered a minimum of eight therapy sessions.

For the new series, they are being asked to calm things down by stopping their social media feeds while they are on the island. Jo Hemmings, a psychologist who has worked on several reality TV shows, says that Love Island has a "gold standardA system in which the value of a currency is made equivalent to a certain value of gold. Gold's value does not change very much, so currencies on a gold standard usually experience little inflation; however, they can cause deflation by limiting the amount of money in the economy." in observing its duty of care.

And in an article for the BBC website, Louis Staples argues that such shows can be a force for good. The Great British Bake Off, he writes, proves that "camaraderieFriendship and trust among people who spend a lot of time together. and kindness can triumph over cut-throat competitiveness".

Is reality TV a form of exploitation? 

Yes: These programmes only exist to make money for the producers and TV stations, and are designed to be viciously competitive - so of course they show little concern for the contestants.

No: They offer a chance of fame and fortune to people who would otherwise have little hope of it. They have been running long enough for contestants to know what they are letting themselves in for.

Or... There is no such thing as "reality" TV. All these programmes are stage managed and edited to point where they bear no resemblance to real life. "Gladiatorial" TV would be a better term.