Posts Tagged ‘reality TV’

CNN: Adult bullying and reality TV

Thursday, February 28th, 2013

Our unhealthy love of reality TV
by Jen Christensen, CNN, Feb. 28, 2013

A red-faced Gordon Ramsay gets nose-to-nose with an older man and shouts, “Wake up!” He calls another chef’s food “rotten.” He reduces a middle-aged woman to hysterical tears. And all that’s just in the opening credits of “Kitchen Nightmares.”

For the next hour of the British culinary icon’s popular reality TV series, there is little in the way of praise or pats on the back for the chefs he’s coaching. Instead, he swears. He throws food. He calls people “stupid” and “disgusting pigs.” His entire performance is based on sharp criticism and what some may argue is bullying-type behavior. Viewers eat it up.

Nightmarish behavior is the stuff reality TV shows are made of. Ramsay is certainly not alone. Tami Roman on VH1′s “Basketball Wives” calls her friends “bitches” and physically attacks one of them in front of a fancy Miami restaurant. A study of the U.K.’s version of “The Apprentice” found it depicted 85 aggressive acts an hour. “American Idol” showed 57 aggressive acts an hour.

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Tags: adult bullying, aggression, ostracism, reality TV, workplace bullying
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Playing war on TV & American gun massacres: See the connection?

Monday, July 30th, 2012

Seen the ads for the newest reality show, “Stars Earn Stripes,” a dancing with the stars format that pairs celebrities with soldiers (or former soldiers called operatives) testing their “military mettle” with real ammunition? This wacky war-is-fun theme is not going to be buried on TLC, A&E, HGTV or Spike. It’s going to air on NBC produced by Dick Wolf and Mark Burnett, Hollywood men with the midas touch.