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Anti MAFS and reality TV


LunaFreya

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Sugarplum Poobah
3 hours ago, pelagic said:

I think of society as being responsible in a number of ways though. 1) Promoting such shallow, nasty behaviour. 2) Finding such behaviour interesting. 3) Building people up too much 4) Tearing them down. The positivity is as bad as the negativity - it eggs these idiots on to greater heights of nastiness, plasticity and shallowness, which of course they then (quite unsurprisingly) get dragged for. The whole thing is toxic, not just whatever happens afterward. The very rewards of the show are toxic. 

Well yes,  that's every MAFS promo I've ever seen 😉

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Purpleblaze

I used to watch competition shows years ago like Survivor, Amazing Race, a couple of seasons of masterchef, selling houses, say yes to the dress and admittedly the Biggest Loser.  Oh and seasons 1 of Big Brother, Australian Idol & The Voice.

I have never seen MAFS or love island in my life and I abhor the bachelor.  Why yes, lets continue to perpetuate the fantasy of some princely bloke saving the poor maiden from a life of loneliness.  Let's watch a bunch of women throw themselves at a man and fight each other tooth and nail for his heart.  My mum watches these in avid fascination much to my dismay.  I watched the show Unreal which really brought to life for me how manipulated the cast are and are pretty much set up to fail (or excel at drama - take your pick).

I agree with what pelagic said and find the whole reality TV "sex" type shows (vs competition) really are toxic and bottom of the barrel stuff.  From what I heard even MKR got really bitchy and nasty but I never watched it.  When masterchef first started it was seen as a new type of reality show where contestants were supportive and judges harsh but fair.

I prefer to read romance books (some would call trashy) but at least it's not at the expense of real people being manipulated to behave their worst.  I hope these type of shows (and indeed magazines) die off sooner rather than later.

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14 hours ago, Purpleblaze said:

I used to watch competition shows years ago like Survivor, Amazing Race, a couple of seasons of masterchef, selling houses, say yes to the dress and admittedly the Biggest Loser.  Oh and seasons 1 of Big Brother, Australian Idol & The Voice.

I have never seen MAFS or love island in my life and I abhor the bachelor.  Why yes, lets continue to perpetuate the fantasy of some princely bloke saving the poor maiden from a life of loneliness.  Let's watch a bunch of women throw themselves at a man and fight each other tooth and nail for his heart.  My mum watches these in avid fascination much to my dismay.  I watched the show Unreal which really brought to life for me how manipulated the cast are and are pretty much set up to fail (or excel at drama - take your pick).

I agree with what pelagic said and find the whole reality TV "sex" type shows (vs competition) really are toxic and bottom of the barrel stuff.  From what I heard even MKR got really bitchy and nasty but I never watched it.  When masterchef first started it was seen as a new type of reality show where contestants were supportive and judges harsh but fair.

I prefer to read romance books (some would call trashy) but at least it's not at the expense of real people being manipulated to behave their worst.  I hope these type of shows (and indeed magazines) die off sooner rather than later.

MKR was incredibly bitchy. People were absolutely falling apart over cooking dinner! It's just fucking dinner! Honestly I don't see a difference between competing for "love" and competing for prize money/your own restaurant/a new house. It brings out the worst in all of them.

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22 hours ago, Lurker said:

MKR was incredibly bitchy. People were absolutely falling apart over cooking dinner! It's just fucking dinner! Honestly I don't see a difference between competing for "love" and competing for prize money/your own restaurant/a new house. It brings out the worst in all of them.

So true. It was not always like this though because in the early years there was not so much inter couple/contestant bitterness.

It is clear that ratings is all that matters to the producers so it's all about getting together a bunch of people who'd sell their soul for Instagram Likes or money, throw in the occasional 'normal couple' and it's a free for all.

It's a dirty business really but there has to be a point when people need to take the approach that they will not add fuel to this behaviour and not sign up. ( I doubt it will happen though.)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Spidey_Senses
On 02/08/2021 at 12:25 PM, Bad Cat said:

Reality tv has always been problematic.

I tend to divide them into competitive (Mastercher, Survivor, Amazing Race etc) and sex (Bachelor, MAFS, Love Island etc).

I watch some of the competitive ones but will not watch the dating ones. I find the concept of reality shows about relationships troubling.  Emotions are not supposed to be competitive and treating them as such is a recipe for disaster. And MAFS is the bottom of the barrel. Revolting concept. Won't watch it, ever.

Same here.  I like ones which showcase a skill (cooking, dancing, house renovations) because I find the actual food or art interesting of itself.   

Unfortunately, despite viewers making it clear they want to see the skill not the fake drama, the networks insist on making shows like the block to be more and more about the drama and less about the renovations.  I also find the renovation ones in particular to be very sexist in their stereotyping of men doing the heavy lifting and women shopping for decorations.  And all those little things, for example in house rules the female partner was asked how she would like 'her' laundry laid out while the male partner plans 'his' shed.  

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I stopped watching MasterChef when it was more about the drama than the food. There was one contestant who kept crying when she did bad, and while I have sympathy that sort of thing gets you told to leave a commercial kitchen so the rest of them can get on with the job. 

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Sancti-claws

I do watch some shows that have an element of skill or talent within them - so Masterchef and Lego Master - or an actual interest factor - Grand Designs - but not contriviality shows where the show is the whole package and being mean (as producer or player) is the currency.

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RynandStompy

Trigger warning re internet trolling

The ongoing relentless internet trolling is another aspect that was never spelt out to nor understood by contestants. Last year I listened to a podcast interviewing someone from either MAFS or Batchelor from some years back. They'd been notable on that show. A villian or sexy role (not sure tbh).  She commented that she could tell when the series was resold to another country and shown ...because she'd get a fresh round of hate comments, rape  threats and people telling her to go kill herself,  on her insta and social presences.

I gathered she didn't get new income from the rescreening, any psych help from the network was end dated some time ago. They left it for her to deal with.

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I dispise any reality dating show.  No one dresses up every day like they do, no one has the kinds of dates they go on, most people have jobs they have to go to and meals, washing, cleaning to be done as well.  This whole idealism of just lounging around being perfectly manicured, having no real world issues is just so fake.  

I do like Lego Masters, I will watch Survivor and I'm A Celebrity but the later 2 are more to zone out then anything

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