Reality TV has been around in some form since the earliest days of television broadcasting. Ever heard of Candid Camera?
But reality television as we know it today really started to coalesce in the early 90s with MTV’s The Real World and, in my opinion, took off in the mid-aughts around the time of the 2005 WGA writer’s strike. Some thought that the rise of quality cable shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, or Breaking Bad would diminish reality TV’s grip on programming, but the establishment of streaming means that there area a lot of digital libraries to fill and producers keep dipping back into the reality TV well.1
I got caught up in the world of reality television right around 2010-2011 when TLC’s My Strange Addiction came to town and hired me as a camera op for a three episode stint.
Now, I had never watched the show, but I had definitely heard of it. At the time, the series had only been around for one season, but in that time it had already garnered a reputation. Some were grossed out by it, while others were fascinated. Others dismissed it with a shake of the head and a snarky, “Ridiculous,” muttered under their collective breath. To me, it seemed to be Intervention lite, which may be oversimplifying things, but again that was a personal opinion based on what I knew at the time.
And what I also knew is that almost everyone questions the verisimilitude of these so-called “reality shows.” Even today when I reveal to others that I had an opportunity to work on My Strange Addiction, the first question invariably is, “Was it real?”
Well, here’s a recap of my brief experience working on the show, what I saw, and what I learned from the experience.
One of the episodes I worked on was season 2, episode 7, “Bathes in Bleach,” and yes, it’s exactly as advertised. The woman in the story was addicted to bleach, not only for cleaning her house but for bathing. She used about a gallon per day.
Another episode I worked on was season 3, episode 4 and featured a young woman who was addicted to drinking nail polish.
I found the first two episodes to epitomize the word “strange,” for sure, but the third episode I worked on was something different. To me, it was downright disturbing. The woman at the center of the story was addicted to eating her husband’s ashes directly out of the urn.
I didn’t know any of these people prior to working on the show. I had no knowledge of their stories or their addictions. Nor do I know what happened to them after we wrapped each shoot. I’ve never searched the Internet for any info about how they’re doing today.
So… was it real?
When I think about that question, I have to counter with, “What do you mean by the word ‘real?’”
Here are two examples to illustrate what I’m talking about:
The people at the center of each story were real. Obviously, each were dealing with some kind of trauma. Some addictions may seem less serious than others, but all were the result of some past experience that the individual was unable to cope with in an emotionally/mentally-healthy way. This was obvious to me while shooting the therapy scene in the episode where the woman was addicted to eating her husband’s ashes. To me, she was really struggling to process her grief after losing her husband in such a sudden and tragic way. And once she mentioned thoughts of self harm, the therapist stopped the shoot and immediately got the young woman into a facility where she could be monitored.
The people were real, but some scenes were staged and directed. Take, for example, the episode featuring a woman who drank nail polish. The confrontation between her and her mom was arranged. The producers brought the two of them together, gave each general direction of what to do and say, and then let the conversation play out. The argument grew more intense and heated, but as soon as we stopped rolling tape, both mother and daughter dropped the act. So, there was an appearance of reality, but we certainly weren’t voyeurs simply capturing life as it unfolded. I’m sure that the mother and the daughter did have arguments about her addiction to nail polish at some points in the past, but for the show to be interesting, conflict was needed.
TV is entertainment, first and foremost (although one could make a great argument that TV is, in fact, an advertising distribution method and the actual shows are only filler material) so I understand the desire for producers to set up/stage/direct certain moments and scenes to amp up the entertainment value.2
My Strange Addiction was no different. And I think that, to some extent, that desire to create compelling reality television is a two-way street, occupied by both producers and subjects. The real people at the center of these episodes made a conscious decision to apply to be on the show. Now, whether their motivations stemmed from a genuine desire to find help or from a simple desire to have their fifteen minutes of fame, I can’t say, and I don’t want to speculate. But they wanted to be involved and they were willing to comply with the producers on every request, no questions asked.
Fifteen years later and I guess I’m not really sure where I land on reality shows like My Strange Addiction. It was definitely an interesting experience and makes for some quality conversation at any social gathering. In my brief time working in reality TV I never felt like I was participating in something that crossed any kind of a line and I never felt as though the people were being exploited or manipulated. Despite the fact that certain moments were set up, my impressions were that the producers were not trying to paint the subjects in a certain light, or manipulate an audience’s perception of the kind of people they were (like in other shows). I did feel as though they were trying to document their addiction as truthfully as possible. But I realize that there are many stories of people who had some pretty bad experiences while shooting reality TV. So I do believe that lines can be crossed, and have been crossed, so you probably need to listen to that inner voice to help when you need to find your moral bearings.
Or just remember the wise words of a world-famous chaos theory mathematician:
How Reality TV Has Reshaped Our World, Whether We Like It Or Not, by Judy Berman, TIME, August 4, 2022
For a great conversation about making art and the nature of the TV industry, listen to this episode of the Search Engine podcast.