In Netflix’s latest documentary “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” Tyra Banks looks at the camera and says, “you guys were asking for it.” Many fans were quick to point out that they were children at the time from teens to five-year-olds. It’s true that as children we didn’t have much power over what Tyra Banks and TV networks allowed to happen on their sets. However, can the same thing be said now? A generation raised by “Fear Factor,” “Jersey Shore,” “Dance Moms,” and of course “America’s Next Top Model” learned to see real people in pain for entertainment.
Tyra didn’t hold herself accountable on that set. She wore armor in the shape of a trench coat and basically said, yeah that was fucked up, but aren’t you excited for season 25? Maybe, people won’t watch it. After seeing a survivor share her horrible experience of going through an assault that was filmed and immortalized in the minds of pre-teen and teenage girls everywhere, it’s hard to swallow sitting through another season. But that’s not gonna stop people from tuning into the next Love is Blind season, or season four of Secrete Lives of Mormon Wives, or the latest episode of Survivor.
Since the documentary’s release people can’t get enough of it. The conversation is centered on the harm this show caused to the contestants, it’s people online saying none of these horrible things should have happened let alone been shown on national television forcing these women to constantly be reminded of some of the worst and most traumatic moments of their lives. However, have we as an audience changed? It’s true that as five, twelve, and fifteen year olds we didn’t have much authority or agency, but we do now. Still we tune-in to these new wave of reality TV shows. No one is race swapping or showing assaults (as far as we know) on the screen, but we are still seeing real people going through incredibly stressful and sometimes traumatic events on our screens for entertainment.
It all reminds me of “The Long Walk” (2025). It can seem extreme to compare reality TV consumption to something so dystopian as Stephen King’s The Long Walk but is there not something inherently dystopian of people going on shows to win the chance to become a model, or find love, or to win money that will then be incredibly taxed and maybe not even worth the effort and humiliation it took to get it? In the “Long Walk,” young men half to walk, keeping a pace of 3 miles per hour (or 4 in the book), until there’s only one man left so they can win money and get one wish. As these young men walk they see spectators on their walk, wanting to get a look at them before their death. In one scene in the movie, two young boys watch as one of the men breaks down from exhaustion and is then shot right in front of them. At the end of their walk, the two remaining men are greeted by a crowd wanting to see one die so the other can win. No, it’s not the same to stand and clap as a person is shot but we do all see mistreatment of reality TV actors to this day and we say how wrong it is and how unethical—so why are these shows still going?
I ask this, not even knowing the answer for myself. I saw the first season of the “Queer Ultimate,” watched as domestic violence occurred on screen and was poorly handed by the hostess, and still tuned in for season two. I sat through season 3 of Secrete Lives of Mormon Wives and see these mothers going through really challenging and personal struggles, many times feeling like neither I nor the camera should be in the room. Reality TV is such a unique form of television because despite its name it’s not all real is it? At the end of the day reality is determined by editors and producers and the narratives they want to construct out of someone’s real life.
I think this documentary is coming out at a good time. My hope that it will help audience who see this type of television as “brainrot” or stuff to turn your brain off too and understand that it’s just as nuanced and complex as a Game of Thrones episode, just in different way. I don’t think that reality TV needs to go away. It should be consumed responsibly, as an adult audience who grew up on America’s Next Top Model and all these other reality TV shows we’ve seen the harm that can be done when we consume without considering what’s happening in the editors room or when the camera isn’t on. These shows are great for starting genuine conversation, it can be incredible to see someone being so vulnerable on our screens. If they’re putting themselves out there for our entertainment, a type of entertainment we seem addicted too, I think we owe to them as well to think critically about it.
