Some of this is redundant but there were several items that I didn't know about and haven't seen posted. I'm as incredulous as Lady T about these people. Is it required that someone in the house have accidently killed another person on every BB? First Chicken George then Shannon. I'm hoping Will gets into trouble for stealing the viagra. Would this be considered a confession?The Evolution of Reality Show Evil: How Low Can They Go?
by Stacey Allison
First, there was Rich Hatch on
Survivor 1. He was the villain of the
series and many were quite upset
to see him win. Then, there was
Jerri on Survivor 2. She was
annoying and objectionable, and
most were thrilled to see her go. But
then there was Justin on Big
Brother 2, not to mention the Chill
Town alliance. These people just
keep getting worse. When will we hit
rock bottom?
Since the arrival on the pop culture
landscape of Survivor, we have loved
to hate reality show bad guys. We
gather at the water cooler and gossip
about their nefarious deeds,
delighting in their machinations. Yet
is that still the case, or have we
begun to truly just hate them?
In the summer of 2000, North
America was shocked (shocked!) by
the plotting and scheming of Survivor
contestant Richard Hatch and his
Tagi alliance. Fast forward to summer
of 2001 and the houseguests of Big
Brother 2.
As far as bad behavior goes, plotting
and scheming barely make the list.
How has the reality show villain sunk
so low and so fast?
While reality shows like MTV's The
Real World have been around for over
a decade featuring unlikable
characters (Puck, anyone?), it was
not until Survivor I that a reality
show and its villains really captured
the imagination of the nation.
In between SI and BB2, there was of
course the first Big Brother. Not
unsurprisingly (depending on your
point of view), the only potential
villains on the original BB were voted
out almost immediately by the public.
Indeed, if Richard Hatch had to face
an audience vote, he likely would
never have made it half as far as he
did.
With the second installment in the
Survivor franchise, we had the bitchy
antics of Jerri Manthey to earn our ire
(and Manthey indeed was happily
lambasted by the public and the
media), yet even she seems harmless
in retrospect.
The members of the so-called "Chill
Town" group of BB2 are hateful,
hurtful, and above all, astoundingly
unintelligent. One former member also
has a tendency towards violence.
26-year-old Justin Sebik was ejected
from the house after holding a knife
to fellow contestant Krista Stegall's
throat. Not that she seemed to mind,
of course. Krista's ambivalence
towards the actions of Chill Town
have made her a sometimes-member.
She can be called naive and foolish
at best, and at worst downright
immoral herself. (Recently, she's
discussed making nasty comments to
fellow housemate Kent's young
children during the next live
broadcast, so it would seem her
moral compass veers strongly
towards that of "CT".)
Justin also has a record of five
arrests for robbery and assault
(which CBS claims not to have known
about). Of course, he isn't the first
reality show contestant with a
criminal background and, as it turns
out, he isn't the last.
Kelly Wiglesworth was part of the
Tagi alliance that brought down the
Pagong tribe in Survivor I. Even they
had a few skeletons in the closet:
Kelly was wanted in North Carolina to
face felony charges that involved a
spending spree using a stolen credit
card in 1995. (She has since reached
a plea agreement with the authorities
there.) Fellow castaway Richard was
arrested after coming back from the
island on suspicion of child abuse.
(The charges have since been
dropped and he has been
exonerated.)
Kelly and Richard schemed along with
Susan Hawk and Rudy Boesch to
become the final four contestants on
the show. They succeeded brilliantly.
Yet viewers were outraged at the
tactics used by the Tagi alliance.
Why, they lied to people's faces!
They backstabbed not only the
Pagong tribe, but each other as well!
Hatch, in particular, as the brains
behind the operation (and the
eventual winner) was scorned by the
public.
Yet, with all the plotting that went
on at Pulau Tiga, there was almost
no hateful behavior. Naturally players
got on each other's nerves and sure,
Susan did skewer Kelly with her
infamous "Snake and Rat" diatribe on
the final episode. Chalk it up to the
heat and emotions running high.
(Wiglesworth and Hawk claim to have
since patched up their differences
and, sure enough, the pair have
seemed genuinely friendly towards
each other at public appearances.)
In fact, none of the cast of the
original Survivor seem to hold any
grudges (with the exception of
lawyer Stacey Stillman, although her
grudge is against producer Mark
Burnett and his reported fixing of the
game). For the most part, the
castaways all got along swimmingly
and any unpleasantness was a
product of the tension of playing the
game.
The Tagi alliance did what needed to
be done to win. If the Pagong
members hadn't been so hopelessly
naive, they too would have formed
an alliance to try to control the
voting process. There was little to no
insulting of other contestants aside
from Rudy's rampant homophobia
(and even he was friends with
openly-gay Richard). For the most
part, nothing was personal.
Then, last winter, came Survivor 2.
Jerri Manthey, a bartender/wannabe
actress, was the epitome of the
pretty, catty girl whom most people
hated in high school. She was
devious (accusing fellow contestant
Kel of smuggling in beef jerky),
combative (butting heads with Keith
over just about everything), and
worst of all, she was annoying (her
luxury item was a bongo -- the
prosecution rests).
The public hated Jerri. She
orchestrated poor Kel's dismissal. She
tried to manipulate good-guy Colby.
She had other Ogakor tribe members
Amber and Mitchell hanging off her
every word. She argued with Keith
constantly. She was a pain to live
with and she was quite simply, a
#####.
Suddenly Richard Hatch looked like a
prince next to Jerri Manthey. Richard
had plotted, sure, but he was a
good-natured and seemingly
good-hearted person. At the time,
Jerri had taken the reality show villain
to a new, malicious level and was
almost unanimously hated by the
public. She claims to have been the
victim of one-sided editing (which
may not be wholly untrue) and has in
the months following the show tried
to prove that she's not so bad after
all.
Indeed, she may be right. It can be
said that while Jerri was not the
nicest person to spend a month
starving in the Outback with, she
was fairly harmless. Jerri was
pompous and egotistical, but she
wasn't truly detestable. Certainly not
in light of the actions of recent
reality show contestants.
Ah, the "Chilltowners." It seems a
criminal record is almost a
requirement to be part of this
self-proclaimed cool kids' club.
Although Dr. Will Kirby has no official
rap sheet, he admitted one night to
fellow CT members that he had stolen
the pharmaceutical Viagra from the
hospital to give out to male friends.
Not only a crime, but highly unethical
and dangerous.
While Will has never been arrested for
his offences, the same can't be said
for Shannon Dragoo or Mike Malin
(a.k.a. Carri). Shannon pleaded no
contest in 1998 to a charge of
careless driving that resulted in the
death of a 66-year-old man. Shannon
mentioned the accident in the Big
Brother house, but spoke only about
her own injuries, never once
referencing the deceased victim. The
victim's widow also claims that
Shannon has never offered an
apology for killing her husband.
Mike, an alleged co-owner of a Los
Angeles bar (no written evidence can
support the claim), was convicted in
1996 of trespassing and taking
paparrazi photos on the closed
Warner Brothers set of Batman &
Robin. He also laughingly told his
fellow CT members of devious scams
such as raising funds purportedly for
the Special Olympics, only to spend
the money on a vacation.
Most recently, Will devised a plan to
elicit sympathy from the other
housemates. He proposed to an
agreeable Mike and Shannon that he
would claim to have leukemia and say
that he was only in the house to
garner publicity in order to find a
suitable donor.
The idea of a medical doctor gleefully
concocting such a plan is frightening,
especially given the fact that Will has
worked with oncology patients in the
past. Will has also admitted to a lack
of human feelings and seems to
identify with the title character in
American Psycho far too easily.
(Posters on the internet have likened
him to Robert Chambers, the
so-called "Preppy Killer" from the
1980s.)
If Will's latest scheme shows us
anything, it is the depth of his and
his cohorts' stupidity. Will, Mike, and
Shannon (now evicted) seem unable
to grasp the notion that the live
feeds streaming on the internet
reveal everything that goes on in the
house, even the softest whispers.
Before he could even get the
leukemia scheme off the ground,
other housemates were warned by an
airplane banner. Will and the gang
were mystified as to how the internet
followers could have possibly known
what he was planning.
CT members have shown a staggering
lack of self-awareness, accompanied
by a hearty dose of narcissism. Mike
has no inkling that his rapping "skills"
are being mocked mercilessly by
followers of the show. (At the very
least, these houseguests are in a for
rude awakening when they leave the
sound stage.)
Upon entering the house Will and
Shannon embarked on a nauseating
romance, convinced they'd be
"America's Sweethearts." (They are
similar to Jerri Manthey in that they
inspire in most a vivid recollection of
the so-called "popular" kids in high
school. Generally speaking, the
memories are not fond.)
Will and Shannon have also waxed
poetic about their hatred for
immigrants, homosexuals, overweight
people and pretty much anyone they
don't consider "cool" (read: 99% of
the population).
To top off all the nasty actions of
the group, Shannon cleaned the
toilet bowl with the well-liked Hardy
Hill's toothbrush; an act not only
stunningly immature, but dangerous
as well. Although she claims she
wouldn't have allowed Hardy to use
the bacteria-laden brush, it’s not
unlikely that without the intervention
of Big Brother, she would have
happily giggled in the corner while
exposing Hardy to the risk of
Hepatitis and other diseases.
(In an interview with CBS, Shannon's
mother said that she was proud of
her daughter's actions, and smilingly
said that the toothbrush "prank" was
something she herself would have
done. It is clear that Shannon's
pathology is born and bred.)
So, how did these immoral people end
up on national television? Did CBS go
too far in an effort to spice up the
show? Ratings are fairly low again
this year, so it would appear the
public isn't interested in the
houseguests, no matter how
outrageous their behavior. Then
again, perhaps the low ratings are
due to the fact that last year's Big
Brother was infamously boring.
Do reality show producers feel they
need to keep pushing the envelope to
attract viewers? How are
contestants passing the
psychological evaluations? Are
producers intentionally looking for
contestants with questionable
morals?
If so, why has CBS downplayed the
actions of CT, only showing the
TV-viewing audience the tip of the
iceberg? It seems clear they fear
more backlash like that which arose
following Justin's unstable behavior
and his subsequent eviction.
At a recent CBS press conference,
network president Leslie Moonves
appeared uncomfortable discussing
the controversy and claimed that the
show was simply a "summer
experiment."
So, what's next for the reality show
villain? How much further can the
depravity and hatefulness go? We've
gone from villains who plot to win the
game to villains that are utterly
objectionable human beings. Are the
sociopaths of Chill Town the pinnacle
of reality show evil?
One can only shudder and hope.
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