The Current - The Real Cost of Reality TV

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Since the dawn of reality television in the '90s, the genre has capitalized on the 'train wreck' appeal of its stars. Now, with recent abuse allegations against the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul, there are renewed calls for networks to stop prioritizing dramatic plotlines over participants' mental health. We talk to Theresa DeMaria from Netflix's 'Age of Attraction' and Danielle Lindeman, the author of 'True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us.'

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From the real world to real housewives, keeping up with the Kardashians, reality television has dominated our screens for over a quarter of a century. Sam, will you accept this rose? It's as long as not purely blind to me. But all I said was you were on the wrong dating show. But I want it to be partially blind. I want it to be... Love is blurry.

Receipts, proof, timeline, screenshots, fucking everything. Seven strangers picked to live in a loft. And have their lives tape in me. No, not. Argument. Find out what happens when people stop being polite.

Start getting real. The real world. My diamond earring came off in the ocean and it's gone. Again, there's people that are dying. Some classic moments from reality TV. While reality TV is responsible for some of the... The biggest show is on television. The genre is in steep decline.

The New York Times recently reported that the annual number of unscripted and reality series in the United States plummeted by a third since 2022, HGTV, which aired 78 original series in 2019 alone, has now whittled its programming down by more than half. And MTV, which was once the launch pad for the genre, has canceled both Jersey Shore family vacation and catfish. Meanwhile, the drama and trauma that helped make these shows popular is having off-screen consequences. A new video of The Bachelorette adding to the fallout. The new season canceled after leaked videos showed Taylor Frankie Paul throwing chairs at her now ex-boyfriend. The star of the secret lives of Mormon wives, Taylor Frankie Paul, was slated to be the new Bachelorette. But when abuse allegations surfaced, her season was canceled.

This and other incidents are leading to growing calls for networks to prioritize. mental health over dramatic plot lines, but can networks actually do that? Can they sacrifice the train wreck appeal as they fight to prove their relevance? Teresa D. Maria recently starred on the first season of Netflix's Age of Attraction and joins us now to talk about her reality, TV experience. Teresa, good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Thanks for being here. For people who have not seen the show, the trailer, know nothing about this, just describe age of attraction. So age of attraction is a dating reality TV show based on what I would describe as ageless dating. So you date somebody without knowing them.

So similar to love is blind, except we get to see the people. We just don't know the age. We can't talk about age. We can't talk about anything relating to our age. It was quite an experience. Until there is a dramatic reveal. And then you learn the age of the person on the other side of the table. Yes, about halfway through the.

process. Dating is a really intimate thing. It's one of those very, very personal experiences that is as intimate as you could possibly imagine. Why would you do that in front of millions of people? I think that given the options that are out there today, online dating, you know, using apps and things like that, like it could not get less personalized than looking at somebody, you know, a bunch of pictures and reading their so-called description and trying to make a a judgment call on whether or not you want to actually meet that person. So I think, honestly, this circumstance was better than online dating because you knew that these guys were vetted. You knew that they had psych evaluations. And yeah, it takes a certain type of personality to be

able to go on TV and do something like this and be vulnerable and expose yourself. But I was fine with that. Obviously, I'm here on a radio show. So it's easy for me to talk in front of people for the most part, I was willing to be vulnerable in front of people because I thought maybe somebody could learn something from my experience. These shows can be a real springboard for fame and success. You know that many of the people who are on love is blind, age of attraction, secret lives of Mormon wives. They end up, I mean, they're influencers who end up using that platform to elevate their social standing in some ways. Was that part of the appeal for you that you would have millions of people watching you and they would know who you are?

Not really. I knew, I mean, I'm not dumb. Like, I know that's a byproduct of it, but that was not my intention going into it at all. Like, I really did want to find my partner. And I've gone through enough relationship issues in my 55 years of life that I thought, why not give this a try? And perhaps this is like what the universe was, you know, guiding me to do to find my person. So I was willing to do it. But you know that one of the reasons why people watch these programs, we watch them for entertainment, but really people are watching them for the car crash, right? They're looking for the train wreck. They're looking for those moments where it does not end well. When you're going into something like this, how do you prepare knowing that you're going to be potentially part of that car crash? I really did listen to the casting producers when they were interviewing me, which I had to do about 10 to probably 15 different zo. interview calls with different people to find out what exactly the premise, the sort of structure of the show was going to be because I did not want to go on something that was super dramatic and filled with alcohol and where there was a lot of, you know, crazy intimate moments that were cringed that I would not want to be a part of. And so I was very much assured that that was going to be sort of the structure of the show. And I'm in control of myself. If I was wanting to be

dramatic, I'd be dramatic, but I could definitely hold myself in a controlled situation. So I, I didn't feel too worried about myself. Can I use your language, the crazy, intimate moments that are cringe? Those are the things that people are watching for, right? Those are the things that pop out. So you know that those are going to be happening at the same time as you go into this, right? How do you, How do you square not wanting to be part of that with knowing that that's the appeal of a program like this? The way that Age of Attraction was produced was not that way. I mean, it might not be as appealing to those who are looking for that because there's not a lot of wild and crazy love triangle drama that happens on Age of Attraction. So it's very different than your typical dating reality show.

How would you describe what it was like being part of the show? You are very isolated from your peers. You're isolated from the world. You don't have your phone. You're put on sort of a holding term called ICE where they really isolate you. You're not supposed to be able to talk to anybody unless you're on camera. And of course, like I said, you don't have your phone. You don't have access to like really the news or TV very much.

And your, you know, your days are like could be up to 12 hour days where you're outside or you're on set off and on. just don't know what to expect from minute to minute. So I would say that was probably the biggest part of adapting. That was a... It's also... It was fun. It's fun, but it's also a giant machine, right? Like, you are part of a television. Yes. Describe what does that machine look like? So, yeah, I mean, it's a TV show at the end of the day. So, you know, the producers have a job to do the directors are the ones, you know, talking to them through their mics and their headsets and saying, like, you know, do this, do that, ask them to say this, ask them to say that. And there wasn't a lot of that. I was not overly produced. There were moments where I was produced, which, you know, I did

sort of cave. And, you know, in my mind, I'm like, ugh, like, I really don't want to say this one statement, but. Did you feel like you were being directed? A couple times, yes. You know, there was a time when my producer wanted me to meet with another cast member on camera to talk about intimate relations that this other couple had not had. And she was really, you know, sort of anxious to get that ball moving. And, you know, my relationship was on much more solid ground. So my producer was like yelling over my shoulder like, you know, say that you had sex. Say that you had sex. And I was like, you know, I really didn't want to say that because at that point nothing had happened. So I was produced to say that. And finally, I just caved because at some point I was like, you know what,

I'm an empowered woman and like, it's okay to say that I had sex. I mean, even though I haven't at that point, but it's okay to say that because I want people to know that it is okay to be a woman and to have, you know, sexual empowerment. What does that mean for that sense of agency that you were talking about earlier when you're being directed and you're being told, again, as part of a television show that you should say this or say that. You can still have agency, even if you say, yes, I'll say what it is that you want me to say, because it's your decision at the end of the day, and that's what agency means. Do you think your mental health was prioritized as part of age of attraction?

And I ask in part because there are, again, these allegations against the main star of the Secret Lives of Morp and wives and their questions as to how much those networks prioritize the drama that people are looking for with the actual mental health with the real people who are part of these programs. They put us through a major psych evaluation

and we also had a therapist that was assigned to us from Netflix where we did check-ins regularly. I spoke to this therapist probably like four to six times throughout the whole process they were there for us

during production if we needed to talk to them at any point in time. I spoke to her beforehand and after, and they checked in on us as well. So it was like we didn't always just have to reach out to them. They also reached out to us just to check in. Do you worry about being part of something that's called an experiment? That's what Netflix calls this, an experiment.

But that's an experiment that's based on the real lives of people. Do you have any issue with that? No, I don't. I think, I mean, we were. We were told it was called an experience, which sounds like experiment. And I know that there was a couple times when I did say in my interviews on camera, I used the word experiment and they're like, no, no, no, no, we don't want you to use that word because that's not what this is.

This is an experience. But I do understand it being an experience because I think it's an interesting thing to sort of see whether or not age is an important factor when it comes to a. personal connection. So I didn't have a problem with that because I knew what I was getting myself into and I knew that I was okay with it. It is very interesting, especially in my case, that I would connect with someone so dramatically younger than me without knowing, because that's crazy to me that I would never, in a million years, date a guy that was that young in real life. Again, what we started out with, this is a very public thing.

What does it like to see yourself on the trailer or on the show, for example? It was very emotional for me. I did not expect to have like an emotional reaction watching myself on the trailer. I didn't know that I was going to sort of be like the main face on the trailer and also kind of like the main story throughout the whole season. So that was like shocking to me. and it's, I will say this, like getting recognized in random places, it's kind of like you're very, it's a very confusing sort of place to be because you look at people on TV and you, you just have this view of them as being this famous sort of untouchable person. And I know that I'm just a real

normal person. So it's like those two sort of worlds coming, colliding together. It's just, It's a very unnatural kind of weird. It's indescribable, honestly. I don't know what word to put on it. Would you do it again? I would. Yep. Why?

You were very quick in answering that. Number one, because it did not work out with my partner. And so I'm still single and I still want to find someone. And my DMs are blowing up with guys and I'm just like, yuck. I just feel like I don't know how to find my person. You know, if they did ask me to do The Bachelorette, I would absolutely do it. I would put it under my sort of parameters, which I know that they would be probably allowing me to do because I know that they've done that with other Golden Bachelorettes. You know, I would also do something like traders or a show, you know, that was more of a competition base because I'm a very competitive person.

And I really did enjoy the process of, you know, being part of production. It was a, it was really fun. Like, you become a family when you're in production. And, you know, it's kind of like an escape from like reality going on into a reality TV show. It's escape from reality, which is kind of contradicting. But it's just, it's like going on like a vacation with a bunch of people. And I don't know. It's a unique experience.

So I would definitely do it again. And I'm not necessarily, you know, I'm not doing it for fame. I'm doing it for the purpose of whatever that show would be. It's just a vacation with a bunch of people that millions and millions of people are watching. Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine with that. Teresa, it's really good to talk to about this.

Thank you very much. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me. Teresa D. Maria starred on the first season of Netflix's Age of Attraction. Hi, Steve Patterson here, host of The Debaters, part stand-up, part quiz show, and part comedy competition. We take on the most pressing questions on the minds of all Canadians, like, is carpet superior to hardwood? Listen to the debaters, wherever you get your podcasts, and prepare to be, well, floored. Daniel Lindeman is a professor of sociology at Lehigh University and the author of True Story, what reality TV says about us.

Danielle, good morning to you. Hi, thanks for having me on. Why do we watch reality TV? Oh, that's such a great question. It depends on the show. There are a variety of reasons why we tune in. But you mentioned the train rack effect earlier, and I think that's really key, right?

We watch the train rack to sort of symbolically distance ourselves from the train rack to remind ourselves that even though we're watching and our lives might be screwed up in their own ways, we're not like those people over there, right? But at the same time, you know, reality shows cast people to fill kind of broad archetypes, and you sort of develop relationships with the people that you see on the show. Usually there's sort of one character everybody can kind of grab onto and say,

I'm most like that person, or I'm most like this other person. So it's really nuanced, even though we watch in some ways to reject the train rack, it also resonates with us in some ways. You are the experts, but you're also a consumer of the product. Do you love reality TV? I will say yes. I am a fan. I position. and myself as a fan in my book. I don't love every reality show, but I do enjoy the genre in general. What do you like about it,

aside from the train wreck? So for me, it's the, and this is one of the reasons that people tune in, it's the escapism, right? There is so much that's dramatic and real, especially happening in the world today. And then reality TV is kind of a space apart where you can tune in,

and, you know, the biggest problem is, is Ramona going to invite? to her barbecue this weekend, right? The stakes are so low on reality TV. And I find that very relieving because in real life, the stakes are very high. As you say, the book is true story, what reality TV says about us. What does it say about us when we find entertainment and watching people go through the car crash? Yeah. So I sort of look at these shows and what reality TV as a text can kind of teach us about broader society. So when you, you might, think reality TV is just sort of this weird, wacky genre full of outrageous people. But actually,

if you start delving into it, it's sort of a fun house mirror of our broader culture. And it teaches us about our social rifts, our racism, our classism, our homophobia, our sexism. It teaches us how we behave in groups. So, you know, if you look at a show like Survivor, you might say, well, that's like a weird context that I'll never be in. But if you look at the, small group interactions on Survivor, they're very reminiscent of the small group interactions we have in our own lives with, say, co-workers or peers. Tell me more about how that's played. I think of a show, this has been off the air for a long, long time, but like Honey Boo Boo Boo,

which was about a Southern family, working class Southern family, and it was kind of a look into them, but at the same time, it got a lot of criticism for the way that it portrayed that family. How does a show like that or other programs help us think about those bigger issues, as you said, race and class, homophobia and what have you in society? Yeah. So that's a really interesting show from, like you said, from a class perspective, because you have this kind of lower class slash working class kind of southern, and they call themselves redneck. So I guess they self-identified that way on the show. And, you know, the show is kind of a humiliation ritual for them in some ways, right? I mean, the show does not cast them in the

light. It casts them as kind of making poor decisions, doing ridiculous things. And I think there's a sense of, oh, well, you know, that's how people in that class position act, right? And so it reaffirms this narrative that people who don't have as much money behave in these ridiculous ways in a way that kind of justifies or props up the class system. So it really teaches us about our classism and our class system in general. What is your understanding as to why people put themselves into that position? Teresa said that it's not about being famous, but for a lot of people, it is very much about being famous. Yeah, I mean, that's true, right? I think especially at this point, right? It didn't start off that way, but especially with its integration with influencer culture. Now, you have a lot of people

going on these shows, right, for the, for the spawn con, for the followers, for sure. You know, I think there's also a sense of, yes, we are very savvy about, you know, how exploitative reality TV can be, you know, it's 2026. It's been on for a while. But there's a difference between kind of knowing that intellectually and then actually going on the show and having that lived experience. It's a completely different ball of wax that is way more heightened than a lot of people anticipate. There were a lot of stories around these abuse allegations against Taylor Frankie Paul Star of Secret Lives, who was going to be the new Bachelorette. The allegations had that entire season at the last moment scrapped.

What did you make of the public reaction to that story? Yeah, it was a really interesting reaction. I mean, first of all, we knew that that video existed before. It was discussed on the first season of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. So it's kind of interesting that it reemerged. But I also think it says something about kind of how far reality TV has come and that, you know, we're not at this point in 2020, there are certain things we're not accepting from our reality television that maybe we had accepted

in the past. Like what? You know, like domestic violence, right? People with a history of violence, you know, assault, the way that assault is handled on reality TV now appears to be different from the way that it has been handled in the past. And your sense is that we would be able to stomach that or we stomach that in past? Well, I mean, in the past, yeah, I mean, in the past reality TV has a really, As much as I'm a fan of reality TV I am, right, there's also a dark history to reality TV,

where in the past reality TV has been, you know, extremely, say, racist, right? There are people who've gone on these shows who have reported, you know, being assaulted and exploited, right? And I think that there is kind of post Me Too, post George Floyd, there's more of an awareness of these issues. And we see that, I'm not saying reality TV is perfect today by any means, but I do think there's more of an awareness of these things. and they're less accepted now than they might have been even, you know, five, ten years ago. It's important question in part because there's been a push for networks to prioritize the well-being of reality stars, that they need to create a healthier environment. Can you actually do that if the point of the program is the car crash or the train wreck or whatever you want to call it?

People being put into really awkward, difficult, maybe awful situations that we're all going to watch at home. Yeah, I mean, I think it's important. to point out that reality TV is a really heterogeneous genre, so we can't paint all, not all shows are the car crashes, right? Reality TV encompasses, you know, baking shows, cooking shows, HGTV, right? And so, yes, I think it's possible to have reality TV without that exploitation within certain subgenres, for sure. There has been a marked decline in the number of reality TV programs being commissioned and

created. What does that tell you? I think that's interesting. I think it would be interesting to look at the data on that. My sense is that it's not necessarily that there's less being produced, but it's sort of flowing into other venues. So instead of, you know, like the network produced reality TV programs, you have, you know, the mini shows, the TikToks and the reels and the YouTube's, right, that the influencers are self-producing, which you could argue in themselves is a form of reality TV. But, But that's not being, you know, captured in the data about reality TV viewership. They're looking at shows like, you know, love is blind or the Kardashians. You just wonder whether part of the decline is a decline in the audience's appetite for reality television, given some of the allegations that have come out about lawsuits that have been focusing on, you know, cultures of substance abuse or that there aren't supports for the cast as they try to go through what the shows do to them, whether people are just tired of seeing that.

And to your point, they're more aware of the impact of these programs on the people who are in the programs. Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably true of some people. But, you know, there's still a tremendous audience for reality TV. I mean, even this past summer, the, you know, resurgence of the audience for, you know, Love Island, right, people are watching that show every day. People are having watch parties, right? Love is blind. I mean, reality TV, it might be true that people are watched, especially since the pandemic, because that was, you know, a bump for reality. TV because in some ways that was the only TV being produced. So sure, if you look post-pandemic,

I'm sure the trend line has gone down. But yeah, I mean, it's probably true of some people that, you know, they've just become more aware of the exploitation that happens on those shows and they can't stomach it. But I think writ large, reality TV is really still a juggernaut and is still going strong. What does the success just finally have a show like Love on the Spectrum tell you? This follows people on the autism spectrum who are going through dating and might to some people feel less like a car crash and more wholesome in some ways. What does the success of that show tell you? Yeah, I mean, I think really TV has always kind of taken us into realms and shined light on areas of the social landscape that we don't always see on scripted TV. And so everything from, you know, drag queens to doomsday preppers, right?

And so going into and showing, you know, the autistic community, you know, engaging in dating, this is something that maybe not everyone has experience with or has seen and presenting it. Although my understanding is that there are some people in the autism community who do kind of object to the show, but really presenting it in a way that's not overtly making fun, not overtly a train rack, right? Again, speaks to what we were talking about. It is really a heterogeneous genre. And oftentimes when people say, well, I don't like reality. TV, which is a totally fine stance, right?

But they're talking about these high conflict, right? High drama shows. What's your must-watch show? So historically, I've always said Rupal's drag race, but I have to say, and Teresa mentioned this too, the traitors, it's just a tremendous show. Daniel, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Danielle Lindeman is a professor of sociology at Lehigh University and the author of

True Story, What Reality TV Says About Us. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.