14 DAY TRIAL // Shows like America’s / Britain’s Got Talent, X Factor and Big Brother are increasingly popular with audiences, which means more chances for those who appear on them to become celebrities. The problem is, welfare reform minister Lord Freud notes, is that they’re selling nothing but lies.
These days, it’s nothing out of the ordinary to believe that you can simply show up for an audition and have it all made, because these shows present a distorted image of reality.
They promise instant fame, while seemingly offering a launching pad for an enviable career with the media exposure they provide and the big prize, Freud notes, as cited by the Daily Mail.
The reality, though, is that these shows offer no more than 15 guaranteed minutes of fame: the winners’ appeal fades – and, with it, public interest – the moment a new season begins.
As it happens, no one goes on the record with these facts, Freud stresses, which is why youngsters, in the UK particularly, have come to believe that all they should expect from life is a shot on one of these shows.
The “cheap temporary celebrity” culture has “eroded people’s responsibility to support themselves,” Freud underlines, because they’re no longer looking for “traditional” means to provide for themselves, choosing instead to dream of stardom.
“We have stood by as they have been sold a lie. We have allowed reality television to make them an empty promise of overnight success,” the minister says.
“Saturday night talent shows make ten-second celebrities of ordinary people. This is not harmless viewing,” he stresses.
“Implicit in this programming is the notion you can get something for nothing, that if you wait around long enough your true talents will be discovered and fame and fortune will be yours,” Freud explains.
“It is time for these reality shows to get a reality check,” he continues, adding that something must be done to show the present audiences with real side of things and not the glamorized version now available.
Cher Lloyd, one of the most maligned contestants on X Factor the previous season, is perhaps the best example of how these shows present a distorted version of reality.
Hated by many but supported by just as much people, she went on to release her first single and video, called “Swagger Jagger,” which has been welcomed with very negative reviews.
“Cher Lloyd has unrepentantly inflicted us with her new release, leaving us with a bleak insight into uninspiring youth. Unsurprisingly bad singing, bad synths, bad everything,” Gareth Dimelow of Sabotage Times writes.