Supplemental Post #2- Rojeen

 During this week's readings, specifically Anna McCarthy's "Reality Television: A Theater of Neoliberal Suffering," I wondered how the reality shows I am currently watching could apply to her argument. As an avid watcher of Master Chef, I notice how Gordon Ramsey and the fellow judges not only severely critique the contestants (often to tears), but how they also offer specific contestants financial or professional help after they are voted off the show. This "undercover philanthropy" is almost always offered to contestants who vocalize their financial instability, or unemployment status (after being probed on camera as to why winning the $250k and show is so important to them), in which they are rewarded with either a job at one of the judges' restaurants or financial help for their families. McCarthy writes how reality shows like Random define their philanthropy as "'people helping people one at a time.' It stresses that the help it tries to offer is not welfare," (McCarthy 32). While contestants who are prodded to vocalize their hardships are rewarded by the “philanthropic” offerings of the judges, the viewers/audience see the individual as redeemed through the show, and outside of the conditions that caused their circumstances.  

Curious about the behind-the-scenes aspect of Master Chef, I googled to find out if the producers and team behind the show perform tactics to induce trauma. What resulted in my search was a former contestant, Jessie Glenn, who never signed the show’s contract and exposed exceptionally distressing details that the contestants endure in order to qualify to be on the show. Glenn writes, “In the ‘MasterChef’ contract, which a casting director later told me was essentially identical to those of most reality competition shows, they asked me to agree to be subjected to physical and mental distress, to agree to have my medical history used in any way that they wanted and to use it in perpetuity, to agree that my family would likely not be contacted in the case of an emergency. They asked me to release the show and its employees from liability for any injury to myself from risks both known and unknown. They asked that I release them from liability from the social and economic losses that could result and to please note that the consequences could be substantial and could permanently change the future for me, my family, friends and significant others.” Glenn, a former contestant who never made the show, described how during her exit interview, she was subjected to a psychological exam where she was asked whether she harbored any thoughts about killing the judges or herself. Glenn disclosed that she kept in touch with many of the other contestants, who also described the psychological abuse they underwent during the show. A runner-up from season 3’s finale, Josh Parks, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a week after the finale ended, and committed suicide a few weeks later. The insidious nature of reality TV shows like Master Chef, which promote the idea of “making it” and proffer dreams achievable through hard work and determination, are in reality, a contrived theater that impose and exploit trauma under the guise of “undercover philanthropy.”