When Reality Contestants Revolt!

[Matt Ottinger]

Original TMZ reporting (with some clever, though questionable, wordplay) about a developing situation you'd never see on a traditional game show.  I'd love to see NBC show us exactly what happened, drop them all from the show, and bring in a bunch of new ones.  They're reality contestants, for heaven's sake.  They are totally disposable.

[TLEberle]

(with some clever, though questionable, wordplay)

Better or worse than the guys at ESPN who were turfed over "trying to find a chink in Jeremy Lin's armor"?

[Dbacksfan12]

(with some clever, though questionable, wordplay)

Better or worse than the guys at ESPN who were turfed over "trying to find a chink in Jeremy Lin's armor"?

I'd like to hear your answer on it first.

[PYLdude]

(with some clever, though questionable, wordplay)

Better or worse than the guys at ESPN who were turfed over "trying to find a chink in Jeremy Lin's armor"?

I'd like to hear your answer on it first.

Well, here's what I would ask- would everyone be so up in arms if Jeremy Lin was not of Chinese heritage and the same thing was said?

[Kevin Prather]

With regards to the OP, I say dump them all. They applied for the show, they all signed the agreement, they really have no leg to stand on. And I bet the line of contestants waiting to play the game isn't short.

[TLEberle]

(with some clever, though questionable, wordplay)

Better or worse than the guys at ESPN who were turfed over "trying to find a chink in Jeremy Lin's armor"?

I'd like to hear your answer on it first.

Of course you would.

The idea that contestants on a game show who are there to lose weight because their previous lifestyles has put them in a dangerous situation would unionize and stage a walkout because the game has taken an unexpected turn amuses the hell out of me, because the genre and show is known for changing things up very frequently. This pegs out right near toetyper's hypothetical contestant who says "I call quitsies, but I don't want to give a rabbit hunt answer, nor do I even want to see the answer."

Judgment: Stupid-dumb.

[Jeremy Nelson]

This is ridiculous. I don't know how many of you watch the show, but the contestants this year are TERRIBLE. All of the fairly genuine contestants have been voted off in favor of the gossipy bunch who play "the game". Saying all that, this doesn't surprise me any. To be fair though, the producers have done this before...as a matter of fact, they did it LAST season (all the voted off contestants got to come back and compete in a full marathon for a guaranteed spot in the finale), and other similar twists have been added over the years. This is nothing different.

You sign the contract, and you're subjected to whatever rules, twists and whatnot they throw into the game. I'm with Matt. Kick em all off. Better yet, bring everyone back and only conduct the at-home prize for the contestants who had been eliminated.

This is one of the few reality shows on TV that actually offers a prize that ultimately beats the money- I wonder if they would have had the same problems if the grand prize (cash or merchandise) was under $50K.

[J.R.]

This is ridiculous. I don't know how many of you watch the show, but the contestants this year are TERRIBLE. All of the fairly genuine contestants have been voted off in favor of the gossipy bunch who play "the game".

I agree totally, which is why I really haven't been watching this season.  It really dropped from being "appointment TV" to "background noise" rapidly.

[TLEberle]

On the CBS radio top o' the hour news, Harley Carnes just read "The obesity epidemic is getting huge, no pun intended." If it wasn't intended maybe someone should have rewritten the copy. Either own the joke or don't.

[Matt Ottinger]

(with some clever, though questionable, wordplay)

Better or worse than the guys at ESPN who were turfed over "trying to find a chink in Jeremy Lin's armor"?

I'd like to hear your answer on it first.

Well, here's what I would ask- would everyone be so up in arms if Jeremy Lin was not of Chinese heritage and the same thing was said?

At the risk of watching you guys keep getting all pissy with each other, that's a fair question.  The one ESPN guy who got sacked (if I'm reading right, the other, higher-profile guy only got suspended) insists that he WASN'T making a racial comment and that the phrase, which ought to be totally benign in the proper context, is one he's used plenty of times in his writings.  (Which, come to think of it, ought to be provable.) The reason I might accept that is because the comment is SO racist in this context that it would be astonishing that a professional writer would deliberately use it as a "clever" joke.  Still, this is how ESPN deals with controversy, and it's their sandbox.

(To answer the original question, on the scale for this sort of thing, the ESPN stuff is FAR worse than the TMZ gags.)

[PYLdude]

At the risk of watching you guys keep getting all pissy with each other, that's a fair question.  The one ESPN guy who got sacked (if I'm reading right, the other, higher-profile guy only got suspended) insists that he WASN'T making a racial comment and that the phrase, which ought to be totally benign in the proper context, is one he's used plenty of times in his writings.  (Which, come to think of it, ought to be provable.) The reason I might accept that is because the comment is SO racist in this context that it would be astonishing that a professional writer would deliberately use it as a "clever" joke.  Still, this is how ESPN deals with controversy, and it's their sandbox.

1) you are reading correctly- the sacked party was an editor, the suspended an anchor for ESPNews

2) when I heard about that whole rigamarole I was kind of reminded of a certain Robot Chicken sketch which might or might not be appropriate- but still, I'm one of those people who believes there isn't an overabundance of political correctness these days and even I found that to be ridiculous

Now, if I may for a second, let me undo my hijack and go back to the topic at hand...am I the only one who's surprised this show is still on the air regardless, due to the exploitative nature of it? I mean, I'm in that kind of a boat myself and I'd never go on The Biggest Loser.

[weaklink75]

You know, when people sign up for these shows, they should know that twists are part and parcel of the genre- no sympathy for them at all.

I wonder if this will be the final straw that kills the show...the ratings are down, it's an older show, and fans have said it has never really been the same since Jillian Michaels left last year. Of course with NBC in such disarray (they should rename it the Needs Booting Constantly network), you never know.

[Matt Ottinger]

2) when I heard about that whole rigamarole I was kind of reminded of a certain Robot Chicken sketch which might or might not be appropriate- but still, I'm one of those people who believes there isn't an overabundance of political correctness these days and even I found that to be ridiculous

The Robot Chicken thing is a funny take on it, but again, that's the crux of the matter.  (Crux is OK, right?  Sounds dirty.)  Are you deliberately using an offensive term in its non-offensive context in order to put it out there, or are you genuinely using a trite but accepted cliche, with no extra entendre intended?

Words Have Meanings, but naturally they evolve.  "Gay" is now inexorably linked to "homosexual", though as Fred Flintstone can tell you, that wasn't always the case.  And then there's this.

[TLEberle]

At the risk of watching you guys keep getting all pissy with each other,

I do take a pill for that, y'know.

I'm one of those people who believes there isn't an overabundance of political correctness these days and even I found that to be ridiculous

I disagree; I think there's an arms race to the bottom. People look for ways to be offended in order to be a victim. If people want to be offended by speech that's their dime and I can't stop them, but I dislike when a Congresswoman from California decides that this is worth her time to comment on. ESPN gets to do whatever they want about it, and we get to either like it or lump it.

This is one of the few reality shows on TV that actually offers a prize that ultimately beats the money- I wonder if they would have had the same problems if the grand prize (cash or merchandise) was under $50K.

The thing I don't understand is that in many cases the contestants are given a new lease on life. Why would you kick anyone off? I understand that thinning out the herd is the old standby for shows like this, but would it be so terrible to allow everyone to enjoy the ride, and you have some way to determine the three people who get to duke it out for the jackpot?

[Jeremy Nelson]

I wonder if this will be the final straw that kills the show...the ratings are down, it's an older show, and fans have said it has never really been the same since Jillian Michaels left last year. Of course with NBC in such disarray (they should rename it the Needs Booting Constantly network), you never know.

Churning out season after season with minimal breaks can't be helping it, either. But hey,, I'd imagine the show doesn't cost a whole lot to produce compared to most other prime time fare, and they've made a brand out of it. Now they've got cruises, exercise retreats, exercise gear, cookbooks, videotapes, and a Weight Watchers-type meal plan. I don't know how well that stuff will sell if they don't have a TV product.

This is one of the few reality shows on TV that actually offers a prize that ultimately beats the money- I wonder if they would have had the same problems if the grand prize (cash or merchandise) was under $50K.

The thing I don't understand is that in many cases the contestants are given a new lease on life. Why would you kick anyone off? I understand that thinning out the herd is the old standby for shows like this, but would it be so terrible to allow everyone to enjoy the ride, and you have some way to determine the three people who get to duke it out for the jackpot?

Well, you're still labeling it as a contest. People would still have to compete to get to that final three, which means there's some sort of conniving going on at some point- unless you take the three players with the largest percentage of weight loss after 10 or 12 weeks.