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British celebrities, left to right, Neil "Razor" Ruddock, Mike Reid, Kerry McFadden, Katie Price aka Jordan and Jenny Bond, walk to a helicopter in Coolangatta, Australia. Alamy Stock Photo
celebrity culture
Louise Bruton I'm a Celebrity is back, and the wheels of reality TV keep turning...
The journalist and writer examines how shows like I’m a Celebrity sustain each other and enable stars to promote themselves.
FOR THE LAST seven weeks, I’ve been deeply committed to watching Big Brother. Every night just shy of 9pm, I disappeared so I could stream the series from the quiet of my bedroom, and the company of BBabes, a WhatsApp group with two of my friends because we have nobody else to share our running commentary with.
The fact that Big Brother is back and the fact I have a WhatsApp group dedicated to it may take some of you by surprise, but six nights a week for the last seven weeks, it’s been my bedtime story.
During this stint, I was subject to ad breaks on ITV 2 or Virgin Media 2, depending on which channel didn’t delay Big Brother because of football or whatever. Ad breaks are something I had whittled out of my life with the different streaming services that take a sledgehammer to my bank account every month, and it was fascinating to see both channels try to direct my current addiction to their next reality product in line; I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Usually I’m somewhat familiar with the contestants, and this year was no exception with a cast that includes WAG turned WAGatha Coleen Rooney, Danny Jones from McFly, Irish boxer Barry McGuigan and the Female Boss herself Tulisa Contostavlos.
I was, however, surprised to recognise two as good panellists on Big Brother’s after-show Late and Live, a review show with contributions from former housemates of any season and celebrities of varying degrees.
Dean McCullough, who is actually known as a BBC 1 Radio presenter, and the utterly charming Obi Matuse, who started as a dancer on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, and is now a judge on ITV’s Dancing on Ice, are just two of a long line of celebrities who make their coin by roaming the hallways of any reality TV studio, hoping to say their piece.
And I don’t blame them. It’s good earnings, with plenty of options to consider, keeping them busy throughout the year.
Self-sustaining ecosystem
The Reality TV Cinematic Universe has become a very niche thing, but the Celebrity Reality TV Cinematic Universe is an incredibly niche thing. One that historically consists of idle pop stars, soap actors, gossip page dwellers, politicians in desperate need of good publicity, and people famous for having opinions on all of the above, can now include names you know from other reality series, people who have had viral success for a hot second, or chancers who lived with, worked for, or divorced someone actually famous.
Over the course of the last 25 years, most channels began to prioritise reality or celebrity-led TV as part of their primetime programming. Channel 4 chose edgier programmes like Big Brother, Come Dine With Me, Naked Attraction and 2016’s famously disastrous Eden, where the contestants and crew stayed living in the wilderness for weeks thinking their adventure was being televised when it was pulled from the air due to poor ratings.
Eden: Paradise Lost, the fallout from that, is available to stream on the Channel 4 Player and, my, is it juicy.
The BBC naturally takes a more wholesome approach to its reality entertainment, with Strictly Come Dancing signifying the end of summer and the start of cosy TV viewing. When the broadcasting giant lost the rights to air The Great British Bake Off, conceding to Channel 4, it seemed as if they lost their edge in the reality game.
That was until the smoky-eyed, blunt-fringed Claudia Winkleman emerged from the misty Scottish moors to present the UK version of The Traitors. Its American counterpart uses the same castle and the same tasks, but instead of Winkleman, we have Alan Cummings, and instead of just ordinary Joes competing for the cash prize, we have an assortment of reality TV royalty from the many global variations of Survivor, the different iterations of Real Housewives, and every creed of Big Brother.
The Traitors, no matter the region, is incredible reality TV, and it’s never too late to become one of its faithful followers.
Conveyor belt
However, ITV has taken the lead in recent years, with the likes of The X Factor, Love Island, The Only Way Is Essex and the latest reboot of Big Brother churning out such a heavy roster of new celebrities that it’s an industry unto itself.
All of these shows feed a new wave of fame, removing the need to source its stars externally, and the contestants can go on to milk the fame and extend the pay cheque by appearing on Dancing on Ice, I’m A Celeb, Celebrity Big Brother, Celebrity Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing.
Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu iş testament to this milkage by competing on Dancing on Ice, Celebrity Big Brother and The Traitors US since winning the dating reality show in 2022 with her then amore Davide Sanclimenti. When these celebs have run out of competitive steam, they can appear as panellists on the reality TV after-shows to share their thoughts and opinions on their successors.
It’s an Ouroboros of celebrities who know what the job requires; drama, quick one-liners, catty but non-libelous remarks and catchphrases with the potential to monetise.
With top tier celebrities — or “top tier”, depending on your opinion — there’s always the risk that they could ruin their reputations or even their careers when they show a nasty streak, one that could be a low-risk as being a poor sport or as disgraceful as showing off a streak of racism, as S Club 7’s Jo O’Meara, Jade Goody and other contestants learned the hard way in 2007’s Celebrity Big Brother.
There’s a threshold of fame that reality stars can now reach. Everyday contestants can go on to achieve varying levels of stardom, from appearing in pantos and social media campaigns for supermarkets (here’s looking at you, Diane from The Traitors) to becoming TV hosts like Alison Hammond, whose career began on Big Brother in 2002.
However, it’s unlikely that we will see any reality stars boost their careers to the levels of the Kardashians or even Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, who are reuniting for Paris & Nicole: The Encore this December, 17 years since the final episode of The Simple Life.
Reality TV is one great social experiment, and its stars reflect the world in which we live, something that actual celebrities can’t do. Love Island, for example, is a Grade A example of tribal behaviour between alpha males and seeing gaslighting unfold in real time, and Big Brother stokes the flames by placing people with opposing politics in confined spaces. As left-wing Ali hugged Tory-loving Nathan in the Big Brother garden, they said that even though they hate each other’s politics, they love each other. “This is how we solve wars,” joked Ali. If only.
Ultimately, though, reality TV isn’t that deep. While there’s a Gladiator savageness to it, these shows allow us to become passive participants as we switch our brains off for the day. If an empire of reality TV stars and broadcasters with a rotating door policy is what it takes to keep the fire lit, then keep these mid-level celebs coming.
Louise Bruton is a freelance journalist, specialising in the arts, pop culture and disability rights.
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