The problem with reality TV.
The latest series of Hells Kitchen is proving to be one of the best things on television at the moment. Now I’m not usually a fan of reality TV shows. I have no interest in watching a group of nobodies strut around like Prima Donnas.
However I always find Prima Donnas acting like nobodies much more entertaining and that is why celebrity versions are always better.
Watching an ex boxer, ex-actress, WAG, ex-air steward and ex-comedian go toe to toe while being shouted at by a Worsel Gummage look-a-like and being ordered to ‘please respect me’ is too good to miss.
The problem though is that reality TV producers don’t like reality.
If they did they wouldn’t have kicked Jim Davidson off the programme. For those who haven’t seen the programme, Jim referred to homosexuals as shirt lifters.
Fellow contestant Brian (who is a homosexual) objected to this language and (as if being a former airline steward wasn’t enough to conform to gay stereotypes) he then had a hissy fit like a big girl.
THIS IS REALITY. Just like you get racially ignorant celebrities on Big Brother or insensitive unfunny comedians on Hells Kitchen you encounter these people in the real world.
My question is this. What (apart from the Generation Game and Big Break) has Jim Davidson done that makes him so unacceptable?
He didn’t condone or incite anything illegal such as the public flogging of people he considers to be sexually deviant. He didn’t suggest that landlords of pubs or hotels should be allowed to refuse them services (a measure some sections of the church are currently lobbying for).
He merely used a term, which someone found unacceptable (and for the record if you are the type of person who meets strangers in public toilets or parks to engage in sex with them surely the point comes where you have to lift the mans’ shirt).
Jim Davidson may be out of date with his views and language. I don’t agree with them but I defend his right to hold and express them.
The producers of Hells Kitchen were either:
A. Incredibly stupid not to realise he would make his opinions known, or
B. Incredibly clever and realised that by making his opinions known they could kick him off the programme and generate a bit of publicity. I suspect the latter and like the gullible fools we are it has worked.
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Regarding Hells kitchen,I have never been a lover of any reality TV programmes.In my opinion it is cheap and tardy television.I was forced to sit and watch the first programme of H,K during which there were 29 bleeps,this was an average of one bleep every two minutes.This,carried over ten programmes doesnt take much working out.The bleeps did abate a little when a certain commedian got the bullet.However,I dont think its fair to
bring it into someones sitting room at a prime time,unless they do as I do,and change channels..