It's a troubling formula, but one that seems to be popular with reality show producers. Take an individual who may be down on their luck but has talent and/or potential. You drag them through the gauntlet of reality show qualifications then put them in front of a camera and tell them to act normal. Even the most well-behaved might take off the gloves for a good old-fashioned brawl. I guess it makes for great TV for those into watching trainwrecks.
The downside of reaping contestants from the other side of the tracks is that they come with a lot of baggage, and the folks running these shows might not be able to find it before showtime. If the contestant does well, the press will see what they can dig up on them, and inevitably, if it's there they find it ... and thus a scandal is born.
But why does everyone act so surprised? Did they think this person a pillar of virtue because they're on TV? Unfortunately, that's often the case. The TV generation thinks, "If it's on TV it must be true." In many cases, however, that's not exactly true. The shows have an image to keep, but they seem to make morality calls only when forced to by media scrutiny. Otherwise, they don't care what kind of animals they're bringing in as long as they're getting big ratings. The saddest part is that there's a whole new generation of kids growing up watching this crap and thinking it's normal behavior ... because they saw it on TV.
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