Week 12

How have game shows influenced reality TV?

According to Hill (2004), reality game shows were first introduced to us in 2000 and have been popular ever since. It originated when a British producer came up with the idea for Big Brother which was a hybrid of a gameshow and an observational documentary (Hill, 2004). There are many aspects of game shows that can be exported to reality TV, as game shows were seen as putting ordinary people into situations where they had to make life-changing decisions in order to succeed in the game and get the reward at the end (Hill, 2004). Makers of reality TV shows picked up on this concept and developed it into shows like Big Brother and Survivor. Survivor in particular is a good example of how game shows have influenced reality TV. It takes elements of a game show, with challenges to compete in for rewards such as immunity or food, and then ultimately the one million dollars for the winner of the show. However other elements such as exploring relationships between the contestants and often being candidly filmed made it into a reality TV show.

Hill, A. (2005). The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15-40). Oxon: Routledge.