In its latest contribution to society, the CBS reality show Survivor has announced that in its upcoming season the competing teams will be chosen according to race, much to the concern of United States minority rights organisations.
The four teams, or ”tribes”, of five contestants will be made up of people from the black, Hispanic, Asian and white communities, and will take each other on at a variety of challenges on the palm-fringed sands of the Cook Islands.
The game show has been a hit since it was launched six years ago. It spawned an industry of imitators. But now, entering its 13th season, it faces a squeeze on its ratings from competition such as ABC’s show Ugly Betty.
The programme’s makers insist they are not playing the race card for ratings but as a ”social experiment” and a means of increasing minority representation on Survivor.
Roughly four out of five contestants in the past have been white.
”I think at first glance when you just hear the idea, it could sound like a stunt, and especially with the way reality has gone, it wouldn’t be unusual,” Jeff Probst, the show’s host, acknowledged.
”But that’s not what we’re doing here. The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough. Because, for whatever reason, we’ve always had a low number of minority applicants apply to the show.”
Critics are concerned, however, that the sharply competitive nature of Survivor — in which the ”tribes” must take on elaborate physical tests each week and then vote weak or unpopular players off the island — will deepen racial divides among its 17-million US viewers.
”Without seeing the show it’s hard to judge, but it gives us a level of discomfort because of the way it encourages people to get ugly and to look to the dark side,” said Lisa Navarrete, a spokesperson for a Latino advocacy group, the National Council of La Raza.
”If it was going to be handled sensitively and thoughtfully, we wouldn’t be so concerned, but I don’t think we’re going to get that.”
Even the host of a CBS morning programme, The Early Show, expressed alarm when first announcing the news of the racially-tinged Survivor. ”I have to tell you, when I woke up early this morning and started reading through this stuff, I was stunned and, quite frankly, I was dismayed,” said the host, Harry Smith. ”I don’t know from where I sit that this sounds like a good idea for a reality show.”
One of the programme’s contestants, Jonathan Penner, described the decision to create racially-based teams as ”very gutsy” but ”potentially dangerous”.
”Tribes” on the programme have previously been divided according to age and gender, but race is a far more sensitive issue.
Sensing the uproar was gaining momentum, CBS issued a pre-emptive statement saying it ”fully recognises the controversial nature of this format, but has full confidence in the producers and their ability to produce the programme in a responsible manner”.
”Survivor is a programme that is no stranger to controversy and has always answered its critics on the screen,” the statement said.
Probst argued that Survivor was simply reflecting reality, as it was supposed to.
”I think it fits in perfectly with what Survivor does, which is, it is a social experiment, and this is adding another layer to that experiment, which is taking the show to a completely different level,” he told Smith.
The programme’s executive producer, Mark Burnett, went as far as to suggest to Variety magazine that it might help soften the ethnic boundaries in American society. ”Maybe that taboo could disappear through this,” he said, drawing a sarcastic response from media pundit, Andy Dehnart.
”Perhaps, and if that works, maybe Survivor 14 can cast people from the Middle East and solve all of those centuries-old problems in just 39 days. In just a few more seasons, there will be world peace,” Dehnart wrote on his website, Realityblurred.com.
The castaways this time include a police officer, a heavy metal guitarist, a lawyer and a nail salon manager.
Life on Screen
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This show for the FX Channel of the Fox network makes a black family white and a white family black with the use of expert makeup techniques. They go out in Los Angeles to record people’s reactions.
The Farm:
In the Channel 5 show, 10 celebrities experience the ”harsh realities” of life on a farm. Rebecca Loos’ stimulating a pig caused a furore.
Who’s Your Daddy?:
In the American Fox programme, one adult who had been put up for adoption as an infant has to pick their biological father from a group of 25 men.
Be My Baby:
Produced by the ABC network, the 20/20 show has five couples competing to convince a teenager that they would be the best adoptive parents for her baby.
Shattered:
The Channel 4 programme has 10 contestants going without sleep for seven days. £10 000 is deducted from the total prize of £100 000 if any of the contestants close their eyes for more than 10 seconds. – Guardian Unlimited Â