From Hong Kong hit Bride Wannabes to the Kardashians and Love Island, what is our fascination with reality TV?
From its early beginnings with Candid Camera in the late 40s, the genre began its current boom around the turn of the century with competitive shows such as American Idol and Big Brother
Reality television is like durian – most people seem to either love it or hate it. But the genre has proved long-lasting, popular and often controversial.
Five years ago, a 10-episode series Bride Wannabes hit Hong Kong’s TV screens. It featured five single women in their 30s being coached for six months on how to attract Mr Right and drew 1.7 million viewers every night – almost 25 per cent of the city’s population.
But the show also drew huge criticism, for giving narrow and distorted definitions of beauty and success for women. A Facebook page “Say no to Bride Wannabes” gained 2,300 likes in one week.
A more recent local reality show was Nowhere Girls in 2014, centred around seven women who were described as lacking money, jobs, education and prospects. It received 76 complaints in five days.
“In Hong Kong, the media content and digital programmes produced are not only competing [locally], but also against shows from other parts of the world – the United States, China, and South Korea in particular,” said Dr Tommy Tse, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Hong Kong.
Most younger people are attracted to international content made using larger budgets, Tse added.
