A portion of today's video is sponsored by Winc.
Hello, my dudes, my name is Tiffany! Welcome back to my series, Internet Analysis, where I
like to research and discuss things relevant to social issues and media. Today, I want to talk
about the "Reality TV to Influencer" pipeline. After such an intense last video -- by
the way, if you guys haven't seen it, my nearly hour-long video
about teeth and dental care. I really enjoyed the process of making that video,
but it was a lot. I'm so glad that you guys seem to have enjoyed it! But for this week,
I just wanted something a little more simple. It is summer, so of course, I am currently
watching Love Island UK. I wanted to specify that I've never seen the US or Australian versions
of Love Island, and I thought that was it, but according to the wikipedia about
the franchise... there's like twenty other versions of the show in different countries,
so. This video's referring to the UK one! If you're not familiar, it's a dating
competition show where a bunch of hot, sexy singles live together in a villa. They couple
up, new people get brought in, some people get kicked out, relationships are tested, and the
winning couple at the end gets a cash prize. Pretty classic. Anyway, as I've been watching
this show for the last few seasons, every year, I think the same thing: the real prize of being
on 'Love Island' is becoming an influencer! but I think that's actually true for like,
almost all reality TV these days. Be on show, find love or win a prize, become
an instant celebrity or influencer, then you get fame and fortune. But of course, it's
not that easy. So again, in this video I'm going to focus mostly on Love Island UK, because that
is what has been filling up my brain lately, but a lot of my sources on these topics also mention
The Bachelor, which is actually a franchise I have never watched. It's very much a reality TV
to influencer pipeline, though. A lot of these things also apply to recent hits like Too Hot to
Handle, Love Is Blind, etc. Obviously, the genre of reality TV is massive, so I'm not covering
everything, it's not going to apply to everything, but if I miss anything related to your favorite
reality show, let me know in the comments. I just find it so interesting to watch reality TV,
get to know these quote-unquote “regular” people, but then also have the awareness that the second
that they step out of that isolated environment, they're gonna have completely different lives.
They're gonna be instant influencers, many of them at least; I just want to know more. You know, what
are the highs and lows of this experience, and, honestly, is it all worth it? By the way,
sorry if throughout this video you can hear any sort of banging upstairs...
my neighbors are up to something. So first, I want to get a little bit into the
history of reality TV, early reality TV. It's obviously changed a lot since its inception.
The show credited as the first reality TV show is called 'An American Family' from 1973, which
focused on the Louds, a white, affluent family in Santa Barbara, California -- and it was
considered revolutionary for its time, for its very raw documentary style. It was meant to expose
this perfect-looking family as not-so-perfect, which, as we know today, is like, the premise of
so much reality TV. It was the 70s so the most shocking story lines included that the parents
were getting divorced and that their son Lance was gay. As one of the first openly gay figures
on tv, he quickly became an icon in the community. But reality TV didn't really catch on for a few
decades. In 1992, The Real World premiered, and that definitely set the tone for a more dramatic
situation, where you do have a combination of real, average people, but they're put into
situations that are very different than real life. Then, in the year 2000, Big Brother and Survivor
premiered, so obviously, those have been massive, very influential, very popular shows
that are still on to this day. In 2003, we had The Simple Life, starring socialites Paris
Hilton and Nicole Richie, who were essentially trying out what it was like to be poor, and
have to work difficult jobs. And on that note, Paris Hilton credits herself as the original
influencer, of course. "Capital O, capital I, Original Influencer?" "Girlboss life!" We can
very much debate whether or not she deserves that title, but she definitely was an early adopter of
this idea, that you could market yourself in every different way, and create an entire empire
of products based on your brand and image. Either way, I think everyone has always known
that being cast on a reality show, being on TV is a jumping off point for more,
and if you're smart about it, you can figure out how to potentially capitalize
off of that platform. The difference, obviously, with the rise of social media, is that anyone in
the spotlight through a reality show could then get their own social capital, in the form of
followers and a fan base, and they could market things directly to them. They didn't need the
middle man of the traditional media opportunities, they could do sponsorships, or they could sell
their own products directly to their fans. Before we continue, let's give a shout-out
to today's sponsor, Winc. Winc is a wine subscription service that crafts wonderful wines
and delivers them directly to your doorstep. You start by taking their one minute quiz, to
get bottles matched to your taste preferences, and any other desires you have. Do you
want your wines to be sustainably made, vegan? Winc has you covered! My fiance and I do
like to try a new wine once in a while, have a glass at dinner, while we're watching a movie, or
something. Or Love Island, to be honest. And this is a very convenient, affordable way to do so.
Gonna do a little unboxing! I have this cider from California. I am a fan of ciders, and I'm
a Californian! This is Golden Child! and this is the wine I've been drinking throughout this video,
Cape Route's, Chenin-- Chenin Blanc...? I cannot be pronouncing that right. My French teachers
are crying! This is a Pinot Noir from Chile... Alma Libre. Nathan's a huge fan of red, so I'm
very excited to try this with him! And last, we have this Fog Land Riesling, from Washington.
I'm usually a white wine kind of gal. Also, with Winc, there are no membership fees, you can
skip a month or cancel your subscription anytime, and they will replace any bottle
that you don't absolutely love, so you can rest easy knowing you're gonna get
some great wines! If you'd like to try out Winc, you can use my link in the description
to get four bottles for $29.95, and that includes free shipping! The promo code
is added automatically at checkout! Cheers! Sante! Now, I've got to touch on the Kardashians,
because I do see them as kind of emblematic of that transitional moment from early reality TV
to the reality TV, influencer pipeline moment. I've also never watched 'Keeping Up
With The Kardashians', but through the osmosis of culture I guess, I have absorbed
a fair bit. So when it comes to the Kardashians, they were initially socialite-adjacent,
especially with Kim being Paris Hilton's friend / assistant. They also had a famous
lawyer father, famous former Olympian parent, Caitlyn Jenner. They had wealth and access, so
they were intriguing. And then with the legitimacy that came with being on tv, that brought their
family brand to mainstream audiences. Then they utilized social media to increase their individual
influence, across a lot of different spheres, be it clothing, makeup, "wellness," high fashion,
fragrances, alcohol... and they built business empires. This piece points out how each sister has
a slightly different niche and different audience, but together clan appeals to a pretty wide
demographic, which benefits everyone involved. Also can we talk about how the Kardashian-Jenners
pretty much had a content house? What do you call a group of influencers who more or less
live together, create content together, always cross promote, to make the entire group
more popular?? When it comes to their influencing, years ago, they frequently posted a lot of pretty
shameless, low effort sponsored posts for sketchy products. On instagram these days, they mostly
promote their own brands, as well as each others. It's a lot more rare for them to have outside
sponsorships, but they still pop up occasionally. Like that sketchy "curated businesses" giveaway
thing? though I think Scott Disick runs that, so he's part of the clan. And most annoyingly,
they still don't properly disclose their ads. It is always unclear or not declared which
companies they own or are invested in, versus the products they're just being paid to
promote. Anyway, I think Keeping Up With the Kardashians came at the right moment with the
rise of social media and especially instagram; the Kardashian-Jenners transcended the label
of "reality stars," even though that's where their mainstream fame originated. And now,
they're not even referred to as influencers, despite being some of the most followed
people on various platforms. They've kind of just become this inescapable element of our
media ecosystem, whether we like it or not. Anyway, let's continue to Love Island, pre-show.
It's important to talk about casting, you know, who gets this opportunity to begin with? The
typical casting patterns, especially for dating shows in the US and the UK are basically: young,
attractive, thin or muscular, majority-white people. I found this clip of some Love
Islanders from a previous season talking about whether or not Love Island might want to
consider representing more diverse body types? "You know, as much as body diversity is
important, and let's not shy away from that. It's actually about the characters
and the types of people that are in there." "Personality diversity is more important." "Yeah
absolutely because if you focus solely on body, you wouldn't have necessarily a good show.
You need to focus on people who have different careers and yeah, different characters. Yeah."
"Okay, because I guess there's an argument that, uh, you can get personality alongside
lots of different shapes and sizes." "Like, they do all look different. (I think they
look different!) They all have different body types. The thing is, I think, we have to remember,
it is a show about young people going into a villa, sitting by the pool, trying to couple
up... The show was never to showcase diversity..." "It's just easy to put blame on a big show
and moan and have these negativities. But, there's a plus size model, I think. The
girl in the red, is she a plus size model, that was a big thing..."
"Right, okay." And they ultimately said no! And they also kind
of said, oh we do have a range of body types! It's like no, you don't, you really don't at all.
I don't know why I was surprised I just thought, I feel like it's a pretty mainstream position to
be like 'yeah we can always use more diversity, especially in body types! This is such a harmful
thing!' They could have talked about the pressures that the Love Island cast mates feel to be in
the best possible shape. You've gotta be fit, you've gotta be thin, you've gotta be
muscular, to feel comfortable on that show. But no, none of that conversation
was had. They're like, nah, we're good! On Love Island UK there's been a continuous
problem: when it comes to diversity in reality tv casting, even in a cast of like a dozen people,
it's common to see like 5 blonde, blue eyed, white women. And as someone with these features I
can say, frankly, it's boring. We've seen enough, we get it. And aside from being just less
interesting than a cast with more range would be, it's a harmful practice and it perpetuates a very
narrow, very white standard of beauty. On almost every season, we have the same kind of "trope"
appearing, and that is a beautiful, lovely, yet single, Black woman, who for some reason isn't
able to find that romantic connection with anyone. Samira, Yewande, this season we've had Rachel
and Kaz... (I haven't seen all the up-to-date episodes by the way, I think I'm only on episode
20 something, so not sure what's happened since!) Regarding this issue though, there have been
really great commentary videos made about this, and obviously Black women are the best
source of commentary for this topic, so I'm about to show some clips from some
great videos, and I really highly recommend checking out those videos in their entirety.
(Ada): "Love Island UK does Black women dirty almost every single season. And we're not just
gonna be focusing on racial preference, we're gonna be talking about the extremely questionable
production and screen time decisions made, that kind of make their intentions / their lack
of care towards their Black female contestants very clear. I mean, if watching people line up
to get chosen solely based on their physical appearance wasn't already extremely awkward...
Love Island UK has only like 6 seasons, and for 4 out of those 6 seasons, the last person
standing, unchosen, unpicked, has been a person of color. which is really, at the end of the day,
just a preview into what the rest of their season is about to look like, for those people."
(Brandi): "Throughout that entire season, Samira was the best friend, she was the
shoulder to cry on. Always making the Black girl the secondary character, never, like, the
main character. But are we surprised?" (Adella): "The Black women are buff. They know
they're buff, otherwise why would they apply to go on Love Island? In the outside world, I'm pretty
sure these girls have no problem getting guys, and I'm sure they do experience a lot of pretty
privilege. But now they come onto this show, this new smaller society, where the casting
directors haven't done their job to make sure that the men that they put on there have preferences
for all the girls they put on there, and vice versa. And it's really sad and I question whether
the Black girls should even go on Love Island at all. That's a topic for another day but..."
(Ada): "I'm not even like actually bothered by the racial preferences of the contestants
themselves, but the producers know exactly like, who is whose type, and what type this person
likes and what type that person likes and, what they look for in a partner, what
their past partners have looked like..." There's so much to be said about preferences
in dating (especially in terms of race), colorism, and the culturally specific, intricate
dynamics of dating within or outside of your race, or community, or religion. Those are
massive topics that I can't get into in this video but there are plenty of fantastic
videos on these issues if you want to hear more. And PS, there are many other races and
ethnicities, other than Black or white in the UK, that are also massively underrepresented on shows
like these. So, it's the tip of the iceberg. And similarly, we get to The Bachelor. There's
been a long running joke about how similar a lot of the Bachelor or Bachelorette casts
look. "If thou wishest to make it to the final rose ceremony, thou shalt have wavy ombre
hair and be a white woman named Lauren." Again, I've never watched the Bachelor franchise but I've
still heard many stories about their problems with casting, and the way the production often treats
contestants of color. It took 25 seasons to cast the first Black bachelor, Matt James, and
13 seasons for the first Black bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay. That alone speaks volumes!
Now, I don't expect these reality shows to be revolutionary. I think it would be pretty
naive to expect that Love Island of all things is gonna be leading the charge for like,
social justice -- though if it happened I would love to see it! -- but again, being
intentional and mindful with casting is the bare minimum. Ultimately the casting all
boils down to, who is given the opportunity? who is given a platform? what types of peoples
are represented and what types are not? Let's get into preparing for the show,
and the cost of being on reality TV. On both shows, you want to dress to
impress, you want to look your best. "Some contestants have admitted to getting botox,
putting in extensions, and signing up for fancy gym memberships to prepare to be seen on national
television. Most get highlights, haircuts, lash extensions, spray tans, eyebrow shapings,
facials, and manicures." And on The Bachelor, these women have to bring a massive wardrobe.
"What is provided for you and what do you have to pay for?" "You pay for everything and nothing is
provided for you. It was crazy the amount of money that I spent just to go into the show because
you don't know how long you're gonna last, you could either be home night one, or you could be
there for a solid 9 weeks. and it's like, you've gotta think of rose ceremony dresses and heels and
jewelry, and these things aren't cheap. It's quite expensive." "Yeah, do people go into debt for this
stuff?" "Oh I did! I don't know how you don't." The wardrobe alone, according to previous
contestants, can cost thousands of dollars. Years ago, "women would talk about how they
would borrow some dresses from friends, or just kind of pull what they have from
their closet and just go on the show. But now, even before they go on the show, contestants
are either reaching out themselves to brands, or getting reached out to, and they're getting
PR clothes to go on the show." I think reaching out to brands before going on the show is very
smart, do anything you can to save some money, but you would think that the show would just
directly partner with certain brands, to make this process a lot easier for the contestants. However,
things are a little bit different on Love Island, of course, the contestants do bring their
own suitcases full of their own clothing, but there is a lot less wardrobe pressure,
because each season has a wardrobe sponsor for product placement. ISAWITFIRST, is the official
sponsor of Love Island 2021... And by the way, the website is hilarious and scary, because
some of the pictures for the clothes are models, or they've been modeled by the contestants.
But also, some are just blurry, candid shots, that look like they're taken from like, security
footage, because that's how Love Island is filmed, and it's just bizarre! But, Love Island is
definitely the perfect way to promote fast fashion looks, never wearing the same thing,
bikinis, little two-piece sets, dresses, because each contestant changes their
outfit like, three or four times a day. Another big financial consideration when going
on a reality show is that, you have to leave your life for potentially months. You have to be
able to quit your job, or if you have a very nice employer that'll let you leave for that long, but
it's unlikely, still somehow get your rent paid, and obviously, this isn't the easiest for
anyone who's a parent or has other dependents. And it's important to note that contestants are
not paid, so they have to do all this, they have to essentially gamble on this opportunity of being
on the show, and just hope that it comes through. Finally, during the show, there's a big discussion
about the right reasons, going on these shows for the right reasons. Even though we all know
that becoming famous is essentially an assumed result of being on reality TV these days, the cast
members are all expected to pretend like this has nothing to do with their motivations to be on
reality TV. Like on this season of Love Island, there was a moment where one of the guys left,
and the girl he was coupled up with, he said something about this being a good opportunity
for her, she should stay for the opportunities, and another islander got upset, because she
was like, it's not about the opportunities, it's about finding love! It's like, come on!
This is a big discussion on The Bachelor and Bachelorette as well... "A contestant's reasons
are right only if they are on the show to fall in love with its lead and get married. Conversely,
if at any time during filming, a contestant lets slip that they went on 'The Bachelor' because they
wanted to travel, or promote their tequila brand, or expand their opportunities, they're decidedly
labeled as not here for the right reasons." Finally, after the show, your season
is done, you get let out of isolation, either the villa or The Bachelor
world. For these types of shows, you don't have your phone, you can't contact the
outside world, you don't keep up with the news, so the before and after is so much more stark.
When you leave the show, obviously, you have the chance to just go back to your regular job,
go back to your life. You don't have to be an influencer, but the platform is kind of hand
delivered to you, depending on how well you did. The opportunities might be there, and you're
only gonna get this one shot, so a lot of people feel compelled to take it. Why not try out this
influencer thing? I do want to highlight though, just because you are cast for a reality show, does
not mean that you are guaranteed to become rich and famous. You obviously have to last long enough
in the show to give an impression to the fan base, and some people are very easily forgotten, if
they're only around for a few days, or if they get very minimal screen time. And when you're
coming out of the show, or as it's premiering, your reception greatly depends on how the
production depicts you. This is reality TV, it is orchestrated, the producers are pulling the
strings, trying to make things happen, trying to create a narrative. Were you lucky and you became
a fan favorite, or were you one of the villains? "You see the public's reactions, they can proper
hate you. I'm talking HATE, like death threats. It got to the stage where it was just
affecting my mental health way too much..." A lot of the former islanders or Bachelor
contestants talk about the lack of privacy, and the media storm that you're immediately hit with.
"Let's talk about, what have they got to expect as soon as they get back in the UK?" "All the
memes, man!" "I think the whole fame thing made me less confident. There was so much scrutiny about
how I looked, what I wore, what my hair was like, what my makeup was like. What these people say,
isn't a true reflection of who I am and how I look." "The thing is, you've just gotta watch out
for them people that try to be your friends as soon as you come out, everyone's your friend when
you come out. Yeah, facts." "You just don't know who you can trust, especially when you say
something to someone and see it in the papers." "The cons, I would say, a lack of privacy. At the
beginning, it was so overwhelming. And. I've kind of just realized now, everyone's gonna have an
opinion on everything you do, and the one thing I like to thing about is that, not everyone's
gonna love you. There's always gonna be people that are just not a fan of you, and that's ok."
"Sometimes you can't really look into that too much. They have a tv show to run so they're gonna
put certain narratives on certain people. And when you come out, all my advice to them is people are
gonna see their real character eventually so..." Again, people often say, 'well, it goes with the
territory, you signed up to be on reality TV, you knew what to expect'. But, I still think that, on
an emotional psychological level, it is still hard to accept the reality, once you're experiencing
it. It's a very different thing to imagine being hated on, or having trolls or whatever, then it is
to actually experience that. So now, the reality stars are into the influencer pipeline, and I
want to touch on what makes reality stars great influencers. When we meet someone via reality
TV, we're meeting a version of them that has been heavily edited, it's been shaped by production,
but when we see their social media, when they're out in the real world, we get to see their version
of things. It's a closer, more intimate version, and it's obviously their edit, which of course,
we know can be more or less true. Nothing is real. Nothing is real... "Because of their vulnerability
on the show, their followers really trust them, they value their recommendations and they want
to support them." And one question I had for this video was, what about the reverse? Because we've
also seen the influencer to reality TV pipeline, and I think that is fascinating enough for
its own video. But you know, we've seen like, Tana Mongeau has her 'Tana Turns 21' MTV
thing. Nikita Dragun had a Snapchat show, Niki and Gabi had a Snapchat show, the
D'amelios have a new reality show... And I think, coming from getting to know someone
via their own lens, when we get the reverse, someone that we're used to seeing self-edited,
and then placing them into a more formal, more produced setting, it usually doesn't translate.
Again, we've already seen them, we've already seen more intimate looks into their lives, so
why would we want something that's, in our eyes, less genuine than their social media? And in
some cases, like Tana Mongeau in 'Tana Turns 21', the way that they're depicted on their own show
can make them less likable to their audience, to their fan base. Even though she was the
"protagonist" of the show, her behavior was so terrible that everyone was like, to be honest,
this is like -- if there wasn't enough to turn you off of Tana, this is another strike. You
lose control of shaping your own narrative, and Tana had a whole thing like, blaming the
production, saying that all these things were, you know, fake, or edited in a way to be
misleading, but it's like, no. I mean, editing can do so much, but also, you have to
behave in a certain way for them to be able to edit those scenarios. So, unless they've
got like, a body double or CGI, it was you. Now, let's get into the sponsored content.
Obviously, I am in favor of sponsorships, I think it's a great way to help content creators
be supported, including myself! (Thank you, Winc!) So, I'm not against sponsored content as a
whole, obviously. To start, I spent way too many hours looking up each individual Love Island UK
cast members' Instagram, to see how many followers they had, and it was such a waste of time. Halfway
through it, I was like, why? But anyway, out of that list, I then collected all of the islanders
who have over two million Instagram followers. A lot of them have a few hundred thousand, maybe
one million, somewhere in that range, but these are the top tier, and they're mostly, of course,
winners or finalists, which is not surprising. In first, by far, we have Molly Mae, with
5.8 million, and her partner, Tommy Fury, has 3.5 million, and then we have some others.
Look at all that influence! And I did not check for the 2021 contestants, because I don't want to
spoil things for myself. In terms of sponsorship deals, for Love Islanders, they tend to get their
biggest offers as soon as they leave the island, or as soon as the season ends; and brands of
course, typically want to work with the finalists the most, because they expect them to be the most
popular. So Molly Mae, the most followed islander, "bagged a 500,000-pound deal with Pretty Little
Thing, and also became a brand ambassador. Then she was also a brand ambassador for Beauty Works,
a company that specializes in hair extensions that Molly uses. (That Molly uses!) and hair
tools!" So, everyone obviously finds their lane. Are you a beauty, are you a lifestyle,
are you fitness, are you fashion? Then, we have Maura. She signed a six-figure deal
with Ann Summers, which is like a... lingerie brand? And she also became a brand ambassador for
BooHoo, and has released a collection with them... This noise is really absurd, I hope you guys
can't hear it, but it's a lot... Then Amber Gill, who won her season, "signed a brand deal with
Miss Papp for 1 million pounds after leaving the villa," that is the biggest Love Island payout
deal that I've seen, and we love it for Amber! Here are some other deals with other islanders...
Fast fashion again, seems to be a major trend. On The Bachelor, there's a kind of running joke,
again, about their FabFitFun sponsorships. I guess FabFitFun had originally worked with
YouTubers, I remember, back in the day, and then they also got into Bachelor contestants.
And then on the men's side, obviously, a lot of the guys also do these sponsorships, they do
their fair share of influencing. I noticed while going through their profiles, a lot of
them do coaching, which is always interesting, because sometimes it's like, a vague, like...
do you mean like, a scam, MLM type of coaching, do you mean some sort of scheme? Like, are you
coaching people on how to be coaches? That's interesting. A lot of them also are like, personal
fitness sort of coaches as well, so, they're doing their thing, they've got their niche!
Then, other major opportunities include spin-offs and crossover appearances. This is kind of in
that realm of becoming a television personality, so after you leave your season of a show, you
can get featured in crossovers or spin-offs, and stay part of the larger show's universe, as
long as you can. Because obviously with every other show you're on, other podcasts, other
things, you have the potential to continue gaining more fans, more exposure. If you were
a contestant on the Bachelor or Bachelorette, obviously the next best thing after that would
be to be cast as the next lead, but if not, there's a whole Bachelor universe to explore.
Bachelor... nation? I don't know what that is, to be honest! For the Love Island cast, you
could again, same thing, be on podcasts, Aftersun episodes... a lot of previous contestants also go
on shows like Ex on the Beach or Celebs Go Dating, both of which I have not seen but, I'll never say
no. So yeah, the longer you stay in the universe, the more attention you can receive, and also you
have the opportunity to direct your narrative. Keep your narrative alive, keep people caring
about you, but also you have the opportunity to address past drama or relationship situations. And
that kind of PR control can be very beneficial. Lately we've also seen Netflix universe
crossovers. I compared this to the "Jimmy Timmy Power Hour," iconic! Like when we saw Chloe
from Too Hot to Handle get cast in The Circle, or we just saw Francesca from Too Hot to Handle
get invited to the Love is Blind reunion party. Netflix is clearly on to something, they want us
to be invested in their reality stars. And I think a big way to do that is to bring them into these
other universes. It's funny cuz in reality tv, clearly like, it's all the world? Wow. Unlike
Jimmy Neutron and Timmy Turner who lived in different universes, different planes of reality
*laughs* -- we all exist in the world but it still seems weird to be like, that person's
from that show, and that person's there, and they're sitting next to each other in the
same room. it doesn't seem like it should add up. And now, moving into a darker side of this
pipeline, I want to discuss mental health and the lack of aftercare, the exploitation and the harm
that can come from being on reality TV. Often, the drama in these shows is what gets people invested,
the negativity, the twists, the villains. But these storylines, these narratives, can be very
harmful and exploitative to the contestants that are placed into those roles, and edited in those
ways. In a lot of these interviews, the previous contestants talked about how to cope after the
show, and dealing with the fame and everything that comes along with it. And I think, how you
can cope hugely depends on how you were treated, how you were portrayed, how the audience
responds to you, and then of course, you know, what is your support system like in your
personal life? What is your mental state, what existing stressors do you have? There's a big
difference, if you were a beloved fan favorite, or if you were the villain of the season. And
also, in this pipeline, we hear a lot about this rush of media and PR and opportunities right
after your season ends. But a lot of contestants have said that, after a period of six months
or a year, those opportunities start to dry up. You know, they start moving and focusing
on the next upcoming season, the new cast, and that can make people feel kind of lost.
You've accepted this new part of your identity as somebody who is famous to some extent, you've
gotten used to this lifestyle, and then it slows down, and you wonder if it may be taken away
from you, and then where do you go from there? "I feel like I always have to be doing
something, like you'll do one thing, one huge collab, and then you go to an interview
and the next question is, what's next? and you're just sitting there like, well, I don't
know, I just... there's so much pressure." Next, I'm going to read a bit from this piece by
Madeleine Barbier, who I don't think is French, but love the name! And I want to give a
content warning for self-harm and suicide, so if you would like to skip this
section, please skip to this time stamp... When we talk about aftercare, that is referring
to, it's not just aftercare, it's like, before, during, and after the show, you know, the
psychological examinations that are done on the cast to ensure that they're in a stable
enough place to be on reality TV, because there's a lot of stress that comes along with it; and
then, you know, during the show, are they being checked up on, are they being helped? And after
the show, aftercare typically involves therapy, and also I think, aftercare often includes some
like, business advising, because of course, some of these people might be taken advantage
of, because they're being thrown into this very competitive business. But historically, aftercare
was not a massive priority for shows like 'Love Island' or 'The Bachelor', and that did cause a
lot of harm and a lot of stress, especially to the early contestants, who were kind of left without
any direction or any substantial assistance. "Two of 'Love Island's former contestants have died by
suicide since appearing on the show, Sophie from the second season and Mike from the third season.
Sophie was the oldest contestant on her season, a model and former beauty queen. Mike was one of
the villains of season three, sent in to stir the pot." It's important to note that nobody has
directly blamed these shows for the deaths of these contestants, and also from 'Love Island's
former host, Caroline Flack, but it could have, of course, been a contributing factor. All of the
stress from the show and the aftermath of the show could have contributed to any of their existing
problems or their mental state, so, that's just to be noted. "Across the entire genre, 38 former
reality TV stars have ended their lives. Many discourses that surround this issue focus on the
shows themselves, and the producers' failings to provide aftercare. Other conversations concentrate
on the intense trolling that happens to reality stars over social media, still others point
toward the tabloids and their invasive articles." "how much of an effect can this show have on
your mental health?" "Oh it can have a massive affect on mental health. Like seriously.
because people like us, young Black men, we don't really talk about that too often. so I
feel like it's something we've really gotta push." "Nothing can really prepare you for what you're
going into. It's sort of, telling somebody the water's freezing, jump into it. They're
never gonna know how cold that water is, until they're in the water. I think for me it
took me about 6 -12 months to fully adjust to this new lifestyle, so I feel that if I was
forced to probably see a psychologist every month, I could benefit on speaking
about my anxieties, my worries, and work through them with her. Because
a lot of people who are suffering from anxiety and mental health are the people
who don't actually talk about it willingly." "There is a special precariousness that happens
when these reality stars become influencers, marketing themselves through social media,
and thus increasing their value as a product. These stars experience a type of fame where
their personhood gets commodified. Many have spoken about how strange and overwhelming their
lives became post-production. Contestants are regularly written about in tabloids, their
images and personal dramas widely dispersed." So with that, my final section is, is it
all worth it? "I really want you to know what you're getting into, cuz Love Island is
not the only way to do whatever it is you're trying to do. whether that's find love, there
are other ways to find love. there are other, less invasive ways. less stressful ways to
find love! if you're trying to get a bag, there are other ways to do that too. So I
really want you to think about it. I just really really want to push the point that
everything's not as it seems. It's mad, it's mad. and I don't know, sometimes I
just think to myself, was it worth it?" One thing that comes with this is a lot of the
stresses that come with being an influencer in general, and I've made plenty of videos about that
recently. You know, the questions of longevity, and, you know, how can you build something
more sustainable, how can you build a career instead of just, you know, a couple of years of
doing sponsored posts? And also, questioning if this is something that you want to do long term,
if you want to continue being a public figure, with everything that comes along with that, or do
you want to just take the opportunities as they come, ride it out, make your money, and leave
when you're over it? A lot of the interesting articles I read about this talked about the
alienation that you experience as a reality star, and also as an influencer, and also the
commodification of yourself, your persona. Barbier's article continues, "Even though many
reality stars may be able to make a living off of simply posting their leisure activities, being
an influencer is still labor, and it is often all-encompassing labor. An influencer's whole
personhood and identity collides with the fact that they are products themselves.
A reality star who becomes an influencer might find it extremely difficult to divorce
their own personhood from their labor, seeing that their personhood, or the image of
their personhood, is how they're making money. According to the Invisible Committee, people
whose value fully coincides with what they are, become the new heroes of capitalism. This
description certainly applies to reality stars and influencers. The overall effect of
this commodification plays out differently in every individual, and some are perhaps more well
equipped to deal with the scrutiny than others. Perhaps others are less able to consolidate the
monetized self with the other self, the healing, growing, imperfect, unquantifiable self."
And this idea of commodification of the self brought me back to Paris Hilton, our resident girl
boss. Hilton says she flies something like 250 days out of the year for work, and aside from the
massive environmental impact of that, that just sounds exhausting. In her Paris documentary, one
of the things she mentions is that it's her goal to make a billion dollars. Get it, girl boss! She
talks about her rigorous schedule, she's always working, she's always working on the next project,
she's always promoting something, and in her, you know, small amount of spare time, she books
her DJ sets, and she makes more money. Her life is all about making money, selling her brand,
selling her image, creating more products to sell to her fan base. Paris Hilton is so
synonymous with her brands and her products, and this carefully constructed image, that she
has talked about is, to an extent, a character. This dumb, ditzy blonde, that's hot. Every element
of herself has been commodified to the extent that she said she only recently started to
figure out who she actually is as a person. So again, is it worth it to pursue being
an influencer, and commodifying yourself to this extent? All of the downsides have been
pointed out, but again, we live under capitalism, and I understand despite the downsides, why
the potential financial benefits can make this endeavor seem worth it. I certainly have my
conflicts about being a YouTuber, and the fact that ultimately, my content is created for money.
This is my job, this is how I earn a living, and that does interfere with my creative process. I
can't make art for art's sake, I have to consider the business side of it. I have to consider that
I am selling a commodified version of myself, or my thoughts, or whatever, and I work with sponsors
because they pay me like, the bulk of my earnings. Currently, I've been in this headspace of,
okay, I want to work hard while I can, while I have this opportunity. I want to save money
and hopefully build myself a bit of a nest egg, some retirement savings, maybe a down payment for
a home, and if I can succeed in that, then maybe it makes, you know, all the other stresses and
stuff worth it. Again, not saying that being a YouTuber is the hardest job, it is not, but, I do
deal personally with a lot of emotional and mental stresses in this role. But even if I succeed in,
you know, saving as much money as I can, still, living in the US, because of our lack of a social
safety net, most of us, no matter how much money we're able to scrape up and save, are still like,
one medical emergency away from bankruptcy. Cheers to that! Giving myself an existential crisis, one
video at a time! (Thank you, Winc! You can click the link in the description to get four bottles
for $29.95, and of course, shipping is free! The promo will be automatically applied at checkout.)
Now, I get to give my small channel shout outs, finally! I'm sorry, it's been a long time! So
today's first small channel shout out goes to Town of Tawiah, her name is Akua Daniella and
she does videos on film and social commentary. Perfect timing for this video, but her last two
videos are about Too Hot to Handle, season 2. She specifically highlighted how Melinda as a
contestant had an incredible experience on the show, was well-loved, was one of the brightest
personalities. She has a lot of other really wonderful video essays, focusing on Black media,
including issues like colorism, the "oreo" myth, the next one I'm gonna watch is
"should Black British actors leave African American roles?" so I know you guys will
enjoy her channel, check out Town of Tawiah! My next shout out goes to a channel called Caelan
Conrad, I found their channel a few months ago and immediately I was blown away by the editing, it
is so impressive. I love all the green-screening. The soundtracks! this is a leftist
video essay channel so of course, that's what I love. Their video on landlords
was incredible, their series on anti-va**ers. Overall, very high quality and
very funny! so check them out! Also, want to give a shout out to my friend
Sheriden, who helped me research this video, thank you so much! And in a moment,
I will be thanking my Patrons... including, this name that I still can't pronounce,
because it's not a word, Charlie B., Kieran Janey, Maywither, Jaden, Mardi Schmeichel, Abby
Hayden and Rebecca Devillier. Our friends got us these little cups for our engagement.
Let's crack this one open. Totally, *laughs* nevermind, nevermind! It's ok! cheers! Thank
you guys SO very much for supporting me!! If you'd like to check out my Patreon and all the
benefits that are on there, you can do that. Thank you so much for watching this video,
and I will see you next time. k thanks, bye!
“The girl in red is a plus-size model… I think”
Anna was a pharmacist but okay
Cringe but not shocked Eyal, Zara and Laura can’t comprehend that body diversity and “personality diversity” can go hand in hand. So only hot, thin, muscular, etc. people have personalities? LOL they’re so dim
Claiming there is a range of body types is honestly hilarious. Like oh yes! Some of these men are shorter than other men, and for the women they have both blondes AND brunettes!
I love Tiffany! So insightful
Whoa, I just watched this video a few hours ago and immediately came on here to see if anyone had said anything about that clip of the S4 Islanders in the past - weird timing!
Thanks for sharing! This was very interesting
Haha oh man, that Eyal/Laura/Zara clip...they came so close to the fact that frankly, a lot of the draw for viewers on shows like LI is the ridiculous escapism of it all. When Zara said "If we focused solely on body, we wouldn't necessarily have a good show", I thought she MIGHT have been about to touch on the fact that viewers (some, perhaps most, certainly not all) like watching young, hot people who don't necessarily look like or represent them. It's a fucked up thing to say, but I think it's easier for a lot of people to separate the contestant as a human being from the contestant as a form of entertainment when they're inordinately good looking (in the "traditional" sense). And production will, of course, always capitalize on that.
I actually wonder if Eyal was trying to say that but it got cut up in the editing. But it felt like Laura and Zara both had internal Laganja Estranja "I'M FEELING VERY ATTACKED RIGHT NOW" monologues as the interview was going on, which I mean.....BIG eyeroll to that.