I LOVE reality TV.  My main is reality competitions (like Project Runway and Rupaul’s Drag Race), although I take issue with reality cooking competitions.  This is because it is far easier to rig cooking shows.  You don’t get to eat the food being served, you don’t know if it’s good or not.
This being said, all reality competitions are rigged, to some extent.  So much work goes into them to make sure that the audience is rooting for the right person, someone who isn’t perfect but is obviously extremely talented, and is a little bit vulnerable, and overcomes some kind of odds, whether that be personal situation or the ‘villain’ of the series.
One of the best examples of this structure is Rupaul’s Drag Race season 4.  The three finalists were Sharon Needles, Chad Michaels, and Phi Phi O’Hara.  Sharon Needles won, in one of the best reality tv decisions ever documented (in my opinion).  Chad Michaels was extremely talented, and likeable, but there was very little vulnerability.  She seemed almost too perfect, and the audience wouldn’t relate to her so much as idolize her.  Had she won, the audience would have been upset as she was too professional and successful already (she did end up going on to win All Stars 1, as the producers had promised her a win.  This season was not successful).  Phi Phi O’Hara was the villain of the series.  Had she won, there would have been a riot among fans.  Despite her being incredibly talented, no one could see past the way she treated the other queens, and the show would have lost many fans.  Sharon Needles was the perfect mix.  She was incredibly talented, but her drag style was one that was not widely accepted at that time (horror drag).  This made her vulnerable, as several queens on the show wouldn’t consider her a threat and treated her as less.  She overcame these odds, and it was shown best when she had a legendary showdown with Phi Phi O’Hara, after Sharon attempted to apologize for something that was said during critiques.  She was relatable and interesting and, most importantly, gave the audience an inspirational story that told that you don’t have to ‘fit in’ to succeed, and if you be yourself you’ll come out on top.

Sometimes shows have to change the outcome last minute.  Project Runway season 8 had a very clear story arc set up.  Early on, contestant Gretchen was set up as the villain, after winning two weeks in a row and becoming very controlling over the other contestants.  Contestant Mondo was slowly set up as the eventual victor.  In the second episode, they showed him feeling isolated and lonely, but still working hard to get good results.  Over the course of the season, he gained momentum and won multiple times in a row towards the end.  He also revealed his HIV+ status, which made the audience empathize with him, and care for him more.  As he was building up steam, Gretchen was losing hers, being in the bottom more than the top by the end.
However, when the show came back for the final two episodes, something had changed.  I have a theory as to why.  The show gives the final contestants three months off to design their final collection.  In this time, their main consultant Tim Gunn visits and gives them critique.  I believe that while filming this, the producers realized that what Mondo was designing was too pre-teen/teen oriented, whereas Gretchen’s collection was aimed at the same audience as the show.  In the final two episodes, there was a major shift that took place in the subtle manipulation of the audience.  There were more ‘kind’ close ups on Gretchen, showing her sympathizing with other contestants.  There was more of a push for the audience to see Mondo as disorganized, despite the issues he faced being out of his control (models not showing up to the final show).  When the judges discussed which contestant should win at the end, they had the two most credible judges (a fashion designer and a fashion editor) prefer Gretchen’s looks while the two least credible judges (a model and a musician/actor) prefer Mondo’s looks.  In the end, when Gretchen won, it felt in line with the finale, but very out of tune with the rest of the season.

I could talk about reality tv all day but this is already my longest blog post so I’ll leave it here!