{"id":35184,"date":"2023-10-09T04:18:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T04:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=35184"},"modified":"2023-12-17T14:30:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T14:30:39","slug":"reality-tv-show-contestants-are-more-like-unpaid-interns-than-hollywood-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/reality-tv-show-contestants-are-more-like-unpaid-interns-than-hollywood-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Reality TV show contestants are more like unpaid interns than Hollywood\u00a0stars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

David Arditi<\/a>, University of Texas at Arlington<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2018, John Legend joined then-newly elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> to criticize the exploitation of congressional interns on Capitol Hill, most of whom worked for no pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legend\u2019s timing was ironic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Voice\u201d had just announced that Legend would join as a judge. He would go on to reportedly earn US$14 million<\/a> per season by his third year on the show. Meanwhile, all of the participants on \u201cThe Voice,\u201d save for the winner, earned $0 for their time, apart from a housing and food stipend \u2013 much like those congressional interns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fall 2023 TV lineup will be saturated with low-cost reality TV shows like \u201cThe Voice\u201d; for networks, it\u2019s an end-around<\/a> to the ongoing TV writers<\/a> and actors<\/a> strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s \u201cThe Voice,\u201d \u201cHouse Hunters,\u201d \u201cAmerican Chopper\u201d or \u201cThe Bachelorette,\u201d reality shows thrive thanks to a simple business model: They pay millions of dollars for big-name celebrities to serve as judges, coaches and hosts, while participants work for free or for paltry pay under the guise of chasing their dreams or gaining exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These participants are the unpaid interns of the entertainment industry, even though it\u2019s their stories, personalities and talent that draw the viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreams clash with reality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To conduct research for my book, \u201cGetting Signed: Record Contracts, Musicians, and Power in Society<\/a>,\u201d I interviewed musicians around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book was about the exploitative nature of record contracts<\/a>. But during my research, I kept running into singers who had either auditioned for or participated in \u201cThe Voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On \u201cThe Voice,\u201d singers compete on teams headed by a celebrity coach. Following a blind audition and various elimination rounds, the live broadcasts<\/a> begin with four teams of five members apiece. These 20 contestants spend months working in Los Angeles and are provided with only their room and board<\/a>. Each week, at least one player is eliminated. At the end of each season, the winner receives $100,000 and a record contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some viewers might see reality shows like \u201cThe Voice\u201d as launching pads for music careers, many of the musicians I spoke with were disheartened by their experiences on the show. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EGkmybURE5c?wmode=transparent&start=0 Contestants audition for \u2018The Voice\u2019 ahead of its 24th season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d where a number of winners, from Kelly Clarkson to Jordan Sparks, have made it big, no winners of \u201cThe Voice\u201d have become stars. The closest person to \u201cmaking it\u201d from \u201cThe Voice\u201d is the controversial<\/a> country singer Morgan Wallen, who was infamously dropped by his label and country radio<\/a> following the emergence of a video of him using a racial slur. And Wallen didn\u2019t even win \u201cThe Voice\u201d; in fact, he barely made it past<\/a> the blind audition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former contestants repeatedly told me that the television exposure did little to help their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to joining the show, many of the musicians were trying to scratch out a living through touring or performing. They put their developing careers on pause to chase their dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the show\u2019s contracts have stipulated<\/a> that contestants cannot perform, sell their name, image and likeness, or record new music while on \u201cThe Voice.\u201d (The Conversation reached out to NBC to see if this remains the case for the current season, but did not receive a comment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leaves the 20 finalists with no means to sell their music, even as they spend up to eight months competing. When the show\u2019s losers return to performing, many of them have little new material to promote. By the time they drop a new single or album and announce a tour, some of them told me that they had lost a good portion of their following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is one group of people who receive meaningful exposure from these shows: the coaches and judges. Several singers, such as Gwen Stefani and Pharell Williams, have used \u201cThe Voice\u201d to jolt their stagnating music careers. While earning millions as coaches and judges, these stars even use the show to promote their music<\/a> \u2013 something the contestants themselves are barred from doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying these contestants is feasible. If Legend earned $13 million instead of $14 million, that spare million dollars could be dispersed to half of the contestants at $100,000 apiece \u2013 an amount that\u2019s currently only reserved for the winner of the show. Cut the salaries of all four coaches by $1 million apiece, and it would free up enough money to pay all 20 contestants $200,000 each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A gold mine for networks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Voice\u201d is far from the only reality show to take advantage of the genre\u2019s low overhead costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past two decades, shows featuring Americans looking to buy houses or remodel their homes have exploded in popularity<\/a>. HGTV cornered this market by creating popular shows such as \u201cHouse Hunters<\/a>,\u201d \u201cFlip or Flop<\/a>\u201d and \u201cProperty Brothers<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewers might not realize just how profitable these shows are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take \u201cHouse Hunters.\u201d The show follows a prospective homebuyer as they tour three homes. Homebuyers featured on the show have noted that they earn only<\/a> $500 for their work<\/a>, and the episodes take<\/a> three to five days and about 30 hours to film. The show\u2019s producers don\u2019t pay the realtors<\/a> to be on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low pay for people on reality TV shows matches the low budget for these shows. A former participant wrote that episodes of \u201cHouse Hunters\u201d cost around $50,000<\/a> to film. Prime-time sitcoms, by comparison, have a $1.5 million to $3 million per episode budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidestepping the unions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That massive budget gap between reality TV and sitcoms is not simply due to an absence of star actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many scripted television shows are based in Los Angeles, where camera crews, stunt doubles, costume artisans<\/a>, makeup artists and hair stylists<\/a> are unionized. But shows like \u201cHouse Hunters,\u201d which are filmed across the country, will recruit crews from right-to-work states<\/a>. These are states where employees cannot be compelled to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. For these reasons, unions have far less power in these states than they do in places traditionally associated with film and entertainment, such as California and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s one reason why TV production<\/a> started moving to Atlanta<\/a> \u2013 what\u2019s been dubbed the \u201cHollywood of the South<\/a>\u201d \u2013 where shows like \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d and \u201cStranger Things\u201d have been filmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in my research, I also learned that Knoxville, Tennessee, has become a reality TV mecca. Like Georgia, Tennessee is also a right-to-work state. In Knoxville, many working musicians join the city\u2019s low-paying entertainment apparatus<\/a> by taking gigs working on TV and film production crews in between shows and tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a time when TV writers and actors are on strike, it is important to understand that the entertainment industry will try to exploit labor for profit whenever it can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reality TV is a way to undercut the leverage of striking workers<\/a>, whether it\u2019s through their lack of unionized actors, or their use of nonunionized production crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
With actors and writers on strike, many networks and streaming services are featuring reality TV-heavy fall lineups. David McNew\/Getty Image<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Contestants, casts and crew members are starting to catch on. Many reality TV participants have said that they feel like strike scabs<\/a>, and Bethenny Frankel of \u201cReal Housewives\u201d is reportedly trying to organize<\/a> her fellow reality performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preying off contestants who are desperate for exposure, reality TV might just be the next labor battle in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As John Legend<\/a> put it, \u201cUnpaid internships make it so only kids with means and privilege get the valuable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reality TV does the same to aspiring actors, musicians and celebrities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Arditi<\/a>, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Arlington<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Arditi, University of Texas at Arlington In December 2018, John Legend joined then-newly elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to criticize the exploitation of congressional interns on Capitol Hill, most of whom worked for no pay. Legend\u2019s timing was ironic. NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Voice\u201d had just announced that Legend would join as a judge. He would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":35185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8025,7],"tags":[14687,10190,356,510,540,1840,14645,541,702,5063,536,14684,14686,646,410,14685,14647],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35184"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35403,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35184\/revisions\/35403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}