I hope this is okay to post here, I really believe it’s relevant.
Anyway, I was watching a new one tonight called ‘Is It Cake?’ because my brain is numb after a 12hr shift and I just wanted to watch something mindless. The concept was cute and I enjoyed watching the baking, but when it came to the competition part I felt so uncomfortable.
And it’s because all the contestants so clearly really needed the money. Watching them miss out on $5K, 10K, 15K just felt… horrible. It felt like some kind of sick voyeurism. Here were happy people having fun, and you could physically see the good feelings replaced by sadness and regret in their eyes when they’d make a wrong choice and lose out.
And it’s because we live in this fucked up capitalist society that sucks all the joy out of the things we love by making everything revolve around obtaining money for mere survival. The stakes are simply too high right now. This isn’t pocket money, a nice little win. It’s potentially life changing for some people. I couldn’t help but wonder what a millionaire or billionaire tuning into such a show might think, watching people light up with hope at the thought of winning 5K and then be crushed to miss out.
Meanwhile British competition shows— there is no money prize. They’re not there having their hopes and dreams toyed with for views, they’re there to have fun and make friends. The stakes are low and so the atmosphere is genuine and heartwarming. You might see someone disappointed they didn’t make it through, but they aren’t suffering the disappointment of watching a chance at a fresh start or change in circumstance dangled like a carrot in front of them only to be snatched away.
American competition shows are as exploitative as everything else in our working society, and watching it play out on tv makes me feel gross and bad. I hope in the future these types of shows are looked at with the same disdain with which we now look at other relics of past media.