Reality TV Shows…

What is our obsession with reality TV shows?

I watch a bunch of reality TV shows including: the Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, Hell’s Kitchen  and the other night, I watched the Jersey Shore.

I can understand a little about why a person would want to see the Amazing Race.  Everyone wants to travel but not many of us get to go to the exotic places where the race takes you. Couples, not only married ones — brothers and sisters, mother’s and sons, etc., compete to win $1,000,000.  There is definitely excitement.  Where are they going next? Who’s going to come in first? What’s going to happen?

A lot of people watch The Biggest Loser to get motivated to lose weight.   I know I do.  I particularly like it in the beginning.  I remember how hard it was to start to exercise and how it felt as though those pounds would never come off! You watch the contestants and feel their motivation.  This helps me get motivated!

I’m not sure if I could understand why I watch Hell’s Kitchen. Gordon Ramsey is always yelling at everyone calling them “donkeys.” It’s actually terrible.  I feel really bad for the contestants.  I guess the intriguing part is the cooking. What types of dishes will they come up with next? Who’s going to win the grand prize of being the executive chef at Ramsey’s restaurant.

And certainly, I don’t get Jersey Shore. The other night I was watching it on MTV. For those of you who never watched, it’s about a group of  eight twenty-somethingers who live together in a house, kind of like “Big Brother.”  On this week’s episode, two of the people are an item and the girl received a note from some of the other girls in the house that told her that her boyfriend was cheating on her.  After that, it was all “drama.” But, I kept watching and I may even watch again this week!

So why are we obsessed? Don’t we have enough “drama” in our lives?  Do we watch so that we can secretly become like them and walk away from our problems?  Love to hear your thoughts about why we love reality TV.