Also, some shows, like Top Chef give the contestants a platform to demonstrate thier talents on National (or international) TV. So, even if you don’t win you get exposure to potential future employers.
Of course that blade cuts both ways, so if you are a complete loser or jackass you can seriously hurt your career chances, but you did that to yourself. Something most Hell’s Kitchen contestants seem to miss.
During the depression of the 1930s, people did a lot of ridiculous things because they were hungry. Dance marathons, for instance. “Free” dishes at the movies. And there were a lot of talent contests, too, and people took just as big a chance on those. Perhaps they wanted to try doing something creative and positive, especially if there really was no work. And as a matter of fact, many of the talent show contestants were kids, pushed by their stage parents. And believe me, Miley Cyrus’s hair would explode if she knew how those kids were treated. Perhaps it’s better all around to be the contestant yourself by choice.
Well, it depends on the show. The contestants can make a lot of money, more than they could expect to make at a real job.
Dancing With The Stars pays over 100 large, with incentives and bonuses the longer you stay on the show. Being away from your kids for 3 months and then coming home with $200,000 isn’t too shabby?
Having said that, to be on one of those shows one must have a pretty huge ego, so it’s pretty doubtful any of them are doing it for any reason other than the exposure.
My planned separation from my kids ended with a civil engineering degree the same year that Caltrans called a hiring freeze. (In a regular year, they hire at least a third of UC Davis’s graduating CEs.) Since I wasn’t willing to relocate the kids, I was temping for a few years while the local market was jammed. You never know what the payoff will be.
And if the ego is huge enough, maybe the kids could use the break.
It might be a silly thing to say, but it’s an ad lib on TV. It’s probably mostly meant to show the kids that they were being thought of while Mommy/Daddy was gone and/or to put relatives on notice that if they don’t like it they can flap their lips somewhere else.
[Devil’s Advocate]
It could be they are doing it to show their kids that the parent isn’t a complete schmuck or loser and that s/he can be good at something, or simply just be on TV (generally speaking, the younger the kid, the bigger the status).
[/DA]