# The scary side of reality TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383 "2009-08-23T13:37:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/21 "2009-08-24T03:06:30Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > This is slight off topic, but when I originally heard that the ex wife was “mutilated” I thought, huh, he probably slashed her face or beat her face until the bone were broken, maybe damaged the rest of her body. But to have to be identified not with _fingerprints_ but the _serial numbers on breast implants_ - that is a _very_ scary level of “mutilation”. NOT a guy you want to surprise in a dark alley. Fingerprints would not be useful in identifying a body unless there is already a record of the person’s fingerprints on file somewhere. Usually that means the person would have to have been arrested during their lifetime. If they were never arrested (or otherwise made a fingerprint record for some reason) you are SOL. ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/22 "2009-08-24T03:21:22Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Fingerprints would not be useful in identifying a body unless there is already a record of the person’s fingerprints on file somewhere. Usually that means the person would have to have been arrested during their lifetime. If they were never arrested (or otherwise made a fingerprint record for some reason) you are SOL. Reports say the murderer removed her teeth and fingers, leaving her breast implants as her only unique identifier. Usually identifications are made on dental records for those with no fingerprints on file. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/23 "2009-08-24T03:32:57Z")
[Update](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_en_ce/cn_reality_contestant_slaying): The alleged killer has, allegedly, killed himself. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/24 "2009-08-24T04:03:00Z")
Firstly, let me tell you something about reality TV. The evolution of which is akin to a similar activity that’s become popular recently, competitive poker. On a visceral level, competitive poker is three to five guys sitting around a table with completely blank expressions and showing no emotion whatsoever, and a bunch of retangular pieces of glossy paper and plastic circles which they shuffle around. Definitely not an exciting activity. So once the World Series of Poker really took off and it became a big TV sport, the TV crews had to be very creative in how they presented these events. Find the few emotional outbursts and put them front and center. Show the all-ins, the big bluffs, the incredibly tense decisions. And of course, hype up the climactic final and have a nice, big victory celebration for the champion. Pretty soon, the more savvy competitors catch on to the fact that it’s the biggest actors, the most colorful personalities, and the boldest plays that get the most screen time. So now you have guys _deliberately_ hamming it up, playing to the camera, bantering, creating signature looks/moves/celebrations. And then it becomes obvious to everyone else that if you want a shot at the limelight, that’s the way to go, and we get the likes of Mike Matusow putting on Broadway-level performances every event. Reality TV has gone a similar route. There was a time when all the producers had to do was make a contest with a few simple rules and pull a varied sample of contestants with a fair number of quirks among them. As long as there was enough banter, scheming, grumbling, plotting, celebration, etc., there wouldn’t be amy problem filling two time slots. Now the bar has been raised so high (can you even imagine Rudy Bosch getting the time of day anymore?), and all the weirdos, drama queens, hotheads, mopes, etc. know that cranking it up makes them more likely to get picked, well, you can imagine the results. As for the Megan Wants a Millionare tragedy in question, I don’t think there’s anything here. I remember this one case (a talk show) where a man was brought onstage to meet someone who had a crush on him, it turned out to be another man, and the patsy (not gay, of course) was so infuriated that he murdered the crush bearer. In this case, you could at least argue that there would have been no motive had the show not run. Ryan Jenkins killed his model ex-wife, someone he already knew and presumably would not have much trouble finding no matter what. I agree that putting him on the show was a moronic decision (especially since it’s now a total loss), but saying that it somehow facilitated the murder of someone not invovled with the show is ridiculous. If anything, _VH1_ should sue for obtaining a service under false pretenses and loss of income. (I don’t know what the exact lawyery charges would be, but you get the idea.) ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/25 "2009-08-24T04:11:23Z")
On the subject of fingerprints…even if the victim didn’t have any on record, couldn’t the police go into her house and get them off her toothbrush or something like that? Don’t they do that to get DNA samples…take hair from the victim’s hairbrush or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/26 "2009-08-24T04:14:15Z")
[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap\_on\_en\_tv/cn\_reality\_contestant\_slaying](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_en_tv/cn_reality_contestant_slaying) We’re both behind the power curve, twickster. Larry Mudd had it at 10:49 pm. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. \ ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/27 "2009-08-24T04:21:13Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > On the subject of fingerprints…even if the victim didn’t have any on record, couldn’t the police go into her house and get them off her toothbrush or something like that? Don’t they do that to get DNA samples…take hair from the victim’s hairbrush or whatever? How would they know where the victim’s house is if they do not know the identity of the victim? I was talking about identifying an unknown victim rather than confirming the identity of a victim whose identity is already known or suspected. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/28 "2009-08-24T04:47:26Z")
This is maybe off topic, some, but I’m looking at the picture of the murdered girl, and what happened to her face? Her cheeks seem strange, and her face seems out of proportion somehow in those photos. It’s like her cheeks and her lips belong on a bigger face. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/29 "2009-08-24T05:50:11Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I’m not getting why the tv shows are somehow culpable for not screening these people better. There was that guy a few years ago who was on the Power Rangers who tied that couple to the anchor on their own boat and threw them overboard. Are the Power Rangers somehow responsible for not screening him? Are the Buffalo Bills somehow responsible for Nicole Simpson’s death? 😕 I don’t think the kind of “bad behavior” desirable in a reality show contestant can in any way be compared to brutal murder and mutilation. I was wondering, too. I kept combing the article for something that “set him off.” Like, did they throw him off the show and that’s what made him snap and kill his wife? I’m getting the sense that the scary side isn’t that the reality show made him do it, but more like we’re only aware of him because he was a contestant. ---
**Author:** ![Myrrajh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Myrrajh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrrajh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/30 "2009-08-24T06:23:47Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/31 "2009-08-24T06:29:32Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > This is maybe off topic, some, but I’m looking at the picture of the murdered girl, and what happened to her face? Her cheeks seem strange, and her face seems out of proportion somehow in those photos. It’s like her cheeks and her lips belong on a bigger face. Well let’s do some math here: Moved to LA + [ex] husband trying to break into the entertainment biz + seems to have been some kind of stripper/model + breast implants = yeah, pretty safe to say she’s had some plastic surgery done. Just from a quick glance it looks like some kind of “cat eye” eyelift, cheek implants, lip injections, and possibly shaving down a pointy chin. Hard to say for sure without the “before” pics. And another look has got me thinking “nosejob” too. I hope this girl did not live a life of insecurity and low self-esteem only to be murdered after a brief 28 years :mad::(. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/32 "2009-08-24T11:58:22Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Fingerprints would not be useful in identifying a body unless there is already a record of the person’s fingerprints on file somewhere. Usually that means the person would have to have been arrested during their lifetime. If they were never arrested (or otherwise made a fingerprint record for some reason) you are SOL. Um… actually, _no_. We need to stop associating “fingerprint” with “arrest record”. These days, if you apply for a job as a school bus driver you get fingerprinted, a day care worker, public school teacher, any law enforcement job, and almost any government job (I got fingerprinted for the US Census job I took). I’m finding more and more requirements for fingerprinting that not only have nothing to do with arrest, but for things that require you _don’t_ have an arrest record, or at least not a conviction. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/33 "2009-08-24T13:57:44Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > As for the Megan Wants a Millionare tragedy in question, I don’t think there’s anything here. I remember this one case (a talk show) where a man was brought onstage to meet someone who had a crush on him, it turned out to be another man, and the patsy (not gay, of course) was so infuriated that he murdered the crush bearer. In this case, you could at least argue that there would have been no motive had the show not run. Ryan Jenkins killed his model ex-wife, someone he already knew and presumably would not have much trouble finding no matter what. I agree that putting him on the show was a moronic decision (especially since it’s now a total loss), but saying that it somehow facilitated the murder of someone not invovled with the show is ridiculous. If anything, _VH1_ should sue for obtaining a service under false pretenses and loss of income. (I don’t know what the exact lawyery charges would be, but you get the idea.) I thought I just read that the two people first met on the show. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/34 "2009-08-24T14:11:31Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap\_on\_en\_tv/cn\_reality\_contestant\_slaying](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_en_tv/cn_reality_contestant_slaying) > > We’re both behind the power curve, twickster. Larry Mudd had it at 10:49 pm. Oops, he sure did. That’s what happens when you’re multi-tasking – totally missed that. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/35 "2009-08-24T20:55:51Z")
The problem is that this guy was hired to be on dating shows. That is, he’s a potential candidate for being selected by their contestant, Megan. That means if he pulled any violent crap on her after she picked him (which didn’t happen, but this is hypothetical), then she could sue them for not screening. I find this comment by VH1 to be pretty tacky. > [@](#): > > Mr. Dehnart said the case’s impact on VH1 and the production company would be minimal, “since the crime appears to be mostly unconnected to the show, and because reality TV has a long history of contestants with sketchy backgrounds.” He noted that as early as 2000, when dating shows were first beginning to appear on network television, the star of the Fox show “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” was revealed to have had a restraining order filed against him. Wait, so because TV shows in the past have done a poor job screening (and gotten hammered for it, don’t forget), it’s okay for you to do a poor job screening? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/36 "2009-08-24T21:02:20Z")
I agree–that is tacky, **IrishMan**. > [@twickster](#): > > Whaddya think, fellow reality fans – are we complicit in this in some way, by demanding bad behavior in the name of entertainment? But I do think this is a strange attitude to have because it’s not like he went and did something on reality TV. Even if he hadn’t been on the TV show he could have murdered that woman. I just don’t get the “Are we complicit as viewers” angle since it’s not like anything on the show made him commit the murder. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/37 "2009-08-24T23:12:18Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > But I do think this is a strange attitude to have because it’s not like he went and did something on reality TV. Even if he hadn’t been on the TV show he could have murdered that woman. I just don’t get the “Are we complicit as viewers” angle since it’s not like anything on the show made him commit the murder. Hm, good point. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/38 "2009-08-25T07:41:54Z")
Its all crap. Don’t swallow it. Don’t watch it. Don’t talk about it. Maybe it will all go away… Hey! I’ll guarentee you there is something better on PBS right now! ( This even applies during “Pledge Week”) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/39 "2009-08-25T10:21:16Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > But I do think this is a strange attitude to have because it’s not like he went and did something on reality TV. Even if he hadn’t been on the TV show he could have murdered that woman. I just don’t get the “Are we complicit as viewers” angle since it’s not like anything on the show made him commit the murder. However, now viewers know that producers (at least this group) either don’t bother to do a criminal background check, or don’t particularly care when information like this comes up. So from this point on, it’s something to think about. These producers tried to set up this woman with a man who had a criminal history of beating a woman. When will someone with another unsuitable criminal history end up on another of these shows? Would they put embezzlers on The Apprentice, child-beaters or pedophiles on some kind of “person with kids looking for love” show? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383/40 "2009-08-25T10:54:14Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > building up to a false crescendo **Nitpick** : You don’t “build up to a crescendo” - that would be like “speeding up to an acceleration”. A crescendo is the “building up” part. You build up to a climax. Thank you for your attention. That is all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scary-side-of-reality-tv/507383.md?page=3)