# What is the most evil idea for a reality tv show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736 "2004-05-24T02:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/41 "2004-05-24T23:55:15Z")
“Mystery Lover”. A man has to have sex with five women on five successive nights. No talking, absolute darkness. At the end of the five days, he meets all five face-to-face and has to identify which woman was on which night. Numbers four and five are his wife, and his teen-age daughter. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/42 "2004-05-25T00:03:18Z")
I had a similar thought about a show called Glory Hole. No family members. Behind most holes would be porn stars. A few would be incontinent elderly women. A few would be men. As the money goes up, the amount of porn stars goes down. In the final rounds, there will also be cattle prods, and some cattle. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/43 "2004-05-25T01:16:16Z")
**Celebrity Colon Cleansing.** Contestants will spend several weeks working at a colon-cleansing clinic that will be patronized by such famous faces as Dom DeLouise, Paul Prudhomme, the surviving members of The Fat Boys, Margaret Cho, and Ned Beatty, among others. Contestants will administera variety of cleansing colonic irrigations to the celebrity guests while also making small talk. Unbeknownst to our contestants, the clebrity guests will be prepped ahead of airtime to be amusingly “difficult” and “fussy.” At the end of episode 14, the celebrity guests will vote for one contestant as King/Queen of the Colon Cleansers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/44 "2004-05-25T01:57:08Z")
I was just talking with my parents about evil reality show ideas. My parents are engrossed in this show called Colonial House, where they take a bunch of people and have them experience what it was like to live in colonial times. My idea is the same concept, except a different time period: Auschwitz House. Send people into a concentration camp and film the results. For extra effect, the viewers get to vote every week who gets sent to the gas chamber. ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/45 "2004-05-25T04:16:27Z")
Here’s a sadistic idea: The show starts out as a basic home improvement show. After some sort of ‘selection process’ some random guy is chosen to win a new house, thousands of miles away from his regular home, and given enough pay that he doesn’t need to work for a year. Let’s call him Bill. He and a crew spend a few days renovating the house, and when all work is done, his friends and family are flown out for a huge housewarming party. The catch? The poor bastard is told the plane has crashed. As far as he knows everybody he loves or cared about is now dead. The film crew awkwardly withdraws, leaving behind hidden cameras. America is gripped by Bill’s sad tale, as things become progressively worse and worse. An actor breaks into the house and ‘robs’ Bill at gunpoint, then ties him up and sets the house on fire. The producers of the show return to Bill, and offer to pay for therapy, but after one session, the therapist commits suicide and leaves a note blaming Bill. About a week after that, Bill is taken to a phony doctor, and given a colonoscopy, “just to check up”. The doctor informs Bill he has a malignant tumor, but for some reason it’s inoperable. Bill is given a few hours alone to ponder his fate, then returns home to find someone has left a loaded gun in the middle of the house. Bill picks up the gun, closes his eyes, and slowly presses the cold metal against his temple. Bill begins to weep as he briefly recaps his life. His finger begins to depress the trigger ever-so-slowly until… SURPRISE!! All of his loved ones come out from hiding, revealing that the past month of his life had been a complete sham. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/46 "2004-05-25T05:26:52Z")
From [Neurotically Yours](http://www.illwillpress.com): > [@](#): > > You want to see fear, how about i sit your fuckin’ contestants down in a small room, chain 'em down naked into metal chairs are wired to a heating system. What you do, is then you turn up the heat slowly over a 32 hour period, slowly increasing the amount of heat conducted through the metal chairs until it’s as hot as a branding iron. And once they’ve passed out due to the extreme pain brought about by a 32 hour burning flesh fest, hang 'em on a wall by their arms, in a room where the only visable thing is a sign that says “You have this much time left to live” with a countdown underneath, starting at 24 hours and counting down by the second. > So now they gotta hang there, just watching the clock…wondering what’s going to happen…how are they gonna die…will it be worse than the heating chair? Who knows? > Once the clock gets down to the final second you turn on the lights and yell “SURPRISE!” and if they don’t die of a heart attack, you hit 'em in the face with a large pie!.. -Foamy, “Foamy’s Rant III” ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/47 "2004-05-25T06:09:27Z")
**The Loser Life** Unattractive, un-charming, un-loved male contestant gets a makeover. It’s a pretty decent makeover and all, and he gets to show himself off in front of a small audience when he’s done. But then the fun begins. The camera crew follows him around for the next several weeks, allegedly “to see how his transformation changes his life.” What he doesn’t know is that, very early on, 3 gorgeous actresses are now going to waltz into his life and pretend to be smitten by him. They’ll beg to go out with him, hang on his every word, and be completely catty with each other as they compete for his affections. In the unlikely event that any woman other than these actresses appears to show any interest in the contestant, the camera crew will quickly whisk the contestant away to a new location, shoo the stray woman away, etc., before the contestant gets wise. Hopefully, he’ll be so enamored with the 3 actresses he’ll never notice. Finally, when circumstances or his own feelings force him to choose one actress over all the others to be his soulmate, and it seems like the love of his life has finally arrived to stay with him forever, all 3 actresses will pop into the room and reveal that it’s all a sham, they’ve never had any feelings for the guy, his “transformation” was a bad joke, and he’s actually just as much of a repulsive, pathetic loser as he ever was. No punches will be pulled and no feelings will be spared. They will laugh in his face if he so much as utters a “but I thought”. And if they can capture his subsequent suicide on film, the network’s ratings will jump through the roof. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/48 "2004-05-25T06:48:29Z")
•_Didi Mao_ Joe! Random, “slice of life” contestants are flown off to an exotic pacific rim country, for a game of “high stakes roulette.” …Only then, they find out it’s _Russian_ Roulette, in Vietnam. And there’ll be no turning back, now. Next season, we’ll do _CELEBRITY Didi Mao!_ •_Queen of America_ Seemingly your typical makeover/beauty contest/meatmarket show. But actually, it’s just a front for a recruiting for the hit\* TV show _Life of a White Slave_. Surviv—_winning_ contestants get their passports back.\*\* \*#1 in P’Yongyang, D’jhamena and Dushanbe. \*\*Not a guarantee. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/49 "2004-05-25T12:36:06Z")
**Reality 24** –24 guys have to spend 24 hours boinking the same woman. Any time a guy is unable to take his turn, he gets taken out and shot. The last guy standing (he!he!) is the winner. Of course, the other contestants aren’t really shot. The guys still in the room just hear a recorded gunshot. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/50 "2004-05-25T12:45:13Z")
The Weakest Link. Except The Weakest Link gets shot. You are the weakest link. Goodbye. _splat_ I really like **Zebra** ’s plan, though. That’s good. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/51 "2004-05-25T15:04:07Z")
5 families are informed a loved one has passed away. A fake wake, funeral, and burial are staged for each. We then follow the families for 9 weeks while they believe they are being filmed for a documentary on dealing with loss. At the end of 9 weeks the loved ones start making “appearances” to the family aka. standing on an overpass as the family drives under, standing outside their windows at night, making phone calls to the house at 4 a.m. We watch to see how long it takes the family to catch on. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/52 "2004-05-25T16:54:55Z")
A couple of years ago SNL did a parody of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” – It was called “Who Wants to Eat?” A group of starving Third-Worlders answered trivia questions, competing to win a big bag of rice. Something along those lines . . . How about, “Who Wants a Green Card?” A group of illegal aliens, who have been caught living in the U.S. or trying to sneak in, are plunked down on Ellis Island and have to outdo each other in explaining how horrible their home country is and why they wanted to leave it. The one with the most horrifying stories wins a green card. The losers get a choice: You can go home – where, after this show was broadcast, everybody hates you – or you can go to Guantanamo Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/53 "2004-05-25T17:14:17Z")
**Fat n’ Famished!** Several obese people are confined together at a buffet restaurant. The winner is the one who can go the longest without eating. To make it fun, the buffet is served constantly and the contestants are required to remain in the room with the food 24/7. There will be an assortment of staff members, specifically chosen for their slender builds, present at all times also. The staff members will constantly eat in front of the contestants. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/54 "2004-05-25T18:32:25Z")
**The Hole** Giant deep holes with very slippery surroundings and embelleshed with very appealing colors, pictures, amd shiny stuff are put in the middle of three major cities. Cameras capture stupid people falling down the hole and a piece of gold is hung over the hill to encourage people to approach it. Once someone falls down the hole, they are left there to die and cannot be helped out. Not the the most evil idea for a show, but it would sure help get rid of some of the stupider members of society. Just a big hole for them to fall down… ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/55 "2004-05-25T22:22:43Z")
you people are sick 😃 **Prison Age** throw criminals convicted to life in prison onto a large jungle island without any modern amenities. there will be no guards on the island itself and prisoners are free to do whatever they wish to do, short of leaving the island. curious viewers on how modern people adapt to the stone age while surrounded by murderers will help fund the project, while survivors will… well, survive. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2004, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/56 "2004-05-26T05:25:28Z")
Pah. Such base cruelty. How’s this… 10 teams, each consisting of 2-4 members. Two-million dollar prize. They start off at some random point in America and have to complete a series of task and get to a preset checkpoint as quickly as possible. At the end, the host informs each team of their order and then shakes them down (nothing on the level of a Tribal Council, just a short chat about what they’ve been through). Said host would also have access to numerous clips of the teams in action. At the start of the next leg, the teams leave in the exact order they completed the last leg. Continue like this for a couple months. The only thing that can knock a team out is an emergency or sudden discovery of some eligibility violation; otherwise, no eliminations. Follow the teams closely as the tasks get harder, the conditions tougher, and the tension higher. Turn the final leg into an insane scramble with a bunch of really hard or confusing tasks. When the first team crosses the finish line, have a huge celebration complete with confetti and streamers (slightly smaller shows for 2nd and 3rd place). The host has a lengthy closing interview with each team. Finally, with all the teams gathered around, the host reveals… The money is split among four categories: 1. Best teamwork and chemistry, 2. strongest initiative and deductive ability in completing tasks, 3. best representative of America, and 4. most honest and informative wrap-up chats. Winners decided at the host’s sole discretion. The finishing order means absolutely nothing. C’mon, tell me this wouldn’t rock! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/57 "2004-05-26T17:42:33Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **Less Is More** > > The show starts at a low enough point- obese contestants compete to lose weight. Each week, the contestant who’s shed the most weight gets some cash. The diet food becomes more and more inedible. The temptations grow greater and greater- from just a good meal, to the opportunity to eat a gourmet desert off the naked body of a celebrity. > > But things get even lower at the halfway point. > > The prizes increase. The only acceptable diet food offered the contestants is a gruel which tastes like cardboard. And the producers begin offering a radical weight loss plan- amputation. The final contest would have the contestants fighting for a lifetime of wealth, and amputation is the only way to win. Without knowing what the others are doing (or even if everybody else has backed out and that they’ve already won by default) each contestant would have to decide how much of their body they’re willing to lose. > > “John. you’ve given up your entire left arm. This is enough to place you . . . dead last! You win nothing!” > > “Susan, you’ve given up both legs, one arm, and a kidney. This phenomenal sacrfice makes you . . . second place! You win our runner up prize- nothing!” > > “Mary, you’ve lost both legs, both arms, a kidney, a lung, most of your liver, most of your large intestine, your nose and both ears. You win! You’re now one of the wealthiest people in the world!” > > “But we have a consolation prize for our losers. Take these remotes and press the green button. Yes, behind those curtains you’ve just raised with your remotes are tanks containing your perfectly preserved body parts. They’re still live and viable for reattachment by our surgeons. But, there’s more! Take these remotes and press the blue buttons. Yes, each of you will recieve those sausage grinders you’ve just activated! Yes, the Fleischman grinder is a quality product! Note how easily it pureed your amputated limbs and organs! How smoothly it ground the flesh, destroying any possible hope of saving them!” > > “Now Mary and I will toast her success with these martinis flavored with your tears! Ah! The only thing sweeter than success are tears of ultimate sorrow!” How about a dieting show where people are told that the winner (person who lost the most weight) gets $1,000,000, or whatever. The catch is, the scales are rigged so that people who lose weight are shown as having gained weight, and the people who gain weight are shown as having lost weight. Obviously, the gain/loss quantites would be equal and opposite. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/58 "2004-05-26T20:17:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > A couple of years ago SNL did a parody of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” – It was called “Who Wants to Eat?” A group of starving Third-Worlders answered trivia questions, competing to win a big bag of rice. Something along those lines . . . You’re thinking of **Who Wants To Eat A Meal?** , from the 24-November-1999 issue of _The Onion_. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/59 "2004-05-26T20:56:07Z")
**Survivor: The Arctic** The contestants (who happen to all be producers of existing reality shows) are chained to the ice and sprayed with seal blood. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/60 "2004-05-26T22:10:27Z")
> [@Skelji](#): > > **Survivor: The Arctic** > > The contestants (who happen to all be producers of existing reality shows) are chained to the ice and sprayed with seal blood. Or just drop them at the North Poll without any supplies(just some warm clothes) and see which ones make it to a point several hundred miles away where they will be picked up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736.md?page=4)