# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/61 "2004-05-26T22:38:03Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > The Swan. HA! Exactly! Let’s get a bunch of depressed girls together who need serious therapy, chop 'em up a lot to make them as pretty as they can possibly get, and then tell some of them, “Sorry. You’re not pretty enough to be in our pageant.” Yeah, ok… I still watch. Damn! ---
**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 26, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/62 "2004-05-26T23:32:40Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > You’re thinking of **Who Wants To Eat A Meal?** , from the 24-November-1999 issue of _The Onion_. No, SNL did it, too. (Though I don’t know if they did it before or after The Onion did.) Christina Ricci was the guest host, that episode. ---
**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 26, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/63 "2004-05-26T23:36:54Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > C’mon, tell me this wouldn’t rock! 😃 I will tell you no such thing. Because it _would_ rock. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/64 "2004-05-27T00:41:34Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > No, SNL did it, too. (Though I don’t know if they did it before or after The Onion did.) Christina Ricci was the guest host, that episode. Yeah, I remember that episode. I’m pretty sure it was after '99. It’s memorable because Christina Ricci definitely looked the part of a starving contestant. Just a little too thin at that point in her life. ---
**Author:** ![peculiar\_hailstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/46a35a/32.png) [@peculiar\_hailstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peculiar_hailstone)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/65 "2004-05-27T01:28:04Z")
it’s probably been posted somewhere, but in Japan they took a guy named Nasubi, holed him up in an apartment with no contact with the outside world, and everything he ate and wore and had in the apt had to be won in mail-order contests. He was there for, like a year or something. Just when he thought he’d won, they spririted him somewhere in Korea and made him win the trip home. Sadistic. I don’t even think we need to be too creative…some of the stuff on tv now is truly horrific. The tone-deaf moaning coming from American idol is truly scary. ---
**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 27, 2004, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/66 "2004-05-27T04:54:32Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > **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. Pity the poor camera crews. They’ll be the first to snuff it. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/67 "2004-05-27T21:21:51Z")
eh, i’m sure some kind of compromise can be reached in return for immunity for the camera crews. ice cream? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/68 "2004-05-28T03:50:34Z")
If you could some how transport me back in time to high school but I wouldn’t be able to change anything, just re-live the whole thing. That’d be pretty cruel. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/69 "2004-05-30T07:52:02Z")
> [@](#): > > orphanage cum work farm Now THAT’s evil. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/70 "2004-05-30T13:02:31Z")
A good-natured church preacher who speaks well is offered a religious TV show–a show that is run by the Devil, or someone with evil tendecies. it is up to the preacher to find the loopholes to get out of his contract. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/71 "2004-05-30T16:42:55Z")
> [@rngadam](#): > > People are randomly kidnapped on the street, told they are suspected terrorists and sent blindfolded to a remote location where they are told they are now in Guantanamo… until the US government decides otherwise… > > See them cry! See them beg for mercy! See them tortured! > > THIS SEPTEMBER ON FOX! I’d watch it. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/72 "2004-06-01T01:18:10Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > A good-natured church preacher who speaks well is offered a religious TV show–a show that is run by the Devil, or someone with evil tendecies. You mean like Pat Robertson? 😉 > [@](#): > > it is up to the preacher to find the loopholes to get out of his contract. “My Big Fat Obnoxious Church Contract” ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/73 "2004-06-01T03:07:45Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Or just do Big Brother with 10 year-olds and no adult supervision. I caught a bit of a show just like this, on Trio I think it was. Buncha young girls unsupervised in a house together. I never found out the name of it but the few moments I watched were riveting. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/74 "2004-06-01T03:44:06Z")
Holy crap, you guys are _sick_! And you’d make a lot of money too! 🙂 Hmm. How about _The Office_: An everyday social-misfit techie type is hired for a good-sounding job. Unknown to him, everyone he works with is an actor, tasked to present him with a steadily-increasing environment of surreality. His cubicle is moved arbitrarily. He is tempted by luscious co-workers, and then slapped down if he starts to hope for social contact. His tasks become more and more baroque and incomprehensible. Procedures and priorities change on a day-to-day basis–and everything has to be documented. After the first month, ethical dilemmas start to arise. Will he steal these office supplies when the monitor isn’t looking so I can meet that deadline? Will he help Co-worker X take this computer home so she can work while tending her children? (The first couple of times, she brings it back…) Boss wants some help with the spreadsheet–but wait! The numbers don’t add up! Can the worker make it to the end of his three-month probation? ---
**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:** [June 3, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/75 "2004-06-03T06:29:56Z")
I’ve got it…anyone remember the [Wheel of Pain from the first _Conan_ movie?](http://www.basil-poledouris.com/images/wheelofpain.jpg) You could film it Big Brother style, with 24 hour webcams. The winner is the one who survives the longest, or who grinds 50 tons of grain first. (Whichever comes first) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/76 "2004-06-03T12:26:26Z")
This was in the letters page of a newspaper I read this morning, and I thought it was brilliant: You get the contestants for Big Brother into the house as normal… and then simply **don’t televise it**. The thought of all these attention-hungry freaks playing up to the cameras for _no reason at all_ just really tickles me. And the best part is when they are released from the house and there is nobody there at all waiting for them. Nobody cares. Genius. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/77 "2004-06-03T14:32:23Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > An everyday social-misfit techie type is hired for a good-sounding job. > > Unknown to him, everyone he works with is an actor, tasked to present him with a steadily-increasing environment of surreality. His cubicle is moved arbitrarily. He is tempted by luscious co-workers, and then slapped down if he starts to hope for social contact. His tasks become more and more baroque and incomprehensible. Procedures and priorities change on a day-to-day basis–and everything has to be documented. Am I on TV? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/78 "2004-06-03T16:14:52Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Holy crap, you guys are _sick_! > > And you’d make a lot of money too! 🙂 > > Hmm. How about _The Office_: > > An everyday social-misfit techie type is hired for a good-sounding job. > > Unknown to him, everyone he works with is an actor, tasked to present him with a steadily-increasing environment of surreality. His cubicle is moved arbitrarily. He is tempted by luscious co-workers, and then slapped down if he starts to hope for social contact. His tasks become more and more baroque and incomprehensible. Procedures and priorities change on a day-to-day basis–and everything has to be documented. > > After the first month, ethical dilemmas start to arise. Will he steal these office supplies when the monitor isn’t looking so I can meet that deadline? Will he help Co-worker X take this computer home so she can work while tending her children? (The first couple of times, she brings it back…) Boss wants some help with the spreadsheet–but wait! The numbers don’t add up! > > Can the worker make it to the end of his three-month probation? and in the end, someone steals his red Swingline stapler… 😉 will this push him over the edge? ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/79 "2004-06-03T20:09:12Z")
OK, stealing this from the Simpsons, Exchange kids to other countries in a foriegn exchange program, then when they show up, make them slave laborers to disgusting, hard jobs. The winners are the ones that make their own way back home. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736/80 "2004-06-04T18:36:22Z")
There’s always [I’m Born Again, Get Me Outta Here](http://web2.iadfw.net/~elo/news/reality.html). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-evil-idea-for-a-reality-tv-show/246736.md?page=3)