Which reality show confers the greatest benefit to participants … other than simply handing over a wad of cash? We have singing shows, dancing shows, cooking shows, interior design shows, fashion shows, etc.
However, I don’t pay attention and never hear about anyone from these shows going on to do great things that last. Do the Top Chef winners go on to have great careers? Do the models get gigs that go beyond the one initial spread in Cover Girl?
I watched Rockstar INXS and Rockstar Supernova. Despite all that raving about how they all have great talent, I haven’t heard squat from any of them other than JD Fortune … and where the hell is INXS now?
I’m not a watcher of reality TV, but I absorb a lot of it through osmosis by being in the room when the Wife does.
As much as I ridicule the show, I’d have to say that provided they actually take and live the lessons they learn on the show, that The Biggest Loser might be doing some real good. Take a bunch of critically, morbidly obese people - lock them up, teach them to eat, exercise the crap out of them and eventually they’re half the person they used to be. Yes - a lot of them slip later, but at least they get shown for the first time in their lives that a healthy diet and lifestyle are achievable and have benefits.
The ones I like are the ones that get sent home early, and when the show follows up on them weeks later, they’ve kept the work going, some in fact lose more and are in better shape than the ones that stayed at the ranch.
This is a great question. While American Idol may benefit the winner the most (debateable), I wonder which show benefits all the participants the most.
As Mr. Bus Guy notes, perhaps its the Biggest Loser, as all participants gain valuable insight. But, American Idol has had several ‘losers’ go on to success as well.
To suggest another big winner, how about Extreme Home Makeover? Big, beautiful house and I believe mortgage free?
I’d say a few of them, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and maybe Fantasia Barrino, have gone on to genuine careers. You could also include Jennifer Hudson, but she didn’t win on the show.
The top ten idol placers go on tour and produce an album. Several non winners have had good careers. Plus apparently some got a roll in the hay with Paula.
I imagine some of the Bravo ones. On Top Chef, for example, assuming you aren’t one of the first few gone, you’ll learn what is and isn’t good about your style of cooking. This season I’m reminded of…uhhh…crap, I forgot his name. Hispanic, self-taught, fellow?
Anyway, his whole “shtick” was being weird and avante-garde (sp?). He did things like deconstructed sushi (ie, you put it together yourself,) a deep fried fish made to look like it’s still swimming, etc…Yes, his food looked interesting, as was the presentation and idea, but all the judges were like “what’s the point if it doesn’t taste good? That’s the main goal, here.” So hopefully he learned his lesson and shifted his focus.
Top five in American Idol pretty much guarantees you get an appointment at a big record company. What you do from there is between you and your agent (also would be pretty darn easy to get at that point.) Top Ten will at least get you an agent.
I don’t watch AI, but I still recognize many of the names of the top people from the show. In many years, the person who came in second goes on to have a better career than the person who won the show.
HGTV has their Design Star show. Last I heard, the guy who one the first one is still on the air with his show. Winning DStar will get you a career as a show host for a pretty good amount of time. It’s cable, so it won’t pay as well, but it’s still a pretty good gig and a heck of a lot better than just winning some money once while everyone forgets your name the minute the next season starts.
I think The Bachelor has the worst prize of the whole set of reality shows. You win the chance to be proposed to, maybe, if he feels like it, or maybe but he might change his mind later. oh boy. how lucky can a girl be?
Some of the participants in “Project Runway”, and not all of them were winners, seem to have gone on to success in the fashion industry. Of course, some of them were already working in the fashion industry, but they’re more successful now than they probably would have been.
Also, Project Runway made Tim Gunn, who used to be a college administrator, into a minor star, and he was just the mentor to the contestants.
I am shocked and saddened to see how mercenary all you people are. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t there a plethora of bachelor/bachelorette shows where the contestants get to meet their Life Partner and Love of Their Life? Is a pile of dollar bills more important than Love?
Fie! Fie I say!
Coming in second would be those Nanny shows where a professional nanny comes in to help you take charge of your unruly children. Those precious young minds represent Our Future.
I can’t claim to know what the subsequent fallout is re: property taxes and the like, but you have to admit that all the recipients of the Extreme Home Makeover show do get an incredible upgrade in their living conditions, especially since most of them start off far more destitute and financially challenged than your average American Idol contestant.
But I think the OP’s point is that anyone can become a million dollars richer by being handed a check for a million dollars. I think he was asking which reality show winners have gone furthest above and beyond the prizes they were awarded on the show.
The cast of Last Comic standing gets a pretty big bump in the earnings out on the road. None of them are huge stars, but they definetly get a increase in name recognition and money.
The premise of the show has 9 contestants in solitary confinement taking on “treatments” that shows them how far they can push themself in a given situation.
Almost every contestant, once eliminated, comments on how great the overall experience was, and how they truly have learned new things about themselves and what they will do in the future given this new knowlege. The entire show is an exercise in psychology, and the insights gained by the contestants are not matched in ANY show.
The top prize is only $50,000 given to the top winner. No other prizes are handed out by FOX.
I suggest that all 9 contestants go away with benefits far beyond any tangible gain or popularity.
Also the show is incredible. Once you actually understand what the show means for the contestants, you begin to realize what the show really gets at.
I would have suggested “Who Wants To Be a Superhero” but my reasoning is only present in one episode. (Season 1, The episode that determines 3rd place, leaving just two contestants.)
–By far and away the best single episode of any reality show I have ever seen.
I’d go with The Biggest Loser. The other shows are designed to reward the contestants or winner with either cash, career or bragging rights, but TBL gives the contestants greatly improved health. It gives them their lives back.
And who cares about all that other stuff if you’re 27, diabetic, morbidly obese and in danger of heart failure from walking up a flight of stairs?