Editorial: Reality TV stunts make mockery of morality

Amy Wiggins.

Reality television shows always bring out the worst in people.

It started out with Survivor, where people lied, cheated and back-stabbed in an effort to be the last man (or woman) standing and walk away with the prize money.

Now we have The Bachelor, where you see 23 women go to great lengths to win the heart of one man. I've never been a fan of it, but this season seems to have been particularly bad.

I'm ashamed to admit I did watch a few episodes this season and know far more than I should about the show. In the few episodes I watched, I saw the formation of a "hit list", competitors narking on each other and plenty of cattiness.

Of course, the creators make the most of those moments to make the show dramatic, but what I don't understand is why you would put yourself in that situation in the first place. Even the girls who tried to keep out of the nasty games did not get out unscathed.

The "Women Tell All" final episode blatantly tried to stir it all up again.

The questions were obviously designed to get the women to slag each other off. As if weeks of drama and nasty rumours were not enough, bachelor Jordan Mauger broke it off with winner Fleur Verhoeven the day after the final episode aired.

It makes the show seem even more of a joke.

The whole premise of the show is immoral - when else is it acceptable for someone to be dating more than one person? And it seems reality shows are going to greater and greater lengths to attract an audience, regardless of morality.

The premise behind Married at First Sight is even worse. The show pairs up a bunch of strangers who meet for the first time at the altar, moments before they are married.

It's pitched as an experiment to see the results of careful matchmaking by a neuropsychotherapist, relationship expert and psychologist, but surely you don't have to marry the couples to see how compatible they are. Dating would do. It makes a mockery of marriage. If people go into marriages with such a flippant view, it's no wonder we are seeing so many divorces.