Are they for real?
Reality TV was the making of Jodie Marsh and she is gearing up for yet another series. With a glut of makeover and real-life shows on our screens, including RTE's hit Failte Towers, Rachel Cooke explores the genre's hold on our collective imagniation and wonders if we'll ever be able to break free
By Rachel Cooke
Sunday August 10 2008
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/are-they-for-real-1451329.html"I understand the queasiness," says Boyd Hilton, the television editor of Heat, a magazine whose pages you sometimes feel would be awfully spartan without reality TV. "But didn't you also feel queasy when you saw Paul Watson's film about Alzheimer's disease? You should feel queasy. This may sound pretentious, but I do think Big Brother can be helpful. Take Alex [De Gale, recently kicked out of the Big Brother house for bullying]. I sat there watching her, and I thought: This is what a lot of people her age with her belief system are like -- a lot of anger and demanding respect, and yet being so disrespectful. I just don't meet these people [in real life], and the fact that she was thrown out and ostracised was a good thing. The horrible people never win out. The transsexual guy, the gay guy, the funny black guy: they're the ones who win."
