In the late 90s, early 2000s, TV producers were let loose to come up with the craziest, most boundary pushing show formats they could imagine. In this first episode, Jacques meets Charlie Parsons – the British TV Executive who came up with reality’s first elimination format and unearths the origins of this global experiment in human behaviour. Did those early innovators consider the human cost to their creative thinking?

This episode contains discussions around trauma, mental health and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.

Following filming on a remote island, the first contestant ever to be voted off a reality TV show takes his own life. The Swedish network broadcasting the show is faced with a choice - go ahead and release the rest of the series after a man has died, or junk the whole thing. They decide to broadcast the show and half the country tunes in to watch.

The show, Expedition Robinson, sets a template for reality TV. 

This episode contains discussions around mental health and suicide which some listeners may find upsetting. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.

As reality TV starts to dominate the schedule the man behind the success of Survivor and The Apprentice, Mark Burnett comes up with a new reality format with a million-dollar prize, The Contender. Before the series broadcasts another contestant will have died.

This episode contains discussions around mental health and suicide which some listeners may find upsetting. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.

What would you sacrifice for the chance to be transformed? Jacques meets a former contestant from the US show, Extreme Makeover and hears how she took on the network after tragedy struck her family.

This episode contains strong language and discussions around mental health and suicide which some listeners may find upsetting. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.

What qualities is a TV producer looking for in a reality contestant? We go behind the scenes of Australia’s biggest reality show, Married at First Sight to find out the recipe for reality success, and how contestants with a history of violence make it on to the show.

This episode contains strong language, discussions around mental health and suicide and graphic descriptions of sexual abuse and violence which some listeners may find upsetting. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.

In 25 years there have been five suicides* linked to The Bachelor and yet it continues to run its well-oiled reality machine. Jacques meets a former Bachelor villain who peeked behind the curtain to discover her story arc, and reveals how producers come to know contestants' darkest secrets and use them against them.

*Since recording this episode there has been a further death by suicide of a former Bachelor contestant (Clint Arlis, in March 2022) which brings the total number of deaths linked to this show to six.

This episode contains strong language and discussions around mental health and suicide which some listeners may find upsetting. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.

Reality producers have more in common with contestants than you might think. Overworked, underpaid, they belong to the gig economy. And working for the reality TV machine - 16 hour days bending people to your will - exerts a toll on everyone involved.

This episode contains strong language and discussions around mental health and suicide which some listeners may find upsetting. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.

Twenty-five years after that first death and the suicides continue. Three alone in the time we’ve been making this series. The story that started on an island returns to an island, the Love Island. Jacques investigates the UK TV industry’s attempt to grapple with the human cost of reality TV and whether, in the end, it’s all smoke and mirrors.

This episode contains strong language and discussions around mental health and suicide which some listeners may find upsetting. If you feel affected by any of the themes in the show please visit the show page for the series where you will find links to organisations that can help you.