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<title> The Increasing Number of People Flocking to the Docu-soaps </title>
It all started with MTV's The Real World, a TV show where a group of people lived in a flat together for a long period of time, and otherwise went by their daily lives as usual. Two things could be marked as novelties at the time: the participants were filmed all the time, wherever they went, and the second novelty was that they were ordinary people. People from every walk of life, not necessarily beautiful, or successful, or special at all. They were like you and I. They exposed their lives to us, and we rewarded them with a kind of stardom for their efforts, however short-lived.
Since then we have had several shows with a similar premise, and they have all had the two common denominators of all-pervading cameras and a cast of ordinary people. They have tentatively been dubbed docu-soaps. We have all seen, or at least heard of them. For the first time in the history of television there is a chance for anyone to be seen on the screen without any special skills or talents to take them there, and it seems people have rallied to the opportunity. Thousands apply to shows like Expedition: Robinson, Baren, and Big Brother. But why? What lead these people to expose themselves to such a degree to the world?
One reason could simply be money. Some of the shows give away considerable amounts to the winner. I highly doubt that this is the main factor though, since the show that started it all didn't have any prices at all. The competitive factor is a later addition to the the docu-soaps, so if money were the main reason people did it, the earlier shows shouldn't have been the successes they were.
Ignoring the money involved, there is the fun factor to consider. It's fun to meet new people, experience new things, challenge ourselves. It's an adventure. But you can have adventures without the cameras, without the publicity. If people only wanted adventure they could travel or do other things to push themselves, away from the eye of the public.
Participants are sure to become somewhat famous, at least for a while. Fame is hard to attain for ordinary people, and this is a way in. Surely, those who seek themselves to television want fame to some extent, there is no denying that. But just quoting fame is oversimplifying the question. A more interesting aspect is why they want fame, although some would perhaps just answer "to be a celebrity".
Fame can mean success in different areas. It can launch a career, you can meet the right people, and so on. Simply, fame can open doors that would otherwise have been closed. It puts you on the map. If this is what drives people they are after a change of lifestyle, trying to take a shortcut to success. Here money may be an indirect goal, but I still don't count it as a factor, since it's not a direct result of the show.
Another aspect connected to fame is exposure. By participating in these shows people are exposing themselves to a great extent. Their mannerisms, thoughts, and bodies are there for millions of viewers to see. I think this has very little to do with exhibitionism, but more with a central need we humans tend to have: recognition. We are social beings, and we thrive, or perish, on the feedback from the people around us. Showing ourselves to the world is like a big test; are we good enough, funny enough, likeable enough, beautiful enough? Since there are so many there to judge us, isn't this statistically the ultimate affirmation? People may not be thinking these thoughts out loud, or even be fully aware of them, but they are there. They are curious of how well they measure up in the public eye. Thus the fame achieved is just a vessel to help our self-affirmation, and that is at the root of the decision to participate.
Claiming that people join only to seek recognition is of course to over-simplify things. We are complex creatures, and our mind is a myriad of interacting thoughts, values, and ideas, but I believe that the search for affirmation and recognition is the main motivation driving the thousands of people applying to the docu-soaps, and that that motivation overshadows all the other aspects combined.
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