In the renowned 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, university researchers created a mock jail, assigning student volunteers the role of inmate or guard. Their objective: to see how healthy individuals would react when placed in a hostile social environment. Alas, they had their answer in just six days, when the experiment was halted prematurely because the subjects grew dangerously obsessed with their roles.
In 1992, MTV created a show called “The Real World,” with the mission statement, “This is the true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, to find out what happens when people stop being polite . . . and start getting real.”
Not to say that the hit reality program, a pop culture icon in its 13th season, was modeled on a psychology experiment gone awry (though that couldn’t be bad for ratings). And not to say that all reality show participants wind up in post-show solitary confinement. Many return to their everyday lives a bit richer–if not financially, then emotionally. Some enjoy the attention, parlaying the exposure into acting gigs or Playboy spreads.
Others crumble under the public scrutiny: Sinisa Savija of Swedish TV’s “Expedition: Robinson” (which inspired “Survivor”) committed suicide months after being kicked off in 1997.
In Europe, where reality television fever burns even hotter than here, one popular British psychologist has called for a study examining the genre’s effect on vulnerable participants. In this country, too, reality TV stars deal with being typecast into unsavory roles, picked apart by the public and feeling out castmates who may be equal parts friend and foe. Whether their motivation is fame, wealth, an amazing experience or a career springboard, people love being on TV.
But when your life is filled with drama and video cameras, backstabbing and boom mikes, what is the emotional fallout?
Emotional prep
As consulting therapist for the first “Survivor” in Borneo, Gene Ondrusek of La Jolla, Calif., screened participants for psychiatric vulnerabilities and was kept on call for emergency counseling. They discussed potential on-show emotions and post-show opportunities to inoculate them against reality’s aftermath, which can be even more difficult than the filming.
“Much of the reactivity is not the actual show–that’s a brief, intense, compartmentalized experience. It’s the shift in lifestyle [upon returning home]. It’s the fame, the attention, the sundry forms of public display that people find disorienting,” Ondrusek said. “Dealing with Web sites, being cast as a character.”
Character distinctness is part of reality TV’s draw, Ondrusek said. The magic happens in the editing room, picking and choosing story lines and branding individuals into characters.
Such typecasting is rampant, said Colin Mortensen, 23, of Los Angeles, who appeared on MTV’s “Real World: Hawaii,” and it doesn’t feel good. On the show, he found himself cast in a “frat guy/heartthrob” role, even though he was not a fraternity member nor, admittedly, a heartthrob.
“They had to force me into a slot that I didn’t occupy in the world. My representation was grossly different than it had ever been,” Mortensen said.
On the other hand, Kelly Breidenstein, 28, of Chicago feels she was portrayed accurately on the WB’s “No Boundaries,” an adventure show in which competitors journeyed 3,000 miles from Vancouver Island toward the Arctic Circle. “They were really fair, which was painful sometimes, but that’s you.”
Clearly, the degree of typecasting varies. Sometimes editing goes too far–the BBC recently settled a lawsuit brought by a “Castaway” participant who said the show spliced footage to make him appear abusive. This, Mortensen theorizes, is where reality TV gets its appeal, by making the viewer feel superior to the cast member.
“I think that’s what leads to emotional dysfunction for a lot of these cast members. It takes a very strong person to come out centered. [After the show] I’ve seen all sorts of ugly things. Ego trips, people obsessed with being famous, partying all the time. They go through this emotional blender and they never recover.”
On guard
To help avoid such outcomes, Ondrusek guided Survivors through a talk-heavy debriefing session to consolidate the experience and facilitate their readjustment to society. Now at work on an E! show called “Your 15 Minutes Are Up!” Ondrusek listens as reality TV veterans recount a life-changing experience with a rapid rise and fall. People do navigate through this process, he said.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t take a few spills along the way. Both Breidenstein and Mortensen experienced depression upon leaving their shows, a reaction the Real World-er considers an encouraging sign of being in touch with one’s emotions. For Breidenstein, the depression was rooted in a sense of isolation. Flown to the Arctic Circle after winning, she lay in a bed for the first time in a month but didn’t sleep a wink.
“You’ve been working toward this goal for 30 days and then, boom, it’s over,” she recalled. “It was tough coming home because I couldn’t discuss the experience with anybody [until the show aired]. Nobody could understand what I had just gone through.”
A few months after returning home, $100,000 richer and with the new car, Breidenstein was involved in a devastating car accident that almost cost her her life.
“I went from the biggest high of my life to the biggest low of my life,” she said. “Here I was in rehab, learning how to walk again, and I’m watching myself [on the show] running, swimming, biking, all while knowing I might not do those things again.”
On the plus side, Breidenstein believes her experience on “No Boundaries” did assist in her recovery, which is ongoing: “It made me think, if I’m capable of winning that show, I’m sure as hell going to get through this.”
Mortensen also said he has learned a lot about judgment from “The Real World.”
“You can’t control what other people think about you,” he explained. “I know who I am, I know who’s close to me. So how can a reality TV show be that monumental? If you’re harboring resentment for that long about a reality TV show, you need to move on.”
In fact, he said he was able to use the experience to his advantage. He accepted an invitation to compete on MTV’s “Battle of the Sexes” in Jamaica, viewing it as an opportunity to launch his Web site and book, “A New Ladies’ Man.” He re-created his frat guy/heartthrob character, he said, with beautiful results: he won $50,000, a car and gave the book a solid buzz. Chicago psychologist and “Relationships for Dummies” author Kate Wachs believes it is entirely possible for reality TV participants to enjoy the ephemeral high. She simply urges them to follow the She suggests a lighthearted approach: “Keep it fun and if you have any reservations, don’t do it. Realize if you put yourself on TV, people will be discussing you at the water cooler. Life in a fishbowl is never easy.” She should know; she auditioned to be a participant–and later, staff psychologist–on “Survivor 2: Australian Outback.”
