When contestants sign up to be a part of a reality television show, they sign contracts and are then bound by the terms of the contract. If the contestants violate the terms of the contract, they risk being expelled from the show. This is what unites the participant. However, there are laws and regulations that govern reality TV shows. This may be hard to believe as many reality shows seem ruthless, but contestants are aware of the type of TV show they’re on and agree to that treatment in their contracts because that’s what makes the show interesting.
The FCC regulates what we watch on television, but shows are prohibited from rigging of any kind, exploitation of children, and other things like nudity and language that are not censored. Those are the FCC standard rules. However, there have been statements claiming that the Survivor show is not subject to game show regulations set forth by the FCC.
Such rules set by the FCC involve the Primetime Access Rule and the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, which has a great effect on game shows. What the first rule does is give full control of a given time slot to a local station to do as it pleases and the second rule gives producers limited ownership of a show after its initial broadcast. However, these rules do not really interest the public. What interests the public are the rules of censorship.
Regarding the claim that Survivor is not subject to FCC game show regulations, it is contradictory to what the show has claimed. The FCC rules are mostly effective in the areas of censorship and making sure there is no tampering, although the above also applies. They say that reality shows don’t leave much room for cheating anyway despite what some may believe. If the FCC were to catch reality show rigging, reality shows would be severely fined. If the contestants found out that the shows were being rigged, then the shows would face numerous lawsuits.
Lessons were learned many years ago from shows like the Quiz Show, where the producers gave the questions and answers to the contestants before they took part in the show. If the audience loved a particular contestant, the producers wanted to make sure that contestant stuck around for a while. Once the ratings dropped, the process would start all over again for the audience to fall in love with a particular contestant all over again.
However, when we look at reality shows today, we can absolutely enjoy a particular contestant to be eliminated. That hardly constitutes any kind of manipulation because the show is risking the audience if a beloved contestant leaves. The FCC regulates how these programs behave and they make sure that everything is done in the best possible way because if the program is discovered, you risk everything, including your reputation. If they risk their reputation, they lose audience. When a show loses viewership, they are pulled off the air and syndicated if they are lucky. Some reality shows have been on the air for so long that it would be a shame if such things happened, but scandals happen and solutions have to be found. However, sometimes it’s the scandal that draws more viewers to a show than ever before. But if the show misleads its viewers, then the viewers feel violated.
