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The business with reality TV formats is flourishing, but behind the dazzling facade there are also dark sides. How Full screenResearch shows that a sexual assault is said to have occurred on the set of an RTL reality format.
They paint a – at least visually – perfect world with exciting dates on the beach, lots of naked skin and wild parties: reality shows. Reality TV has been around in Germany for around 25 years, but the genre has been booming recently.
The market has exploded in recent years. More and more formats are sprouting up. Reality shows such as “Are You The One”, “Temptation Island”, “The 50”, “Too hot to handle”, “Sommerhaus der Stars” or “Prominent Separate” achieve reach and attention among younger target groups. Large streaming providers such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have now also entered the reality business.
The Cologne private broadcaster RTL produces most of the shows in Germany. He describes himself as the “Home of Reality”. “We love our reality TV formats,” says RTL Deutschland when asked by Full screen with. The station is proud of successful brands such as “I’m a Star Get Me Out of Here” or “The Bachelor” and feels connected to the genre.
The repertoire has been significantly expanded in recent years. “Becoming a ‘reality star’ is now a career aspiration and many protagonists have started their social media careers in our formats,” explains RTL Deutschland. In fact, some participants in the shows are now earning money Full screen-Research earns five-figure sums a month through reality TV fees and Instagram reach alone.
Dark sides of TV dream worlds
But Full screenResearch now also reveals the dark side of the industry. An undercover investigation with decoys who took part in a casting for a well-known reality format shows that casters consciously look for candidates who will cause a ruckus. Reality TV stars also practice in the interview Full screen Criticism.
Insiders on the production side and on the part of the participants describe surprising impressions behind the paradisiacal, dreamlike images of the reality world. They talk about excessive alcohol consumption and sleep deprivation on reality TV shows, about violence and sex on the set, manipulation and distorted representation, as well as the deliberate casting of candidates who promise a riot.
Sexual assault?
After Full screenAccording to research, a sexual assault is said to have occurred during the filming of a well-known RTL dating format. Participant Nina (name changed by the editors) tells Full screen from an incident during a party on set. For reasons of informant protection, neither her name nor the name of the alleged perpetrator nor the format are mentioned because this could allow conclusions to be drawn about the person affected. The Full screen-Editorial team knows the names.
Nina describes that she went into a bathroom with a participant, who later became the alleged perpetrator. “I thought we wanted to chat. Then he turned me around, pulled down my panties and wanted to have sex with me. I said ‘no’ several times, but he kept trying.” Then an employee from production rushed over and resolved the situation. “They heard on the audio that I said ‘No, stop’ because we and the bathroom were wired,” says Nina.
Production company: The incident cannot be clarified
Full screen spoke to other participants in the format and to a production employee. Another participant describes what happened next: “It was somehow very chaotic, simply because no one really knew what had happened. The participant then had to leave, and the participant stayed behind and was crying, she was distraught.”
Confronted with the allegations, the responsible production company announced through a law firm: “The allegations made by the participant you quoted against another participant in the filming can neither be confirmed nor denied by our client. (…) The participant reported that the male participant “I once tried to take off her panties. The participant successfully resisted the accusation.” Since the situation occurred off-camera and it was a statement-versus-statement situation, it was not possible to conclusively clarify the facts.
The party was then broken up, according to participants and the production company. The participant had to leave the set. “When the party was broken up, the participant was questioned again about the accusation she had made. The participant did not repeat her accusation, but rather moved away from it,” writes the production company’s law firm.
Participant criticizes the way the incident was handled
Participant Nina criticizes that the production company did not show her enough empathy and understanding in the moment after the incident. She also claims that she was told “just not to put the story out there.” She wasn’t feeling well.
The production company announced that they spoke to the participant again the next day and that she was offered psychological help. She didn’t repeat the accusation there either. There was no mention of a sexual assault. “The claim that our client advised the participant not to speak further about this incident is false (…).”
The party night in question is shown in the format over several minutes, but the incident is not mentioned in the episode in question. According to the production company, it was not told “because it (…) took place in the so-called off-camera area, which is why no recordings exist.” The broadcaster RTL, which produced and broadcast the format, did not comment on the allegations and events of the evening when asked by the editorial deadline.
Insider reports violence, sex and manipulation
The Full screenResearch also shows questionable production conditions on the set of reality shows. A former producer of reality TV formats, who does not want to be named, reports on manipulative strategies and questionable methods in dealing with candidates. Participants in reality shows, in whose production the insider was involved on set and behind the camera, were manipulated in interviews and conversations, incited against each other and deliberately irritated.
“For example, I accept that someone’s hand will slip because you just said, well, at least something will happen. Like the little bully in the schoolyard who stands there and has a lot of fun watching the two of them People are knocking,” says the former producer. For example, you deprive the participants of food, luxury items or a shower, or you blast them with pop music at night. “If they’re more irritable or if they’re thin-skinned, they’re more likely to freak out,” says the insider.
He also describes that the producers specifically influenced the content: “Do I want to have as much sex as possible in the show or do I want to have violence in the show? Do I want to have a lot of romance in the show? Then you choose the candidates you take with you .” Even though he personally didn’t cross any boundaries, there were times when he tried to “break a person” in order to “get emotions from that person” or to “tear off the mask that they had put on themselves.” “.
attention through “Scandal Marketing”
Find production companies Full screen-According to research, we also specifically look for participants who freak out in front of the camera or provoke arguments. Valentina Doronina, known to a larger audience from more than 14 reality shows, is considered one such participant. She says about herself that the broadcasters know that her ratings will increase. She brings a “mood” into a show and consciously accepts criticism of her polarizing behavior: “Everyone who talks about me should move on. They should move on, they should puke every time they see me,” says Valentina Doronina. If people talk about her, she remains interesting.
Christian Schicha describes such behavior as “scandal marketing”. He is professor of media ethics at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. “Scandal marketing is basically a classic category in which I try to generate attention through polemics, provocations, specific appearances and even symbols. Scandal marketing in relation to the candidates then looks like this: someone then completely freaks out, insults people, threatens, becomes aggressive.”
One of the production companies affected by the allegations announced through a law firm that it rejected all allegations. Other affected production companies did not want to comment on their formats and referred to a general statement from RTL. The broadcaster shared Full screen with: “All production houses work with strict compliance guidelines, which they undertake to adhere to.”
Ex-participant criticizes excessive alcohol consumption
A former participant in a popular reality TV format reports Full screen of excessive alcohol consumption on set: “I would say that they took advantage of us in the sense that when we lost our inhibitions, when we drank enough alcohol, then more alcohol was brought.” The then 18-year-old says that it was mainly high-proof drinks such as schnapps.
The production also tried to consciously “push” the participant towards the men, as she says. Should excessive alcohol consumption tempt participants to produce something useful for the camera? “It’s crazy how much alcohol was consumed and how drastically these inhibitions have fallen,” says the former participant.
“The problem, of course, is that people react very differently to alcohol. Some become tired, some become aggressive, some become talkative,” says Christian Schicha. For the media ethicist it is obvious that this is to some extent priced in and calculated. “From the production side, I would like to see things like this handled sensitively and cautiously.”
The responsible production company commented on Full screen-Don’t request. When asked about the general handling of alcohol in reality formats, the broadcaster RTL stated in general that for the production companies and RTL, the “physical and mental health” of the candidates is the top priority. “We respond to incidents during and after filming individually, according to the respective situation and with the necessary sensitivity to the situation.”