The Fifty, this is the name of the latest reality TV show launched by W9 in which 50 “emblematic” candidates of French reality TV compete in childish-looking contests to try to win up to €50,000 for one of them. their followers. As the concept dictates, the production of the show organized the largest reunion ever orchestrated on television of personalities made famous by their appearances in shows of the genre.
In the casting, we find Victoria Mehault alongside Maëva Ghennam, her best enemy since she refused to participate in a show where she invited herself into the dressing rooms of other influencers (we spare you the long research that allowed us to understand the origin of the disagreement between the two candidates). For her part, Maëva found her ex, Greg – also nicknamed “Bebew” but that, we did not understand why – who has views on Marwa, revealed in The princes and princesses of love. Marwa participated in the Rest of the world with Simon Castaldi, where son Castaldi cheated on Adixia in front of the cameras with Virginie as she emerged from a tumultuous relationship with Nicolo. Nicolo, who has known Amélie Neten since their participation in the reality tv angels but who would see themselves as a couple with Charlotte, spotted in the last season of the Marseillais. He will finally end up with Victoria under the eyes of the 48 other protagonists of the program. You didn’t understand anything? At first, neither did we.
Because unlike loft story or Secret Story, which made the heyday of the genre in the early 2000s, reality TV is today organized as a series where each program is a new episode and where one can quickly get lost in the relationships forged between the characters who make their lives before our eyes. So is this strategy of an infinite series and permanent recycling of candidates killing this format? And should we start from scratch to try to make the success of these programs shudder again? Maybe. 20 minutes tries to answer.
“Sustainable teledevelopment”
After starting at 637,000 viewers (3.1%) on September 3, Les Cinquante is now stagnating below 500,000 daily viewers. Good scores if we compare these figures to the last recorded by the franchise The people of Marseilles on the same channel. This new format therefore seems to be well received by the public, while W9 has taken the gamble of betting on a new show after having revolved for years around franchises featuring candidates from Marseille, launched in 2012 and widely tested by the channel. .
If the concept is new, the candidates have all already been seen in one or more other programs of the genre. “That’s what I call sustainable development TV, it recycles itself,” says Virginie Spies, media semiologist. Because since The reality tv angels broadcast on NRJ 12 from 2011, and the end of Secret Story in 2017, the productions got into the habit of calling on faces already known to fans of these shows. It still evokes “an autophagic TV”, which eats itself by constantly trying to connect the unknown to the known and by always building more on the same old foundations that have become rickety.
“It’s a kind of loss leader”, justifies Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini, doctor of sociology from the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), specialist in reality TV. “We know that the usual candidates are there, we know roughly what they are going to do and therefore we expect a certain type of behavior from them. »
Candidates who grow with the public
Certainly, but when you are not aficionados of this ecosystem, there is enough to be dropped as the references to other “adventures” – meaning by that the previous reality shows in which the candidates have participated – but also to social networks are numerous . “It’s like watching the Young and the Restless when you haven’t seen the previous episodes,” notes Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini, who for this article had the experience of watching the show with a friend unaccustomed to this type of show. “We don’t know who is friends with whom, who did what, who wants to confuse who…”
For this reason, the genre has given itself a new name, changing from “reality TV” to “reality series”. “Ten years ago, when we launched The people of Marseillesit was unique to set up a cast over time, the same each time and that we grew up with it, ”explained Florence Fayard, general manager of Banijay Productions, which produces The Fifty and The people of Marseillesat the microphone of France info.
It is perhaps this model, built brick by brick for many years and having brought out reality TV superstars on social networks, which is losing potential new viewers. “Now when we say “reality TV”, we think of these recurring candidates. We think of the format no longer as a program but as a continuous and transmedia story,” explains Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini. There is continuity between what happens in the programs, from one program to another, but also on social networks and in the specialized press.
Personal marketing and problematic practices
But this combination of different supports where to consult this “reality” transposed on the screen is not new. From its beginnings, reality TV has been transposed on different media, each offering its own stories. When the Loft Story was launched in 2000, it was possible for them to follow the plot live 24 hours a day on the Internet or on channel 27 of the TPS. The dailies hosted by Benjamin Castaldi but also the weekly bonuses condensed the stories experienced by the “lofters” for those who had missed them. “This transmedia dimension then evolved with the technological developments of the various media available,” adds the specialist.
The main change therefore lies in the launches of programs where the candidates each bring back their piece of the puzzle from their previous television or social network experiences to continue their own story. “We have moved to another dimension where everyone cultivates their personal marketing, manages their own brand image to make income outside of television. The Fifty it is the advent of this since this show only brings together former reality TV candidates, ”analyzes Virginie Spies.
But in recent months, the way influencers made famous through the small screen use their image raises questions. Scams, fraudulent investments, tax exile have shaken this small community and tainted the most emblematic figures of the genre. However, “reality TV has always been attached to a rather negative image,” adds Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini. But she also recalls that she has always built on her criticisms in order to integrate them and make them tools for her development. “We don’t necessarily only look at stories where the hero is dressed in white where he does good deeds. Sometimes we also like to watch stories of bad guys doing bad things to people who didn’t ask, that’s also part of what makes us like watching fiction, just like reality TV. »
“The end of a cycle”
Faced with these criticisms, a demand for renewal expressed by the public on social networks and declining audiences on traditional programs, productions could organize a major cleaning in their casting to be reborn like a phoenix. The unique format of Fifty proves, moreover, that this industry, the end of which many analysts have been predicting for more than ten years, is still creative.
“The decline of reality TV, I’ve been talking about it for 20 years,” says Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini, who refuses to bet on an extinction of the genre in the years to come. “Reality TV has adapted to its criticisms to its mistakes. We can quite imagine that it manages to renew itself. »
On France info, Florence Fayard herself wondered about the potential “end of a cycle”. “Of course there are cycles,” she conceded. How could reality TV bounce back if it is out of breath? “We can imagine seeing shows coming up with 100% anonymous people or other types of celebrities”, detailed the director of Banijay Productions on the idea of renewing the concept of Fifty for a second season if successful.
Reconnect with the times
Because if the recurring characters of reality TV have grown with their audience, the images they convey have not changed much. This is why the speeches and models conveyed by this type of program are often out of step with the changes in society, the candidates being “stuck” in a bygone era. Especially for everything related to male/female relationships and representations of women.
Very heteronormative, these programs have mostly kept as central issue that the protagonists form couples to then create stories around these romances. For a decade, candidates who want to “break through” in the industry have understood this well and do not hesitate to multiply romantic relationships in front of the camera or to comply with the physical diktats conveyed by these shows. Is it time again for candidates for femininity exacerbated by cosmetic surgery? Do the triptychs of big lips, big breasts, big buttocks for women and white teeth, chocolate bars and pecs for men still have any appeal in 2022?
For Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini, changing this model could be the challenge for the years to come. “It may be that viewers no longer recognize themselves in the male/female ratios presented in these programs. And we know very well that for a program to work, it has to be in keeping with its time. If the lag gets really too big, it will become niche programs. “She therefore believes that a renewal of the castings as of the programs could give yet another boost to these programs, by reviving the curiosity of the viewers.