Sports and Reality TV: The same person dressed in different clothes?

If you watched TV in the last one week then it is safe to assume that you have seen Salman Khan dressed up as a pilot running around in an airport promoting the “take off” of Big Boss season 8. The fact that shows such as Big Boss, Roadies and Splitsvilla, which on the face of it seem quite purposeless, have been running for years is a testimony to the success of this genre of TV referred to as Reality TV. Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents unscripted situations and actual occurrences, and often features a previously unknown cast. In 1991, a Dutch series called the Nummer 28 was the first show to bring together strangers and record their interactions. Most consider it to be the first reality TV show. But as per Annette Hill, Reader in Communication at the University of Westminster, “the reality TV phenomenon really exploded in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the global success of the series Survivor and Big Brother.” Back home in India, Roadies which was launched in 2003, created some buzz but the reality TV concept became mainstream in 2006 with the launch of Big Boss season 1. [caption id=“attachment_1722009” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Salman Khan from Sesaon 7 of Big Boss. Screengrab[/caption] While I am not a big fan of reality TV, I am a big fan of live sports, the original reality TV. When I analyze these two phenomena, reality TV and live sports, I realize that they both probably have a common ancestor. At some stage a Darwinian divergence took place and they became separate entities. But at their core they are both the same – fulfilling a human desire to see people emerge as winners and losers while overcoming challenges. Step back and think. If you take away all the clutter from a reality TV show, at its core it has codes of sports superimposed on it. One aspect that all of the reality TV shows have in common is their competitive nature: winning the prize is the point. This is just where the similarity between the two formats starts. Just like sports, Reality TV allows viewers to fantasize about gaining automatic fame. As Steven Reiss, a professor at Ohio State University (OSU) says, “The message of reality television is that ordinary people can become so important that millions will watch them. And the secret thrill of many of those viewers is the thought that perhaps next time, the new celebrities might be them.” Quite similar to the effect viewing sports has on children. The other similarity is that both live sports and reality TV shows are primarily watched in order to talk about the game/show with coworkers and friends. And just like we develop our favorite teams and players over time we develop our favorite contestants over time as well. Wait another two weeks for Big Boss 8 to air a few episodes and you will know what I mean. Modern sport too nowadays is converging back towards its long lost cousin – Reality TV. Look at any of the leagues these days, each one of them promises to marry “sports” with “entertainment”. There are background stories told about each athlete, ‘sneak peeks’ inside the locker room, multiple interviews to capture the emotions after each win and more importantly loss. Besides the voting out concept everything else is in place. Like many other things in our lives that are coming together, Sports and Reality TV are converging too. Or maybe you could argue that “Reality TV” and “Live Sports” has always been the same person who dons different clothes to please different audiences.