Reality shows at a crossroads

SBS TV’s blind-date reality show “Jjak (Couples)” has been cancelled following the suicide of a 29-year-old female participant on March 5 on Jeju Island where the show was shot. / Courtesy of SBS

Match-making program 'Jjak' reveals lack of protection on ordinary guests

By Park Si-soo

This is truly the era of reality television shows featuring ordinary citizens.

Scores of reality shows are on Korean TV, ranging from road shows and auditions to competitions. Nevertheless, broadcasters want to create even more with “new faces,” ranging from preschoolers and young adults to white-haired retirees.

The reason is simple: signs abound that people are sick and tired of watching the same group of celebrities chat and giggle among themselves or play what critics call “meaningless” games for an hour every week. The runaway popularity of talent shows in recent years is obviously another factor setting this trend.

Overall, things have gone smoothly. But recently people have started to wonder: Do broadcasters take proper care of their non-celebrity cast members?

Tragedy at ‘Love Village’

The question was prompted by the suicide of a cast member on SBS TV’s blind-date reality show “Jjak (Couples).” The cast member — a 29-year-old woman surnamed Jeon — was found dead at 2:15 a.m. on March 5 in“Love Village,” the shooting site on Jeju Island. The cord of a hairdryer was found around her neck. A hand-written suicide note found at the scene read, “I want to end my life here. I am sorry. At the Love Village, the filming crew cared for me a lot. I thank them. But it’s too difficult now. Regardless of whether I meet a partner here or not, I have no will to live.”

The tragedy took place on the last day of a one-week shoot for an episode of the weekly program, which first aired in March 2011. Police said 12 eligible people — five women and seven men — spent a week together participating in a variety of events and expressing their interests toward each other with the goal of selecting a final partner on the last day. During the period, about 10 cameras filmed virtually every move the participants made around the clock.

Hours before she was found dead, the contestants had a light drinking session and Jeon left early, saying she wanted to be alone, according to police.

A police investigation is underway. Investigators say no signs of foul play have been discovered, adding they will question all the cast and crew members to confirm the cause of the death.

recent incident on SBS TV’s “Jjak” raises questions about reality programs featuring ordinary guests who are vulnerable to media pressure. / Courtesy of SBS

There are allegations Jeon had suffered from depression, and bereaved family members and her friends, who texted or talked with her over the phone during the taping, claimed she was extremely stressed during the shoot. They said the program director pushed Jeon to act against her wishes to make the episode’s matching process more dramatic. SBS gave all the footage it had from the shoot — reportedly some 1,000 hours of videotape — to police.

On March 7, two days after the incident, SBS announced that it will discontinue the dating program.

“We are very sorry for the incident. Our heart goes out to the deceased and bereaved family members,”the broadcaster said in a statement.“We will do everything we can to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”

Better protection needed

The incident has prompted broadcasters to review their programs, policies and procedures for anything that might lead to another tragedy. Politicians have launched campaigns to have broadcasters draw up guidelines to better protect non-celebrity cast members.

Rep. Choi Mi-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party is standing at the forefront of the campaign. She has called on TV stations to revamp the terms of the contracts to which ordinary citizens must agree to appear on reality shows.

“These terms are only favorable to broadcasters,” Choi said at a seminar on March 11. “Under these, broadcasters wield almost absolute power over the shooting site. They are allowed to record everything people do, and edit the content in favorable ways to themselves. Cast members have no right to complain.” The lawmaker didn’t rule out the possibility that Jeon took her own life due to excessive stress.

Media experts say any show that tries to shoehorn a romantic process that can take months into a week is bound to stress the participants involved, particularly those not ultimately chosen. A film crew member testified to police that Jeon was popular during the early stages of the taping, but became less so as the week continued.

They said despite the pursuit of “reality,” the production crew predetermined the results and sometimes allocated roles for some participants, which seemed to be the case for the victim who wrote in a text message, “They (the crew) are trying to picture me as a tragic lover.”

“This is a serious infringement of human rights,” Choi said. “Something needs to be done to root out broadcasters’ ruthless recording and editing practices.”

Media professor Choi Young-mook of Sungkonghoe University echoed that view, saying, “Tighter regulations should be adopted to make the relationship between producers and cast members more balanced.”

Park Ji-hoon of Korea University, another media professor, said arbitrary editing should be regarded as a “criminal act,” adding there are many ordinary citizens who became targets of malicious online comments due to their “biased” image on reality shows.

Critical views about reality show are dominant. But there are some opponents who claim arbitrariness in editing, at least to some degree, is unavoidable.

“Making a TV program with ordinary citizens is risky in some ways. Above all, they don’t know how to act, which means there are higher chances for the outcome to become substandard, compared with cases when things are done with professional performers,” said Yoon Yeo-jin, a vice secretary general of Korea Press Watch, a civic media watchdog.