When participants 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 participants violate the terms of the contract, they risk being kicked out of 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 since many reality shows seem cutthroat, but the contestants are aware of the type of TV show they are on and agree to that treatment in their contracts because that is what makes the show interesting.
The FCC regulates what we watch on television, but the programs are prohibited from rigging of any kind, the exploitation of children, and other things like nudity and language that are not censored. Those are the standard FCC rules. However, there have been statements stating that the Survivor show is not subject to the game show regulations set forth by the FCC.
Such rules set by the FCC involve the Primetime Access Rule and the Syndication and Financial Interest Rules, which have a great effect on game shows. What the first rule does is give full control of a given timeslot to a local station to do as it pleases and the second rule gives producers limited ownership of a show after its initial run. 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 make sure there is no tampering, though the above also applies. They say reality shows don’t leave much room for cheating anyway despite what some may believe. If the FCC were to catch tampering with reality shows, the 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 Quiz Show, where the producers gave the questions and answers to the contestants before they participated 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 TV today, we can absolutely enjoy one particular contestant getting 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’re taken off the air and syndicated if they’re lucky. Some reality shows have been on the air for so long that it would be a shame if such things happened, but scandal happens 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.
