Over the course of Cutthroat, I read various blogs, interviews and even podcasts that surprised me about how much the Challenges have changed over the past few years. Gone are the days when on off days they could sight see, party or even call a family member to let them know how they were. Now its apprently like living inside Fort Knox, rare if any communication with the outside world, and forced to stay in the house only going out for Challenges or a really rare day day they get to party. Recently one cast member said it was one of the reasons a lot of the vets and even himself don't like coming back, and who can blame him? You are 20 to 30 or even 40 in some cases and are being told you can't leave a house? Especially when they remembered how fun it got. Now stories are they can't even take their own music. Some are ridiculous rules, while others don't make sense. It is obvious why BMP does some of them.
1)Locked in the house: causes more tension, bores them and eventually leads to the drama, drama=good tv. But in the case of the Challenges do they even need it? The being sent into eliminations, and bickering in the teams leads to enough drama as is..why do they need to force it? Hell on Inferno 1, a night on the town caused Trishelle to get voted into the Inferno. Now what they get is increase in actual personal insults and even violence. Before Inferno 3, the only two acts of violence on a Challenge happened between Ayanna and Christean, which was on the RV and Stephen/Shane during the heat of the moment. Since then..CT/Davis(although by reports it wasn't as it seemed on TV), CT/Adam (one of the bloodiest brawls on reality tv), Tonya/Veronica (there was a comment that was edited..and I've heard what it is and Veronica deserved it), Brad/Darrel. Seriously from 1998 to 2007 only 2 acts of violence, in which the physical contact was just one blow...since 2007 (I use this as this mostly around the times things got stricter)the violence has increased a lot, to actual fights. (I will get into the actual fight things later on). Also why take them to exotic locations (which I am guessing doesn't come cheap) if you aren't even gonna let them sight see? Hell if you are gonna do that just hold the Challenge in the US, the costs would be less!
2)Minimal contact with family members or work: During the Brad podcast with Derrick he mentioned how hard it was for Tori to get in contact with her job because production was being a hassle with the phone. It is not the first time I've heard of this, family members no knowing were the cast members are at, and cast members prohibited from telling them. I get the not wanting spoilers to get out..but trust me the location of the Challenge isn't gonna give anything away, and it might make the cast members a bit happy to talk about their loved ones. Its like if BMP wants them to be as miserable as they can..which honestly I don't see the point at all, sure it makes drama but its at the expense of these people who you consider your "Tv family". Just let them talk to family but put them on notice that if spoilers get out from them, they get fined. And honestly spoilers get out anyways no matter how secretive BMP wants to be, so why not give them that luxury at least.
3)Casting members who aren't in a state to be on the show: There are two recent examples of this. Tonya and CT. CT was just 6 weeks past the death of his brother, by all acounts he said he shouldn't have gone on the show but the allure of money will always get someone. Tonya on the ruins looked like a shell of her former self. A drunken sloppy mess who was pathetic. These are two people that have been with BMP for years, yet people like Tonya was exploited for being a drunken mess on the Ruins, yes she knew what was getting into..but for Christ's sake BMP should have some humanity and say "you know what for her own good lets skip her", this is the company that helped Ruthie resolve her alcohol issues in Hawaii or offered Joey rehab in Hollywood, why can't they step in for people they've known for ages and just say "resolve your issues and we'll call you next time". Give them a small interview before the Challenge, see where they are mentally.
4) Fighting: You know what truly sickened me? During both CT/Adam, and the Brad/ Darrel fights, you had the camera just there and you knew something was going to go down. Why didn't production step in? Tell Adam or Brad to go to another room and avoid both situation? Same with Tonya and Veronica? Oh but yes they have that famous "no physical contact" rule in effect and honestly its bullshit. If production loves forcing the social situations like they do, they should also intervene when something as big as those 3 fights is about to occur, yes it makes great tv, but one day someone is seriously going to get hurt. Yes, I know production doesn't break the fourth wall, only in extreme circumstances like the aforementioned Ruthie and Joey situations, but isn't physical violence like in the case of CT/Adam, Brad/ Darrel extreme enough? If they can sense it is going to happen..just step in and stop it! In some cases, like say the Shane/Stephen situation I get it, it was in the heat of the moment but in the other two cases you could see what was gonna happen a mile a way and I truly believe that one day production will regret standing back with their arms crossed instead of stepping in. No matter how great it makes for TV it isn't worth it.
The bottom line is..this isn't the Real World or the Bad Girls Club. This is the Challenge we watch because of the game show aspect, not to see how strangers (and they aren't strangers) interact in a house..thats what Big Brother is for, party, hook up and have fun. The fights are pointless, and even cause people to get turned off. The forced drama, is even more pointless as you already have enough from the game itself and the hook ups. People have been clamoring for a return to how Challenges used to be, but when you think about it Challenges themselves are the same but how the people act on them has changed and it is all a forced issue. BMP/MTV you lose nothing giving these cast members what you gave them before, spoilers will get out no matter what (if big blockster hollywood movie spoilers get out..so do these), the drama will be there thanks to the game..but in the end you will get happier cast members and less risk of something really bad happening down the line.
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