Reality TV monetized temporary fame as an extreme-sport career

Evidence

Reality TV thereby created the easiest pathway yet to national fame. Participants on reality shows moved fast to turn their fleeting stardom into cash, from Survivor cast members making paid appearances to American Idol reject William Hung booking gigs as a motivational speaker. Nussbaum described the new career of reality TV as something of “an extreme sport, one whose risks they embraced.” The entire genre’s mantra, immortalized by a contestant on The Bachelor, was “I’m not here to make friends.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 236

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Television could manufacture overnight celebrities from ordinary contestants. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 482; Reality TV blends real and staged content to harvest attention cheaply — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 853