Antics in the attic

WHILE Europeans grumble about the degrading impact of American cultural imperialism, they are quietly getting their own back by selling the Americans hours and hours of tawdry voyeurism in the shape of so-called “reality” television. Reality TV puts groups of volunteers in unreal situations—on a desert island, for example, or locked up in a loft. It then subjects them to constant surveillance by camera and forces them to play humiliating games which often encourage them to take their clothes off—all with the promise of a handsome prize for the winner.