Big Brothercould be evicted as people find new ways to earn 15 minutes of fame, writes Róisín Ingle
This may sound hard to believe, but it's entirely possible there will be no Irish housemate in the Big Brothergaff when the show airs in the summer of 2008. Talking about the disappointing turnout at the auditions in Dublin and Belfast, a Channel 4 producer confirmed that the numbers, including those dressed in the traditional reality show regalia of cowboys, pole dancers and Barbie dolls, were down on previous years. "We are looking for quality, not quantity," said the plucky producer, putting a brave face on the low-show.
Ex-housemate Seany O'Kane also tried to play down the dwindling numbers, saying: "You have to understand that Belfast isn't like Manchester or London or Glasgow - it is sparsely populated so you can't expect the room to be filled all day long." But the "madcap" Derry man, who continues to eke a crust from his short-lived appearance on the show, may be protesting too much. The truth is, the lack of attention seekers suggests that 2008 might be the year Irish wannabes start wanting it on their own terms.
Social networking sites and the YouTube video sharing website now afford the public wider opportunities to be noticed, and by employing these devices, wannabes can become the ones in control.
A young American who filmed himself crying and telling people to leave Britney Spears alone was just one of the self-created YouTube stars in the past year. YouTube has made it possible to audition for anything you like in front of the world. In the face of such competition, reality TV shows, where the only requirement for success is the ability to keep your head while those around you are being racist, lewd, thick - and sometimes all three at once - are proving less of a draw.
And it seems another kind of reality show, the kind industry insiders are calling "constructed reality", is emerging in response to the public's unwillingness to put themselves at the mercy of ruthless television companies.
In March 2008, one such show, Hollywood Trialshits our screens. The RTÉ2 programme follows 10 aspiring Irish actors as they train with world-renowned audition coach Margie Haber in Los Angeles. The 600 applicants were filtered down to 30 and sent on an intensive weekend, where they were auditioned by Haber and casting agent Ros Hubbard. The 10 successful applicants were flown to Los Angeles, where they shared a house and went through a month of top-level coaching and industry networking.
The producer of Hollywood Trials, Gráinne O'Carroll of independent production company Sideline, describes a show where "nobody was booted out, nobody was set up, nobody was manipulated and there weren't cameras filming them 24 hours a day". Persuading the wary participants that this would be a more restrained approach proved difficult. "Programmes such as Big Brotherhave made people very suspicious of any shows with a reality feel," she says.
O'Carroll believes this kind of observational documentary, where participants are given the level of space and privacy Big Brothercontestants can only dream of, is the way forward for reality TV in 2008. "I think the public are fed up with those programmes that are all about manipulation. There is definitely a lack of trust and I think that's why the numbers for the Big Brotherauditions are down," she says. "Programmes that set people up for humiliation have had their day."
In 2008, celebrities will also have to find new ways to remain a fixture on TV screens. In the US, the likes of Jordan and Victoria Beckham still manage to attract audiences with fly-on-the-wall style documentaries. But increasingly, unless celebrities are being worked to the bone, whether on a ballroom floor in Celebrity Come Dancingor jigging for their supper in Celebrity Jigs and Reels, audiences are ambivalent. Maybe that's why a recent Late Late Showfeatured the incredible sight of author and Irish Timescolumnist John Waters wearing a fez and doing magic tricks on ice. (Even writing that sentence feels surreal.)
In other celebrity predictions for 2008, Joanne Byrne of Presence PR predicts that GAA stars, who are being treated more like professional sports stars than ever, should be warned that with this new status could come unwanted attention. "We could see GAA kiss-and-tell stories in 2008," she says. Her biggest prediction, though, concerns reality TV and she agrees that the general public's appetite for what she calls "fame for no reason" has waned. "I think people are finally copping on."