All of those ridiculous elimination competition shows are all about showing what a ruthless douchecanoe you can be to get to a prize. Since the beginning of reality game shows a couple of decades ago, the interviews/confessional time/talk-to-the-audience divulgence segment always seems to include the contestants acting all tough and saying,
"I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to WIN." And then they beat on their chests like silverback gorillas and stomp away.
Do we really need more assholes? In these times, do we really need to see who can be King of the Assholes in order to win an outrageous prize? Look, I have lived in cities and neighborhoods with a lot of violent crime. I already know that human beings can be completely horrible to each other and take advantage, lie, cheat, steal, etc.
YAWN. CLICK.
Here's what Jay and I were discussing: They should turn it around.
"I'm not here to make friends."
"Ummm, actually...yes, you are here to make friends."
"What?"
"This is a show about making friends. The person that earns the most friendships, in a heartfelt and honest way, wins."
It's easy to cheat and be a dick. Being a shitheel is not a strategy.
I want to see a show about who can win a prize (an actual pay-off, not just a warm fuzzy feeling) by actually doing good things, and not being a manipulative bottom dweller. It would give me a little more hope for the human race.
My husband's grandpa always said that the right thing to do is usually the hardest thing to do. So, let's see some of that for a change.