Accountability and the Reality Television Star

how the internet lost the plot of reality television

Every time I write an article about Love Island and sit on it for a day or two, something new happens that completely shadows what I originally wanted to discuss. I had started this post out with the intention of discussing the online smear campaign against Huda but I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention what happened on Sunday with Cierra leaving the Villa.

Cierra should’ve been kicked off the show for the racial slur she said— she meant to say it in the way she said it. She was not singing a song or repeating something someone else said (not that that ever makes it right) but she said that word with intention.

If Love Island didn’t pull Yulissa off or kick Caine out of the reunion last year for saying the same word, then maybe without precedent we’d have a different situation on our hands.

Now, you have a young woman who is coming out of a month-long isolation who is being confronted with a world of hate — not just about the slur but because of how people perceived her on the show. Personally, I think the hate she is receiving is probably more because of how she portrayed herself than anything else.

But, like all good things, the internet has lost the plot. I’m not sure what happened to everyone but people have lost their minds*.

There is no reason to send death threats to someone’s family. There is no reason to call ICE on that person’s family (allegedly this is what is happening to Cierra), to call CPS (allegedly this is what is happening to Huda), or to tag them in posts of people calling them out, or to be vicious in your delivery of words.

There is no reason to direct so much hatred at a real person that you do not know, who did not harm you. These islanders are there for our entertainment but they are still real people.

*I refuse to blame outside sources for this behavior. I don’t care if you grew up on the internet or if you were in school during Covid and had your social years ripped away from you. It is common sense and common decency to not act this way towards another human being.

When it comes to holding someone accountable whether that is for their words or actions, bullying them is not holding them accountable. Unless you are in a court of law, or have specifically asked someone to ‘hold you accountable’ for a specific action, it’s no one else’s job to hold someone accountable.

As the audience, it’s not our job to make the rules. We are simply watching for entertainment, but when you remove the humanity from the people on the screen it’s easy for the lines to get blurred. These people are not characters, they are not actors playing a role. The words you say matter, the actions behind the scenes matter.

It is actually a really big deal that someone called CPS on Huda or allegedly reported Cierra’s family to ICE because you are playing with their real lives. You’re not watching Law & Order SVU where the actions are not real and hidden behind a script. The punishment does not fit the crime and that’s the case for cancel culture in general.

Accountability is not cancellation.

Accountability is quite literally, learning from your mistakes and we, as a society, especially as fans of reality TV, need to start realizing that.

What’s happening in the name of accountability at this moment is people purposefully going into people’s pasts, digging up information and weaponizing it to tear that person to shreds.

What’s happening in the name of accountability is that viewers are manipulating actions and words against the cast member when in turn, those actions are quite literally the point of the show.

If Huda had not ‘crashed out’ over Jeremiah (something that the viewers quite literally asked for when they voted to put him with Iris), nothing would be happening in the season. She provided excellent television, to the point that other people started watching to see what everyone online was talking about. It was the same thing as the Andrea dumping last year — a big, social moment that drew people in.

Huda is no worse than the other greats — New York from Flavor of Love, the entire cast of Jersey Shore, all the GOAT Real Housewives. I mean for the love of God, Ariana Madix is the host of the show and she’s had some of the best, vitriolic moments on reality TV in the past decade.

The major compliant with this season was that it was too produced. The cast members were too aware of themselves, of the cameras, of what this show meant when it was over. Reality TV is a gateway to fame, money, and an incredible career but is that all really worth everything else that comes along with it?

Why would anyone sign up for a reality show when it’s only a matter of time before the lions eat you?

Eventually, reality TV will cease to exist because without messy, outrageous reality stars there will be no one to cast.

When everyone is too scared to mess up, too nervous to let their true colors show or don’t want to be labeled ‘abusive’ for yelling at someone when that is quite literally the job description of a good reality star, who will be left?

The more audiences criticize ‘normal’ reality TV behavior, like yelling, cursing or being shady the less reality TV we will have to watch.