Another Cultural Dilemma Challenges Television

Michael Hedges May 17, 2021 Follow on Twitter

Everything on television passes through phases. Some genres disappear only to reemerge as something else. When TV channels were exploding, every variation could find a place. Streaming services only drove to hysteria the need to attract viewers. But, still, tastes do change.

Broadcasts and production of Swedish reality TV series Paradise Hotel have come to a halt after a rather public scandal involving, well, sex. Commingling sex, outrage and reality TV certainly seems like normal TV marketing. There was some sort of an incident during filming and police were called. Tabloid editors were punctually aroused.

“Paradise hotel is a very popular program that we enjoy producing together with the participants and a professionally experienced team,” said production company Mastiff chief executive Matilda Snöwall to Swedish tabloid Expressen (May 4). Mastiff has produced Paradise Hotel since 2005 along with several other reality and competition shows. “We also internally review the program's routines, processes and working methods because these are very important issues.”

The premise of Paradise Hotel is quite explicit. Young, nubile, tanned and fit contestants are expected to pair-off amid the lavish surroundings. Those who don’t, won’t or can’t are, one by one, booted off the show. The one left standing, figuratively, is awarded a cash prize, not to forget full tabloid fame.

During the current season two women contestants complained about “sexual abuse” from a male contestant, reported public broadcaster SVT (May 5). That investigation showed 11 out of 20 previous women contestants had also complained of “unpleasant experiences.” STV also examined contracts agreed by Paradise Hotel and Big Brother contestants which included non-disclosure clauses.

“There are a number of things that have gone wrong in this,” said an agitated Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) chief executive Anders Jensen to TV4 Morning News (May 4). “The first incident was known and misjudged by the on-site producer and those who watched it as less serious than it obviously was. The second incident only came to our notice when this was discovered in the media.” He went on the excoriate production house Mastiff. “It was only when we told them about the incident that they did something. We can not continue with this type of production under these conditions, so now we choose to stop this season.”

NENT is the major privately-owned broadcaster in Scandinavia. It operates free-to-air, pay-TV and streaming channels. Paradise Hotel appeared on streaming services Viafree and Viaplay. Mastiff produces, mostly, reality TV shows in several countries. It is owned by Paris-based Banijay Group which acquired legacy reality TV producer Endemol Shine in 2020. Paradise Hotel was originally created by UK production house Mentorn Media in 2003 and aired first in the US on Fox, principally owned by the Murdoch family. Mentorn Media licensed the Paradise Hotel franchise to Mastiff in 2004 for Scandinavian production.

Reality TV has been around forever, it seems. Every few years media watchers announce its demise only to see the genre or a subset rise again. Since the late 1990s, reality TV shows satisfied broadcaster’s need for hours and hours of inexpensive production. In time reality TV shows became expensive with exotic locations and star talent necessary to drive viewing. And there is always a competition. Hours watching reality TV shows has been dropping for most of the last decade.

Not at all unrelated, Discovery Networks cancelled reality TV show Ex On The Beach as the Paradise Hotel story bubbled up before production had started. “The whole debate created a greater awareness of how we behave towards each other, how men and women behave towards each other,” said Discovery communications director Jessica Lindman to Dagens Nyheter (May 4). “We simply do not believe that our viewers want such a program right now.”

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• Hot Topics - Reality TV

• Hot Topics - Television

• Hot Topics - Media in Sweden