[Arneldo]

Ex-Big Brother psychologist David Wilson has condemned Britain's Got Talent for exploiting contestants.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Wilson compared the ITV1 show to 18th century public executions and the Christians being thrown to the lions by the Romans.

"Rarely has a television show been more badly misnamed than Britain's Got Talent," he said. "The producers might like to pretend the programme is inspired by the quest for entertainment gold. But, in truth, the base metal of cynical exploitation lies at its heart.

"It is a celebration of banality and eccentricity, not of genuine talent. In this modern version of the Victorian freak show, too many of the contestants have neither the real star quality nor the psychological equipment to cope with the sustained, harsh glare of the public spotlight."

He continued: "The three star judges keep telling us that this awesome success is based on the British public's desire to be cheered up in the midst of a recession.

"There may be an element of truth in this, but I fear there are darker, less uplifting forces at work; a combination of smug mockery mixed with sentimentality, vulgarity and titillation."

Comparing the show to Big Brother, he added: "These are the same elements that I saw in the notorious TV series Big Brother, for which I was briefly employed as an adviser.

"The producers assured me the programme was a genuine psychological study of the human condition, but I soon found it was nothing of the sort.

"The real agenda was to attract viewers by manufacturing controversy and conflict. Talk of ethical standards was a smokescreen. I wanted no part of this deceit and resigned within a week. A similar lack of real ethics is all too obvious in Britain's Got Talent."

Ds

[ElProximo]

I can easily believe he was employed by Big Brother and did resign after a week. I would even expect that we could fill a room with psychologists who were hired and resigned from BB over ethical objections!

BGT is harder to comment on (from a viewers pov) because its so highly edited and very often I have a feeling that plenty of contestants are 'in on it',
but,
like a lot of people I had some serious questions when we saw children reduced to tears and I honestly wonder if it was worth it all for Susan Boyle.

I dunno, BGT doesn't seem so bad to me overall as long as contestants are well aware of the 'plot' and the way the scene plays out.
What worry's me is people who have silly and crazy little 'hapless' acts and are also a bit mentally deranged. For real. I mean they really are unstable and unpredictable and it might not even be healthy to cheer them on or boo them either way.
*example: a previous season featured that woman who's act has her howl like a dog. this is the same woman featured in another documentary with serious mental health problems and a long list of 'stalking' incidents. she isn't just a 'lovable eccentric' but someone with serious risks.

Some of this IS staged. I was watching an early round of Americas Got Talent and they did the 'montage' of all the most horrible failures of the day.
One of them was a hapless bagpipe player who was earning massive boos from the audience and cringing faces from the judges..
..the only problem is that I happen to know who it was. He is Canadian performer who has been doing professional comedy/bagpipes for well over a decade.
It was a very quick clip. Unless it was an impersonator then it was the same guy. This has me believing he was hired to go down to the USA and 'act' like a hapless annoying contestant and even prepared to play along with the judges 'scoldings and insults' ahead of time. a 'plant' but not in the audience but on stage.