Are Reality Shows The New Way To Get Jobs?

There’s a new job description in town. It’s called nothing. And, it’s exactly what the “stars” of reality TV shows like Jersey Shore, Bad Girls Club and The Real World—do for money.

These, er…celebrities…usually range between 18 and, say, 29 in age. They could be older, depending on the show.

They’re full of personality (because you know persona sells)…or they have boyish or girlish good looks. And, darn it, if they can’t get a job in our aggressive economy, they can at least use their God-given boob jobs and fake tannery to earn thousands of dollars per episode.

We, the people, i.e. the slaves to our television sets, love them.

We love them so much that we take a slice of our paychecks every month and fund the cable companies that televise the networks that air their shows that pay them a salary. And, all they had to do was fill out a six-page application form at—like—Viacom, explaining why they’re either hot, trashy, or looking for love. Why not? Some of them have the same chances of landing a spot on a reality show, which is potentially a multimillion-dollar investment as they do of finding a full-time job.

To be fair, when they do earn the fame that comes with running naked on a beach, or fist-fighting a bunch of strange roommates, or three-way kissing as Ron did on the second episode of Jersey Shore (don’t ask me how I know this information), they pay a hefty price. That’s right: any “thing” that generates money has an economy—even if that thing is nothing. So, for all the nothingness your favorite post-pubescent celebrities deliver to your screen everyday, they receive truckloads of criticism, paparazzi and loss of privacy, in return.

But, is it worth the price they pay?

Is the ‘reality show economy’ an attractive way to escape the reality of our own economy?

-Madame Noire