My Reality Television Idea and Rejected Ideas

Reality Television Ideas

One of my ideas to display on E4 was to create a reality television show where 12 people are selected to enter a villa abroad in a hot country, they will mostly be aged from 18-30. The contestants would compete in short challenges daily and the winners will receive immunity whilst the public will vote for the contestant they want to save, the vote will take place after a week into the show and there will be one every 3-4 days. The rest of the show will just consist of general gossip within the villa. However, there is a twist within the show where there are secret passages and hidden technology which allows the producers to play pranks on the contestants, however the contestants have no knowledge that the pranks will be made. The winner of the show will receive the £50,000 prize.

This will appeal to E4’s target audience because they are the age group which enjoy watching gossip and arguments from the outside, which a chunk of the show will be based around. Also, the contestants will be regular people like them and aged from the range of 18-30 which suggests the audience will be able to relate and identify with the characters and most likely choose a character they want to support. This will influence the audience to tune in every night to follow the journey of the contestants.

Contestants who the audience can relate to most (16-25-year olds) will be portrayed in a positive light to appeal to the audience. To help do this I will create a binary opposition between the producers and the contestants. As the producers will be the ‘evil’ due to them playing tricks on the contestants. However, the contestants will be portrayed as ‘good’ and the audience will favour the contestants as they are portrayed as vulnerable.

Rejected idea: Before this I had a different idea for my show. The idea was that four teams of two would be placed randomly 2000 miles away from London (all teams at different locations) and the first team to reach the top of the shard are announced the winners of £50,000. It would’ve been over a long time period with each episode showing the contestants process and their journey. However, I decided to not use this idea because I felt that it would not be possible to meet a specific target audience such as E4’s as there was not many ways to alter it to target 16-25-year olds specifically. Whereas I believe that I can alter my current idea to fit E4’s target audience as it is more flexible.

Rejected idea (2): The plot was that a group of teenagers and young adults (aged 18-25) who have not left home, yet all move into a house for six weeks and carry out day to day activities which they have not yet carried out and learnt. These daily tasks would include ordering food and shopping, washing clothes and every day to day chore carried out by adults. I believed this would appeal to E4’s target audience (mass mark – aged 16-25) because a lot of people from the target audience would be aged in a very similar range to the contestants, therefore the audience may be able to identify with the contestants. Also, a large amount of the audience will be starting university within the next couple of years or may have already started. However even people choosing different career paths will be leaving home in the upcoming years and it would be useful for them to see an insight into day to day chores which are done. However I chose not to use this idea because I felt my current idea would be more fitting towards the E4 target audience as comedy and romance may appeal to the target audience, rather than an educational series.