What is Wrong with Our Reality TV Stars?

As the smoke from yesterday's Baby Jessica-esque balloon boy ordeal, allegations have started popping up insinuating that the whole charade was a hoax put on by the Henne family to get their own reality TV show.

Falcon Henne, the 6-year-old boy at the center of the story, blurted out a cryptic "We did this for the show" comment, which may suggest the whole balloon boy stunt was a hoax put on by Henne's parents, who had already brought the family onto the ABC show "Wife Swap."

Hoax or not, it still suggests that something potentially dangerous might be going on with the children of these reality TV veterans. TMZ.com has reported that the Heene family tried to get a "Jon & Kate Plus 8"-style TV show, and this may have been a sad attempt to get such a television deal.

It's been an interesting and eventful year for former reality TV show participants. Earlier this year, "Megan Wants a Millionaire" alum Ryan Alexander Jenkins murdered his ex-wife, model Jasmine Fiore, and fled to Canada. A month later, "America's Sexiest Bachelor" alum Brian Lee Randone was charged with the murder of porn star, Felicia Lee.

What is wrong with our reality TV stars? The answer is simple: they were reality TV stars. When a reality TV show is cast, the hopeful participants are given a series of tests, among them IQ tests and psychological exams. Their psychological profile is examined, and casting producers will match up contestants with other contestants who will have clashing personalities, causing friction. Physical fights and expletive-laden screaming matches are a reality show's ratings bread and butter.

Instead of identifying the psychological problems these people have and treating them, the reality show producers instead exploit it, maximizing friction by making participants live in the same house together, and add friction enhancers and inhibition disablers like free alcohol. Reality shows thrive on the antisocial and the marginally insane.

If you watch a talent-based TV show like "Hell's Kitchen," you might notice that there is a lot of chaff at the beginning, with only a handful of good cooks. Reality show contestants with a screw loose may get themselves kicked off the show for threatening other players or, in some cases, the host. Once the reality show is over, the producers might even use editing tricks to make the reality show contestant look even worse.

The reality show star's fate is much like the child star. Once they have had their run on TV, they are still looking for that thrill of seeing themselves on TV. Some are able to transition into other roles on television, but some are overtaken by the fame (and lack thereof) and look for ways to get it back.

Once the Hennes had seen themselves come and go on "Wife Swap," they might have missed the thrill. With the success of "Jon & Kate Plus 8," plus the lure of seeing daily gossip news about Jon and Kate Gosselin, the Hennes may have hatched this plan to reclaim their slight fame. Unfortunately, if true, the Hennes dragged their kids into the spectacle. The most likely family member to tell the truth would be Falcon Henne, and his nervous vomiting might be an indicator of his inner moral compass.

What's frightening is that even if the Henne situation is revealed as a hoax, and they pay their debt to society, they may get a reality TV show out of it, after all. It would certainly fit into the ideal psychological profile of today's reality TV star to cry wolf on national TV just to get a reality show. And sadly, the ratings of the first show would balloon.

Sources:
Wired, "Who'll Crack First in Balloon Boy Case?"
Time, "Balloon Boy on Larry King"
TMZ, "Heene Family's Reality is TV"
NY Daily News, "Megan Wants a Millionaire Star Ryan Alexander Jenkins Eyed"
Fox News, "Preacher-Turned-Reality Star Charged"
YouTube, "Balloon Boy Throws Up"