A new series (well, a single show) begins next week. Not much information in the press release, but it appears to feature two typical berks (note: that’s a general comment – I don’t know either of them) who couldn’t get on Big Brother (note: that’s an opinion built up after watching many similar shows), so went for this instead. It’s an hour long, so be prepared for the usual pointless filler material. Oh, and don’t be surprised if at least one of the “contestants” turn out to be more than two standard deviations away from the mean when it comes to being “normal” (note: that’s a further opinion built up from watching similar shows – there is going to have to be a hook of some sort).
Will the shock of what they experience help Jason & Laura change their ways for good?
No. They drive like that because they want to, yet are too stupid or arrogant to do anything about it.
I’ve had an email from one of the contestants who believes his driving is probably now better than mine as a result of taking part in this show. Mmm. I’ll wait until I see it next week before I comment on that – although I’ve never been bad enough to need to appear on a show like this in the first place, so he will have had to have made up a lot of ground compared to me.
However, as I said in my reply:
Don’t take it to heart.
I guess you can’t say too much prior to transmission, but why on earth would you want to put yourself in front of millions of viewers like that, rather than simply book a few refresher lessons with a local instructor if you feel you had something to learn?
These shows don’t choose boring, “normal” people. They choose extroverts – often with some sort of hook – who are selling themselves (or their hook). And such programmes do a major disservice to the industry that I work in. My comments were not personal, just general.
It does make you wonder, though. If you know you are a bad driver and claim you’re not proud of it, why go on TV in front of millions of people to show it off? Why not just take some lessons to fix the problem? Being crap on the roads is not a badge of honour, except among real lowlifes.
I mean, if you enter yourself for something like this, then you KNOW you have a problem. I guess that fixing it quietly just doesn’t get the same sort of publicity, does it?
The other contestant has written to me now. Apparently she is an actress (I told you there’d be hooks), and did the show for “all sorts of personal reasons”.
As I pointed out, my job is to try and teach young people enough about driving so that they don’t end up killing themselves (or other people). The TV companies are making that harder and harder by glamourizing bad driving on these shows. The average chav male sees it as a chance to show how hard he is. As for the chav girls… well, it gives them a chance to go on TV in their best clobber, if previous shows in this genre are anything to go by.
One person’s 15 minutes of fame is enough to encourage thousands of impressionable young people to seek the same publicity.