There’s Something About Miriam

Over the last couple of years, reality television has taken some drastic turns to the bizarre.  Realizing that the purpose of these shows exist as pure entertainment, many reality TV shows have decided that the best way to get laughs and make it a fun experience for the viewers is to document its contestants getting humiliated.  Shows like Joe Schmo, in which a reality TV contestant thinks that they’re taking part in a reality TV series with other contestants but is actually on a show full of actors, and Average Joe, in which a construction worker poses as a millionaire in a setting reminiscent of The Bachelor, have pushed reality TV to the limit.  Some people may consider such shows to be tasteless or to the extreme but proving to America once again that they are prudes, the British have produced a reality TV show that make these shows look like Leave it to Beaver.

Produced by the British television channel, The Sky Network, There’s Something About Miriam has gained worldwide notoriety.  Taking the premise of a dating show similar to The Bachelor, six men compete against each other for the affection of a charming bachelorette.  The woman is ”leggy” South American beauty, single-named Miriam.  With model good looks and a charming demeanor, it’s easy to see why somebody would film a reality TV series detailing Miriam’s efforts to find a man.  There’s only one catch, though: Miriam is actually a man.

A pre-operative transsexual woman, the producers of There’s Something About Miriam realized that the key to the success of the show was its Crying Game outcome.  Contestants were warned that shocks and surprises will happen on the show, but this twist was something that these contestants definitely did not expect.  This is especially evident considering that following the show, the six contestants filed a lawsuit against the producers of the show and eventually received $300,000 each in compensation.

Arguably the most controversial reality TV series in history, There’s Something About Miriam offered a great deal of laughs and easily trumps the shock factor of other reality TV shows like Big Brother and My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé.  The six contestants were chosen by Miriam and the seven of them traveled to Ibiza where the fun begun.  An island off the coast of Spain that is notorious for its 24-hour party scene and the site of many, many date rapes, Ibiza was an excellent setting for this groundbreaking show.

The six contestants competed against each other to gain favor with Miriam with the winner receiving £10,000 and a week together with Miriam on a luxury cruise.  Although, this show seems like one where you would feel horrible for the contestants, it helps that the contestants were jockish assholes.  The level of machismo rose through the roof and at one point the six contestants measured each other’s dicks to see who had the biggest.  The irony being that there was a good chance that their prize may have had a larger one than them.  On the final episode, Miriam revealed her secret by lifting up her dress to what must have been a shocking revelation to the contestants.

At the end of the day, things probably worked out for the best.  The contestants were compensated for their experience, the producers learnt that a reality TV show like this could lead into legal action, the British judicial system showed the public its effectiveness, and Miriam is parlaying her fame into various modeling and press opportunities.  A storybook ending for a truly bizarre reality TV show.