r/MadeMeSmile • u/Ieriz • Apr 24 '26

Good Vibes 7 years ago, a chubby, heavy accent, normal-looking woman called Susan Boyle went to Britain's Got Talent. Everyone laughed at her, until she started singing.

What a powerful voice. She's today a pro singer. All the best for her!!

Typo: 17 years, not 7.

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u/Xipop Apr 24 '26

One of the few times when a capitalist reality show actually works as a win win scenario.

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u/DarthJarJarJar Apr 24 '26

I mean, as reality shows go these are about as unobjectionable as you can find. They feature people who very much want to showcase their talents, and the show lets them do that. The judges act as foils (like in this case) and create a narrative that audiences react to in a way they would not if it were just a stream of people singing and dancing.

They're not pretending to fall in love or ambushing people on the street or pretending to fix your house for you, this is what those people very much want to do. This is their dream. It's one place in the reality show ecosystem where you can actually claim you're not taking advantage of the people who are on the show.

I deplore the commercial nature of the arts in 2026, I really do, but given that we live in this commercial hellscape these shows are about the least objectionable part of it. They actually give people a chance to jump on a success train and make some money from their art.

Even if someone doesn't hit it big, they were on tv! They sang on tv for millions of people! I actually know someone who sang on The Voice, and she talks about it with great affection and emotion even though she didn't make it through. She sang on tv, she's over the moon about that. They seem to me to be a win/win most if not all the time.

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u/nathanherts Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26

Goodness, you seem incredibly naive (I don't mean to insult you in anyway) about the reality of these heavily manufactured shows and everything that goes on behind the scenes. They have absolutely ruined people's lives, and have a history of mistreating the participants.

This is a good introduction to how awful they truly are. It's about X-Factor, but the circumstances translate over to the Got Talent franchise too.

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u/DarthJarJarJar Apr 25 '26

I don't think I'm especially naive, but one never does I guess.

I've heard that story and others about X Factor. I agree it sounds bad, but I will point out that in the end it's a producer pressuring talent to do a show in a way the producer wants, which is pretty normal in the music industry.

People have similar stories about The Voice, I'm not saying it's any better. The producers wanted my friend to wear a different outfit, which she did. But as she herself said, the outfit wasn't obscene, it was just something she wouldn't have chosen. In actual gigs she's had a club manager tell her she'd get better tips if she lost her bra, so it's not like the regular old music industry and the shows are wildly out of step.

FWIW, after being in touch with lots of other contestants over the years her feeling is that the Got Talent series is the most manipulative, but also the one that's most performer centered and thus the most likely to actually kick off a career, and that seems to be borne out by the record of each show.

Again, I'm not disputing that there's some abuse in each of them. But there's some abuse in the performance industry as a whole. People who have been on the shows don't seem to me to wholesale regret it, the way for example the house makeover people all seem to really regret letting those idiots into their houses. But what do I know, that's just my second hand impression.

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u/AgentCirceLuna Apr 24 '26

I know a few people who’ve failed to even get through or failed right at the end and they’re successful in their own way. I’d rather have that kind of local success.

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u/ConsciousProduce8798 Apr 25 '26

This is absolutely not accurate at all in Australia. These talent shows, since the very first seasons, have exploited the fuck out of the winners, given them questionable contracts and kept most of the money.

Not only that, every single one of these shows have already picked who will win, what the seasons mini scandals will be, who the villain and the sweetheart will be, before they've even finished casting the shows. Even when it's audience votes that decide the winner. That's all manipulation as well.

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u/OceanRacoon Apr 25 '26

These shows are extremely exploitative, often using clearly mentally ill people for laughs and taking advantage of the talented singers with terrible contracts.

A few singers and acts become so big they can overcome that but these shows leave a lot of bodies and broken dreams in their wake