Like Design Star, Reality Shows Must Turn Out Successful Winners

New York Magazine recently published this fascinating column quotThe Near Fame Experiencequot which takes a look at the many failing stars of Bravo39s Project RunwayIt got me thinking do any stars of reality shows really do well And how does that affect the future of the shows they were on I believe the successful stars are few and far between Top Chef39s Harold Dieterle The Next Food Network Star39s Guy Fieri HGTV39s Design Star39s David Bromstad and a few folks from American IdolWhile watching Hell39s Kitchen this week I thought to myself quotDoes it really matter who winsquot As much as I loved season one winner Michael the first I39ve heard about him since his win was on this season39s secondtolast episode As the New York Magazine article points out no one has seen anything from Project Runway39s season one winner Jay McCarroll lately And these are only two of the many many winners of reality shows who have gone on to do well nothing At least nothing we39ve heard aboutViewers invest a lot of time in these reality shows and we expect results HGTV39s Design Star has done something rare they39ve shown viewers that their time pays off Audiences voted in the season finale for the winner and when David Bromstad was chosen the viewers39 dedication was rewarded David39s resulting show Color Splash has since been picked up for a second season HGTV didn39t just use Design Star as a ratings ploy they took the winner and helped further flesh out Bromstad into a star Of course that raises the bar for season two39s winner but at least viewers of the show know that their votes and time spent watching won39t be taken for grantedThe Next Food Network Star39s Guy Fieri has an awesome personality and has become another household name on The Food Network which is no easy feat There39s a lot of pressure on this season39s winner Amy Finley If her show isn39t a hit who will care who they pick next season on the showIt39s not just the shows that produce other shows that come out with successes Top Chef39s season one winner Harold Dieterle recently opened his New York City eatery Perilla I took my boyfriend there for his birthday and we were both very pleased Besides the fact that we were way too excited to eat his quotspicy duck meatballsquot which he made on the charity cookoff and we squealed when he quickly walked through the restaurant we had a great dinner The food was all spot on Reality shows offer their contestants a huge opportunity They get to showcase their talents for millions of people It39s a rare chance and one that no person should take for granted Harold Dieterle was an ordinary chef prior to Top Chef He was talented yes but who knew who he was Dieterle went on Top Chef kicked its butt won and used it to open his own restaurant Sure he could have opened up a restaurant prior to the show and with his cooking skills it would have been a good restaurant But his Top Chef fame makes that restaurant all the more exciting and that much more of a destination People want to go to quotHarold39s restaurantquot not just quotsome restaurant that I heard has good foodquotDeiterle took the reality show experience and did exactly what he should have with it He used his skills mixed it with the fame continued to use his talent in the kitchen and went on to fulfill his dream of opening a restaurant Top Chef season two winner Ilan Hall on the other hand is doing things in the exact opposite fashion Hall is doing appearance after appearance and is letting his reality fame run on for as long as it can By the time it ends Hall will still not have opened a restaurant and he39ll be back at square one Reality show popularity may last longer than fifteen minutes but it doesn39t last foreverViewers want to see the competitive reality show winners do something after the show ends When we watch shows like Survivor we don39t expect the winners to do anything outrageously special with their lives after We only watch The Hills for the entertaining drama especially where Lauren and Heidi are concerned But shows like Top Chef Top Design Project Runway Shear Genius Design Star The Next Food Network Star American Inventor American Idol So You Think You Can Dance Rock Star Supernova America39s Got Talent and America39s Next Top Model are different They are based on talent and what39s the point if the person with the supposed greatest amount of talent can39t use their talent in the real worldI sometimes would rather a show end by saying quotYou know what It turns out that no one was that great this season So we39re not going to pick a winner Instead we39ll try again next season with better castingquot In some ways that would make me more pleased than what we currently see For one as I said before The Next Food Network Star39s Amy Finley has a lot riding on her If she fails why will viewers want to tune in next season Why will they care who wins when the chances are pretty good that the winner won39t end up with more than six episodes before they fade away into oblivion As much as I love watching the designs on Project Runway if I know the winners will continue to be unable to create decent fashion lines with their prize money I39ll start to lose interest Rock Star Supernova was an entertaining ride but after Supernova got sued and had to actually change their name to Rock Star Supernova they also slipped from the spotlight And what about all the other contestants on the show who swore they39d have songs on the radio within weeks Haven39t heard from them again Then there39s Benji from So You Think You Can Dance Yes he was talented but after declining the Celine Dion contract prize his star has lost its shine as well except of course when he reappears on the show this seasonMost reality shows do their part in being entertaining but it39s still not too much for viewers to expect a reality show based on talent to a actually cast talented people and b produce a winner who has the potential to be successful The more these shows turn out letdowns as the winners the less interest viewers will have in them And when those shows get canceled due to poor ratings new reality shows will spring up in their place and the cycle will continue Networks should either admit when they39ve picked a poor cast further help their winners or stop churning out faulty reality shows and focus on the ones that actually generate stars Perhaps reality shows could then actually have some meaning

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Like Design Star, Reality Shows Must Turn Out Successful Winners

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Jacki Garfinkel

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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Like Design Star, Reality Shows Must Turn Out Successful Winners

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