Must Watch reviews Miriam: Death of a Reality Star

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Siobhan Synnot and Scott Bryan join 5 Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake to review Miriam: Death of a Reality Star.

The Channel 4 three-part documentary series follows the story of Miriam Rivera, a transgender woman who was the centre of controversial reality series There’s Something About Miriam.

‘More extraordinary as you go on’

Siobhan: “I think it is a Must Watch. I was really gripped by it. There are few pieces of entertainment history that have aged quite so badly as There's Something About Miriam. It was described by its presenter Tim Vincent as a show featuring “a J-Lo lookalike who's got it all”.

"What the audience knew, and what the male contestants did not know, was that Miriam Rivera was a trans woman - and the ‘got it all’ was a bit of a snarky innuendo.”

“It's intriguing, the naivety of the production team, the huge effort they went to keep Miriam's secret. The producer made a point of never using pronouns. They called Miriam “The Model”, a “beautiful person”. They made sure the participants weren't allowed to spend much time with her - one contestant who began to suspect was swiftly eliminated.”

“Everybody in front of the camera seems to have been hurt by a production team who did not seem to have thought about what they were doing - to the point that after Miriam revealed her secret, the production team thought that everyone involved would recover after a quick ten-minute chat with a shrink, followed by a party with champagne and snacks. It gets more extraordinary as you go on.”

‘It was just about mocking and insulting and shocking people.’

Nihal: “Scott, is Miriam, Death of a Reality Star, a Must Watch?”

Scott: “It is. It harks back to a rather uncomfortable period in reality TV, in which shock was the main purpose of the entertainment programme, rather than it being in any way educational.”

“It was laughing at contributors, rather than having any informative takeaway from it, because this series was not to teach anybody about trans issues, trans women, trans men - it was just about mocking and insulting and shocking people. The premise in the pitch was, “Six guys date the woman of their dreams and discover she is a man”, and that being the overall twist.””

‘You learn a lot’

“Now, Sky have said that this series has been removed from all Sky platforms many years ago and is not reflective of their attitudes towards gender identity and inclusivity."

"As the series goes on, there is some reflection about how much we have changed as a society - arguably, we still haven't in terms of understanding trans people's lives.”

“This brings together why on earth the people behind the programme decided to go and make it in the first place, why it was put on air, what it was like to be one of the men on this programme."

"You have people who knew Miriam highlighting what her life was like before and after this TV experience and the utter exposure she had. The tabloid press went to town with her, rather than the TV company that put this premise together. You learn a lot.”

“I would also point out that there was a great podcast a couple of years ago called Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera. This is just a TV version of that. It shows how much we have changed as a society."

"We look back at the noughties and think things are the same, but actually it's very, very different in many aspects.”

‘It was a Wild West for reality shows.’

Siobhan: “Something really interesting happened that same year on Big Brother, with Nadia Almada, their first transgender contestant. On that show, Nadia became a fan favourite. Nadia won that Big Brother."

"I would have liked to seen Death of a Reality Star give some consideration as to why that show succeeded in being so positive – and why Miriam's show overestimated public prurience about trans people. Even Miriam ‘s contestants were quite chilled."

"The winner’s initial reaction was, “Yeah, I'll go on the holiday with Miriam”. It was only after some reflection, he said, “I don't want to go on holiday with somebody who deceived me”."

“So, it was a Wild West for reality shows. But I think the public were showing signs back then of being rather more enlightened than the media.”

Scott: “One of the good things about Big Brother - there’s no hiding from the fact that Big Brother was exploitative in its own way – it put together people from different walks of life into a house, giving onus to the viewer to learn more about them."

"People warmed to Nadia - her personality started to come through. Something About Miriam was never able to move away from the cruelty of the format and the producers manipulating it for shock value."

Miriam: Death of a Reality Star is available to watch on Channel 4.

Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening from BBC Sounds and all other podcasts providers.

This week the team also reviewed Shardlake and Dead Boy Detectives.

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