OK I’ll admit it. I have a thing for reality TV shows. It drives my fiancé insane and every time he walks in the room when I’m watching one he throws his hands up in disgust and says something to the effect of, “Ugh, not this again! If I wanted to watch people cry…” I don’t know what he’d really do if he actually wanted to watch people cry because he’s usually out of the room and long gone before he finishes the sentence.
The thing is I only like a specific kind of reality show. Yes I’ve flipped on Jersey Shore or The Bachelorette a time or two but that’s usually because of something specific, like an appearance by the Muppets. If you’ve read my blog before you may have picked up that I’m more of a fan of shows like Celebrity Apprentice. Other favorites include Design Star and Project Runway which is already marked on my calendar as I await the season premier on July 19.
I don’t want to see housewives flipping tables, people who’ve stopped being strangers and started being real or big families getting bigger. What I like are the shows that say, “Here’s your project now complete it creatively and well in a ridiculously short period of time.”
These types of reality shows offer an added benefit on top of an hour of cheap entertainment every so often. They can actually prepare people for finding a job and keeping it. Many of the challenges incorporate things that come up in the work week.
It’s neat to see how the judges (bosses) react to how the contestants (employees/applicants) complete the assignment. The time the completed project takes is only a portion of the determining factor when it comes to who goes on and who goes home.
The most talented candidates can be thrown a serious curve ball just by being issued a team challenge. I love that it shows that being able to work well together can be more important than just being able to work well. This is an office truth many employers know but many employees miss. Contestants learn to find the balance between being too bossy and bending too far, both can be fatal errors in elimination competitions and the workplace.
Almost any career you choose has a reality show that can relate. Top Chef, Sheer Genius, American Pickers and many more can offer job tips to chefs, stylists, shoppers and programming like Pawn Stars can help anyone learn how to negotiate.
As for my skeptical fiancé I’ve actually found a reality show that not only will he watch with me, he wants to compete on next season. HGTV’s All American Handyman has him screaming at the screen and celebrating the efforts of the contestants. Aside from all the interesting tools they get to work with I think he appreciates that there’s not a lot of crying when the eliminated handymen go home.
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