Konno posted on his blog a short while ago about the issues with shows such as We Got Married and it made me think that there wasn’t enough pointing out about the show. Not only in We Got Married do people see it as a dreamlike world for themselves, but also Mnet Scandal and The Romantic & Idol. These shows have similar elements but also bring a lot of issues with it. Netizens, fans and other viewers don’t seem to realise how sucked they get into watching these shows and thinking it’s a reality.
Of course I’m not talking about every person who watches We Got Married. Most of us enjoy watching it and realise it is not real.
What is We Got Married?
We Got Married is a South Korean reality variety show that pairs up Korean celebrities to show what life would be like if they were married.
The issue?
Shipping is a must when it comes to pairing idols on WGM. As Konno pointed out, everything is fabricated and all the people are actors. They are not reality stars so most of the things on the shows are scripted and they won’t end up together in real life like many fans of Khuntoria believed would happen. There were comments to the situation of Oh Yeon Soo and Lee Joon where the netizens were saying stuff like, “It’s so fake now” and “the show has ruined it for me.” Fans have to realise it’s all for show, ratings and just to bring entertainment to the viewers.
Because I couldn’t find a non-biased picture!
What is Mnet Scandal?
Mnet scandal is a show where they choose non-celebrities to date with certain idols for a week, on how they choose the person is unexplained but it is believed through a competition where the person is lucky to get picked.
The issue?
Jealousy is a common thing for fans. Although the show follows the celebrity dating a non-celebrity for a week, fans who watched this show in 2009 were raging with envious remarks towards the non-idols who took part with their favourites e.g. Nichkhun But imagine the sasaengs? It could be worse. The protection for the non-idol on the show is something I want to know about. How protected is the non-idol from the fans finding out who they are or getting their contact details and threatening them?
This isn’t a spolier of the end of the show so don’t worry!
What is The Romantic & Idol?
The Romantic & Idol is a reality TV program based off of The Romantic that involves K-Pop idols from popular groups who spend 4 days and 3 nights together experiencing movie style romance.
The issue?
Just a side note but did anyone notice the show is for idols who are in groups that are irrelevant or becoming irrelevant (in regards to the eyes of an international fan, that is)? You’ve got to admit it’s slightly true.
But from what I’ve noticed when this show aired was that the fandom (or rather the international side) has calmed down in comparison to the previous shows. Calmer, but still pairing idols up like in WGM. When it comes to idols dating (or getting married in Sunye’s case), it’s not that much of a big deal. Thing is after the Hyungsik interview, how real or fake are the person’s feelings to another idol for a fan to believe? This is just another behind the scenes theory that we may never know. We don’t know whether they actually talked to each other or got along with each other at all.
Shows like these are just one of the reasons why fans live in a daydream world and create OTP’s but it also gives awareness of an idol and also new found anti’s. Along with that, these shows create a lot of fanservice. Fan service means fans give their idols money in exchange for more fan service. Then they get ideas to create fanfiction and share it with other fans who ship that same pairing (I’m not speaking for everyone mind you). To the people who try and give fanfiction to your idols as gifts – there are boundaries within the fandom and an idol, this is one of them. It’s not a bad thing to create OTP’s and wonder what it would be like for your favourite idol to go out with another but when it reaches a new found level of delusion, it should stop before that happens.
Anyways please let me know what you think about the issues in relationship variety shows?
I never did believe that what they show on TV are true. I know majority of their actions were scripted. BUT they do entertain us viewers so I take relationship variety shows as a TV Drama instead hehe
It’s an interesting point that you and Konno raise but similar with Gale, I never did believe what they did on the show was real. Nor did I watch it for that factor. But it may be because I do work in reality tv. So I do have a sense of what goes on behind the scenes. I find it interesting that dating shows like this and even the Bachelor in the US dictate what these people can do off camera because of the contract they sign. It’s an interesting social experiment to see how these people behave in their glass cages. No matter who the person is (even if you’re watching a documentary), people always change a little bit when that red camera light flicks on. However, I can see how people can buy into this relationship idea because that’s what the producers are trying to sell. I never really thought that these shows were an opportunity for real relationships to truly bloom. (Although only one couple came about after their stint on WGM.) It’s like that question of whether pandas can really mate in captivity. In fact, I was going to post about this on my own blog but while I’m here… I think the problem with WGM now has more to do with the activities they do. It doesn’t feel as varied and the couples are given as many missions the way they did in the first season. And then as soon as the couples become familiar with each other, WGM concept and the viewers, they’re off saying goodbye to each other. One mission I would like to see come back is the couples taking care of babies. I felt like that set it apart from a dating variety show as opposed to a married life variety show. Alex & Shin Ae ending up with… I think it was quintuplets, that was an interesting social experiment.
I’ve only seen WGM with Khuntoria and I really liked it, and then when i went onto social networking sites some fans could be too delusional imo. Ofcourse I shipped them as well, but there’s definitely a level of delusion were you should just stop.
PS I’m really worried about the non idols and sasaengs on Mnet scandal… Sasaengs just give me chills in general let alone what they’d do with their jealousy.
I alwayd say to myself that all of those show are scripted. But the interesting thing is the maker of the script are the idols. I just found the show interesting because I see them as entertainer in this show and they are doing an great effort in entertaining us by giving us reason to be delusional. I still love the show… if only those who participate in it know how to entertain usand not just us ghe show
I think that ‘Mnet Scandal’ is just pushing it a bit too far
Jealousy, and all that, it’s dumb really. Sasaeng fans can be really scary sometimes, like with Jaejoong :’( *shudders* I guess that WGM is the most realistic of these kind of shows (I don’t watch WGM, but I’ve heard that Adam couple were really popular, so) 
But your post has torn me. Now I want to see these shows as much as I don’t