Reality TV Shows in Russia
Russia may seem like an unlikely country for reality television, but it too has fans of the genre. The Russian public, just like Americans, seem to like the quarrels, sexy talk, and actions that come with reality television as the television rating for such shows have skyrocketed.Russia has its own version of Big Brother called "Behind the Glass." "Behind the Glass" first began airing on TV6 in 2001, making it Russia's first reality television show. However, sometimes the reaction to the show is mixed. In one month's time, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta voted "Behind the Glass" both the top TV event and the worst TV event.
The show features six men and women, who like the "Big Brother" housemates, live together and have their interactions filmed. However, in "Behind the Glass," all the contestants are between the ages of 21 and 24. From the thousands that apply, 12 people are selected by a group of psychologist, sociologists, and doctors, and then the public gets to vote for their favorite six.
The apartment they all live in is glass and there are 26 cameras filming. For the price of 20 rubles, pedestrians outside are allowed to look through one way mirrors and see what the housemates are doing in the bedroom, the living room, and the bathroom. Each day of the first season, approximately 3,000 people lined up to be able look through the mirrors for five minutes. That season featured two winners - Janna and Denis. Both received a year's free rent in a nice Moscow apartment (estimated value was about $25,000).
"Big Brother" is not the only Western reality series to make it to Russia. After the success of "Behind the Glass," the ORT channel started showing a Russian version of Survivor known as "The Last Hero." Russia even has its own version of Next Top Model, which gets more than a 13% share of the national viewing audience. Russia also has its own version of American Idol known as "Narodniy Artist."
Russia also has a popular reality show called Dom-2. The contestants have to build a house and during the process, try to find love. Then, the couples compete to win the house. Two of the houseguests - Olga Buzova and Roman Tretyakov recently got engaged. However, not all Dom-2 contestants have such a happy ending. Alexei Adeyev was arrested on the set after a woman that he scammed out of money saw him on the show. He was recently sentences to 4 years in prison.
Russia has a popular music reality show called Sekret Uspekha. It is the Russian version of the British show "The X Factor." This show looks for contestants that have not only singing and dancing ability, but also stage presence.
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