What Happens When TV Takes it too Far?

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 The wilderness will humble you. Swipe to see the before & after of every alone Australia contestant after weeks surviving solo in the Tasmanian wild. Watch every episode on SBS On Demand What Happens When TV Takes it too Far?


In recent years the TV world has found a few found fascination with pushing the human body to the breaking point. With survival shows like Naked and Afraid, Survivor, Extracted, and most of note Alone taking the world by storm it’s safe to say the TV networks know that the viewers have caught the survival bug. But what happens when the after care of competitors is neglected, and what is the real tole on their bodies once the cameras turn off for good? 

Producer Pender of US History Chanel told reporter Andy Dehnart that the preselection for participants is rigorous and that they must meet with the team to make sure they are fully equipped to be out there. They meet with an on staff “nutritionist” so they can get the “vibe” of what their diet traditionally looks like, as well as safe ways for them to bulk up. However, the aftercare on a show like alone does go further then most. They do not just give the contestants a flight home and a burger and send them on their way. Producers have noted that you must slowly pull the contestants out of starvation on the diet they got used to in the wild because if not you will shock their systems. 

What the producers of alone are talking about here is Refeeding syndrome and its potentially fatal conditions. Refeeding syndrome is caused by rapid intake of food after a period of undernutrition. Most known by hypophosphataemia, with a fluid and electrolyte shift and metabolic and clinical complications. The main patient population for refeeding syndrome is those who have little to no energy intake for longer than 10 days (or most of the people on Alone). 

In short, well Alone does a great job of making sure their participants are walking away health, TV in general does not do a great job. Well looking at the push in our society to do the most and be the best, when it comes to pushing the limits. We need to realize that all bodies having braking points, and we might just be pushing them too far for our entertainment. 

-AMC 


Sources:  

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2440847/#:~:text=Refeeding%20syndrome%20is%20a%20potentially,and%20metabolic%20and%20clinical%20complications

https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2023/07/alone-history-aftercare-after-filming-ends/#:~:text=Before%20filming&text=be%20out%20there?”-,What%20is%20this?,What%20is%20this?

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