It’s official, after what seemed like an eternity of advertisements, spoilers and grabs of the people, couples and teams that will be gracing out televisions day-in day-out over the next few months: reality TV is back – at a regular evening time near you, of course!
From the inspiring to the dramatic and sometimes even the mundane, whether you like these shows or not chances are you will find yourself in the midst of vigorous chatter about the carefully-selected characters their wins and misfortunes and of course the ‘judges’.
Here at MiNDFOOD general banter quickly turned to what we were watching as TV-watching routines resumed in our households. Amongst the moans and groans of “you’re not watching that are you?” and “Is it any good?” we started to ponder aloud about the reality shows we would most like to feature in. Let’s just say we learnt a lot about each other from the exercise!
Our Beauty director Liz Hancock took the cultured road, nominating herself for a reality show that we had never heard of: “I’d love to appear on Maestro, the BBC reality series where celebrities (that’s me out then!) had to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra. I’d be terrible, but what a rush it would be!”
Sub-editor Jennifer Van Beyen, was a little more reluctant: “I would never go on a reality show … but if pushed, maybe something like Come Dine with Me (where four strangers battle it out to host the ultimate dinner party). If I had more time and money I think I’d have a lot more fun in the kitchen! I love having people for dinner.”
For Associate editor (AU) , Mariam Digges, it most certainly had to be My Kitchen Rules: “I would be my mother’s sous chef.” – from the amazing Persian lunches we’ve spotted Mariam eating in the office we think the pair would be in with a strong chance for the win.
We were a bit surprised to learn of our Associate editor (NZ) Carolyn Enting‘s choice of Dancing with the Stars! But we soon discovered Carolyn had been holding out on us at work functions and events: “I love dancing (I was an amateur rock ’n’ roll dancer in my 20s) and because every competitor on the show loses weight! I need to drop a few kilos and dancing is a fantastically fun way of doing that and keeping fit. Oh, and the great outfits.”
It’s not surprising that our resident ball of energy, Senior advertising manager (AU), Edwina Tempelton, picked a heart-pumping, thrill-seeking challenge: “The Amazing Race – What a great way to see the world and experience different cultures to the extreme.”
Administration Manager Steven Giudice would love to put his music knowledge to the test with a bit of trivia: “I’m not sure if it’s classed as a reality TV show but the only TV show I’d like to be on would be Rockwiz, just to put my random music knowledge to some use and it looks like a fun night.”
Of course there were no surprises with our Managing editor Natasha Dragun‘s pick. For the team’s most experienced traveller with an impressive 70 plus countries under her belt, it had to be Hotel Inspector: “Having spent years working in travel, I secretly love going into hotels and resorts and evaluating what I would change to make it more user-friendly.”
Never afraid to boast of his talents, General manager of sales Howard John simply exclaimed : “Surely I’m more X-Factor….shazaaaaam!!” – Uh, we think we’ll leavve that up to the experts Howie!
As the source of her children’s constant amusement, our Senior advertising manager (NZ) Karey Walker couldn’t look past the classic New Zealand’s Funniest Home Videos: “My kids are always laughing at my accidents and would happily film them, or Stars in their Eyes, I would have to sing, which actually means I would never make it past the audition. I could be a blooper though.”
But our favourite response to the question of “Which Reality TV series would you love to feature in?” came, not surprisingly, from our Cheif sub-editor, Nikki Birrell: “The mood I’m in today… Cops.” – Watch out!
Me? Well I have to admit that there’s nothing like the thrill of baking to get my heart racing and my taste buds salivating, from the glorious sweet tower of croquembouche to epic culinary disasters waiting to happen – Bombe Alaska anyone? – all with that constant, witty British commentary; it has to be The Great British Bake Off! Just imagine how many times you would get to lick the bowl?
What reality TV series could you see yourself in and why? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
