Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was one of the first public voices to complain about the MTV reality series Buckwild, a show the Democrat said demeaned his state.
Manchin put aside his reservations regarding the show to mourn the loss of its young star, 21-year-old Shain Gandee. The young man was found dead along with two others inside an SUV.
“Gayle, my family and I join all West Virginians in praying for the Gandee family as they go through this inexplicably difficult time,” the Senator said in a statement.
MTV has halted production on the show’s second season in the wake of the deaths, but it’s not the only true trauma currently roiling the reality show universe.
A participant in the French version of Survivor, Gerald Babin, 25, recently died midway through the first day of shooting, and the show’s season was scrapped as a result.
Now, the doctor involved with the French reality show has committed suicide, blaming the press for staining his reputation in a handwritten suicide note.
Reality television seemed ripe for such horrific results all along, given the physical pressures placed on performers, the instant fame afforded to its stars as well as the need for drama at all costs. It remains to be seen how the public, and the studios behind these productions, will react to these tragedies.
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