When participants sign up to be a part of a reality TV show, they sign contracts and are then bound by the terms of the contract. If participants violate the terms of the contract, they run the risk of being expelled from the program. This is what unites the participant. However, there are laws and regulations that govern reality television shows. This may be hard to believe as many reality shows seem ruthless, but contestants are aware of the type of television show they are participating in and accept that treatment in their contracts because that is what makes the show interesting.
The FCC regulates what we watch on television, but programs are prohibited from manipulating any kind, exploiting children, and other things like nudity and language that are not censored. Those are the standard FCC regulations. However, there have been statements stating that the Survivor program is not subject to the game show regulations set forth by the FCC.
Those rules set by the FCC involve the Prime Time Access Rule and the Financial Interest and Distribution Rules, which have a great effect on game shows. What the first rule does is give full control of a certain time slot to a local station to do as it pleases and the second rule gives producers limited ownership of a show after its initial run. However, these rules do not really interest the public. What interests the public are the rules of censorship.
Regarding the claim that Survivor is not subject to the FCC game show regulations, it is inconsistent with what the show claims. FCC rules are mostly effective in the areas of censorship and make sure there is no tampering, although the above applies as well. They say that reality shows don’t leave much room for cheating anyway despite what some may believe. If the FCC detects that reality shows are rigged, the reality shows would be severely fined. If contestants found out that the shows were being rigged, then the shows would face numerous lawsuits.
Lessons were learned many years ago from shows like Quiz Show, where producers fed questions and answers to contestants before they went on the show. If the audience loved a particular contestant, the producers wanted to make sure the contestant stuck around for a while. Once the ratings dropped, the process would start over for the audience to once again fall in love with a particular contestant.
However, when we watch reality shows today, we can absolutely enjoy a particular contestant to get eliminated. That does not constitute any kind of manipulation because the show puts the audience at risk if a beloved contestant leaves. The FCC regulates how these programs behave and makes sure everything is done fairly and to the best of their ability because if the program is discovered, the program risks everything, including its reputation. If they risk their reputation, they lose audience. When a show loses audience, they are taken off the air and distributed if they are lucky. Some reality shows have been on the air for so long that it would be a shame for such things to happen, but scandal happens and solutions must be found. Yet sometimes it’s the scandal that draws more viewers to a show than ever. But if the show misleads its viewers, viewers feel violated.