Miriam: Death of a reality star (Chapter 4)
Always read the fine print. Everyone knows it and no one knows it: when you are young, they don’t bother you, and when you are old, you can’t find your reading glasses.
Dating show contestant Toby Green was in an airport bar in 2003 with five guys he had just met, about to fly to Ibiza in search of sun and TV fame, when producers shoved a big contract right under his nose. .
“Half of it was in a language you don’t really understand,” she recalled in Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star. ‘Am I going to say, ‘I don’t agree with that paragraph’? No.’
The repercussions were worse than the six men, all in their 20s, could have imagined. Gorged on unlimited booze and tempted with the prospect of a £10,000 prize, they spent a fortnight competing for the affections of 21-year-old Mexican beauty Miriam, unaware that she was a trans woman.
Gorged on unlimited drinks and tempted with the chance to win a £10,000 prize, they spent a fortnight competing for the affections of Mexican beauty Miriam, 21 (pictured), unaware she was a trans woman.
Everything about this three-part documentary is bleak, including the fate of its central figure: Miriam Rivera, used as bait in this elaborate sexual hoax, was found hanged in her home five years ago, after a life of drug abuse.
The viewers of the program Something is happening with Miriam were aware of her secret from the beginning. Presenter Tim Vincent, a former Blue Peter presenter, boasted in voice-over: “From the waist down, he’s a man!”
Everything about this three-part documentary is bleak, including the fate of its central figure: Miriam Rivera, used as bait in this elaborate sexual hoax, was found hanged in her home five years ago, after a life of drug abuse.
A show that Miriam hoped would launch her as a star treated her like the punchline to a dirty joke.
The producers used every trick imaginable to goad the guys into making declarations of lust and infatuation, while making sure they never guessed that their date was, in Tim Vincent’s sarcastic words, “both Steve and Eve.”
“These kids didn’t have the option to give consent,” said Dr. Gareth Smith, a psychiatrist who was rushed to Ibiza for the final episode when the production team belatedly realized that emotions were running high. fur.
Four of the six contestants are absent from this retrospective, although we are not told why. And executive producer Remy Blumenfeld, mastermind of There’s Something About Miriam for Sky TV, also didn’t appear, although in a podcast two years ago he pleaded: “I don’t feel like I was cruel in doing it, I feel like I was incredibly cruel.” naive.’
“These kids didn’t have the option to give consent,” said Dr Gareth Smith (pictured), a psychiatrist who was rushed to Ibiza for the final episode, when the production team belatedly realized that the Emotions were on the surface.
A show that Miriam hoped would launch her as a star treated her like the punchline to a dirty joke.
The kids were naive, sure. Miriam was too, no matter how clever she thought she was. But there was nothing clumsy about the production team’s intentions. It was sexual humiliation disguised as an entertainment experiment.
Although this documentary aims to condemn, it is constantly distracted by archival clips of rivals fighting for Miriam’s attention and trying to win kisses. However, the real failure is to pretend not to see the broader context. Most viewers 20 years ago were unaware of the growing trans debate and phrases like “genderfluid” were unknown.
No one can ignore the current controversies… although Channel 4 bosses were apparently too timid to examine them here. All they have done is bring up an old scandal.
