Most audiences are most interested in what happens on television when the reality show cameras roll, but what happens afterward can often be even more dramatic.
Thus, a recent research by the website "The Wrap" showed that since 2005 in the USA, 14 reality show participants have committed suicide, of which over 34 thousand have participated. The American average is 12,4 per 100 inhabitants, so the suicide rate among TV participants is three times higher.
Psychologists claim that people who participate in such shows usually already have impaired psychological health, and living in isolation only pushes them into an even deeper abyss. Even mentally stable participants are vulnerable especially when the pressure becomes too much.
"They don't have control or they lose it. They cross all the boundaries. The media and the audience often don't treat them very well. It's a very short path from star to nobody or to villain," explains Nejdin Kaslow, a psychologist at Imori University in Atlanta.
"We have to be careful with them when the show is over or if they lose in it. Because the losers are usually on the morning show a day later, and most of us don't want to be on TV after a loss seen by millions of people," she adds and says that often the jury (if there is one) knows not to be very gentle towards the contestants.
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