Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star review – TV show treated trans woman as the punchline in an obscene practical joke, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS
Miriam: Death of a Reality Star (ch4)
Always read the fine print. Everyone knows it and no one ever knows – when you’re young it doesn’t bother you, and when you’re old you can’t find your reading glasses.
Dating show contestant Toby Green was sitting in an airport bar in 2003 with five guys he’d just met, about to fly to Ibiza for sun and TV fame, when the producers signed him a big contract. nose pushed.
“Half of it was in a language you don’t really understand,” he recalled of Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star. “Am I going to say, ‘I don’t agree with that paragraph’?” No.’
The consequences were worse than the six men, all in their twenties, could have imagined. Fueled by unlimited booze and tempted by the chance of a £10,000 prize, they spent a fortnight competing for the affections of 21-year-old Mexican beauty Miriam – unaware she was a trans woman.
Fueled by unlimited drinks and tempted by the chance of a £10,000 prize, they spent a fortnight competing for the affections of 21-year-old Mexican beauty Miriam (pictured) – unaware she was a trans woman
Everything about this three-part documentary is grim, including the fate of its central figure: Miriam Rivera, used as bait in this elaborate sexual deception, was found hanged in her home five years ago after a life of drug abuse.
Viewers of the show There’s Something About Miriam knew about her secret from the start. Host Tim Vincent, former presenter of Blue Peter, crowed in the voice-over: ‘She is a man from the waist down!’
Everything about this three-part documentary is grim, including the fate of its central figure: Miriam Rivera, used as bait in this elaborate sexual deception, 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 punch line to an obscene joke.
The producers used every conceivable trick to lure the boys into declarations of lust and infatuation, while making sure they never suspected that their date was – in the snide words of Tim Vincent – “as much Steve as Eve.”
“These guys didn’t have the ability to give consent,” said Dr. Gareth Smith, a psychiatrist who was rushed to Ibiza for the final episode when the production team realized too late that emotions were running high.
Four of the six participants are absent from this retrospective, although we are not told why. And executive producer Remy Blumenfeld, the mastermind behind There’s Something About Miriam for Sky TV, didn’t appear either, although he pleaded on a podcast two years ago: ‘I don’t feel like I was cruel in making it, I feel that I was incredible. naive.’
“These guys didn’t have the opportunity to give consent,” said Dr Gareth Smith (pictured), a psychiatrist who was rushed to Ibiza for the final episode when the production team realized too late that emotions were running high.
A show that Miriam hoped would launch her as a star treated her like the punch line to an obscene joke
The boys were certainly naive. That also applied to Miriam, no matter how streetwise she thought she was. But there was nothing cheesy about the production team’s intentions. This was sexual humiliation dressed up as an experiment in entertainment.
Although this documentary is intended to condemn, it is constantly distracted by archival clips of the rivals jostling for Miriam’s attention and trying to win kisses. The real failure, however, is pretending not to see the broader context. Most viewers were unaware of the growing trans debate twenty years ago, and phrases like “gender fluid” were unknown.
No one can be ignorant of the current controversies… although Channel 4’s chiefs were apparently too timid to investigate them here. All they’ve done is stir up an old scandal.