10 Horrifying Reality TV Shows You Won’t Believe Exist

4. Style By Jury (W, 2007 €“- Present)

Canada has a reputation for being a land where sanity and good tempers reign supreme. But the sad truth is that no country is free of terrible people or horrifying reality TV. And Canada really stepped out into the big leagues in this field with the televisual sewage that is Style By Jury. To get the general idea of Style By Jury, imagine Channel 4's 10 Years Younger if it was even more demeaning and sucked the soul right out everyone involved. The premise is broadly the same as any other makeover show in that it takes frumpy women and gives them a makeover that makes them generically attractive. But Style By Jury has horrifying unique selling point. The poor unwitting soul who has volunteered for the show is interviewed by the host, unaware that there is a group of people behind a one-way mirror passing judgement on how she looks and everything she says about herself, making very hurtful comments about a person who they don't even know and who clearly doesn't have the highest self-esteem. A recording of which is then played back to her.

One particularly striking example of how horrible this all is is in one episode where a member of this collection of judgemental humanoids says of the victim "She looks like she rides the short bus everywhere". Which is a euphemism for "She looks like she's mentally disabled". Because what we as a species so desperately need is to take a person who's insecure about their appearance and draft in a group of people to make spiteful comments about them behind their back. It's just playground bullying put on national television and should never have gone beyond a vague pitch. In a word: revolting.