10 Horrifying Reality TV Shows You Won’t Believe Exist

3. There's Something About Miriam (Sky 1, 2004)

At first glance, There's Something About Miriam would appear to be a generic dating programme hosted by ex-Blue Peter presenter Tim Vincent, with six men competing for a prize of £10,000 and a holiday with twenty-one year old Mexican model Miriam. But the show wouldn't be on this list if it didn't have a horrible twist. And it did: at the time of filming, Miriam was a pre-op transsexual. A fact that the contestants were left completely in the dark about until the winner has been chosen. The entire thing is based on deceit and the humiliation of the unwitting contestants. Not to mention that it's fundamentally trans-phobic since it's relying on the contestants being shocked and horrified at Miriam being transgendered. The whole programme essentially boils down to "Joke's on you. The girl you've been wooing has a penis. Now give us a nice money shot of you looking like you're going to throw up, you sucker." Which is an unbelievably cruel concept that shouldn't have gone anywhere near serious development. Especially in the 21st century.

Winner Tom Rooke later rejected the prize money and the contestants filed a lawsuit alleging conspiracy to commit sexual assault, defamation, breach of contract, and personal injury in the form of psychological and emotional damage that was eventually settled in their favour for an undisclosed amount. This pushed the show's airing back by several months where it was savaged by critics and transgender groups for its premise and insensitivity to transgendered people. There's Something About Miriam is disgusting, trans-phobic, and marked a point where the UK couldn't claim that even the worst of their reality TV was more tasteful than some of the crap produced by the rest of the world. Completely shameful and one of the worse black marks on reality TV's track record.