Major change coming to Australian reality TV after 'mass walk out'

After years of Australian reality TV featuring social media influencers and people with significant online followings, viewers can expect a major change in future seasons of their favourite series.

A casting agent tells Yahoo Lifestyle that while they typically rely on influencers to make up the cast of shows like Married At First Sight, Love Island, Love Triangle and Australian Survivor, social media 'stars' have recently been turning down these offers as they “no longer consider reality TV a safe space for them”.

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“Over the past few weeks there has been a high volume of selected cast turning around and saying they have changed their mind and are no longer interested in taking part in these shows,” the insider shares.

“It was a mass walk out and it was across all of these shows, which is a sign there is a real shift in power as producers had been relying heavily on picking up talent on Instagram and TikTok.”

How do these reality shows usually cast contestants?

In addition to reading online applications, talent scouts typically scour Instagram and TikTok for potential contestants. They then complete Zoom meetings and participate in secret group auditions in various states, and whoever’s still in the mix is considered to be among the luckiest people in the country.

However, TV executives have been left scrambling to rearrange their cast after these influencers said ‘no’ to the most popular shows in the country when sent their final contract. In fact, many have argued that they could receive the same if not higher numbers than free-to-air TV on their own social channels.

“It’s been a real turn of the tables and the opportunity to appear on TV is no longer as lucrative or sought after,” the source adds.

Influencers speak out against reality TV

One young woman recently contacted on social media to join the cast of the upcoming season of Love Island Australia tells Yahoo Lifestyle she turned down the offer as it “doesn’t make sense” for her to sign up for the dating show. She had only joined Instagram seven months ago and has already organically grown 75,000 followers, so she didn’t want her TV contract to clash with making money online.

Meanwhile, a former reality star says they understand why people are saying no to these once-desired opportunities as they don’t want to lose control of their image.

“Surrendering your brand to someone else is one thing but a few of these shows also require you to hand over your passwords and read everything in your personal inbox,” they tell Yahoo Lifestyle. “It is an invasion of creative control and that has turned people off taking part in these social experiments.

“There is kind of a point where if you already have a certain amount of followers you have organically grown by yourself then you have priced yourself out of the need to do these shows if you are aiming for a lucrative career in influencing.”

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These details and the fear of losing endorsements due to restrictive contracts are all issues that networks will need to address before going through the casting process next year.

“This isn't a black hole that the networks want to find themselves in again,” a production insider shares. “20 years ago reality shows could make radio stars out of these everyday Australians, and in the last 10 years, they established a slew of social media influencers. Free-to-air was transforming nobodies to somebodies overnight and hundreds and thousands of applicants were literally begging to get onto these high-rating shows.

“It would seem without influencers to rely on, television casting executives are going to need to work a lot harder.”

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