Gladiators, real housewives and the pull of reality TV

People used to say "believe your eyes." But these days that's not so easy to do. What we scroll through every day blurs the line between entertainment and fact. And nowhere is that phenomenon more evident than in reality television. Today on the show, we tackle the genre that takes our most potent feelings – love, hope, anxiety, loneliness – and turns them into profit. This episode originally ran in 2022. Guests: Goloka Bolte , reality TV casting director Dr. Jana Scrivani , licensed clinical psychologist Racquel Gates , associate professor of film and media studies at Columbia University Dr. J'tia Hart , nuclear engineer on Survivor (Season 28) Jeff Jenkins , founder of Jeff Jenkins Productions (JJP) To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free,

You can listen to Gladiators, real housewives and the pull of reality TV online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Gladiators, real housewives and the pull of reality TV is an episode from Throughline by NPR.

This episode is 51:55 long.

This episode was published on Apr 30, 2026.

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