Serial reality TV pests prove a big turn-off

THEY were meant to save the series, but the introduction of Lisa and David Oldfield to I’m a Celeb has delivered the show’s lowest ever ratings, writes Colin Vickery. There’s a lesson there.

BAN reality show pests.

That was my first thought after hearing that David and Lisa Oldfield are going to be intruders on tonight’s episode of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

And it would appear the viewing public agree.

Last night’s show — the first which really showcased the grating and barely-known-outside Sydney duo — had its lowest ever ratings, a woeful 489,000 nationally.

That’s down from the 1.27 million who tuned in for the show’s premiere (though Channel Ten is putting on a brave face saying in a statement the show “is one of the most talked about television shows in 2018 and has enjoyed an average total audience of 864,000 capital city viewers this year... (It) is also a hit online, with online catch-up viewers up 77 per cent on its 2017 series.”)

The former politician and his wife — labelled “Australia’s most dysfunctional duo” by Channel 10 — have a reputation for being outspoken and that seems to make them very attractive to the makers of Aussie reality shows.

David is widely known as the co-founder and deputy leader of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party, but in recent years he has become better known for being a full-blown reality show pest.

In 2006 he took his first bite of the reality television pie with Channel 9’s Celebrity Survivor. Then in 2016 he took part in SBS’s First Contact, and last year he was a contestant on Channel 7’s Hell’s Kitchen Australia.

On First Contact, which saw celebrities including Natalie Imbruglia meet indigenous Australians, he remarked that Aboriginal culture “should have died out, like the Stone Age died out”.

Oldfield was picked for these shows because producers knew his views would be controversial and he has no filter and there was no reason to think that he will be any different on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! Before he even joined the show he promised to take on contestant Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s former butler who, he says, “seems to be making a living off a dead princess”.

Paul Burrell has made his fame from being on reality TV and sharing intimate stories about the late Princess Diana. (Pic: supplied)

As far as I’m concerned, Oldfield seems to be making a living being a blowhard on reality shows, and that is just as bad.

Lisa, who has proved her talent for divisiveness as the most controversial cast member on the first season of The Real Housewives of Sydney, also vowed to shake things up.

“From what I’ve seen of the show so far, everyone is being very polite and very nice,” Lisa has said. “That makes for frustrating TV and I think some people need a rocket up them.”

The 43-year-old must have had a change of heart because last May she took to Instagram to warn people about reality shows after she was reportedly shunned by her mother for being on RHOS.

“Ladies, if you’re approached to do an invasive reality show, don’t do it, the emotional cost is horrific,” she wrote.

The Oldfields are just the tip of the iceberg. A whole swag of celebrities are making a living jumping from one reality show to the next.

Keira Maguire has taken part in The Bachelor, I’m a Celebrity, and next, Bachelor in Paradise. (Pic: Tim Hunter)

Burrell’s previous reality show appearances include the fourth season of the UK version of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother.

Vicky Pattison rose to fame as part of the trashy Geordie Shore and has gone on to do Ex on the Beach and Judge Geordie. The 30-year-old won the 2015 season of the UK version of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

Aussies including Ash Pollard (My Kitchen Rules, Dancing with the Stars and Hell’s Kitchen Australia), Keira Maguire (The Bachelor, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and the upcoming Bachelor in Paradise), Ian “Dicko” Dickson (Celebrity Apprentice Australia, Dancing with the Stars, First Contact) and Fiona O’Loughlin (Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Apprentice Australia, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!) are other serial offenders.

I suppose that jumping from one reality show to another can be a nice little earner for a celebrity, especially when there are no other jobs on the horizon.

Ash Pollard has gone from MKR to I’m a Celebrity and back to Hell’s Kitchen. (Pic: Nigel Wright)

US comedian Tom Arnold was set for a near $500,000 payday if he hadn’t been bundled out of last year’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! so quickly. Cricketer Shane Warne was reportedly paid over $1 million to compete in the 2016 season.

During lean times, celebrities can also use a reality show to simply remind everyone they exist. Hopefully work will follow.

It worked for Julia Morris. She won Celebrity Apprentice Australia in 2011 after time spent in the UK.

The following year she joined the cast of House Husbands. By 2013 she was hosting Australia’s Got Talent and since 2015 has been working alongside Dr Chris Brown on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

Morris is the exception because now there seems to be a whole cottage industry of B-listers who make their livelihood doing this stuff. Which kind of defeats the purpose of it being “reality” TV.

Any time a new reality show is announced you know their name will be on the short-list. The whole thing becomes so predictable and downright boring for viewers.

Let’s face it, four reality show appearances by David Oldfield is four too many. If there was a can of Mortein for serial reality pests I’d be using it right now.

Colin Vickery is a national TV Writer for News Corp.