Reality bites: why the wildest TV shows of the 2000s are haunting us now

A string of documentaries are taking aim at problematic millennial hits such as The Biggest Loser and America’s Next Top Model – but who’s to blame? Caution: the 2000s have become a crime scene. The reality television my generation once watched as escapist comfort – built hastily and clumsily, before anyone quite knew the rules – is now being dusted for fingerprints by a younger cohort fluent in the language of harm, certain that cruelty was the point. The past six months have brought a spate...

By Andrew Lawrence