Debating - 2nd Speaker

I am fairly certain every single person in this room has seen or heard a reality TV show over their lifetime – It’s our guilty pleasure! We can’t help that we like it, and that’s just human nature. Good evening adjudicators, chairperson, opposition, ladies and gentlemen. My name is ____ and I am the second speaker for the negative team. Tonight I will be explaining how reality TV exposes and introduces aspiring actors, musicians and performers to the real world. I will also go into depth about the type of contestants on most reality television shows, and the effects it’s had on the entertainment industry. Attune your mindsets to the positive reality of reality television. I’d now like to take this opportunity to rebut the opposition’s faulty arguments.
*rebuttal – 1.5 minutes*
Picture this: 17 year old ____ desperately aspires to become a singer, but comes to find herself lacking confidence to get her music out there and chase her dream. During lunch at school one day, ____ overhears her peers excitedly talking about how The Voice is coming to their small town. ____ seizes her miraculous chance, and nervously auditions for her favourite talent reality TV show. She ends up surviving all stages, and then proceeds to win the finals! Small-town ______ has utilized reality TV to kick-start her career and gain extra publicity to help her along the way.
This is exactly what happened to 17-year old Nashville-resident Danielle Bradbery, who beat the odds and won the fourth season of the Voice. She’s since toured with the likes of Hunter Hayes and Brad Paisley, and people approach her on the street to receive her autograph. Among Danielle, many others have followed her success, such as Paul Potts (who is now having a movie made about him). The talent-kind of Reality TV has broadened these teen’s career opportunities, given them a brilliant memory they’ll never forget and boosted their confidence in themselves to pursue their career further. Attune your mindsets to the positive reality of reality television.
As Jonathan Rhys Meyers once said – “All you have to do is go on a reality TV show for six weeks and everybody knows your name.” Reality TV is exactly that – reality! Sure, some parts of it are scripted, and some parts are edited to make it more entertaining and appropriate, but they’re all REAL people! Your neighbour could be the next Big Brother housemate; your teacher could be a contestant on The Voice – like Josh Kyle for instance: this small town secondary school music teacher succeeded to round 3 of the big talent-quest reality show. Reality TV first started with the unscripted radio show ‘This is Your Life’ in the late 40’s that was transferred to television in the early 50’s. “This is Your Life” was a fantastic example of reality TV show because it presented the story of a real person’s life, and relied on the participation of real people, who were filmed in front of a live audience. "The Original Amateur Hour" crossed over from radio in 1948. This talent show featured acts that performed for a voting audience. The act with the most votes was invited back the next week. This might sound familiar; "Star Search," "American Idol," "America's Got Talent" and "Dancing with the Stars" are all based from “The Original Amateur Hour”. Recent studies show that over 320 TV shows on air at the moment is, in fact, reality television. Now, obviously, they wouldn’t continue screening these TV shows if they were receiving bad ratings, or if the viewers didn’t enjoy it. Another positive aspect of reality TV is its broader array of cultural representation. Emma Ashton, Australia’s reality TV expert is glad that her own daughter watches reality TV shows rather than the monotonous sitcoms of the 70s or 80s, which depicted traditional male and female role models. This diversity on display in reality TV shows has convinced Ashton that, if viewed with adult supervision and input, they can be a powerful tool to help children understand the real people in the real society that we’re currently living in in Australia.
All in all, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to point out that we, as the negative team tonight, are NOT debating that reality TV does more good than harm. We are simply stating that it does not do more harm than good. Reality television helps to assist aspiring performers to the real world of the entertainment industry. Attune your mindsets to the positive reality of reality television.