TV is too cruel and exploitative now? Not compared to what came before
The premise of the show was simple. A group of six men – students and chefs, opticians and Royal Marines, all aged between 20 and 35 – were flown to a sun-drenched villa in Ibiza. There, they would compete for the attention of one beautiful woman. If chosen to be her suitor, the contestants would win not just her heart but a £10,000 jackpot. Broadcast by Sky One in 2004, There’s Something About Miriam was Britain’s bizarre answer to The Bachelor, which began airing in America two years earlier. Presented by ex-children’s TV host Tim Vincent, the British show had a nasty twist embedded within its format. Its star, the 21-year-old Mexican model Miriam Rivera was beautiful. She was also a transgender woman, who had not yet undergone gender-affirming surgery.
The show, which ran – unsurprisingly – for just one season, found a winner in 23-year-old lifeguard Tom Rooke, who later rejected his prize money and teamed up with his fellow contestants in a lawsuit that sought to stop the being commissioned, let alone airing. But according to chief , things have gotten worse, not better, in the 20 years since Rivera was made into a punchline for just under 1 million viewers.
