Reality shows reflect race issues

It's been a long time since viewers expected anything really real in a reality show.

But as its subjects are systematically tricked, swapped, challenged, teamed up, voted out, counted down and given a rose in reality shows, certain truths about human interaction flash on the screen.

Particularly: the still-sorry state of race relations in America.

The sidekick of color has been a staple of scripted TV since "I Spy." In the scripted utopia of Hollywood, everyone works together in a color-blind rainbow of multicultural harmony.

But on reality shows, contestants haven't seen the scripts. So contestants of color are cornered and accused and eliminated in some of the most contentious — and talked-about — episodes of the shows.

"The Apprentice"

The most famous may have come last season when Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth saw her first name become a household word as her colleagues on "The Apprentice" pledged they could not work for her. Omarosa's penchant for not doing her tasks and later lying about it was only too well caught by the cameras.

Of course, the creation of the kind of villains that cause viewer interest and ratings jumps are carefully created by show producers in every step, from casting to editing. For all her business lapses and eclipses of interpersonal skills, there seemed something more unspoken about Omarosa that riled people.

It was more visible on this year's "Apprentice," when the sole black woman, Stacie Jones Upchurch, known on the show as Stacie J., showed an initial inability to bond with the women on her Apex team, whom she dismissed as "sorority girls."

She may have showed a lapse of street identification when they sold ice cream on the streets of Times Square. But her greatest sin overall came in a moment of down time, picking up one of those toy Magic 8 Balls and innocently asking it questions.

What was first an unwillingness to play along among her Apex co-workers turned to mild annoyance and eventually the wild accusations two boardrooms down the line that she was scaring others with her extreme behavior, and some feared for their lives.

Feared for what?

Did the answers of the 8 Ball, combined with her unruly tresses, turn her suddenly into some scary voodoo priestess?

"Apprentice" overlord Donald Trump made the unusual move of calling all of her teammates to the boardroom to corroborate the stories of concern. They all did. And Stacie, without a word (or independent inquiry), was out. Not for anything she'd done to help them lose that week's challenge. But for picking up a Magic 8 Ball two weeks earlier.

"Survivor"

It's not something isolated to black women on reality shows. On this year's "Survivor: Vanuatu — Islands of Fire," the team of men turned quickly on Rory Freeman, the only black person among the 18 initial competitors. First they wouldn't listen to his suggestion to rest instead of walking in the dark to their campsite, then they talked behind his back about his penchant for taking walks (though he came back with a sack of citrus fruit) and, last week, taking the new fishing spear into shallows.

Nobody quite knows how to relate to the guy. He's received the most frequent votes to be eliminated so far this season but has hung around because he's among an alliance of old guys systematically voting off young guys.

Reality dating shows

Still, no black person has been chosen to head a network reality dating show to date. And while some are included in the initial pools for shows like "The Bachelor," they are customarily given a one-week courtesy rose before being dumped the following week. It's so common that the put-on reality show "Joe Schmo 2" parodied it last season in a first-week racial-elimination ceremony it called "Black-out."