Case in point: the new reality show Popularity Contest premieres tonight (Apr. 11) on Country Music Television and the show’s host Jonathan Torrens says local yokels were mighty suspicious about the cameras at first.
The show takes 10 city slickers and drops them into the small town of Vega, Texas, where contestants have to cozy up with residents if they want to be voted most popular person and win $100,000.
But Torrens says reality shows like Joe Schmo and William Shatner’s Invasion Iowa which hoaxed folks have made it more difficult for reality shows to do their job.
That wasn’t the intention of Popularity Contest. Torrens says since the show is for CMT, and viewers of CMT are from places like Vega, “It’s not in CMT’s interest to poke fun at viewers.”
Still, Torrens says it took Vega residents a few days to warm up to the cameras.
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