I dont understand. Is it all about reality shows? Lets get real here- there are more rejections in life than on reality shows. Aishwarya Rai started off when she was 15 and so have many models and actors we see today too. They are successful today. Sonu Nigam faced so many rejections in life! They worked harder in real life. They didnt even have a platform then what the reality shows give today. Shinjini was an unique case. It was a medical condition she has. Why blame reality shows for it?

I do not argue with the fact that contestants have to have a certain amount of mental toughness. Reality shows are not for sissies. But what I object to is the baiting and purposeful humiliation of contestants, just to make the show ’different’.

The objective of the TV channels is not to attract genuine talent, but to make a tamasha out of the whole thing. TRP is the only aim.

If reality shows are to blame so are pushy parents. We just cannot blame reality shows

That too is true. Parents can be very pushy at times, whether for doing better at studies or for taking part in reality shows. Parents sometimes relive their own dreams through their kids, without considering the fact whether the kid is upto it.

But the TV channels too cannot escape blame. As said before, their whole aim is higher viewership. They care a damn about bringing out the latent singing (or whatever) talent in the contestants.

Though I am hardly an admirer of Renuka Chowdhary, I agree with her. Stop sending your kids to TV shows. They only end up looking like animals in a zoo cage.

I do not say all TV shows are bad. Some are very professionally done. Choose those shows.

Hello??? Has anyone seen Roadies??? The show has been gruelling young wannabes for ove 5 years now and the bitchslap starts right at the auditions when Raghu and Nikhil take everyone apart...

Its just that judges at most reality shows on TV offer so much goodie-goodie reviews first up that sometimes it just doesnt make any sense for those contestants to get thrashed later on...

As for Shinanjini... the kid didnt have any probs when she was eliminated... she even came back for an encore three days later...

perhaps someone should ask her family if they thrashed her for not fulfilling ”their” hopes of fame and money!!! Besides if you’ve allowed your kids to go to a TV show, you should be beind them 100% and its oyur responsilibilty to console your kid after a loss not the reality show’s.

And I kinda do agree with Renuka Chaudhary that parents shouldnt send very young kids to such shows... perhaps we need a law regulating an age limit for entrants at such shows!!

I agree. Do not send too small kids to reality shows. And if the parents are confident of the kid, stay with the kid during the show (in the audience) and step in if you feel the kid is getting distressed.

For older kids, my advice is if you are the hyper-sensitive types, avoid all the TV hoopla. The stuff is for TRPs only. If you do not enjoy participating, forget it. Do a college debate instead. That will be more fruitful.