Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

There has been a lot of talk recently about how the current generation are coping with growing up online. Their lives can be tracked via their personal website or online sharing sites like Flickr. Google has become your permanent school record for life and it’s there for all to see.

TV is still the medium of choice for embarrassing the masses though. I’m on an Irish TV production company’s mailing list and I recently received an invite to apply for tickets for a new chat show. The show will be fronted by an up-and-coming RTE presenter, Lucy Kennedy, and two foul-mouthed puppets, Podge and Rodge. There is obviously going to be a dark comedic edge to the programme which is my cup of tea so I thought about applying for tickets.

That was until I read the following line, ‘If you want to embarrass friends and family on national television then this is the show for you!’ That sounded slightly dubious so I read a little further and was greeted with a questionnaire which all applicants for tickets must complete. That’s when the red flag really started waving in my mind. Here are a couple of examples:

• Who is the ultimate sex symbol?
• How far would you go on your first date?
• Tell us a secret about the person/persons you are coming to the show with?
• What is your worst habit?

Those sound harmless enough, but when you combine that with Podge and Rodge, it’s a train wreck in waiting. Obviously this is a TV show that you should only attend if you’re willing to make fun of yourself. The potential for the two puppets to go too far though is enough to make me pass on the tickets. Forget the X Factor, I’m thinking more of the Cringe Factor.

While people may talk about the Internet as a permanent record of your life, the fact remains that TV is still a much more powerful medium in this day and age. That’s something that most reality TV show contestants seem to forget as they embarrass themselves on the small screen. On the Internet, it’s a case of having to find some incriminating evidence. On TV though, it’s a question of who is watching because nine times out of ten somebody you know is.

If any Irish people reading this want a copy of the application form, please leave a comment below.

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