Channel 4’s new TV show ‘Rise and Fall’ slammed for heading into Stanford prison experiment territory
Channel 4 debuted its first episode of Rise and Fall last night, describing it “as 16 ordinary people compete to rise to a position of power… and win up to £100k. But what does it take to get to the top?” With radio host Greg James as the presenter, it takes on business-orientated contestants as six go to the top of the tower as the ‘rulers’, and the rest live in a cell at the bottom as ‘grafters’. ‘Rulers’ receive a luxury living space with a feast three times a day and huge double beds, while ‘grafters’ have cold water, cold living spaces, broth and water, and a single bed in a room they all share.
With polarising districts that ring as dystopian as the Hunger Games, the petty arguments and obsession with leadership are identical to The Apprentice. It’s no surprise it comes from the creators of The Traitors, which became a huge success thanks to its reality TV charm minus the influencers, and interesting psychological challenges. Its first episode had 5 million viewers tuning in, as the makers push the boat out to a more extreme version, with the inclusion of already infamous characters. Described as a social experiment, the first episode had viewers on the edge of their seats as it headed straight into Stanford Prison Experiment territory, with scrubs as uniforms and power plays already taking hold.
But that wasn’t the only controversy, as the ‘work day’ the ‘grafters’ went on required them to hold two metal poles above their head for a set time whilst being simultaneously electrocuted. “It feels like someone is kicking you in the back,” said a contestant in the on-screen interviews. This is where the ‘rulers’ took their power to the extreme, doubling the working day for the others to increase the prize fund by £6000.
One of the other controversial contestants was businesswoman Ramona, who pushed some workers to their breaking point. While another by the name of Ali, an entrepreneur, walked out on day two.
