Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star (Ch4)
Always read the small print. Every-body knows it and nobody ever does – when you’re young, you can’t be bothered, and when you’re old, you can’t find your reading glasses.
Dating show contestant Toby Green was in an airport bar in 2003 with five lads he’d just met, about to fly to Ibiza for sun and TV fame, when the producers thrust a fat contract under his nose.
‘Half was in a language you don’t really understand,’ he remembered, on Miriam: Death Of A Reality Star. ‘Am I gonna say, ‘I disagree with that paragraph’? No.’
The repercussions were worse than the six men, all in their 20s, could possibly have guessed. Plied with unlimited drink and tempted with the chance of a £10,000 prize, they spent a fortnight vying for the affections of 21-year-old Mexican beauty Miriam – unaware that she was a transwoman.
Plied with unlimited drink and tempted with the chance of a £10,000 prize, they spent a fortnight vying for the affections of 21-year-old Mexican beauty Miriam (pictured) – unaware that she was a transwoman
Everything about this three-part documentary is grim, including the fate of its central figure: Miriam Rivera, used as bait in this elaborate sexual deception, was found hanged at her home five years ago, after a life of drug abuse
Viewers of the show, There’s Something About Miriam, were privy to her secret from the start. Host Tim Vincent, a former Blue Peter presenter, crowed on the voiceover: ‘From the waist down, she’s a man!’
Everything about this three-part documentary is grim, including the fate of its central figure: Miriam Rivera, used as bait in this elaborate sexual deception, was found hanged at her home five years ago, after a life of drug abuse.
A show that Miriam hoped would launch her as a star treated her as the punchline to an obscene practical joke.
The producers used every imaginable ruse to goad the lads into declarations of lust and infatuation, while making sure they never guessed their date was — in the snide words of Tim Vincent — ‘as much Steve as Eve’.
‘These boys didn’t have the option to consent,’ said Dr Gareth Smith, a psychiatrist who was hurriedly flown to Ibiza for the final episode, when the production team belatedly realised that emotions were running high.
Four of the six contestants are absent from this retrospective, though we’re not told why. And executive producer Remy Blumenfeld, who masterminded There’s Something About Miriam for Sky TV, also did not appear, though on a podcast two years ago he pleaded: ‘I don’t feel that I was cruel in making it, I feel I was incredibly naive.’
‘These boys didn’t have the option to consent,’ said Dr Gareth Smith (pictured), a psychiatrist who was hurriedly flown to Ibiza for the final episode, when the production team belatedly realised that emotions were running high
A show that Miriam hoped would launch her as a star treated her as the punchline to an obscene practical joke
The boys were naive, for sure. So was Miriam, however streetwise she thought she was. But there was nothing gauche about the production team’s intentions. This was sexual humiliation dressed up as an experiment in entertainment.
Though this documentary sets out to condemn, it’s constantly distracted by archive clips of the rivals jostling for Miriam’s attention and trying to win kisses. It’s real failure, though, is pretending not to see the wider context. Most viewers 20 years ago were unaware of the growing trans debate, and phrases such as ‘gender fluid’ were unknown.
Nobody can be ignorant of the controversies today… though Channel 4 chiefs were apparently too timid to examine them here. All they’ve done is rake up an old scandal.
