Reality TV shows like ‘Survivor’ will be more diverse after heavy criticism, CBS says
The cast of unscripted CBS reality shows will become more diverse, the network said Monday.
CBS announced it is pledging to make the future casts of shows like “Survivor,” “Big Brother” and “Love Island” more diverse, Entertainment Weekly reported.
The network said starting in the 2021-2022 season, at least 50 percent of its cast members will identify as “Black, indigenous and people of color,” according to the news outlet.
“The reality TV genre is an area that’s especially underrepresented, and needs to be more inclusive across development, casting, production and all phases of storytelling,” George Cheeks, president and CEO of the CBS Entertainment Group, told the Los Angeles Times. “As we strive to improve all of these creative aspects, the commitments announced today are important first steps in sourcing new voices to create content and further expanding the diversity in our unscripted programming, as well as on our network.”
Starting in July, the network will also “devote 25% of its script development budget to projects created or co-created by BIPOC” and aim to have a minimum of 40% representation among its writers, Variety reported.
The network also entered partnership with the NAACP and an agreement with 21CP Solutions, a group that specializes in police reform, to “advise on its police and legal dramas.”
The commitments to change come after previous “Survivor” contestants spoke out about a lack of diversity in the cast, Variety reported.
“The systematic/systemic racism, implicit bias, and microaggressions shown throughout the editing but especially during the final Tribal were so hard to watch,” Jolanda Jones, who appeared on season 10 of the show, told Entertainment Weekly. “The thickness of the racism could be cut with a knife ... ‘diverse’ does not mean the majority of the cast is white with a mixture of other races.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Reality TV shows like ‘Survivor’ will be more diverse after heavy criticism, CBS says."