Shirin Kale

And they tell me that it's their job to watch the contestants sleeping and watch them having sex in some instances to make sure that there is nothing exploitative or non-consensual happening.

And the contributors know they're being watched as well.

That does not happen in maths.

One of the things that really stood out for me as particularly heartbreaking when watching the panorama investigation was one of the women saying that she felt pressured to have sexual encounters with her on-screen husband because she knew that the cameras would be arriving soon and she wanted him to be in a good mood before filming.

I wanted him to stop being angry, I think she said.

Right.

So you've got a stranger sharing beds together, unmonitored, unsurveilled.

There's often alcohol involved.

And then you also have the pressures and expectations of this show.

So one of the things that often comes up in maths, if you've watched it like I have, is the contestants clearly do not like each other very much.

And that's intentional.

That's intentional.

Reality TV producers are not putting contestants together who they genuinely think are going to be great matches and fall in love.

You want one or two people to fall in love per season, but you want the rest of them to fight, otherwise the show is boring.

On the most recent season of Maths America, they paired up a very career-focused woman who was really set on being financially independent, doing well for herself, working very hard.

They paired her up with a man who lived in his parents' basement.

Oh man, it's so cynical and so gross.

Yeah, it's so cruel for both of those people, right?

Because she's going to be presented as shallow and superficial and he's going to be presented like, you know, a loser.

This is intentional, right?