Celebrity reality TV - Serbian style

Here we go again. In recent years, reality TV, in particular shows featuring 'celebrity' contestants, have waned in ratings and the calibre of their 'celebrities' in many Western countries, where the whole 'reality TV' show concept has now been around for over a decade. Last week saw the end of the final series of Big Brother in the UK, minus much of the hype and media attention that it used to attract at the height of its popularity. The only show celebrity reality TV show still doing somewhat well is Dancing With The Stars/Strictly Come Ballroom, where the current series in the US even featuring that slut... to the camera, Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah. Palin junior, an advocate of abstinence and no sex before marriage, at the age of 17 became pregnant to Levi Johnston, leading them to be hastily forced into a marriage of convenience that never eventuated. Since going their separate ways, both Palin-lite and Johnston have been the centre of self-created media attention much to the embarassment of Mother Palin. To prevent potential further gaffes, Miss Bristol Palin has demanded that her ex be banned from being in the audience of Dancing With The Stars. Well, lucky she's in the US where such demands will be fulfilled... perhaps.

Alas, in places like the Balkans, the opposite is happening. Celebrity reality TV is far from dying. Ratings for such shows are going through the roof and devoted much time and column space even in 'serious' media. Tonight in Serbia sees the premiére of the third season of the mega-popular 'VIP rialiti shou' Farma (Farm). I have previous mentioned this show in other posts. Last season's winner divided the Balkans, displaying how much he was the embodiment of Serbian self-imagery of the cunning peasant who believes in god and country. While some celebrities have refused to take part in this show, they are much in the minority as as the range and number of this season's contestants testify.

If you think that reality TV was low in the West, you haven't seen anything yet. The Serbian producers of Farma are really scraping the barrel. Bristol Palin should be thankful that she lives in a country that will honour her demand for her ex not to briefly appear in the audience. No such luck awaits one contestant in the Serbian Farma. Zlata Petrović, a turbofolk singer (like a majority of the Farma contestants) will be in the house along with not one but two of her ex-husbands. Petrović (pictured below with her ex-es to each side) claimed that the reason why she is going to the Farm is that her son with her first ex has racked up huge debts from his gambling addiction, and being the good mother (helping out the children no matter what the circumstances is seen as a high virtue in the Balkans), she is in the house to get the money to pay off her son's debts. Of course, you would think that with a son in his 30s he would be responsible and old enough to pay them off himself, but that would be considered 'mean' and 'unloving' on the part of the parents in the eyes of traditional Balkan morals.

But wait, it doesn't end there for Miss Petrović. Determined to make her life misery, and to guarantee as much conflict as possible, the cunning producers have called upon the services of another Turbofolk 'singer' called Vendi into the Farm outside of Belgrade. Vendi, whose rather large and often exposed chest (and trademark exposed nipple) is used to great effect to distract from her lack of singing talent, was taken to court by Petrović (who is openly Roma) after she accused her colleague of being a witch and practising 'black magic'. The case was seen to before a court in Belgrade a few years ago, only for it to be settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. In light of this bad blood, the Serbian media are anticipating (with glee) many altercations between the two foes, preferably with some girl-on-girl naked action to boot. I have to add that Vendi, who has been 'singing' for almost 20 years now with such 'klazzy' songs like 'I like it a little bit hot and a little bit cold' and 'I dress up in a modern way, but people say that they can see everything', surprisingly is also a Serbian gay icon - go figure!? OK, I can't help myself... here is the clip for the 'Hot and Cold' song from 1993. Definitely not to be seen at work.



One of the first 'stars' to appear for quarantine at Belgrade's Hotel Balkan yesterday was YouTube overnight sensation, Ekrem Jevrić. Hailing from a poor Montenegrin Muslim family, Jevrić left his home village for New York 22 years ago and had never returned back. That was until last year he decided he would launch a music career. His autobiographical song 'Kuća-pos'o, pos'o-kuća' (Home-Work, Work-Home) detailing in his own words his life abroad as being a work-only subsistence devoid of entertainment, quickly became a hit on YouTube scoring more than 5 million hits and making Jevrić an overnight sensation. The fascination for Jevrić bores out of him being an embodiment of every stereotype that urban, (self-identifying) sophisticated Balkan urbanites have of their expats - poor, uneducated and unsophisticated peasant/chav/bogan who goes to the West and becomes rich from working 23 hours a day and never visits his homeland (a traitor). Jevrić made a triumphant homecoming earlier this year when he was awaited by thousands of fans and representatives of the media at the airport. Since then Jevrić has performed his song at clubs all throughout ex-Yugoslavia and the whole Jevrić phenomenon has even been subject to reports in the Western media analysing, to a rather wanky degree, of how he has 'brought ex-Yugoslavia together' blah blah. Jevrić went into quarantine making a comment that 'he is taking in so much clothes with him that he can dress the whole of Belgrade'! He has also promised viewers sex. Eewww! Here is the YouTube clip that changed Ekrem's life:


The gamut of 'celebrities' in Serbia is rather narrow. Out of the 25 'farmers' taking part in this season, no less than 6 of them are former contestants from the popular Balkan Turbofolk talent show 'Zvezde Granda' (Grand Stars), a Pop-Idol style show that has been a cash cow for the Balkan's biggest Turbofolk label 'Grand Production'. A further 7 contestants are Grand Production singers. The rest are TV presenters, the leader of the People's Peasant Party of Serbia (she knows her electorate is watching), a writer, a sports manager and a former Miss Vojvodina.

The fact that this season has come just a couple of months following the end of season 2, and that there is plenty of competition in this concept (Serbian Celebrity Survivor will be on the air at the same time) shows that these shows are proving to be very successful and are attracting much advertising revenue for Serbia's main commercial TV networks. However, the Farma's producers have already hinted that season 4 will not be on for about a year after the end of this current season, indicating that just like how the Balkans took on the concept a few years after the West, the same could happen for its slow demise.