Don’t expect to see Shaun Micallef turning up in Reality Television anytime soon.
While he has featured in Who Do You Think You Are? and his own SBS and ABC documentaries, he is not a fan of the genre.
“I remember I was hosting the Logies in 2001 when, for the first time, there was a category for Most Popular Reality Television…. ” Micallef recalls.
“We had a joke where I decided that it wouldn’t be a professional television person presenting the award, I’d just take it downstairs and give it to some random, who’d come out of the pokies to present it, which is what we did. So, the attitude in 2001 at least, for me, was of complete disdain.
“I’m actually pleased to report, that my attitude hasn’t changed over the years. I do think it’s the least rewarding form of television, and I don’t tend to watch it, so I’m going on complete prejudice and bias to dismiss it.”
In his documentaries Micallef, such as SBS series Origin Odyssey, he much prefers to allow ‘real’ moments occur organically as part of the narrative rather than concoct them in Reality television.
“I know enough about the making of such things. I know editors, producers to see how how you can do that much better. Rather than sell this nonsense to people that a particular moment is real, it is far more rewarding, and, to be honest with you, far more dignified, to actually have a real moment if you can rather than fabricate one.”
Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey concludes tonight 7:30pm on SBS with guest Arj Barker.
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