Why Is Reality TV Work-Related Activity?

This chapter considers recent legal developments in the field of reality TV. It also examines OHS work (occupational) health and safety legislative interpretation of work including changes to TV codes of practice and standards for regulation of reality TV. The chapter provides a justification for considering The Block as a place where a business or undertaking is being performed. It relies on doctrinal developments in the form of case law and builds on statutory developments to validate the observation that a reality show is a workplace first, and entertainment in the form of commercial TV programming, second. The purpose of this chapter is to emphasise the contestant participants described in the proceeding chapters should be viewed as workers by virtue of their activities. It also sets the scene for observations about activities that support the central argument that certain cultural risks were trivialised.