The route to fame is easier now, in the 21st century, than it ever has been before.
With social media creating a whole new generation of celebrities every few months, the landscape is saturated with 'stars'. But back at the turn of the century, we saw the birth of a very new type of media stardom: that of the reality TV star.
Thanks to shows like Big Brother, a new calibre of celebrity was being ushered into prime time. But as Channel 4's new docu-series Miriam: Death of a Reality Star details, this new kind of entertainment had severe ethical blind spots, culminating in an utterly avoidable tragedy that is unpicked and laid bare here.
The three-part series tells the mesmerising story of Miriam Rivera, the world's first trans reality TV star. Through her words, we are invited into her world, following her journey into the spotlight as we see what really happened behind the camera on one of the UK's most controversial reality TV shows.
In 2004, she became the star of Sky One's There's Something About Miriam – ostensibly a glitzy new dating show aimed at targeting a new captive audience enthralled by the novelty of Big Brother.
Through talking heads – ranging from contestants from the show, TV execs, friends and family – we follow Miriam's journey all the way up to her death in 2019.
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But what the docu-series does so perfectly is tell the untold story of Miriam – one that wasn't given the light of day at the time, and instead was overshadowed by British TV's fanatical fascination with sex, shock and schadenfreude.
The show acts as a meta look at the inner workings behind the scenes of the TV industry, peeling back the curtain to unveil the extent at which greed is often the motive for the decision as to what gets green-lit.
What feels most potent about the show is the way it lays down the show's disastrous past for all to see. This is specifically illustrated in the second episode of the documentary series, titled 'The Truth', in which we relive the moment Miriam shared her 'secret' with her fellow contestants.
It not only exposes the way trans people were seen in the early 2000s, but how many of those who worked on the show had no idea at the time (and some still to this day) that what they were doing was wrong.
The Channel 4 documentary peppers clips of David Walliams and Matt Lucas from Little Britain to help set the scene of what attitudes towards trans people in the early 2000s were like (alarmingly much of it mirrors dialogue from the current discourse on trans rights). This exemplifies why using Miriam's identity as a trans woman on the show wasn't to progress the cause at all, but rather a bizarre grasp at entertainment.
Dr Gareth Smith, who worked on the original show as a production psychiatrist, offers the most chilling insights into the severe lack of awareness on set. The show's belligerent portrayal of Miriam as 'deceptive' was rooted in her transness, with womanhood being the joke.
Smith candidly reveals how Remy Blumenfeld, co-founder of Brighter Pictures, had no conception of how the show's 'shock' could place Miriam in a vulnerable position, and why ultimately the team were willing to frame the decision to keep her identity a secret from the boys as her choice, rather than something masterminded by those behind the camera.
Jo Juson, Production Executive at Brighter Pictures during the time the show was created, stars in the documentary, unwavering in her view that she "didn't feel anything" about the deception at the show's core.
Her doubling down on the use of Miriam's identity as the 'shock factor' of the There's Something About Miriam's finale reveals just how naive some still are to the way transness is seen within the media, and what it fundamentally means to be trans.
The Channel 4 documentary's ability to unveil this is what makes it such a compelling, yet harrowing watch. It exposes those who still work in TV, who still struggle to see the moral line not to be crossed in the quest for entertainment.
Although the docu-series follows the making of There's Something About Miriam – which also includes testimonials from Aron Lane and Toby Green, who were contestants on the show – where it excels is its placement of Miriam's voice and star power front and centre.
The last episode allows us to see the love that she was not only searching for, but capable of providing to those who knew her amidst the violence and pain that she encountered throughout her life.
Through camcorder footage of her time within the queer ballroom scene, and photos of her with family and friends, the documentary allows Miriam's unique charm and loveability to be seen without voyeurism or ogling.
It retroactively gives Miriam the respect and dignity she should have been given back in 2003, yet captures the heartbreaking reality of her tragic end.
Friend and filmmaker Ishbel Whitaker is proof of Miriam's humanity, as she shares anecdotal stories of Miriam's time as a model and singer. Her family too provide an earnest and gut-wrenchingly honest insight into their often tumultuous relationship with Miriam's transness, as we are invited to understand what it was like growing up as a trans woman in Mexico in the 1990s and ultimately why she strove for stardom.
20 years on from the making of the doomed reality TV series, the shock factor is still prevalent in dating shows all around us. From Ex on the Beach to Married At First Sight, our appetite for surprise is still there.
But what Miriam: Death of a Reality Star does so expertly is not only show us the dangers of profiting blindly off of trans people's desire to be loved, but asks if the individual fascination with fame is actually instead just a yearning to be loved unconditionally for who we truly are.
Miriam: Death of a Reality Star airs on April 29 on Channel 4 at 9pm.
Jamie Windust is an award-winning editor, writer and author specialising in writing about LGBTQ+ storytelling, film and TV. As former Contributing Editor at Gay Times, they have interviewed talents such as Jack Lowden, Owen Jones, John Bell and Jack Rooke.
Their debut book In Their Shoes: Navigating Non-Binary Life detailed their experiences growing up as a trans person and how influential culture, fashion and TV and film were in helping them to express themselves with confidence. In Their Shoes was longlisted for the 2021 Polari First Book Prize.
Bylines include The Independent, Metro, Mashable and ELLE UK.
