The suicide earlier this week of Russell Armstrong, the husband of one of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, is shining a spotlight on the pitfalls of reality TV. Armstrong made frequent appearances on the Bravo series, which chronicled his disintegrating marriage and financial troubles, and he had gone on record calling his experience overwhelming. Just before his death, he allegedly voiced concerns that the upcoming season "was going to crucify" him. The tragedy follows reports that reality-TV notoriety has left former The Hills stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag broke, friendless, and unemployable — and the ugly chorus of schadenfreude that greeted the cancellation of oft-vilified Kate Gosselin's reality series, Kate Plus 8. Has reality TV become an "emotional blood sport" that's harming its participants?
Things are getting too real: Now that the normally diverting The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills must grapple with how to portray the aftermath of Armstrong's suicide on TV, says James Poniewozik at TIME, the future of the show is in jeopardy. Viewers are accustomed to watching reality stars suffer heartbreak, disappointment, and confusion in the name of entertainment — but knowing that their enjoyment of those pressures may have led to Armstrong's death could be too much to take. "It doesn't speak well of a reality show that the thing that could push it off the air is, well, reality."
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