Reality Goes Oprah, and Its Nothing But a Big Giveaway

Oprah’s Big Give, promoted as the show that “defies television with the bold idea of people competing to give rather than get,” premieres Sunday on ABC. The show is trying to revolutionize reality TV, especially in the wake of a slew of reality shows that have inundated the air recently due to the recent writers’ strike.

Ten contestants were selected, including Kim, an NFL marking specialist who says she spent most of her life thinking about herself, Cameron, a 22-year-old dot-com millionaire, Brandi, a pageant queen, and Angelo, a West Point graduate and former Army captain in Iraq.

After a “surprise” cameo from Oprah, the players are split into teams of two. They receive envelopes containing only a picture of someone who needs help, a clue, $2,500, and the instructions that they have five days to change the lives of the people in their pictures.

The format of this show is not unlike that of other reality shows. It’s especially reminiscent of The Amazing Race—whose producers and creators are Big Give’s executive producers—as well as every other reality show in which contestants receive a challenge and compete against one another to see who can complete it best. But, as Ellen Rakieten, a senior member of Oprah’s production company, said in a recent conference call, “You know, we always say there’s nothing like a little good old-fashioned competition to kind of get you moving, and you know, that was—that was the reason to do it that way.”

The only difference here is that instead of trying to win money for themselves, the players are competing to help others. Ironically, the twist—of which the players are unaware—is that the last remaining player who demonstrates the greatest leadership, creativity, presentation, and overall accomplishment will receive one million dollars from Oprah herself. It turns out that the charitable idea that’s meant to separate the Big Give from other “alternative programming” does not really separate it at all. Those affiliated with the show don’t see it this way though—as judge Jamie Oliver said, “The whole point in the show is that it’s not about millions ... There’s loads of game shows now on telly—on TV, sorry. ... But I think to measure the show or money is completely wrong. The whole point of the show is much more intimate, sensible, emotional, clever.”

At any rate, the series undeniably helps people who would otherwise be suffering, and showing such generosity on national television encourages the public to do the same. Host Nate Berkus said that this is the goal of Big Give: “I hope it gets people off their sofas, you know, when they watch it with their families on Sunday nights, the conversation that they have at the end of the show is, ‘Wow, like, that was so inspiring. Did you see how that person with nothing was able to change the course of this family’s life in 48 hours? What could we do?’”

Whether you’re an Oprah enthusiast or not, Oprah’s Big Give is worth watching for its humanitarian aspect—although it‘s not quite the transformation of television it proclaims itself to be.