By Eden Lawrence
Being a stan of an artist has become the norm as people make pages dedicated to their favorite artist. The term “stan” is commonly used to describe someone who is enamored with a celebrity. This word dates back to the early 2000s when Eminem dropped “Stan,” a song telling a story of an obsessed fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend after not receiving a letter back from Eminem. While the story is not factual, Eminem wrote the song as a message to his fans after receiving disturbing fan mail. However, stan culture has begun to expand past music and make its way to reality TV spaces, and has become a detrimental facet to fandom.
I’ve been a fan of reality shows like MTV’s “The Challenge,” “Survivor,” and “Big Brother” for years now. I love the intensity of the physical challenges, the social prowess contestants need to have, and the intelligence needed to win. The fight to be the last person standing and winning a check for $1 Million–or $750K for Big Brother–is exhilarating to watch. To share this excitement, I try to connect with other fans via social media.
However, over the years, this has become exhausting to do. Many people in the community have favorite competitors that they attach themselves to for the duration of the season. Having favorites is never a problem. I have my fair share of favorites too, but this takes on a new meaning when people are attacking each other over who they like, and don’t like, on the show.
While The Challenge keeps the same people for multiple seasons, Survivor and Big Brother bring in a new set of contestants every cycle. Whenever the cast list goes public, people run to X (Twitter) to change their profile into a walking advertisement for a specific contestant. I used to find this type of support endearing, as it showed the contestants that they were loved by the masses, but I’ve had a change of heart. The base of people’s support for a contestant is dependent on looks, rather than how the person acts, as no episodes are released at this point.
Many of these stan pages have become synonymous with hate and nonacceptance. These pages treat any nonpositive opinions on their favorite contestants as personal attacks. For example, a user on TikTok posted a video about Rachel Lamont, a current contestant on “Survivor 47.” The video talked about the string of good luck Lamont was on, as good things kept happening to her without her having to do much. This video would then make its way to X where many Lamont stans were angry, calling the user an obsessed hater.
Stan culture has also played a part in inciting hate towards other castmates. On the most recent season of Big Brother, contestant Tucker Des Lauriers found himself to be a fan favorite, so much so that he won the “America’s Favorite Player” award given at the end of every Big Brother season. However, this did come at the expense of other contestants, one being Quinn Martin. Martin and Des Lauriers had a budding rivalry during their time on the show as Des Lauriers targeted Martin multiple times trying to get him eliminated. This would lead a majority of watchers to dislike Martin to the point of making group chats exclusively to hate and talk down upon Martin.
Another contestant who felt the blows of Des Lauriers’ stan club was T’kor Clottey. Clottey was originally aligned with Des Laurier, yet felt no connection to him on the show, which led to her setting up his eviction. After Des Lauriers’ exit, Clottey became a victim of multiple verbal attacks on social media calling her stupid for causing it.
Similar to how different fan bases of musicians can oppose each other–Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hotties” and Nicki Minaj’s “Barbz” for example–stan culture also leads to rivalries between watchers of different shows. This was made evident in “The Traitors,” a social deduction game on Peacock. For their second season, Peacock decided the cast would only be made up of reality TV alumni. The cast would contain stars from “Real Housewives,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Love Island,” and more. This turned social media timelines into warzones, where fans of their respective shows would argue incessantly. If a Love Island alumni and a Real Housewives alumni were to have a disagreement, fans of each show would go at each other online.
On top of dividing the fan base and attacking contestants, a big reason why stan culture has ruined reality TV spaces is that it quickly leads to parasocial relationships between celebrities and their fans. In these types of relationships, one party is more connected to the other. Fans spend their time and energy nourishing the relationship that the celebrity does not know exists.
Kenzie Petty, winner of “Survivor 46” became aware of how scary these stans can be. Before going on Survivor, Petty worked as a hairdresser in Charlotte, NC. After winning, fans of Petty began showing up to her place of work looking for her. This led Petty to release a public statement on how this behavior crosses many boundaries and makes her feel unsafe. People felt so entitled to see her that they weren’t concerned about her safety or feelings on the matter. Luckily, no one was harmed, but it wouldn’t have taken much for the situation to turn unpleasant.
I think the way people consume these shows is very unnatural. When it comes to stan culture in music, movies, and TV shows, there is a sense of hierarchy. These actors and artists are set up to be larger than life, so people seeing them as idols is a bit more understandable. However, when it comes to contestants on these shows, these are regular, everyday people. A small few stay within the confines of media and content creation with live streaming on Twitch, doing other reality shows, or even taking the social media influencer route.
A large percentage of former contestants go back to the lives they were living before appearing on these shows. Putting these people on a pedestal they never asked to be on is not only inappropriate, but also intrusive. These shows are meant for entertainment purposes and should be consumed as such. People should not be overly obsessed over contestants. Watching these shows should be a casual thing to do on weeknights to relax after work and/or school.