Review Corrine Olympios: Victim or Attention Seeker?

[chainsaw_metal1]

During the taping of a recent season of Bachelor in Paradise, the production was halted due to the alleged sexual assault of one Corrine Olympios. The facts, as best I can gather, are these. She and fellow contestant DeMario Jackson had been drinking, were in a hot tub together, and she started to make out with him. She then stripped, and they apparently had sex, in front of a camera crew who kept filming. Shortly after, the story broke, and there were allegations of sexual assault. But here's how it gets "funny".

-She had been making out with other men on the set of the show.
-Both she and DeMario were drunk, and she made the first move, but the allegations came from the idea that "she" was too drunk to consent.
-She allegedly has a boyfriend, and is upset about how this will affect her relationship, and how she would never knowingly cheat - again, after kissing other men, on a show where the intent is for people to hook up.

Now, in my mind's eye, her complaining about being a victim simply takes away from the tragedy of actual victims. Women who were actually sexually assaulted. This screams to me that this girl is just promiscuous, and wants an out. The "I did something bad when I was drunk, but I'm not to blame. It should also be pointed out, she's not blaming the co-star, but the producers for not stopping it (because producers of reality programming are known for their scruples).

Anyway, am I seeing this in the wrong light? Is she actually a victim? Or is she just an attention whore looking for her fifteen minutes?

 

[Amyghost]

During the taping of a recent season of Bachelor in Paradise, the production was halted due to the alleged sexual assault of one Corrine Olympios. The facts, as best I can gather, are these. She and fellow contestant DeMario Jackson had been drinking, were in a hot tub together, and she started to make out with him. She then stripped, and they apparently had sex, in front of a camera crew who kept filming. Shortly after, the story broke, and there were allegations of sexual assault. But here's how it gets "funny".

-She had been making out with other men on the set of the show.
-Both she and DeMario were drunk, and she made the first move, but the allegations came from the idea that "she" was too drunk to consent.
-She allegedly has a boyfriend, and is upset about how this will affect her relationship, and how she would never knowingly cheat - again, after kissing other men, on a show where the intent is for people to hook up.

Now, in my mind's eye, her complaining about being a victim simply takes away from the tragedy of actual victims. Women who were actually sexually assaulted. This screams to me that this girl is just promiscuous, and wants an out. The "I did something bad when I was drunk, but I'm not to blame. It should also be pointed out, she's not blaming the co-star, but the producers for not stopping it (because producers of reality programming are known for their scruples).

Anyway, am I seeing this in the wrong light? Is she actually a victim? Or is she just an attention whore looking for her fifteen minutes?

Attention whore. I know this may draw me an enormous amount of flack, but as a 'second-wave' feminist I'm personally sick to death of seeing the appalling reality of rape being trivialized by this type of shit. No sympathy for her whatsoever.

 

[Janine The Barefoot]

Devil's advocate here.....

I don't believe anyone who wasn't actually involved in the situation (in the pool doing whatever, or not) is really in any position to comment. I will say that my understanding was that the man in question was a crew member himself and that the first question I asked myself was, WTF was the camera crew thinking/doing?! Regardless of what took place between the "adults" in the pool, "Reality TV" itself will always be suspect to me.

But given that, I agree with CS that anything which takes away from the real tragedy of sexual attack against women is just wrong on principle alone. Beyond that I don't think anyone will ever get the true story here because the spin doctors are in charge now and everybody has either lawyered up or gotten an agent to "sell" their view. I can't and won't pass judgement of any kind on a situation I'm not qualified to weigh-in on due to a lack of genuine information.

But that's just me..... And thanks as always CS for focusing on what really matters in this situation as a whole!

And DBs for you CS for keeping the real issue in mind and having the presence of mind to ask questions first!

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

"Reality TV" itself will always be suspect to me.

Same here. There are too many stories from every reality show out there from behind the scenes, where producers plot and script things and move the little pieces around the board simply for ratings, whether it be from drama or relationships, or even pushing for someone already picked by producers to win in the case of competition shows. The fact that people still watch these shows and actually believe that they are, in fact, reality, baffles me.

As I've stated before, I don't watch much for reality programming. I have watched the occasional season of Hell's Kitchen (cooking nerd), and I liked the first couple of seasons of Face Off (movie nerd). But over time, I have gotten more and more frustrated that particular channels that I have enjoyed watching eventually became nothing but filled with reality shows. I understand that it comes down to audiences, advertising, and whatnot, but enough's enough (there's also the long rant I had back in the imdb days of how I miss the early days of BBC America, when it actually showed British shows, and wasn't filled with American shows, but that's for another thread). Remember when Chiller channel started, and it was just a channel for horror films and shows? Then, all of a sudden, it was four hour blocks of Fear Factor, and only showing movies one night a week. Food Network used to be about cooking shows. Then they brought us Cooking Channel (which I lost when I switched my dish package), and Food Network became competition shows. Not cool.

I feel I have gotten off topic (that happens a lot here, doesn't it?). Anyway, yes, as the drama about the original story kept unfolding, all I could think was that this young woman is simply someone who is chasing the proverbial 15 minutes, and would do anything to get it. I think someone's parents should have paid a little more attention to her, or perhaps taught her that she isn't really a princess.

 

[Janine The Barefoot]

I feel the same way CS!

I started watching Project Runway because I like fashion and it seemed like a reality show that offered the chance for people in the field to actually accomplish something with their talent if they won. Same with Face Off although I don't much watch it either anymore.

I moved onto Top Chef for the same reasons and even incorporated my own take on the "Quick Fire" in my cooking classes because I thought it would be a great way to help teach kids to learn how to cook with what was actually available to them in the kitchen; because in the "real world" you can't always get to the store to go shopping.... waiting for paychecks, no time to stop at the store on the way home from work and so on and so forth.... I thought it would help them to learn to work with what was available and improvise on recipes by using what they had to work with in place of what was called for. I had the kids cook in groups (which was what they did anyway) and then each group would go from "kitchen to kitchen" and choose the winners themselves. Then I got yelled at for using "back-up" food from the pantry.... Hello! Isn't that what it's for?????? In any case the kids loved it and they learned something I believed was useful so what else can I say.

But you're right, one by one every channel started going "reality" because it's cheap to produce and makes them lots of money

In the end, it's all been a huge disappointment.... and of course we get off-topic CS! It's us!!!!

And DBs for when TV was what it said it was!

 

[SoapboxQuantez08]

Same here. There are too many stories from every reality show out there from behind the scenes, where producers plot and script things and move the little pieces around the board simply for ratings, whether it be from drama or relationships, or even pushing for someone already picked by producers to win in the case of competition shows. The fact that people still watch these shows and actually believe that they are, in fact, reality, baffles me.

I think it kind of depends on the reality show.
For example, I always thought The Real World was real, and still do.
I remember Rachel from the San Francisco edition saying, "it's as real as TV can be."
However, the tension between Puck and Pedro was 100% real. Everything said was legit, as was each and every relationship.

But getting back to your initial point, yes. It's a shame that some "adults" are more starved for attention than most 5-year-olds.

 

[McQualude]

Everyone who goes on television is an attention seeker. But it wasn't Corinne who made the allegations of misconduct, it was a producer. The tape was reviewed by a 3rd party who ruled that no misconduct took place. The only thing she complained about was judgemental people and media who called her names and said bad things about her.