Not talking necessarily about Caroline Flack but you have to wonder about all of these people linked with the TV Show ‘Love Island’ who have committed Suicide. It’s a world fuelled by social media and a lot of these people just can’t handle what comes with the attention they get after appearing in the show. We can’t underestimate the effect that social media has on all of us.
3 young persons I believe.
Long post;
In this day and age, 'reality' TV doesn't want 'normal' people anymore. If you recall the very first season of Big Brother, which was the first of this type of TV show, (on modern TV I believe) it was won by a builder. Everyone in the house was from fairly standard backgrounds and discussed fairly 'normal' things.
After a couple of season of this, the producers clearly decided to up the ante and started putting in people that clearly had issues or vastly differing views to the main, in order to create fireworks among the housemates.
Fast forward to today - every single one of these types of shows is full to the brim with loudmouthed extroverts who
all think they are special. Imo, most volunteers for Love Island and it's ilk either have mental health issues or personality disorders to begin with. Any problems they had when they go in are
never going to be improved by the pressures of having millions of people watching and voting for/ against you.
Jeremy Kyle is off our screens (another modern-day 'Freak Show' for the viewing public to mock those less fortunate imo). The sooner the rest of these horrible TV shows follow him off-air, the better.
With regards to Caroline Flack; This is going to sound controversial, but as a son of a father that killed himself, I feel fairly well qualified to comment - the public can blame who they want, whether it's the justice system that did nothing wrong; she committed a crime - you can't just pull the mental health get-out-of-jail-free card, or her employer. Again, see above; she was charged with committing a crime which was certainly not in keeping with her role as a presenter. I do agree with the views expressed with regards Ant McPartlin too, he
was treated differently, but the ITV is a business and they make business decisions, it's as simple as that.
My father had severe depression (and we suspect bi-polar, though never diagnosed afaik). It was his poor mental health that made him take the decision to end his own life. He did have worries at the time of his death, but if in a good state of mind, or when 'manic', he would have laughed these issues off. Unfortunately, his depression was also pretty bad at times.
I feel that this would probably have been a similar case for Caroline. But I feel what's more crucial to acknowledge is that I, nor anyone else that didn't know her personally, will ever know why she took her own life. If her own family and friends are at a loss, then what the hell does 'Joe Public' know about her?
Another side effect of reality TV is that the public believes they 'know' anyone on TV - we don't. We see a persona that presenters want to show us.
Another side effect of modern society, i.e. social media/ reality TV is that it's
very rare that you hear a person taking blame for their own actions - it's always someone else's fault. If Caroline had mental health issues that caused her to take her own life, then I'm sorry for her loss, but it's simply not fair to blame anyone else but Caroline for this tragedy.
I can blame all sorts of people or situations for my Dad's death, but as I approach the 10th anniversary of his death, I'm happy to accept that it was his doing alone, he deliberately stopped taking his medication, withdrew from medical support and took a fatal overdose. No one made him do it.