THERE’S a scientific theory called the observer effect. It states that the act of observing influences the phenomenon being observed; so, for example, by 'observing’ an electron, you alter that electron.
The observer effect is also recognised in psychology where it’s believed that, by observing a person, you change their behaviour. It’s for this reason – and the fact I’ve worked in television for two decades – that I think ‘reality TV’ is a myth.
When people meet me on the street they’re often surprised I’m not the person they’ve seen on television; what surprises me is that they’re surprised. While I don’t believe my behaviour changes dramatically when I’m on television, I’m aware I’m in front of an audience and therefore I’m performing.
Growing up in the 1970s, we only had two television stations, so you’d think with today’s plethora of choice, finding something to watch would be easy; not so. During the Covid lockdown I spent a lot of time flicking through endless television menus, often giving up and turning the television off. While the quantity has undoubtedly increased, I’d question the quality. But don’t despair, my friends – The Blame Game returns this Bank Holiday Monday for a Covid special.
I did discover one highlight – Tiger King, a Netflix offering which combines a myriad of television genres into one. A heady mix of dysfunctional families, true crime and nature, the show gives a unique glimpse into the very strange world of Joe Exotic, a mullet-haired, gun-toting gay polygamist, whose private zoo exhibited and illegally bred big cats.
Joe’s nemesis was Carole Baskin, who founded a big cat rescue charity and campaigned against Joe’s zoo. When I tell you Joe came across as the more sympathetic of the two, you’ll realise just how weird the show is.
I hate spoilers so all I’ll say is Joe Exotic now resides in a US prison, which should whet your appetite to discover how he got there. Considering what I said earlier about ‘observer effect’, his imprisonment raises an interesting question: how much responsibility lies with Joe and how much with the documentary makers? By filming him, could they be accused of influencing his behaviour?
Not that we can take the moral high ground on the topic of dangerous animals being kept by members of the public as until the Dangerous Wild Animals Order came into effect in December 2006 there were no restrictions on who could keep wild animals in Northern Ireland.
I’ve personal experience, having lived as a child on Duncairn Gardens in north Belfast, two doors down from one of Belfast’s most colourful characters, Alexander Robinson, better known as ‘Buck Alec’. Buck was a legendary Belfast hard man and bodyguard for Edward Carson.
As a child, I was a light sleeper and I remember complaining to my father that strange noises coming from Buck’s backyard were keeping me awake. Father casually informed me the noise was from Buck’s pet lion, and if I didn’t go to sleep it would come and eat me.
Even aged seven I could see through my father’s threat. I mean, the idea of someone having a lion in the backyard of a terraced house in Belfast was just ridiculous. Then one morning on my way to school I heard a strange noise and looked up the street to witness Buck walk a fully grown lion on a chain out his front door and into a specially constructed trailer hooked onto the back of his car.
So surreal was the scene it took me until I was being dropped off at school to say to my dad, “He does have a lion”. Father, seeing the terror in my eyes, tried to reassure me, saying I’d nothing to worry about as Buck had pulled out the lion’s teeth. This news did the opposite of easing my anxiety, as I then began worrying about a lunatic who pulled out lion’s teeth.
Tragically, reality TV wasn’t around in the 1970s. If it had been, the characters of north Belfast alone could have filled a TV schedule for a year with the likes of Buck Alec and his lion, and we can only imagine the eccentric gold which would have been discovered if cameras had travelled beyond Belfast.
Bringing things up to date, I know of a couple of characters alive and well today in Ballymena and Larne who could hold their own with any Tiger King, and neither are in prison. Well, not the last time I checked.
