‘It’s not easy to get clout’: Viral reality show Badderz UK encourages contestants to drink, fight and behave badly
Badderz UK is an online reality show in which contestants are encouraged to drink, fight and generally behave badly.
It’s quickly gone viral, raking up almost 100,000 views in less than a week.
It is – as its executive producer Lani Good admits – unashamedly “extreme”. Were it to be on TV, without question she says “it would be watered down”.
While UK broadcasters would be criticised for not protecting participants were they to air a similar show on TV, on the internet, the same duty of care rules don’t apply.
“I feel like TV needs to take a chill pill, we’re just trying to have to have a laugh… the [contestants] were dying to do it, they literally want the drama,” Ms Good insists.
Pic: Badderz UK/Lani Good
On terrestrial television, reality ratings have experienced something of a slump in recent years, so has the future of the genre moved online where environments are more raw and less controlled?
TV producers are “out of touch”, Ms Good insists, adding the majority of young people think “reality TV is pants”.
“I didn’t want to wait for opportunities to come my way,” the Youtuber-turned-TV producer told Sky News. “I thought I’ve got a bit of money, I’ll do it myself.”
That money was in fact her share of winnings from appearing on the Channel 4 reality show Tempting Fortune almost a year ago now.
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Badderz UK executive producer Lani Good
One of the most ‘hated people on TV’
If her name doesn’t ring a bell, then you might perhaps remember her from briefly being one of the most “hated people on TV”, as she puts it.
The premise of the Paddy McGuinness show saw 12 strangers take part in an 18-day-long trek, the goal being not to give in to the temptations of home comforts en route, which would see money taken out of the shared prize pot at the end.
Ms Good happily blew the group’s cash pot on a £900 hot chocolate, then a £500 milkshake. As her teammates lost it with her, in reality terms, it was TV gold.
Afterwards, she says trolls tried to get her sacked from her day job as a graphic designer. The criticism was brutal, which is why she maintains she’s better placed to fully prepare contestants on her own self-funded show.
Pic: Badderz UK/Lani Good
Warnings about trolling
She maintains on her show she gave contestants “a level of transparency” she never experienced when she appeared on reality TV about the level of trolling they could potentially receive.
“Mainstream TV and broadcasters, when they do their duty of care beforehand, I think they do what they need to do so they don’t get sued,” she says. “I don’t believe they really care. They don’t ever fully prepare you for what you can go through.”
While she admits she’s setting out to get clicks, she doesn’t believe she’s exploiting her young stars, who are happy to be shown screaming and fighting.
“It’s an exchange, I believe,” she says. “I benefit obviously because I’m a producer, I gain the profit, but… young people in this day and age want to be popular, if you don’t have a thousand likes in your picture who are you? You’re nobody.
“That’s what young people care about these days, that’s not my fault… and I’ve given it to them, that’s priceless, it’s not easy to get clout.”
Pic: Badderz UK/Lani Good
Tightening protections for participants
Traditional broadcasters are now obliged to follow Ofcom-dictated regulations to protect the mental and physical well-being of contestants, but the media regulator has little control over content creation online.
Developmental psychologist and filmmaker Professor John Oates says it isn’t a level playing field.
“It’s totally unbalanced because in the last few years protections for participants – and to some extent crews – has really been tightened up in terms of protecting wellbeing,” he says.
“[Online] it’s the wild west, you can do what you like on social media as long as you don’t put up illegal content, basically as long as you don’t put up pornography or incitement to terrorism primarily.”
Pic: Badderz UK/Lani Good
Are online viral shows even more problematic?
While broadcasters may claim to take the moral high ground now, it wasn’t too long ago that even on mainstream TV, on shows like the original Channel 4 Big Brother, contestants would depart to baying mobs, whipped into a frenzy with seemingly little thought given as to how they’d cope with such a reception when they were alone in the real world.
Only after Love Island and the deaths of Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon were rules around protecting contestants scrutinised.
Of course, the ITV dating show has had to navigate countless complaints over the years – from sexism and ageism to racism over how black contestants are frequently picked last when it comes to coupling up. But are the quick-to-go-viral alternatives online even more problematic if they look like Badderz?
Shows ‘feed into the stereotype’
TV presenter and social commentator Zeze Millz hates the message it sends out.
“Being a black woman, we already have a stereotype of being aggressive or having a chip on our shoulder,” she tells Sky News.
“I feel like shows like this when fighting and discourse is the main premise of it, is never going to work in our favour, will never make us look good, and in fact just feeds into the stereotype.”
A concern for Millz is that while the show’s rebellious contestants might be enjoying a boost in followers now, they’re not taking a step back to think about the potential future harm it might do.
“You’ve got that digital footprint… and literally you’re dragging girls across the floor,” she says.
On her YouTube show, Ms Millz makes the point that “young people can do better”.
“The culture that we’re in at the moment, being a TikTok star, being a viral star, is probably more appealing to young people right now than getting a normal nine to five,” she says.
“They really believe ‘I’m going to go viral… and then I’m going to get a deal, then I’m going to get loads of money… I don’t care about my job’. Because I’m in their head, they think that they’ve already got to that point where they don’t even need a job.”
It is a genre that’s all too easily dismissed as harmless trash TV but could the reality be that what we’re watching matters more than we might realise?
A judge has warned Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s lawyers to stop publicly discussing their competing lawsuits.
Both actors – who co-starred in 2024’s It Ends With Us – have filed lawsuits against each other following an initial legal complaint from Lively.
The 37-year-old accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film – and an alleged subsequent plan to damage her reputation.
Baldoni then sued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of hijacking both the production and marketing of the film, as well as allegedly attempting to smear him and others who worked on the production through false allegations.
New York district court judge Lewis J Liman has scheduled a trial date combining the two claims for March 2026 – but warned both parties on Monday that their comments to the media could impact their cases.
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Why is Blake Lively suing Justin Baldoni?
Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb complained that Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman violated professional ethics rules for lawyers by accusing the actress of “bullying” in People magazine.
He told a hearing at Manhattan federal court that “it’s very hard to un-ring the bell” and argued such statements could taint a jury pool.
But Mr Freedman complained “this has not been a one-way street”, and claimed his comments to the magazine and on a podcast were a response to a New York Times article from 21 December that “completely devastated” Baldoni.
Judge Liman has now adopted a state rule barring most out-of-court statements that could affect a case’s outcome – with an exception to protect clients from prejudicial adverse publicity. Neither lawyer objected.
Lively’s legal team have previously accused Mr Freedman in a court filing of trying to influence potential jurors by creating a website to release selected documents and communications between her and Baldoni.
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In late December, Lively sued Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios and others in New York for sexual harassment and attacks on her reputation, asking for unspecified damages.
Baldoni then filed his lawsuit in January, accusing Lively and her husband, Deadpool star and Wrexham FC co-owner Reynolds, of defamation and extortion. He is seeking at least $400m (£321m) in damages.
The actor also sued The New York Times newspaper for libel after it published allegations about him.
Lively starred in the 2005 film The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants before rising to fame in the TV series Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012. She is also known for films including The Town and The Shallows.
Baldoni is known for the TV comedy series Jane The Virgin and for directing the 2019 film Five Feet Apart. He also wrote Man Enough – a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity.
Actor and comedian Brian Murphy has died aged 92.
Best known for his role in the 1970s sitcoms Man About The House and George And Mildred, news of his passing was shared by his wife Hi-de-Hi! actress Linda Regan.
Posting a picture of her kissing her husband, she said: “My love for you will never die. RIP sweetheart.”
Brian Murphy. Pic:Jonathan Hordle/Shutterstock
Murphy first came to prominence playing landlord George Roper in Man About The House, starring alongside the late Yootha Joyce.
The show began in 1973 and was considered controversial for the time because it featured two single women living with a man.
When it ended in 1976, Murphy and Joyce starred in the spin-off, George And Mildred, which ran for five series until 1979.
He also starred as Alvin Smedley in Last Of The Summer Wine.
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Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce at Heathrow Airport leaving for New Zealand for a ten-week tour of the stage version of their show.
Pic: PA
Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce in George And Mildred.
Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Born on the Isle of Wight, Murphy was a member of the Theatre Workshop, founded by Joan Littlewood, and was a jobbing actor before appearing in TV shows including Z-Cars.
In 1993, he starred in the first major stage version of the HG Wells science fiction classic The Invisible Man.
More recently, Murphy appeared in TV shows including the BBC’s Holby City and ITV’s Benidorm.
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