Getting down to reality

OK I draw the line at Big Brother--and I'm ashamed of my sneaking weakness for I'm a Celebrity, win me out of here!,

in which a collection of celebs eat creepy crawlies and brave snakes in the Australian jungle

on the other hand I have to admit to having been catched on two recent--and very different--strands of reality TV

The Apprentice pitted 14 would-be emperor of japans against each other in a series of challenges designed to trial their suitability for a piece of work with the British multimillionaire businessman Sir Alan Sugar. At the extremity of each programme one contestant was 'fired'. The participants displayed considerable enterprise, creativity and ingenuity in their attempts to avoid this fate--and, at times, jaw-dropping steps of nastiness.

A very large contrast then to The Monastery, which followed five men as they worn out 40 days with the Benedictine monk of Worth Abbey, joining in their routine of prayer, work and silence. 'They were asked to listen continuously and profoundly to themselves, to other clan and to God,' writes the Abbot, Christopher Jamison. 'Forty days later, this fathomless listening had reshaped their hearts and minds.'

And, as discovered by means of a follow-up programme, the consequences lasted. One of the men had get backed to an earlier aspiration to become a priest; another, an ex-offender from Northern Ireland, was visiting prisons; while a third had given up his piece of work making trailers for sex chatlines. His fresh beliefs, he said, had created moot points for him: 'I know when I'm doing unjust whereas before I was oblivious. with equal reason I have to forgive myself and accept myself, which I do through asking for forgiveness and acceptance from God'

The monk were astonished and reaffirmed by dint of the response. Forty thousand nation visited their website in the month following the first programme and centurys of people signed up to approach on retreat, testifying to the very great spiritual thirst of our age.

Now, as we go on to press, it's the women's move round The Convent follows a driven career woman, a recovering alcoholic, a free-living atheist and a mother of three as they lay out 40 days with the Poor Clares, an enclos order of nun For them too, the onion-layers of armour and semblance are beginning to peel away, as they discover the courage to be their pure selves--giving 'Reality TV' a whole fresh level of meaning.

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