Miriam Rivera documentary

[rodinuk]

A new tv documentary series “Miriam Rivera: Death of a Reality Star” starts Monday 29th April at 9pm on UK Channel 4.

[Stavros]

A new tv documentary series “Miriam Rivera: Death of a Reality Star” starts Monday 29th April at 9pm on UK Channel 4.

Thanks for the Heads up Rod -here is one of a few available links on the documentary, in three parts.

Miriam Rivera Documentary: Tragic Story of the World’s First Trans Reality TV Star | Glamour UK (glamourmagazine.co.uk) (https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/miriam-rivera-documentary-channel-4)

[GroobySteven]

I'll watch it - and keep an open mind, but I'm not really sure if I see the relevance of telling her story.
By now, most people have forgotten about 'There Is Something About Miriam' which really wasn't that much of a big deal even in it's day. It was hardly a most talked about TV show.

Wonder if they talk about her porn life much? I know we had her on some of the sites at some point.

[Stavros]

I think the key relevance is, if done today, would producers of a 'reality' tv show conceal the 'twist', given that the men all sued the company and it was not broadcast until after they had received their compensation. There was a real risk of harm being done at the time of the reveal, and allegedly at least one contestant "a former marine, smashed up the villa in Ibiza where the show took place, and the burly bouncers hired to keep the peace ran away".
World's most offensive dating show that ended in lawsuits, violence and death threats - Mirror Online (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/worlds-most-offensive-dating-show-31038107)

One also wonders if 'the man from Bremen' who was 'with her' when she was in Europe (Germany and Poland) makes an appearance in the documentary, he was central to one of the threads on Miriam in this forum some years ago.

In the end, who actually knew her?

[Stavros]

I expect there will be more like this in the media.

‘She was tough, but it broke her’: why There’s Something About Miriam was reality TV’s most shameful low | Television | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/25/she-was-tough-but-it-broke-her-why-theres-something-about-miriam-was-reality-tvs-most-shameful-low)

[Stavros]

And another one-

The shameful tragedy of Miriam Rivera, reality TV’s first trans star | The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/miriam-rivera-death-of-a-reality-star-true-story-b2535485.html)

[Stavros]

All three episodes are now available for streaming in the UK -I don't know if it can be viewed outside the country- this is the link

Miriam: Death of a Reality Star - Series 1: Episode 1 | Channel 4 (https://www.channel4.com/programmes/miriam-death-of-a-reality-star/on-demand/74471-001)

There are considerable gaps in the story -no mention of Miriam taking part in Big Brother in Australia, or the time she spent in Europe, some of which is discussed in a bad tempered way in this thread-
what is happening whit miriam rivera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Page 5 (hungangels.com) (https://www.hungangels.com/vboard/showthread.php?40049-what-is-happening-whit-miriam-rivera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/page5&highlight=miriam)

There are two aspects to this: one is the Sky One series that mostly concerns the male participants, the other being the attempt to link the show to Miriam's subsequent life and death, though I don't know one caused the other. Plenty of people appear on reality shows and use it to make money either in entertainment or journalism -Miriam did that, but clearly as events in New York and Las Vegas show, she fell in with some bad people, one of the allegations made is that 'they' murdered her. If what happened in Las Vegas is true, it is utterly wretched. Perhaps she was not as strong and in control of her destiny as she wanted to be.

The callous nature of the show is perfectly stated by one of the producers when asked about the deception at the core of the TV show, rejecting any moral problem because 'it was entertainment', a tv show. The psychiatrist flown in from Glasgow (he has a long history of treating trans people) points out he was there to counsel the 'boys' not Miriam, though he did ask to see her and thinks she just told him what she thought he wanted to hear. Also, the 'Big Reveal' in the show was scripted for her, so one wonders if she would have chosen other words to describe herself. But once done she was in effect abandoned, and it also appears that while she was paid for it, she did not get any royalties from subsequent airings of the show.

There is a contribution in episode 3 from someone called India Willoughby which is irrelevant, and when she says she had not seen transgendered people on tv before one could point to UK broadcasts in the 1990s of shows like Donohue (always the most sympathetic) or Jerry Springer, or the occasional snippets on shows like Eurotrash and Passengers, both on Channel 4.

It is all problematic, because there is so much we don't know, and there is the view that it 'merely' reproduces the view that Transgendered women survive through porn and escorting, until the drink and the drugs ruin their lives, and they find they spent all the money instead of investing it, or saving it, and so on. Thus one of her closest friends thinks she did kill herself, though the practical aspect of hanging does sound suspicious.

There is a negative review in today's Guardian (I think a more positive one in the Telegraph but it is behind a paywall)
Miriam: Death of a Reality Star review – as grubby as the cruel show that ruined her life | Television & radio | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/29/miriam-death-of-a-reality-star-review-as-grubby-as-the-cruel-show-that-ruined-her-life)

[ceejay100]

I watched episode 1 last night and will watch the other two and will reserve judgment until then.

The Telegraph review is certainly more positive - 4* compared the Guardian's 2*

[Discodavis]

I randomly stumbled upon this documentary when downloading a different TV show on ReleaseBB. Had no idea Channel 4 was creating a documentary about her and had I visited the website a few minutes earlier or later, it would have passed me by for months or years if it wasn't the first item on the list.

When the ads were airing for There's Something About Miriam on Sky One, a friend informed me she was trans and made sure I watched every episode, as back then I only had dial-up metered internet and TV was my only source for videos of transwomen.

When I got broadband two years later, I discovered she was a porn star when searching for porn on Limewire. The scene where she's fucking a guy outdoors is the first trans porn scene I have ever watched.

I can remember signing up to this place in early 2007 with my now-banned account (I forgot my password and created this one, then I remembered my password but the admins decided to ban my old one for being a duplicate, which I want back but don't frequent this place often enough to care) and there was a thread about her failing out of a window.

Her childhood friend, Daniela Real, I recognise her from the movie All About the Money. She did a full frontal, which I mentioned in the full front thread, but the video was deleted from YouTube. Didn't know they were friends.

I friended her on Facebook before she died and very briefly talked with her husband, Daniel Cuervo, when he announced her death.

The stuff about her abusing drugs and being sex trafficked is all new information to me.

[Stavros]

Had not heard of the film All About the Money before. Looked it up on imdb and this is the review on the first page-

"Not a great story and not a great script. Relies heavily on profanity, tripping, stupidity and chicks with dicks to get the laughs (and there are a few sprinkled throughout) but overall there are better ways to spend 90 minutes. Watch as a last resort or when you need to get off to sleep."
All About the Money (2017) - IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2312184/)

[holzz]

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/miriam-death-of-a-reality-star


RIP to her.

Clearly, this fucked her up.

The guys too were also duped, and the producers were evidently shady for merely devising the entire thing.

The late Miriam and the guys should have put aside their differences and united to sue the FUCK OUT THE SCUMMY AND MORALLY LIMITED PRODUCTION COMPANY!

[holzz]

was just transphobic BS.

Whilst she knew wha they were about, it was harmful on her and the guys. it's clear it took an emotional toll on her. There actually is porn online on her, but those with decency would take it off their sites. RIP.

[holzz]

What got me was the producer lady. She was deflecting so hard, that she couldn't bring herself to admit she and the company duped the men, and contributed to making Miriam's life Hell. It's funny how lots of production companies get into shit like this, whether it's for reality TV or documentaries. They often in various guises come across as dishonest or shady in their intent. An industry of seeming sociopaths.

I wonder if the men apologise to Miriam for how they treated her, or showed some contrition/remorse before she died.

[Stavros]

What got me was the producer lady. She was deflecting so hard, that she couldn't bring herself to admit she and the company duped the men, and contributed to making Miriam's life Hell. It's funny how lots of production companies get into shit like this, whether it's for reality TV or documentaries. They often in various guises come across as dishonest or shady in their intent. An industry of seeming sociopaths.

I wonder if the men apologise to Miriam for how they treated her, or showed some contrition/remorse before she died.

I don't know if it is just in the UK, but reality tv has been dubbed a 'theatre of cruelty'. In many such shows, the audience is invited to react with ridicule, amusement and so on, but the contestants in some are deceived, or invited to be cruel -in the first series of The Traitors, for example, one of the traitors persuaded the others to vote off the contestant who had a physical disability, using it as a way of undermining the trust that might have kept her in. In the Celebrity shows, humiliation is an important part of the deal, but in most cases -I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, and Celebrity SAS they know it in advance.

I am not going to say it is naive to think otherwise, but ever since Big Brother in 2001 showed it could make a profit, reality tv has established itself as a key component of the viewing agenda -if you don't like it, you can always flip to another channel or turn the tv off.

Did Miriam do it not knowing the risks? I think she was 'savvy' as the producer said, she already knew how some men react when they find out they are with a Trans person like her. But the care she received during the show, and especially when the shit hit the fan was poor and that I think did contribute to the feeling Miriam may have had that she was exploited for someone else's gain, receiving little reward herself, that they just didn't care about her. But it must also be said: nobody forced her to do the show.

[holzz]

Well, quite a few Love Island contestants have said they've suffered from depression or other mental health issues since. Caroline Flack killed herself due to depression and stress from hosting the show. So clearly there is some shadiness there, even though it's not limited to the UK.

Yes, she freely chose to do the show. Doesn't mean the fallout from it is not the production company's issues. Both she and the guys were victims, even though they were perhaps the more obvious victims at the time. Neither Miriam nor the men were celebs at that point, and those who go on Celebrity Get me out of here know they are being mocked or paraded due to their status. Very few have come out of it saying they weren't, and those who have complained have cited bullying or meannes from the other contestants. Not the same thing IMHO. I dont' watch reality TV, it's cringe as shit and just low brow entertainment.

[holzz]

I get the suspicion she was murdered. At the least, she was in some shady trafficking business when working in Las Vegas. She even worked in London for a time. Not implausible that some of the goons whom she knew in Vegas could have tracked her down to Mexico.

Terrible shame. She got chewed up and spit out by the system, like many others have been. The guys deserve sympathy too.