''There's Something About Miriam'' is a British

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

broadcast by

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989 ...

. The six-episode series premiered on 22 February 2004 and concluded on 24 March 2004. Set in

Ibiza, Spain Ibiza (; ; ; see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands in are ...

, the series depicted six men in competition for a £10,000 reward over who could make the best impression on 21-year-old Mexican model Miriam Rivera. The men were required to compete in various physical challenges in addition to going on individual and group dates with Rivera. In the final episode, Rivera selected the one contestant who left the best impression on her; upon selection, Rivera revealed to the contestants that she was a

transgender woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

who had not yet undergone

gender-affirming surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

. The series was hosted by Welsh television presenter

Tim Vincent Tim Vincent (born Timothy Russell Walker; 4 November 1972) is a British actor and television presenter from Overton-on-Dee, Wales. He appeared on the BBC children's programme ''Blue Peter'' between 1993 and 1997 and has presented several Miss ...

. The series aired on

Fox Reality Channel Fox Reality Channel was an American pay television channel. It was launched on May 24, 2005, and was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group. It featured many shows that were originally on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network (or produced by Fo ...

in 2007.

Production and filming

Remy Blumenfeld first saw Rivera participating in a girl band, after which he planned to cast her in a TV show. The show was produced by the Brighter Pictures subsidiary of

Endemol Endemol B.V. (stylized in all lowercase) was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted gen ...

and was originally titled ''Find Me a Man''. Recruitment ads for contestants promised "the adventure of a lifetime" with a £10,000 prize for men aged 20 to 35 who "want it all" and are "fit and up for everything." The contestants on the show were: * Mark Dimino, 24, optician * Toby Green, 23, student * Aron Lane, 22, chef * Tom Rooke, 23, lifeguard and ex-ski instructor * Scott Gibson, 22, martial arts expert * Dominic Conway, 28, Royal Marine Brighter Pictures managing director Gavin Hay said "they had made a point of never referring to Miriam as a woman when getting the men to take part." Rivera said "Several of them wondered about me in the first few days. But as the series unfolded, I really thought that we got to like and know each other as friends and had a lot of fun." In response to allegations that she revealed her big secret by lifting up her skirt she was quoted as saying "I would never lift my skirt up on national TV. My mother brought me up very well." On the version that aired, Rivera chose Rooke as the winner and then said in front of the assembled contestants: Miriam's childhood friend suspects this quote was scripted. Rooke initially accepted the prize money and the trip with Rivera on camera. Rooke later rejected the prize prior to airing and joined the other contestants in a lawsuit that sought to prevent the airing of the show.

Litigation and release

Following the completion of the show, it was scheduled to air in November 2003, but a lawsuit by the contestants delayed the airing. They alleged conspiracy to commit

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

, and

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in the form of psychological and emotional damage. After the men settled for an undisclosed amount, the show premiered 22 February, and the sixth and final episode aired 24 March 2004.Jennifer Sym (28 March 2004). Transsexual Miriam Rejected by Reality Show Winner. ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' The show was aired in Australia by

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

in May 2004, in Lithuania by

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

in December 2004, in Poland by TVN in January 2005, and in Argentina in 2005 on

América TV América TV (call sign LS 86 TV) is an Argentine television station broadcasting on channel 2 in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and one of Argentina's five national television networks. It is owned by Grupo América. América TV ...

. The show was picked up by

Fox Reality Fox Reality Channel was an American pay television channel. It was launched on May 24, 2005, and was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group. It featured many shows that were originally on the Fox network (or produced by Fox). The channel also featu ...

for airing in the United States in April 2006, and was aired in October 2007.

Reception

Responses from critics were generally unfavourable, calling it part of a trend in shows that exploit unwitting contestants. A British reviewer noted "The whole premise of ''There's Something About Miriam'' was not a celebration of transgender people's lives. It was designed to elicit horror from the winning contestant discovering that his dream date had a penis." The show was also criticized by transgender groups, who feared a backlash of public opinion. When the show aired in Australia, reviews were critical of both the premise and Rivera:

These guys were duped in more ways than one – while Miriam has a few unexpected bits in her package, she's notably deficient in others. It has become clear Miriam requires a personality implant. It must've been a challenge to find a transsexual pretty enough, mean enough and sufficiently
attention-seeking Attention seeking behavior is to act in a way that is likely to elicit attention. Attention seeking behavior as a pathological personality trait is defined in the DSM-5 as "engaging in behavior designed to attract notice and to make oneself the fo ...
to play this tawdry game, but what these producers found in Miriam is a sultry-looking dill prone to the cheesiest of clichés.

Other British commentators contrasted Rivera with the positive response to

Nadia Almada Nádia Conceição Almada (born 28 January 1977) is a Portuguese-born English television personality. She won the fifth series of '' Big Brother''. Career ''Big Brother'' Almada competed in the fifth series of '' Big Brother'' in 2004; ...

, a Portuguese-born transgender woman who won ''

Big Brother UK ''Big Brother'' is the British version of the international reality television franchise '' Big Brother'' created by producer John de Mol Jr. in 1997. Broadcast yearly from 18 July 2000 to 5 November 2018, and again from 8 October 2023, the ...

'' a few months later. That show was also produced by Endemol. However, the show garnered high ratings in the final episode (970,000 viewers—large viewership for Sky One), and Rivera went on to become a guest on '' Big Brother Australia 2004''. ''There's Something About Miriam'' was featured on the 2005

clip show A clip show is an episode of a Television program, television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows include a frame story in which cast members recall events from past installments of the show, depicte ...

"40 Greatest Pranks" on

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and was ranked #11 on the ''

20 to One ''20 to One'' (known as ''20 to 1'' before 2016) is an Australian television series on the Nine Network from 2005, that counts down an undefined "top 20" of elements or events of popular culture, such as films, songs, or sporting scandals. The ...

'' episode "Hoaxes, Cheats and Liars". When the show aired in the United States on the 2007

Transgender Day of Remembrance The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, has been observed annually from its inception on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. The ...

, trans author

Julia Serano Julia Michelle Serano ( ; born 1967) is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, transgender and bisexual activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books, such as '' Whipping Girl'' (2007), ''Excluded'' (2013), a ...

noted "Programs like ''There's Something About Miriam'' not only reinforce the stereotype that trans people's birth sex is 'real' and our identified/lived sex is 'fake,' but they perpetuate the myth of deception and thus enable violence against us." Video artist

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

featured contestant Mark Dimino in an installation on "people who believe their lives have been ruined by appearing on

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

In popular culture

In 2021

Wondery Wondery is an American podcast network and publisher of podcasts including ''American History Tellers'', ''Dr. Death (podcast), Dr. Death'' and ''The Shrink Next Door''. Wondery was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and media executive Hernan Lopez ...

published an investigative podcast series, '' Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera,'' into Rivera's life and her appearance on the show''.'' In June 2022, a similar three-part documentary series, called ''Miriam: Death of a Reality Star'', was commissioned by Expectation Entertainment for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

References

External links