wever, it was not Endemol who first came to the BBC with the idea. According to reports, it was BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey who at a June conference called out for independent producers to "bring [her] the next Pop Idol" {Wells 2002}. Endemol was a little apprehensive at first, due to the BBC's possible controlling of content and the UK audience's history with reality TV shows. For one, British viewers are known to be fickle: while the rest of the world embraced Survivor, it bombed in the UK. But, as greed took hold of the two parties, the deal was sealed in late June. When news of the BBC's entrance into the reality show market hit newspapers on July 1, 2002, it was to the agitation of competitors and BBC critics alike. Competitors have long since castigated the corporation for its increasingly commercial edge. Use of its protected funding stream – a guaranteed real-terms increase in the license fee every year – on such ratings-driven projects irritated rivals who were – and still are – enduring the worst advertising recession in the television's short history.
             Thereafter, in an attempt to boost its public service credibility, the BBC let slip that it was investing £3.3 million on new arts programs. But a far greater slice of the BBC1 budgets, which now tops £1 billion a year, is being allocated to the development of entertainment hits like Fame Academy {Wells 2002}. The question remains as to whether entertainment of the public is considered a public service. To answer this, we must analyze why the public is being entertained. We must seek to discover the public's intentions in watching entertainment such as reality programming. Dr. Annette Hill, of the University of Westminster, has recently performed a study on just what appeals to reality TV viewers. In an interview with BBC News Online, Dr. Hill stated, "We found that, in general, ...