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      Reality show teenager found dead 

      Owen Gibson, media correspondent
      Monday May 23, 2005
      The Guardian 

      The psychological effect of reality television shows on contestants will 
      come under renewed scrutiny after it emerged that a 17-year-old girl who 
      apparently committed suicide at the weekend was soon to appear on-screen 
      in a series filmed in Australia called The Colony. 
      Carina Stephenson from Branton, a village near Doncaster in south 
      Yorkshire, was found by police in woodland near her home on Saturday. She 
      had told her family that she was going for a bike ride on Thursday morning 
      and was reported missing later that day. The death is not being treated as 
      suspicious. 
      Article continues





      The History Channel, which co-financed the series that sought to recreate 
      the lives of convicts sent to Australia 200 years ago, said yesterday that 
      it had yet to decide whether to broadcast the show in the UK, but would 
      respect the wishes of the family. 
      Ms Stephenson had spent four months of last year in Australia filming the 
      show with her parents and younger sister. In the programme, various 
      families were transported back in time to "experience the unforgiving 
      toughness of the colony of New South Wales as it was 200 ago". 
      A spokeswoman for The History Channel said that producers would meet the 
      Stephenson family before deciding whether the series, due to start on June 
      6, should go ahead. The series has already been shown on Australian 
      television and is halfway through its run on the Irish channel RTE, which 
      part-funded the programme. 
      "The Stephenson family were chosen by producers because they were a very 
      likeable family. The Australian producer of the show, who got to know them 
      well during their time out there, plans to speak to the family," she said. 
      "We're very upset at what has happened and our heart goes out to her 
      family. Obviously the decision on whether to screen the show will depend 
      on what the family think is best." 
      The series, similar to Channel 4 shows such The 1940s House and The 
      Edwardian House, was designed to examine history through the challenges 
      faced by modern-day participants. Each family was assigned three 
      "convicts" and set various challenges throughout their stay in August last 
      year. The show's website said that "participants were challenged by 
      hunger, illness, extreme weather and homesickness". 
      But the spokeswoman refuted any suggestion that the show could have led to 
      the teenager's death, saying that the family came back nearly six months 
      ago and "were very positive about the experience". 
      "They had been living the life of a convict family, along with families 
      from Ireland and Australia, and were given a certain amount of provisions 
      to live on. If there had been any upset or distress they could have gone 
      home at any point. It's not Big Brother," she added, referring to the 
      Channel 4 reality show that returns to the screens next week. 
      The teenager, who had recently revealed she was a lesbian, had appeared 
      "happy and normal" in the days before her death, according to her family. 
      A postmortem examination will be carried out later this week. 
      Earlier this year, Najai Turpin, a contestant in the US boxing reality 
      show The Contender, shot himself just three weeks before the series was 
      due to be screened. The broadcaster NBC went ahead with the programme, 
      presented by Sylvester Stallone, and denied any responsibility. 
      A similar controversy also hit Sweden's Expedition: Robinson, which was 
      one of the earliest reality shows and in 1997 became the global hit 
      Survivor. Sinisa Savija, 34, committed suicide after becoming the first 
      contestant to be voted off the show, two months before it aired. 



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