Reality television is a social experiment and interactions observed among contestants reflect a microcosm of real-life exchanges. In the present study, we inspected gossip in the eleventh season of Bigg Boss, an Indian reality show fashioned after UK’s Big Brother. Specifically, two independent raters coded the frequency of conversations, how many of them were gossip, who the targets were, and how much each contestant contributed to the exchange. The connotation, content, and purpose of gossip was investigated for the top three contestants and those who were evicted in earlier episodes. We found that the winners engaged in and were targets of more conversations than those evicted. Consistent with theories of group and sexual selection, women spoke more about physical appearance and reputation, and the only male contestant investigated discussed status and prestige more than other topics. Information sharing was primarily motivated by social comparisons and intrasexual competition, but not so much to compare groups. Limitations are discussed.
Intrasexual competition underlies sexual selection on male breeding coloration in the orangethroat darter,
Etheostoma spectabile