A TV crew offers 12 ordinary people the chance to take part in the adventure of a lifetime. But there’s a catch. The audience knows everything but the contestants are kept in the dark. As the cameras roll, no questions are allowed. Split Screen: Thrill Seekers is a new 6 part series that exposes how a TV show left contestants struggling to trust what’s actually real.

Host Nick van der Kolk (Love + Radio) asks: does reality TV only succeed when it exploits those involved? He talks to the set designers, crew, and the contestants themselves to learn what it took to permanently distort their sense of reality.

Welcome to Split Screen, an examination of the utterly captivating, sometimes unsettling world of entertainment and pop culture. From reality TV gone awry, to the cult of celebrity, each season of Split Screen takes listeners on an evocative journey inside the world of showbiz. Ex-contestants, producers, and cultural critics uncover complicated truths behind TV’s carefully curated facades, and question what our entertainment reveals about us. Split Screen: sometimes reality is twisted.

More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/iVQ2kV5k

For years, players have been too afraid to talk about it. But now, the truth about a broom that almost destroyed curling is finally coming out. In Broomgate: A Curling Scandal, semi-professional curler and fully professional comedian John Cullen (Blocked Party) is exposing the unbelievable, never-before-told scandal that rocked the sport of curling. Yes, curling. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/rn6NmDQo

The controversial reality TV show known as ‘Kid Nation’, which borrowed its premise from Lord of the Flies, was cancelled shortly after its 2007 debut. Producers took 40 kids into a makeshift desert town to fend for themselves and create their own society. Was the series an opportunity to discover what kids are capable of? Or simply a ploy for ratings? With access to former ‘Kid Nation’ contestants, their families, and the show’s creators, culture journalist Josh Gwynn uncovers how this cult TV show became a lightning rod for an ongoing debate about the ethics of reality TV. Welcome to Split Screen, an examination of the utterly captivating, sometimes unsettling world of entertainment and pop culture. From reality TV gone awry, to the cult of celebrity, each season of Split Screen takes listeners on an evocative journey inside the world of showbiz. Ex-contestants, producers, and cultural critics uncover complicated truths behind TV’s carefully curated facades, and question what our entertainment reveals about us. Split Screen: sometimes reality is twisted. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/MBx1B_dt

Donald Trump takes the style, tactics, and issues straight from the right-wing radio playbook. The only question now is: Where does it go from here? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-flamethrowers-transcripts-listen-1.6852997