To answer your question, cultural factors must be considered and the best example I can think of are the shows which have men and women as equal participants. This is fine for the western civilizations but in certain middle east and Asian countries, this concept would not work.
I would respectfully disagree with Annettes comment regarding people watching reality shows not having lives of their own. Television, regardless of the content, is for the purpose of entertaining an audience, and one of my favorites is "Bridezilla's". I'm aware that people on camera become performers and while some things filmed are real, the idea that people act like that all the time is not realistic and I don't think the average person believes they do.
Reality TV shows are no different than other types of TV programming, or even movies. They are pure entertainment and I'll be sure to let you know the next time I see a guy dressed as "Batman" out fighting crime.
