Reality television and the gamification of work

This essay is interested in the convergence of class politics and reality television. It uses a critical textual analysis to examine the CBS reality competition series, Tough as Nails, as a representation of the working class and the gamification of work. On the one hand, the first season of the series appears to celebrate working people at a time when workers were hailed as “essential” and “heroic” amidst global COVID-19 lockdowns. On the other hand, the program’s use of games, leaderboards, and timed activities in the workplace are characteristics of the “gamification” of work, a dubious management strategy widely used to increase productivity and improve employee morale. Unlike other reality television programs, there is a nascent working-class consciousness intrinsic to Tough as Nails that is complicated by a contest format that prioritizes interpersonal conflict and neoliberal varieties of meritocracy and resilience. As a result, the romanticization of the working class in Season 1 of Tough as Nails both reveals and conceals important messages of class politics and late capitalism at a pivotal historical moment.