Mira Luoti trial renews scrutiny of reality TV safety

A trial over an alleged sexual assault during reality TV filming has renewed questions about production companies’ responsibility for participants’ safety, Yle investigative reporters Johanna Mattinen and Jaakko Mäntymaa write.

The case at the Western Uusimaa District Court concerns events during filming of the reality show Celebrity Survivors in 2016. Musician Mira Luoti has told the court that she was left alone overnight in the Nuuksio forest with mixed martial artist Makwan Amirkhani, whose behaviour she described as threatening.

According to the charge, Amirkhani forced Luoti into a sexual act during the night, after which she fled into the forest. Amirkhani has firmly denied the charge.

Show host Patrick Degerman told the court he was called to the scene because Amirkhani had “lost it”. Degerman said he encountered him in the forest holding an axe and wearing wet white underwear. Luoti was frightened and crying, Degerman testified. She told him, he said, that Amirkhani had masturbated and she had run away. Filming resumed the following day.

The trial has prompted discussion about sexual violence against women and appropriate conduct in court. It has also raised the question of how Warner Bros, the production company, safeguarded Luoti’s wellbeing and safety.

It is not the first time the safety of reality TV participants has come under public scrutiny. In 2021, Yle’s MOT programme published an investigation based on interviews with 36 participants from Temptation Island Finland, Big Brother Finland and Au Pairs, as well as a review of participant contracts.

Interviewees described mental health symptoms that emerged after filming, broken promises and manipulation. They said participants’ mental health was not properly assessed beforehand. Mira Ahola, who appeared on Temptation Island, said she probably would not have joined had such an assessment been carried out.

Participants also said producers did not always keep their promises. Cameras could continue recording when they were supposed to be off, and information shared in confidence could be used or disclosed. Some said production companies steered contestants who were in vulnerable situations, with exhaustion and the availability of alcohol making them easier to influence.

The investigation also uncovered reports of violence on Au Pairs, a Yle-commissioned programme in which young Finns were placed with families. One participant said she saw a host father hit a child with a spatula and a clothes hanger, and that the family used cannabis regularly. She also said she was encouraged to hit the children.

The programme’s production company declined to comment on individual families, saying that “cultural differences” in child-rearing could lead to “unexpected situations”.

MOT’s interviews were unusual at the time, as participants had largely stayed silent about problems behind the scenes. Their contracts could require lifelong confidentiality, with penalties of tens of thousands of euros for breaking the terms.

Several interviewees said they were left to cope on their own after filming and later received diagnoses including depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and social phobia. Four said they had experienced suicidal thoughts during or after a programme.

Some practices have since changed. Temptation Island Finland has said publicly that it hired a psychologist to support participants during filming. Over time, the production company also began offering three or four therapy sessions after filming.

Reality TV formats of this kind partly depend on putting people in extreme conditions and watching what happens. Contestants are pushed into situations that can produce conflict, while many are separated from their usual routines and surroundings and have their phones and computers taken away, limiting contact with people close to them.