“I tried to be as honest as possible. Yes, I’m from Mexico, I’m a model and I’m 21. Tom, I like spending time with you and kissing you. I love men and I love being a woman. But I’m not a woman. I was born a man.”
Miriam Rivera, then barely 21 years old, dropped a bombshell in 2003 with these words at the end of the reality show There’s something about Miriam in which six men competed for her hand in a villa in Ibiza. Tom Rooke, the winning contestant who was counting on a check for £10,000 and a sea voyage on a luxury yacht with the handsome Mexican model by his side, was transfixed. He had fallen in love with her.
During her unveiling you can see the five losers of the reality show in the background. First laughing out loud, for the cameras. As if Miriam wasn’t a person with feelings. They became furious afterwards. One of the participants was a martial arts trainer. He broke off part of the set out of anger. He also chased one of the producers. Once back in the UK, all participants decided to file a lawsuit against the production house. To demand moral damages and to stop the broadcasting of the television program.
Positive story promised
The entire wrong design of the show and the life story of Miriam Rivera is now the subject of a three-part documentary Miriam: Death of a reality star. “We all felt cheated and wronged by the program makers who wanted to mislead us,” participant Toby Green told MailOnline this week. “We all felt like we had been manipulated.”
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Many participants laughed at the revelation that Rivera was a trans woman. — © Channel4
The show is still on TV and even attracts more than a million viewers. The participants will receive compensation. The trial saw Miriam Rivera further put through the wringer by the tabloids and the British public. As if she had come up with the idea, while producer Remy Blumenfeld of Brighter Pictures, a subsidiary of Endemol, had actually promised her “a social experiment about gender and sexuality, full of positivity”. But that was anything but the program. “The premise was not a celebration of the lives of transgender people. It was designed to provoke disgust in the winning contestant, who discovered his dream date had a penis,” wrote the British Medical Journal.
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Rivera had an unhappy life after the series. — © Channel4
Participant Toby Green has remained anonymous for years since the show, but wants to help Miriam Rivera’s family through his testimony. “TV shows always try to push the boundaries, but this was completely unacceptable. The show had an impact on everyone, but especially on Miriam, who ultimately took her own life as a result. I testify for the sake of her family.”
Broken
That family is furious. “My sister was exploited and then abandoned,” Ariel, Miriam’s youngest brother, also told the British newspaper The Guardian this week. “Miriam was a tough girl, but the ending of the show broke her. I really think they used her. The boys received more help than Miriam.” Ariel talks about the fact that the psychologist who was quickly flown in only took care of the participants.
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Probably also the reason that her life after the degrading show can be described as anything but beautiful. Miriam Rivera was famous for a very short time and was allowed to participate in the Australian version of Big Brother, for example, but she soon became a complete nobody. She turned to drugs, according to her friends to combat post-traumatic stress disorder that she suffered from the dating show. In 2007, she fell four floors from the balcony of her apartment under suspicious circumstances. She fought for her life for a moment. Still later, Miriam disappeared from the face of the earth. According to her own statement, because she was kidnapped and abused as a sex slave. Totally depressed, she eventually returns to her mother in Mexico. She was found dead there on February 5, 2019. She was barely 38 years old. The police ruled her death a suicide, although not everyone is so sure. Some talk about murder. In The Guardian, her childhood friend Real believes it was a symbolic murder of Miriam. “It’s the fame that killed her. She had gone from a big star back to a small town.” There’s something about Miriam is no longer visible.
If you are thinking about suicide and need a conversation, you can contact the Suicide Line on number 1813 or via www.zelfbloed1813.be.