REALITY TV. Good or bad? According to the ratings, the public love some like Big Brother but don't care too much for others like Survivor.

But what are these programmes actually telling the nation's youth? Is the message that it's okay to behave exactly as you want to, however revolting or sexually promiscuous?

Karen Stephen reports.

I HAVE never really been a fan of Big Brother. However, when it first hit our screens a couple of years ago I found that Anna, Mel, Nasty Nick, Nicola and, the eventual winner, Craig did have something to offer the viewer.

They were relatively interesting -- save perhaps the first evictee, Sada -- delivered the occasional pearls of wisdom and actually possessed brains that seemed to be in proper working order.

And when Craig donated his prize money to help a young girl, well, faith in human nature was well and truly restored. Until he released a Christmas record that is.

Then came Big Brother 2 and I'm glad to say I missed this one completely, but I couldn't fail to notice "blinking" Helen because she constantly bagged many column inches in the national press.

Sadly, Reality TV didn't stop there. Survivor was another (we've already had one and two) and then came Eden and that one where couples had to try and get off with someone else -- so good I can't remember its name.

Oh, and don't forget that disgusting Holiday Reps which can only be described as soft porn, especially when those two teenage girls from London appeared on screen. To say they were liberal with their affections would be an understatement.

While Holiday Reps was described as "fun TV" I often found it vaguely disturbing. Here we had two young women who thought nothing of pole dancing in a nightclub with the very obvious absence of underwear.

This series was filmed in the Greek resort of Faliraki, and bearing in mind the recent alleged rape of two British women there plus the recent decision by Greek authorities to clamp down on the Brits' lewd behaviour, you have to ask about the message that particular programme was sending out.

And now we have Big Brother 3.

But before I discuss this latest, and most depressing piece of television ever, let us look at why this type of TV is so popular.

Of course we have the usual "so bad, it's good" and "completely addictive" excuses. But is this really what our viewing habits are about?

Do we really see a mirror image of the nation's youth in a dental nurse from London who doesn't even know where Kent is? Let us hope, for her patients' sake, that Jade's geography of the mouth is far superior then the one she possesses of her own country.

Her old schoolteachers must surely be watching each episode with bated breath, praying she won't reveal even more of her, quite remarkable, ignorance.

After all, she could give a school a bad name.

But WHY do these folk want to be holed up in a house, stuck on a desert island/tropical rainforest for weeks and have their every move -- nose picking, bodily functions, sexual activity, drunkenness and bitching -- shown on national TV?

"Everyone has five minutes of fame." So said Andy Warhol. And Professor Cary Cooper of UMIST heartily agrees.

"Of course this is what these people want -- they want to make their reputations in any way they can. But, despite its name tag, this is NOT Reality TV.

"It certainly doesn't mirror most people's real lives -- it is simply voyeurism by all of us. And low level voyeurism at that."

This seems to be true. But, as in Jade Goody's case, are people really happy at becoming the laughing stock of millions of people? What price fame?

"Sadly any price," says Prof Cooper. "But what is even more concerning is that these people are doing so much damage.

"The shows are watched by a predominantly young audience who take delight in seeing people do silly and stupid things they might do themselves -- occasionally.

"However, because TV is the vehicle by which most young people get their view of the world -- art, politics, current affairs, entertainment -- this type of TV is the lowest common denominator you can get."

Yet still they clamour to appear on television. But how far will it go? Where and when will the line be drawn?

Last week the housemates, and unfortunately the audience, were treated to Jade's striptease. She was taking part in a sort of strip poker game and while the others remained fully clothed, Jade quickly discarded various items of clothing due to her failure to grasp even the basics of general knowledge.

She thought peacocks have eyes in their feathers. She was all too soon completely naked.

We've already had to witness her crude sexual fumblings with a male housemate and seen others perform intimate massages on each other. What next?

Will Big Brother 4 show full-on sexual intercourse?

If so, I dread to see what happens in Big Brother 5.