At the moment it's hard to turn on a TV without being bombarded with faux reality shows like TOWIE, Geordie Shore or Made in Chelsea.
Full of fame-hungry wannabes desperate for exposure and willing to have their lives scripted by producers, the genre has spread through the channels like wildfire - and the sad thing is, it's very popular.
The latest offering, MTV's The Valleys, has been causing a bit of a stink closer to home, with what many feel is a total misrepresentation of people from the area.
The show sees nine young people from the valleys re-located to Cardiff, where they share a luxury flat as they embark on new careers and pretty lurid social lives.
But such is the disgust among a group of writers hailing from the area, that they have clubbed together to present a night of theatre in response to the show.
Cardiff-based theatre company Dirty Protest is behind the event, dubbed The Real Valleys, and has commissioned the seven writers to create a series of new short plays based on their hometowns.
The Dirty Protest team. Photo: Allie Saunders
They have been given four weeks to complete the task, which will be presented to the public at the Bunkhouse in Cardiff on Thursday 25 October. The plays can be anywhere from three to 10 minutes long.
Among those taking part is Aberdare-born Tim Price, Olivier-award nominated playwright and co-founder of Dirty Protest.
He said: "I'm delighted Dirty Protest is able to offer an alternative view of the valleys than MTV's crass, sneering and exploitative show.
"For anyone who knows the valleys' history, this is yet another example of big business exploiting the people of this region. Market forces have robbed the valleys of all its resources and the only thing we have left is our pride. And MTV is trying to take that."
Tim said he feels the reputation of the area is being held up to ridicule and will be tainted by the events of the series, so he hopes the artists can attempt to reconstruct some of that reputation.
"I have nothing against the people in the show. In fact, if someone exploited, manipulated and commodified me in my 20s I'm sure I wouldn't look too dissimilar.
"The people who need to be ashamed of themselves are the producers, who think the only thing young people from the valleys are good for is humiliating.
"Dirty Protest will host a night packed with talented writers, actors and directors all from the valleys, and we hope to show MTV and its fans that life in the valleys is more nuanced, complex and rich than MTV's artless effort."
Tim is currently primed for the start of his new series Switch starring Lacey Turner and Hannah Tointon, which starts on ITV2 this Monday 15 October.
He will be joined on the night by the author Rachel Trezise from Treorchy, who won the Dylan Thomas Prize for her collection of short stories Fresh Apples.
She was so riled up by the show that it has prompted her to write her first play.
She said: "I decided to take part because I think it's important that storytellers and creatives do as much as they can at this time to represent the parts of the valleys being neglected by MTV.
"There's plenty of talent and positivity here and we need to shout about it."
"The valleys are my own corner of the earth. They've taught me every little thing, horrible and beautiful, that I know about the world."
She will be joined by Tredegar poet and playwright Patrick Jones - brother of Manic Street Preachers' Nicky Wire - actor and writer Alun Saunders from Neath, Kelsey Richards from Maesteg and writer Carmen Stephens, from Lluest in the Garw Valley, whose new play The Utah Bride from 1.618 Theatre is touring Wales in November.
Actor and writer Sam Bees, who was born and lives in Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley, is the last writer on the list.
He said he felt inspired to sign up because he didn't want to see his birthplace and the place where his family lives turned into a national joke.
He said: "I have only ever seen my hometown as a wonderful, awe-inspiring place, rich in history. And I have felt privileged to have such beauty on my doorstep from which to draw inspiration for my work.
"And although I may be looking at it from an insider's point of view, I don’t feel that we have been fairly represented by MTV."
The plays will be performed at the Bunkhouse, Cardiff on Thursday 25 October. There will be two performances at 7.30pm and 9pm. Tickets cost £5. For information or tickets email info@dirtyprotesttheatre.co.uk.
