Natalka Znak, controller of factual entertainment at ITV Productions and the executive producer of I'm a Celebrity and Love Island, is interviewed in today's Guardian.
This summer Znak did a Love Island blog for MediaGuardian in which reality TV came in for a fair amount of criticism from some posters.
In today's interview she defends what she does for a living, talking to interviewer Emine Saner:
'[Znak] is constantly accused of "dumbing down" television. "That's my favourite article," she says, pointing to a framed piece from the Daily Mail about those responsible for the "decline in standards". "There's Noel Edmonds, Keith Chegwin and me. But we're not pretending to be World in Action. People take reality TV too seriously. It's just entertainment, and people like it. I love it when people say I'm making shit TV."
Even so, can she excuse Temptation Island? This was a show in which young, attractive single people tried to get partners to cheat on each other . "I loved Temptation Island," she says. "It was fantastic." It wasn't, I say, it was horrid. "I'm actually quite a moral person. I don't like seeing sex or nudity. But Temptation Island was good. They were young couples and we were ..." Trying to break them up? "Testing the strength of their relationship. That was good fun. The couples who split up shouldn't have been together and we did them a favour."
Znak is also responsible for Love Island, the last series of which had dismal ratings. "Love Island was a good show," says Znak, and she sounds as if she means it. "It suffered from being scheduled halfway through Big Brother but, put on at a different time, it would have been a hit. I thought the content of it was fantastic." But will it be back next year? "I don't know about that."
She says reality shows are here to stay. "Some are better than others. We're not trying to change the world, we're trying to make people laugh and along the way you do see people undergo real emotional and personal journeys."
Many disagree. I read her a quote from the TV writer and producer Armando Iannucci, who Znak had tried to get on I'm a Celebrity. He said the people who make reality shows are "scum-smeared zombies with the brainpower of a blood orange and the imagination of a bin".
"You know what, he'll be on the show one day," she says. "It's like Janet Street Porter [who appeared in the fourth series]. She slagged off these shows until she realised: actually this is a phenomenon, this is something that people like watching and I'm mad to say they're all crap."
While she has her picture taken, I squint at the whiteboard. I make out the names Malcolm McLaren, radio DJ Toby Anstis and Lauren Booth, sister of Cherie. Bring on the trials.
· I'm a Celebrity ... starts on ITV on November 13'
