I felt bad for Paris after reading At Home with the Furys.

As a massive fan of reality TV, I tune in religiously to my favourite shows and take joy in the fashion, the fallouts, the fun, and the addressing of hard-hitting topics. But lately, I can't help but feel uncomfortable when I see a recurring trope in the genre: the mistreatment of women by the person who claims to love them the most.

This feeling reached a peak when I watched Netflix's At Home with the Furys. In one particular scene, Tyson Fury returns home from a work trip and immediately throws his coat over his wife Paris' face and informs her he's going to see the dog instead. Paris' face drops and she quietly returns to the kitchen. It's painful to watch her humiliation.

Throughout the series, we regularly see Paris treated poorly rather than with love and respect. The couple are open about how Tyson's mental health can impact his behaviour, so it's complicated. We can't judge them for it, but we can worry about how millions of viewers may consider this kind of behaviour to be normal.

Thankfully, more and more of us are realising that the small screen romances we once saw as aspirational were in fact the very opposite. My TikTok is full of grown-up women posting old reality TV clips in hindsight and realising how toxic some of these relationships were.

Mark Wright banning Lauren Goodger from his events, Kourtney Kardashian having her weight jibed at by Scott Disick, Spencer Matthews shouting at Louise Thompson, and Nick Lachey telling Jessica Simpson off for spending her own money - all of these moments weren't funny. They were cruel.

I understand that reality TV needs drama to survive and thrive, but the balance needs to be urgently readdressed. Is it really entertainment to see a woman get treated badly in their own home? People behind the scenes need to do more to help the cause, whether it be leaving a few of these uncomfortable moments on the cutting room floor, providing guidance from charities such as Women's Aid, or giving male participants a crash course on how to speak respectfully to women.

Reality TV - and society - needs to treat women better.

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