Rise and Fall - The Romanticisation of Capitalism

Channel 4 needs a new reality show. Having axed the criminally underrated show, The Circle and BBC’s The Traitors in everyone’s minds, they need a competitor. From the team who brought us The Traitors, they’ve got something new for us to devour. Whether we like it or not.

Rise and Fall takes place in an “iconic building” in the beating heart of London. Sixteen strangers must decide who rules them in the penthouse and who grafts in the basement. I do sincerely hope that the irony is not lost on you, dear reader, as this show is airing during one of the worst cost-of-living crises in forty years.

But perhaps that’s the allure of it. The host, Greg James, makes it clear that the plights of the players in this society can change. Which feels like so close to getting the point but it’s just out of reach.

Straight off the bat, this show feels different from others that have come before it. The Circle was set in an apartment building, where popularity was the name of the game. But that had a general sense of anonymity because everything was chosen by behind a screen, and people could choose to be themselves or a catfish. The Traitors—all hail Claudia Winkleman—is a huge game of wink murder, with the murdering done behind closed doors, with the Traitors themselves being anonymous. The Traitors is set in a castle in Scotland, which gives it the air of fantasy at the same time.

Rise and Fall feels too close to the discomforts of reality for it to feel like escapism. London being the backdrop also makes this painfully apparent. London is the place to make it, the place with the money, opportunity, and resource whereas other places not so much…

Greg James says in his opening that “unlike the real world anyone can have power… the gap between the top and bottom has never been closer”, I shudder. He even mentions power struggles, naming groups of people that have gone on strike for better conditions and pay, and the monarchy. It’s meant to be light but it just lands sour. Thankfully for Channel 4, there’s no mention of political leaders.

The players begin to arrive and they each have their confessional segments like in Big Brother or Love Island. One describes herself as manipulative, another is a “born leader”, another admits to “never having power and has always worked under somebody else” but they’re there to prove to themselves and others that their capable of this. Many of the players are CEOs or Entrepreneurs and other players are builders, nurses, or postal workers.

The elevator is the abstract controller of everyone’s fates. It can take you up to a luxurious penthouse or bring you down to a concrete, barren basement. James asks two of the entrepreneurial players how they see themselves getting to the penthouse or a particularly pointed question of if they would ever stab someone in the back. That player replies that they have stepped on people, only if those people weren’t aware of it. James then describes how the Rulers in the penthouse will make all the decisions and the Grafters will be doing all the hard work. “Strategies and alliances are everything… you will need help from other people”.

Glimmers of the players’ true intentions come to the surface as they all must decide who rules them but there’s only six spaces in the elevator. The first few Rulers are voted in by the other players, democracy at its finest, deciding on the skills the players have in their daily lives. The nurse says the decision must be made quickly because in a medical environment, the patient could die. Bleak.

He gets chosen as the first spot. Another player, who had described themselves as manipulative earlier, goes for the same tactic, saying they look after “people less fortunate than them” in their job at a non-profit and that they “cater to the people that don’t have much”. They are also chosen to be a Ruler. However, this democracy devolves as people begin to nominate themselves and step into the elevator without discussion, citing that the players don’t know each other well enough to make these types of decisions or that they simply don’t wish to work.

This quickly ignites the displeasure of players that believe Rulers should be voted in by the people they’re ruling. I’m looking at you, Rishi. Another player also voices their displeasure citing that some of the Rulers took the choice—the power—away from everyone, and thus the Ruler has lost their respect.

The penthouse is shiny and plush, complete with bar and hot tub. Two of the Rulers, Matt and Cheryl discuss how they feel about being in the penthouse. Their language is fascinating, bringing up living on a council estate, being used to living at “the bottom” and now they’ve been given the opportunity to live in the penthouse, it doesn’t feel “like them” or most interestingly, they feel like a cheat.

The basement, by contrast, is grey with lockers, hard cots to sleep in, and dinner in a communal pot on the stove. One of the players described it being like prison. That idea is compounded when the Grafters realise they need to wear orange overalls. The disparagement of the two environments and roles remind me of the Hunger Games, with the districts and the Capitol. Clearly, the resemblance of the Hunger Games isn’t lost on producers either because they play the Everybody Wants to Rule the World cover by Lorde, which featured in Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which is about the beginnings of rebellion in the country of Panem. For this show to air during the Hunger Games renaissance that’s happening on some corners of the internet is also baffling.

The Rulers are then told they must go to the Red Room, where they’re to make decisions and how most of the game will be played. Rulers are the only people who can win the prize money, but it’s only the Grafters who can make money for the prize fund. Sound familiar?

The whole thing oozes with dystopian imagery, as the Rulers make their address on a TV in the basement. The address is bad. Or it was edited that way. She starts by reiterating she’s above the Grafters and the prize fund she has possible access to is at £0, following it up by saying: “…Which means you’re going to have to put in the work to build it up. Only a Ruler can win the prize fund… Works starts tomorrow. Food and uniform have been provided.” The screen statics out.

The Rulers compliment her on her compassion of the speech and that she’s a natural. I’ve never disagreed with something more.

Immediately, her speech is too personal, compounding the us/them mentality in the Grafters’ minds. The Grafters’ at once call her a “bitch.” And now they have a target.

The camera cuts back to the Rulers who are having a chat about how it felt to be in the Red Room. Words like empowerment or responsibility come up but one of them says that it felt like being the President. The one who gives the address mentions that the Rulers have a responsibility to the Grafters to give them a quality of life and that they understand their plight otherwise they’ll become unmotivated to build the money.

The Grafters are woken up by a siren blaring. They discuss the bland food offerings and one of the Entrepreneurial (in real life) players, Ali, questions whether he would actually do the task if the siren blares again. This rubs other players up the wrong way. He’s very resistant to his position as a Grafter, implying that because of his job as a restaurateur, he doesn’t like the communal kitchen, bedroom and showers.

The first work shift is announced by the elevator and they’re electricians that must fix a power line. If the electrical line is broken for more than 5 seconds, they fail the shift. The Rulers give another address on how many shifts the Grafters will complete, five shifts equal £15000. Though this address is met with doubt, with players making it clear of their distaste for the rulers viewing them as insincere.

If you think it couldn’t get any worse, oh it can. The Grafters must hold up the connectors to complete the current, except the Rulers watch the players get electric shocks at random intervals. This leads to them deciding between being merciful or making them do it again. They choose the money. The Grafters complete another shift. The Rulers discuss whether they should do it again. This creates friction quickly, which them disagreeing on what they should do, be compassionate or be ruthless. The word greedy is thrown out at the entire room but Ramona, who’s a CEO in real life, becomes defensive and presses the button on her own. She stands, muttering that they can finish the task, but I think she’s convincing herself of it. They complete it, but only just. Ramona uses the £6000 they allotted as justification for her actions.

The Rulers, back in the penthouse, decompress and debrief on the day. Some people praise Ramona but others criticize her for her actions. This gets heated quickly. In her confessional, Ramona exclaims that Rachel and Rishika need to fall.

Ali, a Grafter, doesn’t wait for a debrief with the rest of his group. He decides very quickly that he’s leaving. As a restaurateur, he has that option to just leave, knowing he’s fine without winning the prize fund when there’s other players that are in this game to win because they need it more than he does.

The Rulers are told they have the opportunity to reward the Grafters for their hard work as it might motivate them in the next task. They quickly come to a unanimous decision. The Grafters, on the receiving end, get their reward and popular opinion of Ramona changes within the group. The reward itself, from a viewer’s perspective, is pitiful. There’s a chicken leg, three olives, a scrap of salmon, a cake and a small bottle of Bellini. Give the dog a bone. It feels like a farce.

It's time for one of the Ruler’s to fall. Every two days the Rulers must vote each other out of the penthouse, while the Grafters watch on through their TV. The voting process is practically the same as the Traitors. Strengths, weaknesses and skills are all discussed, but the tide turns as some of the Rulers believe Ramona too ruthless for the game. But as the Grafters watch on, they say they respect Ramona for pushing them to get the extra money, but this feels grating for me as it reads as if they’re pleased to be exploited.

Cheryl defends Ramona’s actions, stating that she’s inspired by her. Prince, tells Cheryl that she’ll go which ever way the wind blows if that means an alliance and she’s upset by the accusation, saying that he’s misjudged her. Ramona speaks again and states that she’s for the people and the entire process. It sounds like a campaign speech. They all begin talking over one another and Matt stops the conversation from escalating.

They’re called to vote. There’s nothing anonymous and they must justify their vote. Two for Rachel, two for Ramona, one for Cheryl. Matt has the deciding vote but it cuts into a cliff-hanger. One Grafter will rise to the penthouse in an anonymous vote.

Channel Four know what they’re doing. If an average viewer isn’t interested by politics, a show like Big Brother or the Traitors is the possible way to make them take notice in what’s happening in the world. There’s no subtext in this show. Everything is laid bare and plain. The thing that worries me, is that it could glamourise what people up and down the country are experiencing: we can’t afford rent, energy bills, food. Everything is skyrocketing and the government aren’t doing enough to help us because they’re too concerned with reaping the reward of our efforts. If you do begin watching this show, I implore you to be critical of how you consume this show. I promise this isn’t happening in a vacuum. Honestly, I don’t know how to feel about this show, it gnaws at the pit of my stomach but I can’t stop watching with morbid curiosity.

May the odds be ever in our favour.

Rise and Fall, Channel Four, Weekdays at 10pm

If this has interested you in deep analyses of reality TV, I recommend the video essay Love Island: A Flirtation with Surveillance by Broey Deschanel on YouTube.