Article: REALITY, MINUS MIDWESTERNERS; This region is the most underrepresented in the business of reality TV, and stereotypes might be to blame.(NEWS)

Byline: Neal Justin; Staff Writer

Reality-based TV game shows are populated with temper tantrums, bug-eating contests and sexual trysts. But there's one thing much harder to spot: Midwesterners.

An examination of eight of the genre's biggest hits reveals that only about 12 percent of the contestant pool hails from the heartland, a region that holds nearly a quarter of the country's population. That easily makes the Midwest the most underrepresented area in the burgeoning business of reality TV.

And if you live in Minnesota, good luck seeing your neighbors. Our state provides only about 1 percent of all players.

John Rash, a ...

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