Since An American Family, it had been a consistent and predictable consequence of reality television that cast members became famous, if only fleetingly. It was not star power of the sort one could pack up and sell elsewhere; it was the sort of celebrity Charles Van Doren had enjoyed before he was disgraced. But it was enough to pull viewers in and also to compensate the players. Indeed, as we’ve said, performers in these low-budget affairs were largely paid in attention.

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 841