The one unflattering personality trait every reality star MUST have

Leading reality TV psychologist reveals the one unflattering personality trait every contestant MUST have to get cast on a show

A leading psychologist has revealed the one personality trait required in order to be cast on a reality TV show.

Mark Mathieson, who has worked on shows like The Bachelor and SAS Australia, said that most reality TV participants are hedonistic and suffer from grandiosity. 

‘There typically is a fairly strong element of hedonism,’ he explained on the Back From Reality podcast.

Revealed: A top reality TV psychologists in the industry has revealed the one personality trait that almost every contestant needs to be cast on a show. (Pictured: Justin Lacko)

‘If I was to pick one element on a personality profile that I quite often use, that comes back consistently slightly higher than the rest of the population, it’s a term we call grandiosity,’ he explained.

‘Defined, basically means the capacity to think that you’re slightly better at everything than everybody else,’ he continued.

‘So arrogance, if you want to call it that. Egotistical. You’ve got to want to see yourself on TV. If you desperately didn’t want to see yourself on TV you probably wouldn’t go on a reality TV show.’

'So arrogance, if you want to call it that. Egotistical. You've got to want to see yourself on TV,' psychologist Mark Mathieson explained. (Pictured: Abbie Chatfield)

‘So arrogance, if you want to call it that. Egotistical. You’ve got to want to see yourself on TV,’ psychologist Mark Mathieson explained. (Pictured: Abbie Chatfield)

Mark has had a very successful career consulting on reality shows, including The Bachelor franchise.

He’s also worked on Australian Survivor, Farmer Wants a Wife, Australia’s Got Talent, and Love Island Australia.

Most recently, Mark worked on Channel Seven’s SAS Australia.

Hard worker: Mark has worked on  Australian Survivor, Farmer Wants a Wife, Australia's Got Talent, and Love Island Australia. (Pictured: Eden Dally and Erin Barnett)

Hard worker: Mark has worked on  Australian Survivor, Farmer Wants a Wife, Australia’s Got Talent, and Love Island Australia. (Pictured: Eden Dally and Erin Barnett) 

He even worked on two seasons of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, even though the show casts celebrities and not regular people.

Speaking to the Back From Reality podcast, Mark said that the best reality casts are ‘diverse’ and feature different personality types and people of different ages and backgrounds.

‘We’re not really looking for one type of personality, quite often they want a range of personalities because people are interested in the interactions to see how that loud, aggressive, bubbly person gets on with the quiet, withdrawn shy person,’ he said.

Success: Most recently, Mark worked on Channel Seven's SAS Australia. (Pictured: Arabella Del Busso)

Success: Most recently, Mark worked on Channel Seven’s SAS Australia. (Pictured: Arabella Del Busso)