At the beginning of the article "Reality Television: a Neoliberal Theater of Suffering," the casting process of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is outlined by McCarthy. Yet undocumented by there series are the repercussions this "neoliberal public service" has on the participants. For several of the series' subjects, the happiness brought on by new home was short lived. For a variety of reasons the extravagant customized houses were put on the market or foreclosed on.
Some contestants, including the Tutweiler family, began to feel unwanted and uncomfortable in their neighborhood as a result of their good fortune. The level of envy that was produced as a product of the Extreme Makeover is not implausible. In "Emotions, Imagination and Consumption," Illouz quotes Zeev's description of envy as "an emotion whose chief concern is inequality," yet this inequality is more strongly felt amongst people of the same class level. Illouz provides the very relevant example that "a member of the middle class is far more likely to be envious of the glamorous vacation or beautiful home purchased by his /her next door neighbor than the 25-bedroom castle in Provence purchased by the multi-millionaire CEO of a powerful company" (Illouz 391). For the Tutweiler family, the desire to remain in the house did not outweigh the emotional impact of the rejection of their community, for a "house isn't what makes you happy" (source). In this situation "unhappiness" may not be the "explanation [for] social deviation and inequality," but rather the result of it.
While some families felt community abandonment, others merely continued to suffer from unfortunate circumstances that made them perfect candidates for the show in the first place. They refinanced their new schmancy homes for temporary monetary gain, but fail to be afford the loan payments. Attempts to sell the homes typically fail due to their high values in primarily low income neighborhoods. Sadly, foreclosure is often the result in these situations. The "privilege" that has been granted to these subjects as an "economic award akin to compensatory damages with the rehabilitation of the
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