Survivor-style format and celebrity panellists in Canada Reads 2020

Although the panellists’ celebrity status doesn’t exclude them from being “astute readers,” Laura Moss notes that “the level of discussion rarely goes beyond character development, plot, or emotional response to the texts” (Moss 6). Instead, the show is predicated on its “Survivor-style format” which “cashes in on the combative element so prevalent in contemporary reality television formatting by pitting books and panellists against one another” so that the books often become simply “pawns in a game” (Fuller and Rehberg Sedo A Reading Spectacle 6; Moss 6). In their 2013 book Reading Beyond the Book, Danielle Fuller’s and DeNel Rehberg Sedo’s survey of readers in Canada indicated that the program’s “engagement with the culture of spectacle and celebrity threatens to obscure the producers’ nationalist project.” 

Reading the comments in the CBC’s Canada Reads Facebook group regarding Canada Reads 2020, we see similar concerns articulated online. For example, users like Lucette Barber and Shari Bronstein express dissatisfaction with the Survivor-style format and suggest new format options for the show. 

Lucette’s comment about the use of “strategic defence tactics” that leads to the elimination of the best books early in the series—a tactic that would give the panellists’ books a better chance at winning—speaks to the perceived lack of authenticity of panellists. Presumably, Lucette’s argument is that the panellists are more concerned with defending their own book than with selecting the best book as the winner. 

Shari Bronstein’s comment is in response to the heated discussions that occurred during the 2020 debates. Shari seems to suggest she would be more comfortable with someone with more literary authority being part of the debate, such as the authors of the books themselves and places the onus on the moderator, Ali Hassan, for not maintaining decorum throughout the debate.

User Lynn Gills-Lalone notes that the changes to the program due to COVID-19 may have contributed to the way this year’s program played out. She notes that she is disappointed in the “whole thing” this year and asks who selects the celebrity panellists to be debaters. Part of Lynn’s comments may refer to the panellists sometimes speaking over each other because of a lag in video streaming.

In response to Lynn’s comment, Carolyn King claims the Survivor-style format is the cause for the “combativeness” and suggests that Canada Reads is not a “real” debate. For Carolyn, the ability to debate well requires having an established background in debate and assumes a set of rules and guidelines associated with traditional debates to be followed by all panellists.

Similarly, user Linda Evans asks if there are “communication coaches on hand to disrupt the counterproductive patterns that are spoiling the conversation”.

Linda’s response is clearly gendered—which we’ve taken up in another blog post—and it also indicates that she perceives the celebrity panellists as lacking proper debate skills. 

These examples indicate that some members of the Facebook group continue to distrust and disapprove of the Survivor-style format and the use of celebrities as panellists in Canada Reads—a sentiment that has followed the program since its inception.

Fuller, Danielle and DeNel Rehberg Sedo. “A Reading Spectacle for the Nation: The CBC and “Canada Reads”. Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes, vol. 40 no. 1, 2006, p. 5-36. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jcs.2007.0004.

—. Reading Beyond the Book: The Social Practices of Contemporary Literary Culture. Routledge, 2013. 

Moss, Laura. “Canada Reads.” Canadian Literature, vol. 182, 2004, pp. 6–10.