The Premise of
Boot Camp
This reality show follows the journey of five hip-hop couples who move into one mansion in LA to save their relationships. In a ten day, ten episode experience known as Marriage Boot Camp led by Dr. Ish and Divorce Court's Judge Lynn Toler, each couple identifies the key areas of their relationship that need work. They focus their efforts on fixing those issues during their time at camp. Each day during their quest to fix their issues, they participate in group exercises designed to teach them healthy relationship skills surrounding typical problem areas for couples that also reveal the truths about them, their partners, and their relationships as a whole. These exercises tackle identifying issues, blame, jealousy and needs, fighting, secrets and outside opinions, communication, sex and intimacy, childhood trauma, the past versus the future, and making the big decision; By the ring ceremony on day ten, each person has to decide to leave with their partner or go their separate ways.
Why Marriage Boot Camp:
Hip Hop Edition?
By Kyra Williams
I've always watched this franchise and many other reality shows for fun, but I never actually tried to analyze the benefit of these shows. I know that the nature of reality tv is to create and capture drama to maintain viewership. But, I also know that Marriage Boot Camp in particular is centered around the serious work of immersive couple's counseling and saving relationships. So, I thought it'd be interesting to gauge the learning that actually happens during this show for these couples aiming to change the fate of their relationships with the tools they gain from this experience. My Learning in the Wild project for my Foundations of Learning Science masters course served as the perfect opportunity to do so. Also, as someone looking to create immersive learning experiences for Black womxn and girls, I look forward to analyzing the cultural relevance of the exercises designed for the cast and the impact of representation that a Black counselor and judge has on the participation of this all Black cast.
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To have the most beneficial research experience with this show, I chose season 14 to rewatch because it stuck out to me as a season that was less staged for reality tv than the others. Over this fall semester, I conducted an extensive research process where I watched ten episodes of the regular season plus a secrets revealed episode, all 43 minutes each. As I watched to focus on the constructivism and situativity learning lenses, I took field notes with time stamps that outlined notable quotes, house dynamics, exercises, and my thoughts as things unfolded. In the end, I created an over 40 page document to reference. Here's what I aim to answer through these lenses: While the the premise of the show is to provide these couples with the skills to decide if they'll stay together after boot camp instead of promising a fixed relationship in ten days, does learning really happen in this reality television setting for this goal to be achieved? How does this learning happen or fail to happen in the ten days allotted for boot camp? How does the group dynamic of the house impact the learning necessary for these couples to make the decision that’ll ultimately make or break their relationships?
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In this cite you will find bios of each cast member including the co-hosts, key findings of how constructivism and situativity are implemented into this learning environment, a break down of each exercise of boot camp and the issues those exercises were designed to represent, a look into the learning journeys of two couples (or lack thereof), a conceptual framework of how learning occurs at boot camp, and a reflection that includes next steps I would take if I were to continue this research process.
