Global migration meets TV format adaptation: The post-Soviet diaspora,‘Whiteness’,and return migration in Dancing with the Stars (US) and Ukraine’s The Bachelor

Abstract

This article examines representations of the post-Soviet diaspora on US Dancing with the Stars and Ukraine’s version of the US Bachelor to show how their use of diasporic performers conflicts with narratives of national cohesion that are essential to the adaptation of reality TV formats to new markets. The first season of Холостяк starred an emigrant from Odessa who is also a regular on the US version of the British franchise Dancing with the Stars. Cast because his diasporic identity and expertise helped facilitate the adaptation of the two TV franchises, his transnationalism came into conflict with narratives of nationalism that are key to formatting. In an effort to appeal to assumed local audience preferences for conservative versions of national identification, the two shows reduced his post-Soviet identity to that of a ‘Ukrainian’ return migrant or a ‘white’ US immigrant, which also obscured the failures of each national project with regard to migration.