Chastened by its many legal dramas, ensuing media criticism, and the suggestion that it has encouraged an entire generation of young girls to think of pregnancy as a shortcut to reality-TV stardom, simply because of flimsy empirical evidence that they are doing exactly that, MTV’s 16 & Pregnant has avowed to cultivate a more refined, “affluent” cast of teenagers who have derailed their lives, in hopes that this will no longer “make [MTV] look as bad.” This means dropping two cast members at the last minute—one because she reportedly got pregnant again after filming began, the other because she “falsely represented herself” (Maybe by using a pillow?)—and instead recruiting a higher class of pregnant teens that have been described as “all-American,” including two high-school cheerleaders from wealthy families. The ease with which these expectant moms’ affluence allows them to assimilate their pregnancies into their everyday, affluent lives will thus surely make the show free of further controversy, as if there’s one social group that teenage girls don’t want to emulate, it’s rich cheerleaders.
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