Critics of weight loss reality shows often present the contestants as victims of commodification and exploitation without any form of agency. This paper seeks to contest this one-sided view of such shows. It draws on interviews with the producers and 19 contestants in the first season of a dance reality show in Ghana, the Di Asa show, as well as recorded video performances online. We argue that indeed the show was organised in a manner that commodified the contestants for purposes of improving the ratings of the private television station that hosted the show. However, to read these contestants purely as commodified objects misses half the story. We demonstrate that these contestants participated in the show with parallel motives to that for which the producers created the show, and were successful in their endeavours. They thus engaged in what we call subversive commodification, a situation where the object of commodification actively takes part in the commodification process to gain benefits that accrue solely to them and not the subject of commodification.

减肥现实的批评者经常表明，参赛者没有任何形式的代理就成为商品和剥削的受害者。本文试图对这种表演的这种单方面观点提出异议。它借鉴了加纳舞蹈真人秀第一季，迪阿萨秀中的制片人和19名参赛者的采访，以及在线录制的视频表演。我们认为，该节目的组织方式确实可以使参赛者变得轻松，以提高主办该节目的私人电视台的收视率。但是，仅将这些参赛者看做是经过修饰的物品，就错过了故事的一半。我们证明了这些参赛者以与制作人创建节目的动机相同的动机参加了该节目，并且在他们的努力中取得了成功。