Ridiculousness writers call out MTV and Rob Dyrdek over poor pay and abuse

Last Updated on September 7, 2023

There’s a running joke that the Grown Ups movies have kept the lights on at TBS since it first premiered. The same could easily be said for Ridiculousness and MTV, with reports that the network (still officially Music Television but that’s more of a technicality) uses the clip show to fill up more than 100 hours of programming each week. Taking a quick glance at the schedule, it will run from 5 p.m. EST on Sunday to 6:00 a.m. EST on Monday. So, yes, the writers – and, yes, there are writers – are overworked and underpaid, something they are no longer willing to keep quiet about.

One of the show’s contributors, Ally Maynard – who has nearly 300 episode credits to her name – recently said, “‘Unscripted’ television is very much scripted and our writing staff is fed up with being abused and underpaid by Paramount, MTV and Rob Dyrdek. We produce the most profitable show currently on TV and yet we are paid 60% less than WGA writers that work for America’s Funniest Home Videos.” To put another numerical value on just how much these writers are doing, Ridiculousness has over 1,200 episodes.

As such, the writers on Ridiculousness have planned to unionize, with Deadline reporting that the majority have filed ballots with the National Labor Relations Board to do so. Their chief concerns in this case concern their low wages, residuals and the lack of original programming for them to move to outside of shows involving people getting hit in the nads by wayward skateboards.

This would align the Ridiculousness writers in the same camp as the Writers Guild of America, who have expressed some similar disgust with how studios and networks are treating them. That strike is now four months strong.

For two consecutive years, Rob Dyrdek was nominated for Best Host at the MTV Movie & TV Awards for his work on Ridiculousness. He lost to Kelly Clarkson and RuPaul.

Do you hope to see writers on “unscripted” shows like Ridiculousness get their chance to unionize? Do you think their work isn’t taken as seriously as scripted programming? Give us your take below.