Miriam: Death of a Reality Star director wanted to ‘give a voice’ to late trans trailblazer Miriam Rivera

The director of Miriam: Death of a Reality Star has revealed the reason behind her making the Channel 4 documentary, which explores the life of trans TV star Miriam Rivera and the impact of British reality TV series, There’s Something About Miriam.

One of the most controversial reality shows in British history, There’s Something About Miriam, which aired on Sky One in 2004, followed six men competing for the affection of the Mexican model.

In the final episode, Miriam chose the contestant who had impressed her the most, before it was revealed that she was a trans woman – to the visible shock of the contestants… and the tabloids.

While all six contestants settled a lawsuit, having accused the show of psychological and emotional damage, Rivera, who had gone on appear on other reality shows, including Big Brother Australia, was found dead in her apartment in 2019.

Authorities ruled her death a suicide but her husband maintained foul play was involved.

Earlier this year, filmmaker Luned Tonderai released Miriam: Death of a Reality Star, exploring Rivera’s early life and her suspicious death, how the reality show made it to air, and the impact it had on the model’s life.

Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, after she was included as one of this year’s BAFTA breakthrough cohort, Tonderai explained that she wanted the British public “to feel compassion” for the star who had been made out to be “a joke”.

To tell Rivera’s story sensitively, she first reached out to her family and friends.

“Miriam’s family had never openly talked about [her] life and felt so disappointed with There’s Something About Miriam,” Tonderai said. “They felt she hadn’t been celebrated and that her story hadn’t been told.”

Considering how the star had been treated by the TV industry previously, her family initially had “a lot of suspicion” about the documentary series, and Tonderai had to “prove that what we wanted to do was to understand Miriam’s story,” with their help.

“There’d been one narrative about Miriam, and there hadn’t been any truth. We… felt this was an opportunity to give her the voice that she never had,” Tonderai continued.

“She was an absolute talent and that wasn’t recognised at the time. She knew it but she was judged. To really understand her journey and her trans journey – that journey is full of rejection – there wasn’t anything I felt I could leave out.”

The documentary series goes on to explore “questions around her death, which, for her family, are still really big”.

While Miriam Rivera is widely recognised as reality TV’s first trans star – Nadia Almada would go on to win Big Brother just a few months later – she is often overlooked in the mainstream because of the circumstances in which she found fame.

“People just thought she was a joke and they that she was nobody. She was completely underestimated,” Tonderai said, reflecting on why the public are keen to forget the way Rivera was treated.

“I wanted to draw in a mainstream audience to a subject that they would never normally come to.”

Tonderai admitted that while people might watch the documentary for the history of the initial scandal, she hoped they would end up having empathy for Rivera. “You’d have to be absolutely heart of stone not to feel compassion,” she insisted.

Tonderai is one of 42 industry creatives listed in 2024’s BAFTA Breakthrough cohort, an initiative backed by Netflix, which supports stars and creators at a pivotal moment in their TV, film or game career.

You can watch Miriam: Death of a Reality Star on Channel 4’s streaming service now.

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