What are the challenges of recording sound on reality TV shows?

What are the challenges of recording sound on reality TV shows?

Richard Hall (Reality TV Producer) gives expert video advice on: How do producers plan shoots for reality shows?; How are hidden cameras disguised in reality shows? and more...

Sound especially became an issue on reality shows that are shot on the beach, where people aren't wearing much in the way of clothing. You know the little pack that you want to put on people's belts which is a transmitter/receiver for audio for the microphone? On the other hand, there happen to be creative audio ways, like little necklace mics and stuff like that for when people are wearing bathing suits. You can't boom everything; you can't have fixed microphones positions and then have people turn away. There is a wired classic mic, like in news or documentary; people would have a mic that would be wired right into the camera. But that's very difficult to do in reality TV. You need to have that flexibility of the person turning in any direction, and variable depending on what they are wearing - if they going to submerge themselves in water, any of those things. How physical are they going to be? The mic-ing is a whole different area that requires a whole lot of attention.