They trashiness is the appeal. People can watch it and assure themselves of how much of a better person they are than the people on the show

I realized this when I found out the main viewer demographics for these shows aren’t the type of people depicted, lower class and uneducated. It’s actually middle class, college educated people who make up the disproportionate bulk of the viewership.

The entertainment is predicated on a classist schadenfreude. The guilty pleasure isn't "I enjoy trashy stuff" it's "I am better than this trash".