Lately, what we've been hearing about reality television has been awful. The winner of Big Brother became a drug dealer by using his prize money to bankroll his illegal activities. A family that appeared on Wife Swap perpetrated a hoax involving their six-year-old son and a helium balloon. Is there anything good to say about reality TV?

Here's something. Survivor: Cook Islands winner Yul Kwon is joining the FCC. He has been named deputy chief of the consumer and governmental affairs bureau for the FCC.

That's the Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Julius Genachowski made the appointment, and it wasn't because Yul did well in challenges.

Before getting this job, Yul Kwon graduated from Yale Law School, lectured at the FBI Academy, was employed at Google and the McKinsey & Co. management consulting firm, and was also a special correspondent on CNN and for the Discovery Channel.

Yul won in 2006. That was the year Survivor tried separating contestants by ethnicity. What I remember about that edition was that Yul emerged as a strong leader who had established unbreakable alliances. He won the million dollar prize by a five-to-four vote, but was a popular choice because he never stabbed anybody in the back.

If he can do that in his role as FCC deputy chief -- which requires him to respond to consumer inquiries and complaints -- he'll be a valuable public servant.