That's what makes me suspect it might be more difficult to engineer conflict among them, they'd be more likely to notice that there weren't substantial grounds for them to be at odds in the first place, and prevent the conflict from becoming self perpetuating.

Well, these show tend to work on a "there can be only one" principle: each week one contestant is removed until the last man standing wins. The confilct that this mechanic creates seems pretty hard to "dissolve".

I've certainly seen cases of this happening here, where I would expect a much longer and more drawn out conflict elsewhere.

As I said, forum mechanics and moderation policy: Karma penalities, banned topics, etc: people don't "dissolve" their disagrement, they just avoid discussing divisive topics.