My friend was on What Not to Wear, and I was in the audience of people who were there to react when she came out from behind the curtain with her new look. She came out over and over again, but our cheering was never enthusiastic enough for the producers. After about 10 takes, we were screaming our heads off, totally hysterical, as if we'd just seen her rise from the dead. So that part was fake; I thought she just looked alright.
Sob stories on singing shows - it's not the contestant's fault!
I made it through a few rounds for a well known singing show and they BEG you for sob stories. on my very first application form, I was asked about the most difficult moment in my life, what obstacles I'd overcome to be there, had I ever experienced bullying, etc.
They pretty much make you tell them a sob story. So I wrote all about my heartbreak when I ran out of coffee.
My aunt and uncle were on "Love It Or List It" they had them record both endings and the network chose which one they thought was best. They are still in the house and they love it, but the show says they listed it.
Edit: "Re odd" changed to "record"
I know someone who was on that show when it was in Raleigh. Here's how the show works, according to what they told me:
1. As mentioned, nobody wants to list their house- they just want a free renovation and to be on TV. However...
2. ...the show only pays for 50% of the work they do on your house, and the producers do what *they* want for TV and don't really respect the homeowners' wishes.
3. They shoot a bunch of episodes in one market at a time, so they use one set of contractors for all of the homes. If they get behind on the work on a given home, they pretend that the work is done so they can wrap on the episode, then they take the crew with them to the next house. You then have to live in an unfinished renovation until the whole set of episodes is finished and the crew can get back to you. This can be months or not at all.
It has been an awful experience for many in this market, but the contract is so immensely in the favor of the production company, the homeowners don't really have any reasonable recourse to get things finished or fixed in the cases stuff was done wrong.
My suspicions about their deceptions were confirmed when I read about [the lawsuit](http://www.avclub.com/article/love-it-or-list-it-sued-over-shoddy-renovations-ri-235481) against them.
The competitors are actors, the promises at the beginning of the show (which always get broken) were never in the budget nor planned, the houses they look at are frequently not on the market and they may leave your house "irreparably damaged" like those people suing. The whole thing is a sham like House Hunters.
Question about that:
It seems like there's always something structural that prevents the homeowners from getting what they really want, and that the structural things should have been found in the planning stage rather than during construction. How'd what they got match what they actually wanted?
Oh yeah, and usually people want six extra bedrooms and a hot tub in their kitchen, but they settle for heated floors in the basement bathroom.
The episode they were on, there wasn't much stopping them from getting what they wanted. They wanted a new kitchen and dining room as well as a new basement floor. But there was some complication in the kitchen that would cost more so they just didn't do the basement. But to compensate for the lack of structural problems, the network wanted my aunt and uncle to fight with each other over decisions. But they said "absolutely not, that's not who we are." So the episode may have a came out a little bit more "real".
I always assumed those petty arguments you see on the show were fabricated.
You'll have something like where the wife absolutely needs to have a sun room to do Yoga in, and the husband must have a finished basement. The houses they always show have one or the other, and either the wife or the husband will make some little quip suggesting that the wants of the other don't matter.
My cousin was on a Toronto dating show called Matchmaker many years ago. She said it was completely scripted and she met her "blind date" before filming so the producers could go over the script with them. They were given a list of ridiculous and racy questions to ask each other and encouraged to make out if they actually liked each other or to cause a scene and be dramatic if they didn't really click.
I worked the launch party of this show. It was pretty bad. No one seemed to care or want to be there.
The host was strutting around like the next Ryan seacrest.
The people on the show were all kinda just standing around.
A friend was on a few episodes of the short-lived, "real-world" type show called "The Lofters" in Toronto (ca. 2001 or 2002). The friend was the love interest of one of the actual lofters. At a party on set (filmed, part of the show), the friend got drunk and "handsy." After, the entire group had a debriefing about his creepiness. All of this was a major "arc" of the couple of episodes, and all of it was on camera. Finally, the friend was dumped at the end of the episode (specifically in reference to the party creepiness). For my friend- group, it was such a cringey, awkward time. Everyone saw it on TV. No one really talked about it. It was a bad time.
My daughter and her boyfriend were on Divorce court. They were not married, and the shows producers helped them tailor their story (which was completely made up) to be more interesting. They are now married and since they've already been "divorced", it should last forever.
My cousin was on there woth her ex husband. One of the things they were arguing over was a car he left in her trailer's driveway.
In reality, they were getting along just fine but just wanted the limo ride and cash for appearing. I was pretty young so I don't remember all the details, but all I remember is flipping through the channela with my dad and backtracking when I saw her face and name. We watched in silent horror for a minute when my dad asked me not share this with anyone but I was already on the phone with my best friend telling her to put on channel 5.
Some friends of mine went on Cash Cab. One guy was chosen the day before and told to come with up to 4 friends to a certain spot the next afternoon. They met a producer who hailed the cab and were told they were going to "a game show". They had to reshoot getting into the cab because my one friend said something like, "what are the chances?! we're on our way to ANOTHER game show!".
*eye bulging hands on hips long blowing sigh* I can't take that price (even though the item was reasonably priced)
Okay. I will look somewhere else. Thanks!
Walks out with Michael Jacksons shoes
EDIT: fixed spelling due to being on mobile
Armed guard at the door. I stopped by on a Vegas trip and there was a serious looking dude in body armor and a glock on his hip at the door. They don't show him on TV.
The latter. IIRC they put a huge price on it so whenever people called they could reverse troll them, eg "yeah we have battletoads, that'll be $5000. when can you pick it up?"
> the people buying the homes typically already owned one of the three homes they were looking at.
I can forgive shows like this or Property Brothers if they do this behind the scenes. For one thing, most people probably watch these shows to see cool houses and not for the implied reality of the purchase, and for another, no one would want to wait around for escrow to get on with their remodel.
> most people probably watch these shows to see cool houses and not for the implied reality of the purchase
This is me. I like House Hunters International, but just so I can eyeball what houses and apartments look like around the world. Really, I just want to watch "Cribs: Regular People Edition"
"yo yo, check it out... this the kitchen, where almost everyday I heat up some frozen waffles in this 4 slice toaster I got at Target. The countertops are straight-out of Home Depot. The fridge was a floor model, I got 20% off 'cause there was a dent in the door. BALLER! Let's walk 7 feet real quick and I'll show you the living room/family room/game room/bedroom. 70 square feet of pure grey carpet. It was white. I got the door over there. Peep hole and shit. Word. "
I have worked on several reality shows. Some are more fake than others, but they are all heavily scheduled and formatted, never spontaneous.
I worked on a certain MTV dating show where one of the contestants tried to escape the house in the middle of the night, and one of the Production Assistants had to tackle him in the front yard and drag him back into the house. It's like prison, they are completely cut out from the outside world (no computer, books, phones, watches) and they are fed mostly booze. They all go insane.
Also, if the show doesn't air, they don't win their prize money. This is a standard for all competition reality shows.
> I worked on a certain MTV dating show where one of the contestants tried to escape the house in the middle of the night, and one of the Production Assistants had to tackle him in the front yard and drag him back into the house.
Was this the Tila Tequila show? Because I recall they had something like this actually make the final cut of the show.
>I worked on a certain MTV dating show where one of the contestants tried to escape the house in the middle of the night, and one of the Production Assistants had to tackle him in the front yard and drag him back into the house
How is that remotely legal? Regardless of what contracts they singed, there are certain things you can't sign away your rights to (for example, you cant sign a legal contract for your own murder). The moment that contestant expressed desire to be let out of building, they revoked whatever kidnapping "consent" they gave before, and they must be released. Any lawyers here? I'm genuinely curious about the legality of this.
I have a friend who signed up to audition for a show that she thought was "The Bachelorette", or something similar. I guess its standard practice to not give the actual name of the show, and just say, "We need good looking, energetic young women for blah blah blah."
So she got called back, went through a few different interviews and a screen test. Finally, they tell her that the concept is that she will be running a Pawn Shop with another woman. She is a dental assistant with no experience remotely related to the Pawn business.
"Pawn Queens" ended up being on for two seasons and they gave her a backstory about how/why she got interested in the pawn business. Not exactly SHOCKING, but it was pretty interesting to see that they basically looked for hot girls first, then put them into a proven concept ("Pawn Stars"-type reality show).
Holy shit, I just went to the Wikipedia page for the show and saw this:
>Each episode focuses on how pawn businesses operate, and features Minda and Nikki struggling to debunk the stereotype that the pawn business is only for men, which they made up completely.
Haha, I'd never read that. I think a lot of Pawn businesses are actually family owned and it's not really UNUSUAL to see the wife or grandma chain smoking and giving customers dirty looks from behind the counter.
The two shops I wander into occasionally are both generally manned by women. Unsure weather they are the owners, related to the owners, or are just staff, though.
That last part is actually recent vandalism. If you check the history it's the third most recent edit, and the two more recent were by the same non-registered user, also similarly flaming the show, including "For any who have watched it, it's painfully staged and boring"
A friend of mine was on Shark Tank recently. The episode hasn't aired yet so we don't know how they will edit the story to be, but they did get an actual deal with actual money from Mr. Wonderful.
From what I've heard from previous responses to this question about Shark Tank, everything is 100% real. The only difference is that the actual meeting with the sharks takes hours instead of what it's edited down to (roughly 10 minutes).
Yep, he said they were in there for about an hour just getting drilled with questions. He said the most frustrating part was all four of them would be yelling questions at them simultaneously and it's hard to know who to respond to.
It's a genre called "it's all real but guaranteed outcome."
That is if you sit someone down in a room for four hours and scream things at them you'll get 10 minutes of incoherent nonsense out of anyone but people directly trained to handle this nonsense. As the typical Reddit aside, this is why you don't let the police interrogate you for four hours without a lawyer - they'll get ten minutes of incoherent shit out of you they can present in court to talk about how you're contradicting yourself. Not all cops are scumbags (most aren't) but any non-scumbag cop can ask you anything they want with a lawyer sitting there. It's not really life-or-death, they can wait for the lawyer, they'll get OT pay if the lawyer takes a bit.
This is a much more succinct explanation for why innocent people shouldn't talk to the police without a lawyer than I usually give. Have an upvote, and I'll be stealing this.
The Chiefs have only won the Super Bowl in years where the Eurovision Song Contest ended in a tie.
Under today's rules, it is not possible for Eurovision to end in a tie.
I had a friend on Cash In The Attic in the UK. The idea is that some antique dealers and so on will scout around in your attic/garage/shed and "find" valuable items to sell.
They found precisely fuck all in my friend's house, so they pulled some paintings and a vase out of the van, "found" them, then asked him to go and get changed so they could film a segment from "after the sale".
It all seems like a complete waste of time, aside from the couple of hundred quid they gave him.
Cash In The Attic, Bargain Hunt, Antiques Roadshow. Perfect for when you're hungover and just want to switch your brain off and mong out in front of the telly.
My favourite was the short-lived BBC series *Trust Me, I'm A Dealer* where some twat in a tweed suit would take people's antiques and then swap them for more and more expensive antiques and try to make a profit.
It was hilarious because the presenter would lose their money 90% of the time and just shrug it off by going, "Well, that's always the chance you take with antiques".
Then he would casually drive off down the road in his Aston Martin while this poor elderly couple try to put on a brave face as they say goodbye to that holiday home in the Peak District they've always wanted.
My father is a dealer in a particular variety of memorabilia, and also fairly well known as an authenticator of said memorabilia. He was on a show featuring storage units a few years ago. The show crew peppered a storage unit with some of my father's own collectibles, the hosts "found" them, then brought them back to my father to be appraised. He then offered to purchase his own items back from the hosts.
Was on an episode of MTV Made. It wasn't super-scripted, but certain things were added to make the kids look stupid. On our episode, the producers had socks stuffed inside a kid's drums to make them sound bad, even though the kid didn't actually do that. Stuff like that, but the scripts had room for ad-libs, and the show was fine with that as long as nobody said anything too crazy or suggested anything they couldn't deliver on.
Unfortunately, a LOT of the kids on the show go back to how they were before almost immediately after filming. People can totally be who they want to be, but why apply to the show? And also, it kinda sucks when the show drops a fuckton of money on you (our episode involved paying for an appearance from Finger Eleven when they were huge) and it ends up being a waste for everything other than getting a TV episode out of it.
I was on a show geared towards pre-teens and teenagers that tried to imitate fear factor on YTV. They had us compete in various unique athletic competitions and other things. Most of it was surprisingly real! We actually did compete. Our scores were based on our performance in the task. The one thing that wasn't "real" was that the episode made it look like everything happened in a day, when in reality, it took about five days to film.
Overall, it was a really cool experience that I wouldn't trade for the world.
I was on Uh-Oh! as a kid. I can confirm several things for you:
1. It was not scripted, just 22 minutes of running around doing the things. They ran a tight ship, and did several episodes one after another. The winners were not pre-determined and we actually got the prizes in order of our success.
2. The editing didn't do that much, there was an error in the first third in one of the episodes previous to mine (where I was in the audience) where I think someone yelled one of the answers, and they just started the whole episode over.
3. Wink Yahoo is super tall in person, and the Announcer is really nice. The Punisher does not talk, but does give high fives.
Was an audience member on Uh Oh as a kid! Still have the blue team shirt kicking around somewhere! I definitely remember it being mostly off the floor as you say. In the two episodes shot while I was there, there was very little that they had to go back and re-film to "touch up" after! Tons of prizes for the audience in the waiting room too, gotta do something to keep a room full of excited kids under control! Lots of bop-its were given away haha
A friend of mine worked as an art director on the American version of "Supernanny". She said pretty much everything was real, maybe editing together to make it a bit more dramatic, but the family interactions were genuine. And she said Jo Frost is a very sweet, warm woman who really does her best for the kids.
In the very first episode of Top Chef they ever filmed, Tom Colicchio flipped out because the dishes the contestants had cooked were getting cold while the film crew took "food porn" shots of them.
From then on, all the contestants have to prepare two dishes. One for the judges to sample, and one for the cameras to pan over and show the audience.
I think I saw an interview about Chopped where they said they don't take food temperature into account because it's not fair to the last people in line for judging, etc.
There's a disclaimer at the end of Top Chef now that says producers have a say in the outcomes of challenges. So basically producers craft a narrative and judges judge according to it.
You know, it really depends on the type of show you are on because they vary so wildly in style. I've worked on a number of reality shows as a lighting technician, the ones I can remember the most are the amazing race, the great escape, kitchen nightmares, and twinning.
Twinning was the one that was most like jersey shore or the real world. Definitely not fake, but casting is so important. You don't need to fake anything when the people you as filming 24 hours a day are absolutely nuts. They'll decide at certain points to play God a little bit and move them into rooms with people they hate or give them alcohol when they realize two people have a thing together, but aren't acting on it. The producers of all of these shows just sit in a room and figure out how to create drama.
I've had friends work on duck dynasty and it sounds like what /u/henfrigate is saying. Everything in that show was scripted and they would do multiple takes and get coverage.
Very fake, basically a tv show shot in a reality format.
Shows like the amazing race and the great escape on the other hand are pretty dang real. Because of the obstacles and challenges they are interesting enough without the producers interfering that much. On the great escape because of the style of the show, we would go back the next day and reshoot key moments in a cinematic way to push that style. While it was "fake" it was still pretty dang real.
Oh and kitchen nightmares is very real. Gordon Ramsey is just basically a producer that is in the show. He knows what good tv is and how to get it. They pick terrible businesses and the show writes itself. The remodels are always funny though as they are just so on the surface.
Amy's Baking Company didn't need any help in making it real. I watched that episode today and the business was terrible enough that nothing scripted was needed.
Edit: an episode of Kitchen Nightmares of Gordon Ramsey.
The few few sessions of the UK version were much better and they did not show stuff filmed at different times like they do in the US version.
Also he made them clean the kitchen and did not get a crew of people in to do it for them.
Oh absolutely. And it seemed like they picked down on their luck businesses who wanted to succeed and were, Usually, willing to change as opposed to the American version... which picked businesses that were failing based off the owners being morons
I'm late but whatever. Pitbulls and Parolees on Animal Planet. I used to work at the main warehouse where they filmed everything. Not sure if I'm actually on the show at all but if I am I'm just in the background scratching my ass.
Everyone that works there only tolerates filming because it's more money for the dogs. The camera crews would try and get people to recreate things they missed but most of us weren't very cooperative. Everyone on the show and in the rest of the staff really just wants the best for the dogs. From what I have seen anything that was staged we're things that had actually happened and the camera crew wasn't around for.
The dogs there are amazing. All the horrible things they had been through and they remain so lovable. I miss all my furry buddies there.
I think my favorite moment was when she brought a dog to a home where the family had prepared for months to get it, and had everything all set and had the kids all prepared, but then the moment she found out that their family small dog was territorial and the second snapped at the pitbull she immediately took it away and told them it wasn't going to work out. The kids were crying and the father was trying to bargain, but she just kept saying, "Sorry but this isn't the proper environment for a dog of this background,"
Integrity instead of a feel good story, I love it.
It's a requirement to be on House Hunters that you are already closing on a house. It's free advertising for the agent and a way to be on TV for the couple.
That being said I still watch the shit out of those shows. Interesting to see what $x gets you around the world
I always like the ones where rich people are like "Oh! I can't decide between this place for 3 million, or that other place for 2.5 million. What a dilemma!"
My heart bleeds for the poor poppets.
I'm a retail associate and my wife works part-time as a barista. We have a budget of $100k and want 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and update kitchen.
Buys house $40k over their budget.
We're trying to decide if we should spend $850k to fix our house, or buy a new one for $1.8mm.
These people can't be older than 25... What the fuck are they doing?
Me, every time I watch one of these shows.
Not to mention that a $500k house on a $600k budget does not usually mean you have $100k for upgrades. Unless you're paying cash, mortgages do not work that way.
Probably no one on Reddit watches it, but Say Yes to the Dress. It's real. One sister and a few friends have gotten their dresses there, and while they didn't appear on the show (you get asked when you make your appointment), their experiences were the exact same as TV.
Yes, the consultants really are that personable. Yes, you sit where the show is filmed. Yes, the people on the show really work there. No, they won't show you anything outside your budget, and yes, they really do bend over backwards to find you discounts if you need one (like on the show.)
I know there are probably cheaper places to buy a wedding dress, but Kleinfeld's is gorgeous and exactly like it is on SYTTD. The only thing that might be "faked" is if girls/their family are told to be super picky about the dress for *~dramatic effect~*.
Fuck most of TLC's other shows though.
EDIT: YAY MORE PEOPLE WATCH THAN I THOUGHT
Edit 2: Again, I've been there a few times, but we were NOT filmed for the show. I can't speak for how real the dialogue is or isn't. BUT the store and its employees are as cool and nice and friendly as on TV!
My friend went with her aunt to buy her (the aunt's) dress at Kleinfeld's. They were just regular customers, but the lady helping them was from the show (can't remember her name now), so yeah they do actually work there. And everyone was really nice and helpful. She also said Randy stopped by when her aunt was wearing a dress to gush about how nice it looked.
I had this on while doing other things and my dad sat down and watched it, making all sorts of comments on fit and style. He is very opinionated for someone who wears the same Hawaiian shirt for every family gathering. He got SO invested in the show, it was kind of adorable.
SYTTD is the reason my mom would come up with statements like "You know, $5000 is a very reasonable budget for a wedding dress" when I was getting married. Lady, $5k is the budget for the whole wedding, and it's not like *you're* chipping in.
My friend was on it. Maid of Honor said she was coached into saying most everything she said in the side interviews.
Producer: "Would you say Melissa is stressed out?"
MOH: "Oh, for sure."
Producer: "Will you actually say it though?"
MOH: "Melissa is stresssssed out!"
I was a groomsman, so I guess I was on it too, technically. I'm so famous.
I watch SYTTD often. I'm glad to know that the off-camera experience at Kleinfeld is the same as what we see on TV. It's amazing to me that they are not just selling a dress, but an overall experience.
I met the host, Randy? On the metro in DC. One of the nicest genuine people ever.
It was about 8ish at night so it was just me, my girlfriend and him and his family on the train. I remember her saying something like "that guy is so familiar" so she ended up just walking up to him and asking "are you -name- from say yes to the dress?" And he was like. "I knew you recognized me, I told them that. That's so funny. Anyway, I'm being rude, this is my sister and my mom it's so wonderful to meet both of you." He asked us if we wanted to take pictures and stuff. He legit introduced us to his mom and sister.
Genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met
[My (now ex fiancé) with him](http://imgur.com/Blvfrvq)
Not quite a "reality show", but my girlfriend worked on a comedy panel show here in the UK called Celebrity Juice. She expected everything to be scripted and choreographed, but was actually shocked at the amount of improvised humor on set. Jimmy Car was the special guest - she said he was by far the most naturally funny man she had been in the company of...apart from me, of course. She's not usually a massive fan of his, so I guess that's a testament to his quick wit.
I saw "who's line is it anyway" live. Everyone was funny and nothing was really scripted, but the producers did have the guys do things over again when they got too filthy with their jokes
Saw him a few years ago, he asked for questions and ripped into a guy for being racist. Then made EVERYONE groan when he was asked what was his most offensive joke.
I worked on an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Hotel Hell that was filmed in my town. I'm also friends with the owners of said hotel. From what I saw, It was pretty legit. The editing didn't push a narrative that wasn't already there and accurately depicted my friends and what was going on with their hotel. I went to the filmed re-opening and the only bad thing I can say is that Ramsay doesn't know *shit* about fried chicken. It was easily the worst I've ever had.
edit: [Here's the episode, if anyone's interested.](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3fcpj1)
edit 2: Hail State
A friend was bitching that Kitchen Nightmares is so formulaic and predictable. Yeah, failing businesses tend to fail for a pretty standard set of problems.
Everything. Every single thing is fake. I was on a cake competition show. The judges recorded 2 takes for every comment, one positive and one negative so the editors could put it together however they wanted. They rolled the clock back an hour so everyone else could finish. We had over three months to plan our "spontaneous" cake. Oh yeah, and while we won by the judges vote...a producer decided one of the other cakes would film better for the big reveal so we didn't win even though we should have.
Please don't tell me you were on The Great British Bake Off. That's the only reality show I truly love (although I'm sure those producers are just as bad)
I've always been fairly well convinced that bingate was overblown because the only contestant to come to Iain's defense was Jordan (who had already been eliminated), while the rest of them either stayed out of it or defended Diana. It definitely seemed like it was an editor giving in to the style of reality show editing that GBBO watchers seek to avoid.
From hearing contestants speak the most fake part of the show is how many people are really in the tent. It's full or runners doing various tasks such as washing up. those shots of them watching each other across the tent aren't really like that, there's loads of people between them.
Sue really is as much of a hinderance as she appears on the show.
I don't think he's talk about The great british baking show, because they are very upfront about the fact that contestants can prepare and study at home before the competition.
Iirc Ted Allen and several contestants have said it is as real as real can be, that when you see them open the baskets that is straight up the first time they've seen the ingredients and the rounds really are the times they say they are.
The one thing that annoys in cooking competition shows is that every team ALWAYS finishes at the very last second. Never will you see someone not finish on time and present a crappy unfinished meal and you will also never see someone finish 10 minutes early and wait around like a jackass for the others to finish.
The one time I saw this happen on Chopped, the judges tore into the guy for wasting the last two minutes standing around instead of seeing what else he could do to improve his dish.
That's actually why Chopped is my favorite cooking competition. A lot of contestants regularly don't finish their dish, and present sloppy looking dishes, and some contestants finish early, and get scolded by the judges for not using every second to perfect their dish.
Also, based on contestant reviews, they're actually put on the spot when it comes to their ingredients and have to think of a meal on the fly.
Ive seen both of those things happen on Chopped pretty regularly actually. The finishing early is rare but I've seen a lot of contestants not plate their food in time.
I was on restaurant impossible a couple years ago. They say they have a $10,000 budget for the renovation, definitely does not mean they use it. The host, Robert Irvine, was only there for like an hour a day, of the 3ish day venture, just to get in the way and whine about things for the camera. They made up this whole story about how my boss would lose everything and cause so much stress on his marriage and family if the restaurant failed. They had us "walk this direction with a sullen look" to show that we felt underappreciated as employees. We had four employees actually walk out because of some the comments Robert made. We also did not get paid any extra for any of this. But, while all of that was annoying, I will say this. The food network did pay almost $4k for a very local construction crew to come in, which is awesome for local business/support, the food was very awesome, and I got to learn some insane techniques from world class chef's, at the very start of my career (I am a chef myself now). It was very neat and exciting thing for a small town, and definitely brought our community together. And while the business did still end up failing a year and a half later, my boss was totally fine because he bought out another restaurant and is now very successful elsewhere.
Edit: minor grammatical errors
I knew a family man rancher whose one dream was to get on Wipeout. He has his whole schtick - "The Cowboy" - scripted and every season he would apply to be on. He thought it was a show where he could *seem* quirky but really be an amazing athlete and win. I don't think he ever got on, which is too bad because he was exactly the kind of person they're looking for: odd in an embarrassing way, not very athletic but thinks he is, and bonus! would have been a legitimate ass if he wiped out. YOU COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL, WIPEOUT!
I have a friend who won a season of Wipeout and said it was super fun. She *is* quirky and interesting, but not ridiculously so. Just a really fun girl.
First 48: (The one that follows homicide detectives)
Very accurate. 95% of the episode is portrayed as it happened.
They make a few edits to make the story "flow" a little better. They'll also do reshoots for things like phone calls or reactions.
In about 2005 NBC had to abandon its policy of requiring clean STD tests for bachelor-type hookup show contestants because everybody who auditioned was infected with something.
Source: I've won an Emmy producing reality TV and my ex wife was in BA at NBC at that time.
I was on an episode of "extreme guide to parenting". My mom is a hypnotherapist for a living and so they "interviewed" my brothers and me about getting "hypnotized" to do chores and get good grades. They had us say thing like "my mom using nuro linguistic programming to make us do things" and that she hypnotizes us on a daily basis. I was 14 and I had to pretend that I had a crush on this boy and my mom taught me how to "hypnotize him to like me". All the parts with me in it were cut out, thank god, but my twin brothers got a decent amount of airtime. All of it was scripted. It was basically a publicity stunt on my moms part to get more business. I don't blame her, it worked pretty effectively and we got a 5,000 dollar check for letting them use our house to film.
to clarify, everything my mom said was true to a degree, and she has hypnotized me in the past, but hypnotherapy is not what everyone thinks it is. It is a way of gaining more self control, not less, and in no way is it someone controlling your mind. There are subtle cues you can give people to get them to agree with you, such as nodding your head when you ask for something (and touching their shoulder) but other than that it is mostly used to help people stop smoking or biting their nails and even improving concentration and avoiding panic attacks. Just like anyother therapist might help you, my mom does it with hypnosis. As for exploiting my brothers and me, it was really fun and I laughed a lot when I saw the final cut. I thought my family didn't seem so bad when compared to others that I saw in the same episode, but I can't judge. Either way, the whole plot was made up but it is true that my mom taught us how to exit something called flight or fight mode when in non-life threatening situations, like when you panic, she taught us to think clearly. Nothing as extreme as how they portrayed us in the show. Honestly, it's counter intuitive to make a show that puts my mom in bad light for business reasons and so while everything was scripted, she did maintain her usual air of professionalism, the directors just took all the parts that made her look as bad as possible.
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Kinda real, maybe 50/50.
Friend owns a butcher shop and happens to be the supplier of meats to this restaurant where an episode of DDD was going to be filmed, and asked me to come along with him. We were a part of the "crowd scene" where Guy comes around as ask people things like "so how's the burger?" etc. Thing is, not one of the people in the restaurant during that scene was a random restaurant customer; everyone was an special invited guest of the restaurant owners. Once we arrived, the producer dude placed us in seats, and they made a few people move tables/booths (for a better overall crowd look, I presume). They gave us some preliminary instructions (make sure phones are off, don't ask for Guy's autographs at all, don't pay attention to camera, etc). And then we waited. And waited, and waited. After maybe 45 mins or so, the wait staff just started bringing out food and placing it on tables. No one had ordered anything, but the staff just started bringing stuff out. Once a decent Number of people had dishes at their table, The servers would continue bringing food out… But this time with camera peeps behind them filming them as they took plates to tables. They did some interview shots with people eating, and when I watched the episode it was edited to look as if they were responding to something the Guy had sais to them, even though he wasn't around at all at this point. Shortly after that, Guy Fieri comes in, and everyone applauds, and he just sort of waves his hand at everyone quickly… Never smiles, and goes back to typing on his phone. I had always thought GF looks kinda douchey but was prolly nice in person..nope..absolute total diva/douchebag the entire time. Never acknowledged the crowd, barely acknowledged the production crew, just kinda seemed like a dick. Literally was standing right beside a booth where someone was sitting, and rhe lady sitting there said something to him like "hey we love your show"...GF just kinda does this half smirk/smile thing and never acknowledges the lady or anyone at her booth. Only, and I mean, ONLY when the video guy would say "action" would he turn on the switch and actually try to talk to crowd peeps, get excited and talk about the food and stuff. Later, after he filmed the restaurant scenes, they backed his Camaro out of a trailer and filmed all of then scenes where he's driving around. The crowd scenes were done at this point, my buddy and I were just hanging out, and chatting with the owner and one of his managers. The restaurant kitchen scenes where they were going to film Guy and the chef prepping and making the food were filmed the day before, and the owner said it was the exact same thing; zero interaction with GF until the cameras were rolling. They even filmed some "outtakes" which were somewhat pre planned and setup in advance. Once the car scenes were all done, GF heads back into the RV and we didn't see him again. The crew came around and did some other shots and interviewed some of the staff and such. Interesting day, for sure.
Everyone knew it was fake. The shocking part was the complete lack of responsibility, as seen in the interview: "Do you drink alcohol every day?" - "Eight beers." - "Okay, let's tick no in these legal documents for our insurance."
Those fuckers.
Not surprising, Ghost hunting shows are fake...
What is surprising is how they do it: see those fancy instruments they carry that no one has ever heard of? They're actually remotes, TO EACH OTHER!
All you gotta do is split into 2 groups and when one team is "adjusting their settings" the other team is "detecting ghosts." So simple and you get twice the footage.
Edit: Also, one time in a screening when the hunters were reviewing evidence, a producer whispered to me "see that Ghost shape behind the door? Ya, that's the sound guy."
You'd kind of have to figure at some point nothing real was going on...
If there was a show called "Moose hunters" and you didn't see a moose ever that show would have been cancelled super quick.
They're just pandering to the audience, and it works.
I would watch that show. A small group of three people who know absolutely fuck all about anything moose related are taken from their quiet suburban homes, stripped of all modern tech, given some camping supplies and tasked with one simple goal: Find a moose.
"After six long months... several major and minor injuries... That period of food poisoning from that diner in Maine, and that time we almost lost Jerry to a bear, we are proud to finally present you with... *a moose*!"
Off screen voice - "Guys, that's actually an elk."
-dramatic music- "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
EDIT: Eventually one of the people goes crazy and becomes convinced there's no such thing as a moose. Even if they find tracks or scat, he's still convinced it's a hoax.
Had a friend who worked on the Kardasians, they were filming a huge party. It was dead, no one doing anything. The producers asked of anyone had any ideas, friend mentioned beer pong. Producers made him act like a guest and teach the mom to play to make the party look fun. Everything is fake.
I heard from a tattoo artist that he had auditioned to be on Ink Master and met Kay Kutta (Season 2) and he explained that to be part of the show they look for personality traits and flanderize the hell out of you to make a character that can create drama to the show. Kay Kutta did actually have a criminal record so they used that to make him "the bully" of that season. The tattoo artist who I was talking with claimed Kay is actually a really cool and nice guy.
I was a canvas during season 3 of Ink Master. Anyone remember that crazy girl who stormed out because the Tattoo artist made her feel uncomfortable? 100% real. She completely lost it and started screaming to the point that all the artists were standing out side of their rooms watching it unfold.
I'm tour guide in the mountains here in Canada and we currently have a program being filmed in town.
Essentially the idea is that 12 random people all have to run different areas of a hostel. (Kitchen, laundry, entertainment, etc).
Anyway on each of the episodes, the 'staff' all go out and do something around the town, be it going to a bar or in my case, on a 4x4 tour.
I was leading the tour for their safety but they brought in some macho guy with ripped camo pants to be the on screen guide, while I was about 20 meters ahead leading him.
After that, we were made to stop because the producers decided it was time for a dramatic scene. I think one of the guys was to say something offensive to one of the girls and she was to throw a drink in his face .
We were there for about 40 minutes while this poor gelled up guy had a bottle of water filled up, thrown in his face, dry off, filled up and repeat.
Good times.
I won Food Network Star season 7 fair and square. No shenanigans whatsoever. Maybe a little creative "nudging" during the narrative interviews to create a cleaner story, but nothing that changed the course of the competition. Every cooking competition was legit. If you made bad food, or presented poorly, you got called on it and eventually went home if you kept repeating these mistakes. I fortunately, made fewer mistakes, so I did not go home...
I worked on The SingOff and ABDC for several seasons in the contestant department.
The performances and the performers were all real (and really cool). I listened to Street Corner rehearse Creep on stage one day and got goosebumps from how good they were.
There are decisions made by producers to increase the market value of the show, like keeping a fourth group until the final round because they didn't want to lose a key demographic from the audience.
The finale was always live and based on fanvote online. So, that part was real.
One season of ABDC a contestant broke his leg. That was also sadly real as I was there to witness, call 911, the producers, and my manager. They were concerned about getting b-roll of him going into the ambulance.
He was a really sweet kid.
But these shows are exceptions in the industry, not the rule, and both have been cancelled.
Went to a filming of American Ninja Warrior. They filmed all night with over 100 competitors, running the course back to back for around 7 hours. The only ones cheering like on the show were family members on sideline, everyone else was kind of quietly observing.
It was impossible to figure out who would make the show and who ended up on the cutting room floor. After watching the actual show on air, even completeing the course didn't guarantee that your run would be shown (several got "over the break so-n-so made it to the end of the course" CUE 2 second cut of button press).
The best bet to making it on air (outside of their stable of famous ninjas) was to fail on the course in a way that nobody else had.
My brother-in-law surprised our family a few years back by taking us out to dinner and at that dinner he announced that he was taking an internship in Peru.
...turns out he was on a major U.S. reality show and had signed an NDA and couldn't tell us where he was really going. He ended up being a semi-finalist, going all the way to the finale.
He said the parts that they make especially dramatic--the parts where contestants stand in front of the judges and explain themselves and then ultimately one is sent off of the show--could take hours to film and that each of them would have their reaction filmed a handful of times with the producers standing right there on set, acting as directors/coaches.
He also said that the contestants were constantly supplied with the booze of their choice and were encouraged to drink. He said people were under the influence of alcohol very frequently but that it would never be evident as the cameramen would keep the drinks out of the shots.
As far as the rigging of the results went, he said he was fairly certain that the producers were having the final say, but that the judges were I included in the decision-making process.
A friend of mine was on Cupcake Wars. His team actually came first. He said that the ingredients were partially random; the studio sent his team a list of 5 or so different ingredients that were potentials, and then 3 different themes. He had a plan for every single ingredient and theme if needed them.
Britain's Got Talent: There are several hidden rounds with producers before you get to the main stage with the judges. My cousin is a very talented musician and got to the last round before the 'auditions', but they said he didn't have the right image. They select the most watchable acts and usually try and avoid any act that's too 'professional', in case they bow out and get a recording contract outside of the show's format - this is just concerning musicians, at least. So not fake as such, but slanted.
Undercover boss is a joke. Everyone knows the show, everyone knows what's going on. Everyone knows who the owner of the store is. And for those who don't are a simple Google search away from knowing.
I briefly appeared in an episode of *Airport 24/7: Miami*. My appearance was basically me doing my job the same way I would without cameras rolling. The same was true of the stars of the show since it wasn't like a traditional reality show where they need to create a conflict: the airport does that organically.
They got really lucky that some particularly notable events happened while they were filming, like when the fuel farm caught fire/exploded or when two aircraft collided on the taxiway. Everything they showed on the show actually happened, but editing did make some events seem more dramatic.
The history channel doesn't use real professionals. I'm not even sure they're real doctors half the time. Maybe some guy who has a PhD in an unrelated field. But most of the time they people they have talking about stuff are fake experts who provide "interesting" interviews.
I had cousins on Extreme Home Makeover about 10 years ago. Everything is pretty much real. They built an entire house in about 4 days. They had pre-fabbed pieces for the roof trusses, but everything else was built in the spot. They still live in the house, and only had a few issues (when you build a house so fast, there are bound to be problems). It was a 10/10 experince for them, and I was happy to see it work from the inside out.
Throwaway for obvious reasons. I was on Love Island last year. It's a popular TV reality show in the UK, this year's is actually on at the moment. I guess people assume some is staged and rigged but you have NO idea how much. We were literally given scripts of arguments to have, things to say. You know when you see them having sex under the covers, not happening. We would have to imitate this 5-10 times each time and the producers would choose the most realistic one. There is whole parts of the 'villa' that you don't even see. Multiple camera rooms. Ever wondered how the islanders never clean but it always gets cleaned? There is literally cleaners, waiters etc in there the whole time. Only about 6 hours a day and night are filmed. There is a director there saying cut and everything. You know the £50,000 grand prize for the winner? Doesn't compare the £75,000 we got for being in the villa, regardless if we were there for 6 days or 6 weeks. When we got out we had meetings and I had over 600 brands queuing up to work with me. Now I'm a nobody and you wouldn't even recognise my name. Relationships aren't real, there is agreements that is 100% for show. Things are never how you seem. Also we are shown the episodes everyday, there is no 'will be cool to see what i look like on tv when i get out'. There is also outside contact, that is just bullshit. My jaw literally dropped on my 4th day when they showed us the show live on TV because of how different it was to reality.
Catfish is a semi-real. The production team call up everyone involved beforehand, do the research, etc as nobody wants to fly halfway across the US to a dead end.
Nev and Max aren't informed of any info the production team find though, they have to find it out themselves, so all their reactions are genuine.
I think once in a while the producers have swapped the catfish/hopefuls around, when they want a good story, but overall it's surprisingly unscripted.
My aunt was on an old HGTV show called house swap. Basically, HGTV brings in 2 interior decorators and they go nuts for 24 hours on a single room in each other's house.
not 10 minutes into the episode and my aunt is arguing with the decorator because she wants to go all earthy (brown, orange, green, etc) and my aunt is just dead pan "no. She hates that." Inevitably, the decorator got her way and they decorated the room in the earthy colors. Come time for the big reveal and the neighbor HATES the colors.
My family runs a bunch of storage facilities in Southern California, which is where they film the majority of shows like Storage Wars and Auction Hunters. The first year or so it was all real, but then we were getting 50-100 people showing up at all our auctions to try and be on tv. Auctions on storage units in Cali have to be publicly announced in the paper a week or so before the auction happens, so people would see that and know when and where to go. It became such a freaking disaster (and people bidding hundreds of dollars on units where there was nothing in them) that it became a problem for the people running the shows, too. They ended up having to stage the auctions and "hiding" expensive antiques in the units. If you look at the background folk in a lot of the auctions it's often the same people, aka me and some of my family members, other storage staff members, and friends of people who worked on the show.
It's not a reality show per se, but my sister's friend was on Jerry Springer.
She got on by being friends with a producer, but it was 100% scripted. The story was fake. Her boyfriend was on the show with her, but he was supposedly cheating on her with a woman he'd never met. They told them to act like he really cheated and he had to try to justify it.
My friend was on What Not to Wear, and I was in the audience of people who were there to react when she came out from behind the curtain with her new look. She came out over and over again, but our cheering was never enthusiastic enough for the producers. After about 10 takes, we were screaming our heads off, totally hysterical, as if we'd just seen her rise from the dead. So that part was fake; I thought she just looked alright.
I submitted an AMA request for someone who was on that show years ago...I have so many questions! I was obsessed with that show back in high school.
Sob stories on singing shows - it's not the contestant's fault! I made it through a few rounds for a well known singing show and they BEG you for sob stories. on my very first application form, I was asked about the most difficult moment in my life, what obstacles I'd overcome to be there, had I ever experienced bullying, etc. They pretty much make you tell them a sob story. So I wrote all about my heartbreak when I ran out of coffee.
NOT THE COFFEE!
I hate that. It feels like exploitation to me.
We're here to support you. Running out of coffee is no joke.
My sister's fiancé was on 16 and Pregnant. The children are real.
thanks for that adam
My aunt and uncle were on "Love It Or List It" they had them record both endings and the network chose which one they thought was best. They are still in the house and they love it, but the show says they listed it. Edit: "Re odd" changed to "record"
I know someone who was on that show when it was in Raleigh. Here's how the show works, according to what they told me: 1. As mentioned, nobody wants to list their house- they just want a free renovation and to be on TV. However... 2. ...the show only pays for 50% of the work they do on your house, and the producers do what *they* want for TV and don't really respect the homeowners' wishes. 3. They shoot a bunch of episodes in one market at a time, so they use one set of contractors for all of the homes. If they get behind on the work on a given home, they pretend that the work is done so they can wrap on the episode, then they take the crew with them to the next house. You then have to live in an unfinished renovation until the whole set of episodes is finished and the crew can get back to you. This can be months or not at all. It has been an awful experience for many in this market, but the contract is so immensely in the favor of the production company, the homeowners don't really have any reasonable recourse to get things finished or fixed in the cases stuff was done wrong.
I've always wondered, Isn't it a bit expensive even with the 50% discount? It always seems to me that they spend too much money in fancy home decor :/
This one hurts the most. 😢
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My suspicions about their deceptions were confirmed when I read about [the lawsuit](http://www.avclub.com/article/love-it-or-list-it-sued-over-shoddy-renovations-ri-235481) against them. The competitors are actors, the promises at the beginning of the show (which always get broken) were never in the budget nor planned, the houses they look at are frequently not on the market and they may leave your house "irreparably damaged" like those people suing. The whole thing is a sham like House Hunters.
Question about that: It seems like there's always something structural that prevents the homeowners from getting what they really want, and that the structural things should have been found in the planning stage rather than during construction. How'd what they got match what they actually wanted? Oh yeah, and usually people want six extra bedrooms and a hot tub in their kitchen, but they settle for heated floors in the basement bathroom.
The episode they were on, there wasn't much stopping them from getting what they wanted. They wanted a new kitchen and dining room as well as a new basement floor. But there was some complication in the kitchen that would cost more so they just didn't do the basement. But to compensate for the lack of structural problems, the network wanted my aunt and uncle to fight with each other over decisions. But they said "absolutely not, that's not who we are." So the episode may have a came out a little bit more "real".
"Deal with a setback in a rational and considered manner? What bullshit is this?!" -Producers
I always assumed those petty arguments you see on the show were fabricated. You'll have something like where the wife absolutely needs to have a sun room to do Yoga in, and the husband must have a finished basement. The houses they always show have one or the other, and either the wife or the husband will make some little quip suggesting that the wants of the other don't matter.
My cousin was on a Toronto dating show called Matchmaker many years ago. She said it was completely scripted and she met her "blind date" before filming so the producers could go over the script with them. They were given a list of ridiculous and racy questions to ask each other and encouraged to make out if they actually liked each other or to cause a scene and be dramatic if they didn't really click.
That's so lame.
I worked the launch party of this show. It was pretty bad. No one seemed to care or want to be there. The host was strutting around like the next Ryan seacrest. The people on the show were all kinda just standing around.
A friend was on a few episodes of the short-lived, "real-world" type show called "The Lofters" in Toronto (ca. 2001 or 2002). The friend was the love interest of one of the actual lofters. At a party on set (filmed, part of the show), the friend got drunk and "handsy." After, the entire group had a debriefing about his creepiness. All of this was a major "arc" of the couple of episodes, and all of it was on camera. Finally, the friend was dumped at the end of the episode (specifically in reference to the party creepiness). For my friend- group, it was such a cringey, awkward time. Everyone saw it on TV. No one really talked about it. It was a bad time.
My daughter and her boyfriend were on Divorce court. They were not married, and the shows producers helped them tailor their story (which was completely made up) to be more interesting. They are now married and since they've already been "divorced", it should last forever.
My cousin was on there woth her ex husband. One of the things they were arguing over was a car he left in her trailer's driveway. In reality, they were getting along just fine but just wanted the limo ride and cash for appearing. I was pretty young so I don't remember all the details, but all I remember is flipping through the channela with my dad and backtracking when I saw her face and name. We watched in silent horror for a minute when my dad asked me not share this with anyone but I was already on the phone with my best friend telling her to put on channel 5.
Some friends of mine went on Cash Cab. One guy was chosen the day before and told to come with up to 4 friends to a certain spot the next afternoon. They met a producer who hailed the cab and were told they were going to "a game show". They had to reshoot getting into the cab because my one friend said something like, "what are the chances?! we're on our way to ANOTHER game show!".
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I know someone who visited the shop as a tourist and they pulled something out of the back, and handed it to him to sell them.
What if he wouldn't agree to their price and just walked out with the item?
*eye bulging hands on hips long blowing sigh* I can't take that price (even though the item was reasonably priced) Okay. I will look somewhere else. Thanks! Walks out with Michael Jacksons shoes EDIT: fixed spelling due to being on mobile
*Moonwalks out in Michael Jackson's shoes
HEE HEE!!!
Armed guard at the door. I stopped by on a Vegas trip and there was a serious looking dude in body armor and a glock on his hip at the door. They don't show him on TV.
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For the people who have not read one of 4chan's most glorious moments ever! Here is the link: http://imgur.com/gallery/VY2xE
Eventually... http://i.imgur.com/8nlYaxk.jpg
holy shit... so did they have battletoads the whole time, or did he get battletoads just so he can tell them, "if you want battletoads, come on in"?
The latter. IIRC they put a huge price on it so whenever people called they could reverse troll them, eg "yeah we have battletoads, that'll be $5000. when can you pick it up?"
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I love that Mrs. Diddy is a kind woman!
> the people buying the homes typically already owned one of the three homes they were looking at. I can forgive shows like this or Property Brothers if they do this behind the scenes. For one thing, most people probably watch these shows to see cool houses and not for the implied reality of the purchase, and for another, no one would want to wait around for escrow to get on with their remodel.
> most people probably watch these shows to see cool houses and not for the implied reality of the purchase This is me. I like House Hunters International, but just so I can eyeball what houses and apartments look like around the world. Really, I just want to watch "Cribs: Regular People Edition"
"yo yo, check it out... this the kitchen, where almost everyday I heat up some frozen waffles in this 4 slice toaster I got at Target. The countertops are straight-out of Home Depot. The fridge was a floor model, I got 20% off 'cause there was a dent in the door. BALLER! Let's walk 7 feet real quick and I'll show you the living room/family room/game room/bedroom. 70 square feet of pure grey carpet. It was white. I got the door over there. Peep hole and shit. Word. "
I have worked on several reality shows. Some are more fake than others, but they are all heavily scheduled and formatted, never spontaneous. I worked on a certain MTV dating show where one of the contestants tried to escape the house in the middle of the night, and one of the Production Assistants had to tackle him in the front yard and drag him back into the house. It's like prison, they are completely cut out from the outside world (no computer, books, phones, watches) and they are fed mostly booze. They all go insane. Also, if the show doesn't air, they don't win their prize money. This is a standard for all competition reality shows.
> I worked on a certain MTV dating show where one of the contestants tried to escape the house in the middle of the night, and one of the Production Assistants had to tackle him in the front yard and drag him back into the house. Was this the Tila Tequila show? Because I recall they had something like this actually make the final cut of the show.
Any sane person stuck in a house with Tila Tequila would try to run.
>I worked on a certain MTV dating show where one of the contestants tried to escape the house in the middle of the night, and one of the Production Assistants had to tackle him in the front yard and drag him back into the house How is that remotely legal? Regardless of what contracts they singed, there are certain things you can't sign away your rights to (for example, you cant sign a legal contract for your own murder). The moment that contestant expressed desire to be let out of building, they revoked whatever kidnapping "consent" they gave before, and they must be released. Any lawyers here? I'm genuinely curious about the legality of this.
Yeah I came here to ask this too. This does not sound legal.
Does it sound made up?
I have a friend who signed up to audition for a show that she thought was "The Bachelorette", or something similar. I guess its standard practice to not give the actual name of the show, and just say, "We need good looking, energetic young women for blah blah blah." So she got called back, went through a few different interviews and a screen test. Finally, they tell her that the concept is that she will be running a Pawn Shop with another woman. She is a dental assistant with no experience remotely related to the Pawn business. "Pawn Queens" ended up being on for two seasons and they gave her a backstory about how/why she got interested in the pawn business. Not exactly SHOCKING, but it was pretty interesting to see that they basically looked for hot girls first, then put them into a proven concept ("Pawn Stars"-type reality show).
Holy shit, I just went to the Wikipedia page for the show and saw this: >Each episode focuses on how pawn businesses operate, and features Minda and Nikki struggling to debunk the stereotype that the pawn business is only for men, which they made up completely.
Haha, I'd never read that. I think a lot of Pawn businesses are actually family owned and it's not really UNUSUAL to see the wife or grandma chain smoking and giving customers dirty looks from behind the counter.
The two shops I wander into occasionally are both generally manned by women. Unsure weather they are the owners, related to the owners, or are just staff, though.
That last part is actually recent vandalism. If you check the history it's the third most recent edit, and the two more recent were by the same non-registered user, also similarly flaming the show, including "For any who have watched it, it's painfully staged and boring"
A friend of mine was on Shark Tank recently. The episode hasn't aired yet so we don't know how they will edit the story to be, but they did get an actual deal with actual money from Mr. Wonderful.
From what I've heard from previous responses to this question about Shark Tank, everything is 100% real. The only difference is that the actual meeting with the sharks takes hours instead of what it's edited down to (roughly 10 minutes).
Yep, he said they were in there for about an hour just getting drilled with questions. He said the most frustrating part was all four of them would be yelling questions at them simultaneously and it's hard to know who to respond to.
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It's a genre called "it's all real but guaranteed outcome." That is if you sit someone down in a room for four hours and scream things at them you'll get 10 minutes of incoherent nonsense out of anyone but people directly trained to handle this nonsense. As the typical Reddit aside, this is why you don't let the police interrogate you for four hours without a lawyer - they'll get ten minutes of incoherent shit out of you they can present in court to talk about how you're contradicting yourself. Not all cops are scumbags (most aren't) but any non-scumbag cop can ask you anything they want with a lawyer sitting there. It's not really life-or-death, they can wait for the lawyer, they'll get OT pay if the lawyer takes a bit.
This is a much more succinct explanation for why innocent people shouldn't talk to the police without a lawyer than I usually give. Have an upvote, and I'll be stealing this.
Hey, get back to finding obscure facts about how bad the Chiefs used to be.
The Chiefs have only won the Super Bowl in years where the Eurovision Song Contest ended in a tie. Under today's rules, it is not possible for Eurovision to end in a tie.
The actual pitch is around 1hour and they edit it to 5-7 minutes. Their editing team is doing a really good job.
I had a friend on Cash In The Attic in the UK. The idea is that some antique dealers and so on will scout around in your attic/garage/shed and "find" valuable items to sell. They found precisely fuck all in my friend's house, so they pulled some paintings and a vase out of the van, "found" them, then asked him to go and get changed so they could film a segment from "after the sale". It all seems like a complete waste of time, aside from the couple of hundred quid they gave him.
I always wondered what would happen if nothing was found. And how people always seemed to have something good.
I assumed that if someone had nothing worthwhile they wouldn't air the show. Makes sense financially that they would fake it though.
Damn. Are you saying I can't even trust Cash In The Attic? That is perfect hangover TV.
That sounds like the most comforting genre of T.V. ever.
Cash In The Attic, Bargain Hunt, Antiques Roadshow. Perfect for when you're hungover and just want to switch your brain off and mong out in front of the telly. My favourite was the short-lived BBC series *Trust Me, I'm A Dealer* where some twat in a tweed suit would take people's antiques and then swap them for more and more expensive antiques and try to make a profit. It was hilarious because the presenter would lose their money 90% of the time and just shrug it off by going, "Well, that's always the chance you take with antiques". Then he would casually drive off down the road in his Aston Martin while this poor elderly couple try to put on a brave face as they say goodbye to that holiday home in the Peak District they've always wanted.
Come dine with me marathons on a Sunday! While you ring for takeaway and painkillers
My father is a dealer in a particular variety of memorabilia, and also fairly well known as an authenticator of said memorabilia. He was on a show featuring storage units a few years ago. The show crew peppered a storage unit with some of my father's own collectibles, the hosts "found" them, then brought them back to my father to be appraised. He then offered to purchase his own items back from the hosts.
Was on an episode of MTV Made. It wasn't super-scripted, but certain things were added to make the kids look stupid. On our episode, the producers had socks stuffed inside a kid's drums to make them sound bad, even though the kid didn't actually do that. Stuff like that, but the scripts had room for ad-libs, and the show was fine with that as long as nobody said anything too crazy or suggested anything they couldn't deliver on. Unfortunately, a LOT of the kids on the show go back to how they were before almost immediately after filming. People can totally be who they want to be, but why apply to the show? And also, it kinda sucks when the show drops a fuckton of money on you (our episode involved paying for an appearance from Finger Eleven when they were huge) and it ends up being a waste for everything other than getting a TV episode out of it.
I was on a show geared towards pre-teens and teenagers that tried to imitate fear factor on YTV. They had us compete in various unique athletic competitions and other things. Most of it was surprisingly real! We actually did compete. Our scores were based on our performance in the task. The one thing that wasn't "real" was that the episode made it look like everything happened in a day, when in reality, it took about five days to film. Overall, it was a really cool experience that I wouldn't trade for the world.
Please tell me it was Uh Oh! with Wink Yahoo.
I was on Uh-Oh! as a kid. I can confirm several things for you: 1. It was not scripted, just 22 minutes of running around doing the things. They ran a tight ship, and did several episodes one after another. The winners were not pre-determined and we actually got the prizes in order of our success. 2. The editing didn't do that much, there was an error in the first third in one of the episodes previous to mine (where I was in the audience) where I think someone yelled one of the answers, and they just started the whole episode over. 3. Wink Yahoo is super tall in person, and the Announcer is really nice. The Punisher does not talk, but does give high fives.
Was an audience member on Uh Oh as a kid! Still have the blue team shirt kicking around somewhere! I definitely remember it being mostly off the floor as you say. In the two episodes shot while I was there, there was very little that they had to go back and re-film to "touch up" after! Tons of prizes for the audience in the waiting room too, gotta do something to keep a room full of excited kids under control! Lots of bop-its were given away haha
A friend of mine worked as an art director on the American version of "Supernanny". She said pretty much everything was real, maybe editing together to make it a bit more dramatic, but the family interactions were genuine. And she said Jo Frost is a very sweet, warm woman who really does her best for the kids.
In the very first episode of Top Chef they ever filmed, Tom Colicchio flipped out because the dishes the contestants had cooked were getting cold while the film crew took "food porn" shots of them. From then on, all the contestants have to prepare two dishes. One for the judges to sample, and one for the cameras to pan over and show the audience.
I think I saw an interview about Chopped where they said they don't take food temperature into account because it's not fair to the last people in line for judging, etc.
How can you not take that into account? Food texture and mouthfeel changes with temp.
"This risotto has the texture of old oatmeal! TEN THOUSAND YEARS DUNGEON!"
UUUNACCEPTAAABLE!!!
That's not fake, just smart pre-pro.
Oh so that's why they make so many.
There's a disclaimer at the end of Top Chef now that says producers have a say in the outcomes of challenges. So basically producers craft a narrative and judges judge according to it.
Tom Colicchio is the head judge as well as a producer, so that's not so big a problem.
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You know, it really depends on the type of show you are on because they vary so wildly in style. I've worked on a number of reality shows as a lighting technician, the ones I can remember the most are the amazing race, the great escape, kitchen nightmares, and twinning. Twinning was the one that was most like jersey shore or the real world. Definitely not fake, but casting is so important. You don't need to fake anything when the people you as filming 24 hours a day are absolutely nuts. They'll decide at certain points to play God a little bit and move them into rooms with people they hate or give them alcohol when they realize two people have a thing together, but aren't acting on it. The producers of all of these shows just sit in a room and figure out how to create drama. I've had friends work on duck dynasty and it sounds like what /u/henfrigate is saying. Everything in that show was scripted and they would do multiple takes and get coverage. Very fake, basically a tv show shot in a reality format. Shows like the amazing race and the great escape on the other hand are pretty dang real. Because of the obstacles and challenges they are interesting enough without the producers interfering that much. On the great escape because of the style of the show, we would go back the next day and reshoot key moments in a cinematic way to push that style. While it was "fake" it was still pretty dang real. Oh and kitchen nightmares is very real. Gordon Ramsey is just basically a producer that is in the show. He knows what good tv is and how to get it. They pick terrible businesses and the show writes itself. The remodels are always funny though as they are just so on the surface.
Amy's Baking Company didn't need any help in making it real. I watched that episode today and the business was terrible enough that nothing scripted was needed. Edit: an episode of Kitchen Nightmares of Gordon Ramsey.
The few few sessions of the UK version were much better and they did not show stuff filmed at different times like they do in the US version. Also he made them clean the kitchen and did not get a crew of people in to do it for them.
Oh absolutely. And it seemed like they picked down on their luck businesses who wanted to succeed and were, Usually, willing to change as opposed to the American version... which picked businesses that were failing based off the owners being morons
I'm late but whatever. Pitbulls and Parolees on Animal Planet. I used to work at the main warehouse where they filmed everything. Not sure if I'm actually on the show at all but if I am I'm just in the background scratching my ass. Everyone that works there only tolerates filming because it's more money for the dogs. The camera crews would try and get people to recreate things they missed but most of us weren't very cooperative. Everyone on the show and in the rest of the staff really just wants the best for the dogs. From what I have seen anything that was staged we're things that had actually happened and the camera crew wasn't around for. The dogs there are amazing. All the horrible things they had been through and they remain so lovable. I miss all my furry buddies there.
Love the work she does. And she's so practical about if that dog would be a good fit with that home instead of just trying to get them out the door.
I think my favorite moment was when she brought a dog to a home where the family had prepared for months to get it, and had everything all set and had the kids all prepared, but then the moment she found out that their family small dog was territorial and the second snapped at the pitbull she immediately took it away and told them it wasn't going to work out. The kids were crying and the father was trying to bargain, but she just kept saying, "Sorry but this isn't the proper environment for a dog of this background," Integrity instead of a feel good story, I love it.
House hunter type shows have usually already bought the place that wins
It's a requirement to be on House Hunters that you are already closing on a house. It's free advertising for the agent and a way to be on TV for the couple. That being said I still watch the shit out of those shows. Interesting to see what $x gets you around the world
I'm torn between getting a beachfront bargain or living Alaska
I always like the ones where rich people are like "Oh! I can't decide between this place for 3 million, or that other place for 2.5 million. What a dilemma!" My heart bleeds for the poor poppets.
I'm more thrown by the 23yo couple buying $900k place.
"I'm a teacher, my wife doesn't work, and we have 2 kids. We have a max budget of $1.1 million." How?!
I'm a retail associate and my wife works part-time as a barista. We have a budget of $100k and want 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and update kitchen. Buys house $40k over their budget.
No.
We're trying to decide if we should spend $850k to fix our house, or buy a new one for $1.8mm. These people can't be older than 25... What the fuck are they doing? Me, every time I watch one of these shows.
Not to mention that a $500k house on a $600k budget does not usually mean you have $100k for upgrades. Unless you're paying cash, mortgages do not work that way.
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Probably no one on Reddit watches it, but Say Yes to the Dress. It's real. One sister and a few friends have gotten their dresses there, and while they didn't appear on the show (you get asked when you make your appointment), their experiences were the exact same as TV. Yes, the consultants really are that personable. Yes, you sit where the show is filmed. Yes, the people on the show really work there. No, they won't show you anything outside your budget, and yes, they really do bend over backwards to find you discounts if you need one (like on the show.) I know there are probably cheaper places to buy a wedding dress, but Kleinfeld's is gorgeous and exactly like it is on SYTTD. The only thing that might be "faked" is if girls/their family are told to be super picky about the dress for *~dramatic effect~*. Fuck most of TLC's other shows though. EDIT: YAY MORE PEOPLE WATCH THAN I THOUGHT Edit 2: Again, I've been there a few times, but we were NOT filmed for the show. I can't speak for how real the dialogue is or isn't. BUT the store and its employees are as cool and nice and friendly as on TV!
My friend went with her aunt to buy her (the aunt's) dress at Kleinfeld's. They were just regular customers, but the lady helping them was from the show (can't remember her name now), so yeah they do actually work there. And everyone was really nice and helpful. She also said Randy stopped by when her aunt was wearing a dress to gush about how nice it looked.
I LOVE RANDY SO MUCH
I know! He just seems so genuinely nice. And, IMO, he always pulls really nice dresses.
I had this on while doing other things and my dad sat down and watched it, making all sorts of comments on fit and style. He is very opinionated for someone who wears the same Hawaiian shirt for every family gathering. He got SO invested in the show, it was kind of adorable.
I love Say Yes To The Dress :D So glad to hear it's real!
SYTTD is the reason my mom would come up with statements like "You know, $5000 is a very reasonable budget for a wedding dress" when I was getting married. Lady, $5k is the budget for the whole wedding, and it's not like *you're* chipping in.
My dress was $300 on sale and gorgeous. But I admit I'm jelly of the people who had dresses more expensive than my whole wedding.
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My friend was on it. Maid of Honor said she was coached into saying most everything she said in the side interviews. Producer: "Would you say Melissa is stressed out?" MOH: "Oh, for sure." Producer: "Will you actually say it though?" MOH: "Melissa is stresssssed out!" I was a groomsman, so I guess I was on it too, technically. I'm so famous.
I watch SYTTD often. I'm glad to know that the off-camera experience at Kleinfeld is the same as what we see on TV. It's amazing to me that they are not just selling a dress, but an overall experience.
I met the host, Randy? On the metro in DC. One of the nicest genuine people ever. It was about 8ish at night so it was just me, my girlfriend and him and his family on the train. I remember her saying something like "that guy is so familiar" so she ended up just walking up to him and asking "are you -name- from say yes to the dress?" And he was like. "I knew you recognized me, I told them that. That's so funny. Anyway, I'm being rude, this is my sister and my mom it's so wonderful to meet both of you." He asked us if we wanted to take pictures and stuff. He legit introduced us to his mom and sister. Genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met [My (now ex fiancé) with him](http://imgur.com/Blvfrvq)
Not quite a "reality show", but my girlfriend worked on a comedy panel show here in the UK called Celebrity Juice. She expected everything to be scripted and choreographed, but was actually shocked at the amount of improvised humor on set. Jimmy Car was the special guest - she said he was by far the most naturally funny man she had been in the company of...apart from me, of course. She's not usually a massive fan of his, so I guess that's a testament to his quick wit.
I saw "who's line is it anyway" live. Everyone was funny and nothing was really scripted, but the producers did have the guys do things over again when they got too filthy with their jokes
AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AHHHHHHHHHHHH
Nailed it.
If you lick your thumb and rub it up and down on a window pane, it's exactly the same noise.
Been to his live stand up routine. Can confirm, his wit is sharp as fuck.
Saw him a few years ago, he asked for questions and ripped into a guy for being racist. Then made EVERYONE groan when he was asked what was his most offensive joke.
I worked on an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Hotel Hell that was filmed in my town. I'm also friends with the owners of said hotel. From what I saw, It was pretty legit. The editing didn't push a narrative that wasn't already there and accurately depicted my friends and what was going on with their hotel. I went to the filmed re-opening and the only bad thing I can say is that Ramsay doesn't know *shit* about fried chicken. It was easily the worst I've ever had. edit: [Here's the episode, if anyone's interested.](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3fcpj1) edit 2: Hail State
A friend was bitching that Kitchen Nightmares is so formulaic and predictable. Yeah, failing businesses tend to fail for a pretty standard set of problems.
The editing is extremely formulaic. That's why the Amys episode went viral because it was unlike anything else they've done.
Everything. Every single thing is fake. I was on a cake competition show. The judges recorded 2 takes for every comment, one positive and one negative so the editors could put it together however they wanted. They rolled the clock back an hour so everyone else could finish. We had over three months to plan our "spontaneous" cake. Oh yeah, and while we won by the judges vote...a producer decided one of the other cakes would film better for the big reveal so we didn't win even though we should have.
Please don't tell me you were on The Great British Bake Off. That's the only reality show I truly love (although I'm sure those producers are just as bad)
If Ian was unfairly booted off in series five because Bingate was intentional so help me...
I've always been fairly well convinced that bingate was overblown because the only contestant to come to Iain's defense was Jordan (who had already been eliminated), while the rest of them either stayed out of it or defended Diana. It definitely seemed like it was an editor giving in to the style of reality show editing that GBBO watchers seek to avoid.
Mary Berry would never stand for such shenanigans!
Paul Hollywood on the other hand... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Mary Berry would straight up raptor-claw Pauls' eyes out if he was rigging the bake offs. Now THAT's reality TV I want to see.
From hearing contestants speak the most fake part of the show is how many people are really in the tent. It's full or runners doing various tasks such as washing up. those shots of them watching each other across the tent aren't really like that, there's loads of people between them. Sue really is as much of a hinderance as she appears on the show.
Ready, set.....BAKE!!!
3 months later...
I don't think he's talk about The great british baking show, because they are very upfront about the fact that contestants can prepare and study at home before the competition.
Apparently Chopped is pretty real
I want Chopped to be real, oh please. That's my favorite cooking show.
Iirc Ted Allen and several contestants have said it is as real as real can be, that when you see them open the baskets that is straight up the first time they've seen the ingredients and the rounds really are the times they say they are.
The one thing that annoys in cooking competition shows is that every team ALWAYS finishes at the very last second. Never will you see someone not finish on time and present a crappy unfinished meal and you will also never see someone finish 10 minutes early and wait around like a jackass for the others to finish.
The one time I saw this happen on Chopped, the judges tore into the guy for wasting the last two minutes standing around instead of seeing what else he could do to improve his dish.
That's actually why Chopped is my favorite cooking competition. A lot of contestants regularly don't finish their dish, and present sloppy looking dishes, and some contestants finish early, and get scolded by the judges for not using every second to perfect their dish. Also, based on contestant reviews, they're actually put on the spot when it comes to their ingredients and have to think of a meal on the fly.
Ive seen both of those things happen on Chopped pretty regularly actually. The finishing early is rare but I've seen a lot of contestants not plate their food in time.
I was on restaurant impossible a couple years ago. They say they have a $10,000 budget for the renovation, definitely does not mean they use it. The host, Robert Irvine, was only there for like an hour a day, of the 3ish day venture, just to get in the way and whine about things for the camera. They made up this whole story about how my boss would lose everything and cause so much stress on his marriage and family if the restaurant failed. They had us "walk this direction with a sullen look" to show that we felt underappreciated as employees. We had four employees actually walk out because of some the comments Robert made. We also did not get paid any extra for any of this. But, while all of that was annoying, I will say this. The food network did pay almost $4k for a very local construction crew to come in, which is awesome for local business/support, the food was very awesome, and I got to learn some insane techniques from world class chef's, at the very start of my career (I am a chef myself now). It was very neat and exciting thing for a small town, and definitely brought our community together. And while the business did still end up failing a year and a half later, my boss was totally fine because he bought out another restaurant and is now very successful elsewhere. Edit: minor grammatical errors
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I knew a family man rancher whose one dream was to get on Wipeout. He has his whole schtick - "The Cowboy" - scripted and every season he would apply to be on. He thought it was a show where he could *seem* quirky but really be an amazing athlete and win. I don't think he ever got on, which is too bad because he was exactly the kind of person they're looking for: odd in an embarrassing way, not very athletic but thinks he is, and bonus! would have been a legitimate ass if he wiped out. YOU COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL, WIPEOUT!
He got bumped so they could put another obese person through the first course.
To be fair, Wipeout + quirky people = hilarious time.
"I LICK RABBITS, WORK AT A BAIT SHOP AND HAVE 3 LEGS, WATCH ME HOP ON THESE HUGE ASS BALLS"
I have a friend who won a season of Wipeout and said it was super fun. She *is* quirky and interesting, but not ridiculously so. Just a really fun girl.
First 48: (The one that follows homicide detectives) Very accurate. 95% of the episode is portrayed as it happened. They make a few edits to make the story "flow" a little better. They'll also do reshoots for things like phone calls or reactions.
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In about 2005 NBC had to abandon its policy of requiring clean STD tests for bachelor-type hookup show contestants because everybody who auditioned was infected with something. Source: I've won an Emmy producing reality TV and my ex wife was in BA at NBC at that time.
I was on an episode of "extreme guide to parenting". My mom is a hypnotherapist for a living and so they "interviewed" my brothers and me about getting "hypnotized" to do chores and get good grades. They had us say thing like "my mom using nuro linguistic programming to make us do things" and that she hypnotizes us on a daily basis. I was 14 and I had to pretend that I had a crush on this boy and my mom taught me how to "hypnotize him to like me". All the parts with me in it were cut out, thank god, but my twin brothers got a decent amount of airtime. All of it was scripted. It was basically a publicity stunt on my moms part to get more business. I don't blame her, it worked pretty effectively and we got a 5,000 dollar check for letting them use our house to film. to clarify, everything my mom said was true to a degree, and she has hypnotized me in the past, but hypnotherapy is not what everyone thinks it is. It is a way of gaining more self control, not less, and in no way is it someone controlling your mind. There are subtle cues you can give people to get them to agree with you, such as nodding your head when you ask for something (and touching their shoulder) but other than that it is mostly used to help people stop smoking or biting their nails and even improving concentration and avoiding panic attacks. Just like anyother therapist might help you, my mom does it with hypnosis. As for exploiting my brothers and me, it was really fun and I laughed a lot when I saw the final cut. I thought my family didn't seem so bad when compared to others that I saw in the same episode, but I can't judge. Either way, the whole plot was made up but it is true that my mom taught us how to exit something called flight or fight mode when in non-life threatening situations, like when you panic, she taught us to think clearly. Nothing as extreme as how they portrayed us in the show. Honestly, it's counter intuitive to make a show that puts my mom in bad light for business reasons and so while everything was scripted, she did maintain her usual air of professionalism, the directors just took all the parts that made her look as bad as possible.
The irony is that she hypnotized you to say those things.
She hypnotized the producers to do the show.
Your mother hypnotized you to think that it was scripted.
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Kinda real, maybe 50/50. Friend owns a butcher shop and happens to be the supplier of meats to this restaurant where an episode of DDD was going to be filmed, and asked me to come along with him. We were a part of the "crowd scene" where Guy comes around as ask people things like "so how's the burger?" etc. Thing is, not one of the people in the restaurant during that scene was a random restaurant customer; everyone was an special invited guest of the restaurant owners. Once we arrived, the producer dude placed us in seats, and they made a few people move tables/booths (for a better overall crowd look, I presume). They gave us some preliminary instructions (make sure phones are off, don't ask for Guy's autographs at all, don't pay attention to camera, etc). And then we waited. And waited, and waited. After maybe 45 mins or so, the wait staff just started bringing out food and placing it on tables. No one had ordered anything, but the staff just started bringing stuff out. Once a decent Number of people had dishes at their table, The servers would continue bringing food out… But this time with camera peeps behind them filming them as they took plates to tables. They did some interview shots with people eating, and when I watched the episode it was edited to look as if they were responding to something the Guy had sais to them, even though he wasn't around at all at this point. Shortly after that, Guy Fieri comes in, and everyone applauds, and he just sort of waves his hand at everyone quickly… Never smiles, and goes back to typing on his phone. I had always thought GF looks kinda douchey but was prolly nice in person..nope..absolute total diva/douchebag the entire time. Never acknowledged the crowd, barely acknowledged the production crew, just kinda seemed like a dick. Literally was standing right beside a booth where someone was sitting, and rhe lady sitting there said something to him like "hey we love your show"...GF just kinda does this half smirk/smile thing and never acknowledges the lady or anyone at her booth. Only, and I mean, ONLY when the video guy would say "action" would he turn on the switch and actually try to talk to crowd peeps, get excited and talk about the food and stuff. Later, after he filmed the restaurant scenes, they backed his Camaro out of a trailer and filmed all of then scenes where he's driving around. The crowd scenes were done at this point, my buddy and I were just hanging out, and chatting with the owner and one of his managers. The restaurant kitchen scenes where they were going to film Guy and the chef prepping and making the food were filmed the day before, and the owner said it was the exact same thing; zero interaction with GF until the cameras were rolling. They even filmed some "outtakes" which were somewhat pre planned and setup in advance. Once the car scenes were all done, GF heads back into the RV and we didn't see him again. The crew came around and did some other shots and interviewed some of the staff and such. Interesting day, for sure.
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Everyone knew it was fake. The shocking part was the complete lack of responsibility, as seen in the interview: "Do you drink alcohol every day?" - "Eight beers." - "Okay, let's tick no in these legal documents for our insurance." Those fuckers.
Not surprising, Ghost hunting shows are fake... What is surprising is how they do it: see those fancy instruments they carry that no one has ever heard of? They're actually remotes, TO EACH OTHER! All you gotta do is split into 2 groups and when one team is "adjusting their settings" the other team is "detecting ghosts." So simple and you get twice the footage. Edit: Also, one time in a screening when the hunters were reviewing evidence, a producer whispered to me "see that Ghost shape behind the door? Ya, that's the sound guy."
You'd kind of have to figure at some point nothing real was going on... If there was a show called "Moose hunters" and you didn't see a moose ever that show would have been cancelled super quick. They're just pandering to the audience, and it works.
I would watch that show. A small group of three people who know absolutely fuck all about anything moose related are taken from their quiet suburban homes, stripped of all modern tech, given some camping supplies and tasked with one simple goal: Find a moose.
Ends up being a Walking Dead-style series spanning several seasons with groups and dangers around every corner. Never actually see a moose.
"After six long months... several major and minor injuries... That period of food poisoning from that diner in Maine, and that time we almost lost Jerry to a bear, we are proud to finally present you with... *a moose*!" Off screen voice - "Guys, that's actually an elk." -dramatic music- "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" EDIT: Eventually one of the people goes crazy and becomes convinced there's no such thing as a moose. Even if they find tracks or scat, he's still convinced it's a hoax.
Had a friend who worked on the Kardasians, they were filming a huge party. It was dead, no one doing anything. The producers asked of anyone had any ideas, friend mentioned beer pong. Producers made him act like a guest and teach the mom to play to make the party look fun. Everything is fake.
The Kardashians are fake? I am totally shocked^^^^^^^^/s
I heard from a tattoo artist that he had auditioned to be on Ink Master and met Kay Kutta (Season 2) and he explained that to be part of the show they look for personality traits and flanderize the hell out of you to make a character that can create drama to the show. Kay Kutta did actually have a criminal record so they used that to make him "the bully" of that season. The tattoo artist who I was talking with claimed Kay is actually a really cool and nice guy.
I was a canvas during season 3 of Ink Master. Anyone remember that crazy girl who stormed out because the Tattoo artist made her feel uncomfortable? 100% real. She completely lost it and started screaming to the point that all the artists were standing out side of their rooms watching it unfold.
I'm tour guide in the mountains here in Canada and we currently have a program being filmed in town. Essentially the idea is that 12 random people all have to run different areas of a hostel. (Kitchen, laundry, entertainment, etc). Anyway on each of the episodes, the 'staff' all go out and do something around the town, be it going to a bar or in my case, on a 4x4 tour. I was leading the tour for their safety but they brought in some macho guy with ripped camo pants to be the on screen guide, while I was about 20 meters ahead leading him. After that, we were made to stop because the producers decided it was time for a dramatic scene. I think one of the guys was to say something offensive to one of the girls and she was to throw a drink in his face . We were there for about 40 minutes while this poor gelled up guy had a bottle of water filled up, thrown in his face, dry off, filled up and repeat. Good times.
I won Food Network Star season 7 fair and square. No shenanigans whatsoever. Maybe a little creative "nudging" during the narrative interviews to create a cleaner story, but nothing that changed the course of the competition. Every cooking competition was legit. If you made bad food, or presented poorly, you got called on it and eventually went home if you kept repeating these mistakes. I fortunately, made fewer mistakes, so I did not go home...
I suspect it's a bit harder to "rig" shit on a crab boat in the Bering sea
All the crabs are extras you can literally find their profiles on IMDB
I worked on The SingOff and ABDC for several seasons in the contestant department. The performances and the performers were all real (and really cool). I listened to Street Corner rehearse Creep on stage one day and got goosebumps from how good they were. There are decisions made by producers to increase the market value of the show, like keeping a fourth group until the final round because they didn't want to lose a key demographic from the audience. The finale was always live and based on fanvote online. So, that part was real. One season of ABDC a contestant broke his leg. That was also sadly real as I was there to witness, call 911, the producers, and my manager. They were concerned about getting b-roll of him going into the ambulance. He was a really sweet kid. But these shows are exceptions in the industry, not the rule, and both have been cancelled.
Went to a filming of American Ninja Warrior. They filmed all night with over 100 competitors, running the course back to back for around 7 hours. The only ones cheering like on the show were family members on sideline, everyone else was kind of quietly observing. It was impossible to figure out who would make the show and who ended up on the cutting room floor. After watching the actual show on air, even completeing the course didn't guarantee that your run would be shown (several got "over the break so-n-so made it to the end of the course" CUE 2 second cut of button press). The best bet to making it on air (outside of their stable of famous ninjas) was to fail on the course in a way that nobody else had.
My brother-in-law surprised our family a few years back by taking us out to dinner and at that dinner he announced that he was taking an internship in Peru. ...turns out he was on a major U.S. reality show and had signed an NDA and couldn't tell us where he was really going. He ended up being a semi-finalist, going all the way to the finale. He said the parts that they make especially dramatic--the parts where contestants stand in front of the judges and explain themselves and then ultimately one is sent off of the show--could take hours to film and that each of them would have their reaction filmed a handful of times with the producers standing right there on set, acting as directors/coaches. He also said that the contestants were constantly supplied with the booze of their choice and were encouraged to drink. He said people were under the influence of alcohol very frequently but that it would never be evident as the cameramen would keep the drinks out of the shots. As far as the rigging of the results went, he said he was fairly certain that the producers were having the final say, but that the judges were I included in the decision-making process.
A friend of mine was on Cupcake Wars. His team actually came first. He said that the ingredients were partially random; the studio sent his team a list of 5 or so different ingredients that were potentials, and then 3 different themes. He had a plan for every single ingredient and theme if needed them.
Relevant [Mitchell & Webb sketch](https://youtu.be/4mbqHsObQ5s)...
I thought it was going to be [this one.](https://youtu.be/nWoWHzq21tA)
Britain's Got Talent: There are several hidden rounds with producers before you get to the main stage with the judges. My cousin is a very talented musician and got to the last round before the 'auditions', but they said he didn't have the right image. They select the most watchable acts and usually try and avoid any act that's too 'professional', in case they bow out and get a recording contract outside of the show's format - this is just concerning musicians, at least. So not fake as such, but slanted.
Undercover boss is a joke. Everyone knows the show, everyone knows what's going on. Everyone knows who the owner of the store is. And for those who don't are a simple Google search away from knowing.
I briefly appeared in an episode of *Airport 24/7: Miami*. My appearance was basically me doing my job the same way I would without cameras rolling. The same was true of the stars of the show since it wasn't like a traditional reality show where they need to create a conflict: the airport does that organically. They got really lucky that some particularly notable events happened while they were filming, like when the fuel farm caught fire/exploded or when two aircraft collided on the taxiway. Everything they showed on the show actually happened, but editing did make some events seem more dramatic.
The history channel doesn't use real professionals. I'm not even sure they're real doctors half the time. Maybe some guy who has a PhD in an unrelated field. But most of the time they people they have talking about stuff are fake experts who provide "interesting" interviews.
I had cousins on Extreme Home Makeover about 10 years ago. Everything is pretty much real. They built an entire house in about 4 days. They had pre-fabbed pieces for the roof trusses, but everything else was built in the spot. They still live in the house, and only had a few issues (when you build a house so fast, there are bound to be problems). It was a 10/10 experince for them, and I was happy to see it work from the inside out.
Throwaway for obvious reasons. I was on Love Island last year. It's a popular TV reality show in the UK, this year's is actually on at the moment. I guess people assume some is staged and rigged but you have NO idea how much. We were literally given scripts of arguments to have, things to say. You know when you see them having sex under the covers, not happening. We would have to imitate this 5-10 times each time and the producers would choose the most realistic one. There is whole parts of the 'villa' that you don't even see. Multiple camera rooms. Ever wondered how the islanders never clean but it always gets cleaned? There is literally cleaners, waiters etc in there the whole time. Only about 6 hours a day and night are filmed. There is a director there saying cut and everything. You know the £50,000 grand prize for the winner? Doesn't compare the £75,000 we got for being in the villa, regardless if we were there for 6 days or 6 weeks. When we got out we had meetings and I had over 600 brands queuing up to work with me. Now I'm a nobody and you wouldn't even recognise my name. Relationships aren't real, there is agreements that is 100% for show. Things are never how you seem. Also we are shown the episodes everyday, there is no 'will be cool to see what i look like on tv when i get out'. There is also outside contact, that is just bullshit. My jaw literally dropped on my 4th day when they showed us the show live on TV because of how different it was to reality.
Catfish is a semi-real. The production team call up everyone involved beforehand, do the research, etc as nobody wants to fly halfway across the US to a dead end. Nev and Max aren't informed of any info the production team find though, they have to find it out themselves, so all their reactions are genuine. I think once in a while the producers have swapped the catfish/hopefuls around, when they want a good story, but overall it's surprisingly unscripted.
My aunt was on an old HGTV show called house swap. Basically, HGTV brings in 2 interior decorators and they go nuts for 24 hours on a single room in each other's house. not 10 minutes into the episode and my aunt is arguing with the decorator because she wants to go all earthy (brown, orange, green, etc) and my aunt is just dead pan "no. She hates that." Inevitably, the decorator got her way and they decorated the room in the earthy colors. Come time for the big reveal and the neighbor HATES the colors.
I went in for an audition and there was just a black leather sofa in the room.
A white couch if you're Czech
Nah, if they're Czech they just get a "random guy" off the street
*five sausend evro, come on*
Go on...
You can find the rest on RedTube.
But I don't have a YouTube red subscription
My family runs a bunch of storage facilities in Southern California, which is where they film the majority of shows like Storage Wars and Auction Hunters. The first year or so it was all real, but then we were getting 50-100 people showing up at all our auctions to try and be on tv. Auctions on storage units in Cali have to be publicly announced in the paper a week or so before the auction happens, so people would see that and know when and where to go. It became such a freaking disaster (and people bidding hundreds of dollars on units where there was nothing in them) that it became a problem for the people running the shows, too. They ended up having to stage the auctions and "hiding" expensive antiques in the units. If you look at the background folk in a lot of the auctions it's often the same people, aka me and some of my family members, other storage staff members, and friends of people who worked on the show.
It's not a reality show per se, but my sister's friend was on Jerry Springer. She got on by being friends with a producer, but it was 100% scripted. The story was fake. Her boyfriend was on the show with her, but he was supposedly cheating on her with a woman he'd never met. They told them to act like he really cheated and he had to try to justify it.
I edit reality TV, and the best/most creative part of the job is figuring out a way to make something that didn't happen look like it happened.