We’re going to let you in on a little secret, dear Pandas—just promise not to tell anyone. We absolutely love reality TV shows. The tension. The drama. The larger-than-life characters. We know it's mostly all fake and dramatized. But it’s all a lot of fun if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief for a little while.
We’ve collected some of the most interesting insights about reality TV shows from former contestants and audience members who spilled the tea in these two r/AskReddit threads here and here. They revealed what’s actually scripted and what, surprisingly, is genuine. Scroll down to check out their stories.
Bored Panda reached out to entertainment, pop culture, and lifestyle expert Mike Sington who was kind enough to walk us through why we enjoy reality TV so much and why it is so scripted. Read on for our full interview with him.
#21
I've always wondered how in shows like Hell's Kitchen and Masterchef (all cooking competitions for that matter) they flash to interviews with contestants giving real time feelings when you know it was recorded afterwards.
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#22
I have a friend who worked for the French version of Survivor (Koh-Lanta). Nothing is scripted, but there are some things and points that skew the "true" experience: for example, the cameramen usually point the area where the immunity idol is hidden with their camera, and the contestants just have to look where they point.
Also it's all in the editing: some quotes can be taken out of their context, some challenges look tense and close while a team actually won by a landslide, and even though voting out someone might be undecided before the tribal council, the vote turns out to be unanimous in the end.
TL;DR: In French Survivor, nothing is scripted, but some stuff can help contestants and editing adds more drama and suspense.
By the way, there was a 25-year old contestant who died last year, on the first day of filming. Heart failure (nothing was detected in health exams), season cancelled.
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#23
Most of it is scripted. 2 of my 3 roommates do production for reality TV. The projects are real. The "actors" will be told to do or say something, but their own words are real. The story is fake though. For example, one of the real housewives had a fake job as a realtor. On big brother, my friend was told to wake up one day and go trash the kitchen and be angry without being given any reason. Things like that are "scripted". The hosts follow scripts obviously.
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