I have a confession to make. My life without Pawn Stars, Wife Swap, 50 Day Fiance (The Other Way included), and some others would never be the same. I love the absurdity, the drama, the lack of profoundness these reality TV gems bring us. And even if the day has been the worst bender in a 365-day marathon, it’s still complete and quasi-satisfactory after a handful of those episodes before falling asleep.
This is on one condition, of course. If you want to enjoy the TV shows like that, you gotta turn a blind eye to the fakery that comes with it. And although we suspect it's huge, this viral thread on r/AskReddit shows exactly how humongous it is.
“Redditors who have been on a reality TV show such as Hardcore Pawn or Pimp My Ride or Pawn Stars, how FAKE was it,” someone asked on Ask Reddit and the responses started rolling in. Below we selected the most interesting ones, to remind us all to take things with a pinch of salt. Or rather, the whole bag of it.
#1
I was on set for a filming go Ghost Hunters in Buffalo. On the show, they are "investigating" an upper level of the Buffalo Central Terminal when they hear a "disembodied" voice say "Get out!"
It was the property manager on a lower level yelling at some homeless people to clear out. Everyone knew it was him, but it somehow made it in the show as an "unexplained" event.
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165points
#2
Not me but one of my good friends got fired by Trump on the non-celebrity Apprentice. He had the longest Board Rooms in show history because Trump couldn't find a reason to fire any of them. Three hours later the producers went in, spent five minutes, then the contestants were all called back in and Trump fired my buddy.
The main reason was that during the confessionals my friend wouldn't dish on the other players. He tried to play the game straight up and therefore wasn't dramatic enough for the producers who ended up hating him.
Also, Trump is a d*ck in real life.
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155points
#3
A friend of mine was on the bachelor. This was years ago and she ended up being one of the last 4 girls. She said they were constantly fed alcohol, were put on a strict sleep schedule where they were literally put to bed and woken up. Also, there were no clocks anywhere, so all the girls were in the constant state of alcohol fueled disorientation. There were no "chance" encounters where the guy is sitting on the couch and the girl goes up to tall to him, all of that is staged. Even their conversations were re-shot over and over if the reactions weren't right or their wording was off. The entire thing was completely controlled and she said no one really knew they guy because none of their interactions were real.
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152points
If you’re a fan of 50 Day Fiance, a mega-popular American reality television series on TLC like myself, you know very well how addictive it may be. The level of entertainment is so powerful, there’s a huge fanbase behind every character in the show, with the news being discussed on countless subreddits, forums and Facebook groups. What’s more, you can easily binge the entire season and make yourself bloodshot-eyed the next morning.
The paradox of watching reality TV shows is that no matter how fake and staged they may be (and most viewers are very aware of the fact), how absurdly cringy they seem, we still can’t look away from them. So what is it about that reality drama that’s so appealing that people from different walks of life, of different age and background, and even nationality, find it that addictive?
#4
My brother was on Xfactor UK. There are several rounds before the televised rounds, so all those rubbish acts you see on TV have been picked by producers to go through.
I've also been in the audience of The Voice and Xfactor and they make you do loads of fake cheering, dancing and clapping before the show starts so they can cut it in to the actual show. 90% of the cheering you see/hear on the televised shows have been added in post production.
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131points
#5
My boss was on [a certain reality TV show] as a guest judge. In the episode, one of the contestants sprained got injured. My boss was nice and all concerned, but they edited in a shot of her laughing, that was actually laughing at someone's joke from earlier. The filming session for that scene was 10 hours long. They edited it down to about 5 minutes. With that much footage, you can edit it into just about anything you want.
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121points
#6
When my wife and I were looking to buy a home in Michigan, our agent told us we had the opportunity to be on House Hunters if we wanted to. We talked to some person from the show, and they told us the basic process: we'd buy whatever home we wanted, then they would film us there before we moved in, as though we were just looking at the place as well as looking at two other "prospective" places that they had selected. Then we'd ultimately "choose" the house we'd already bought and live happily ever after.
We watched a few episode (or I did, my wife already liked the show) and I convinced my wife of how stupid they would likely make us look, so we passed.
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115points
The behavioral scientist Dr. Juliette Tobias-Webb, explained to The Latch that people can become obsessed with this kind of drama not only because it is “emotional and exciting” but it can also give people a sense of meaning.
“The physiological arousal from drama is exciting; increasing our heart rate, visceral arousal and leading to the release of endorphins in the brain which are pain-suppressing and pleasure-inducing, not much different than the effect of some drug addictions,” Dr. Tobias-Webb commented. “Like any addiction, you build up a tolerance that continuously requires more to get the same neurochemical effect. In the case of drama, then means you need more and more crises to get the same thrill.”
#7
I was on a European version of "Survivor" where we went to an island and had to survive for 2 weeks. Whatever was seen on camera was what actually happening.
The only fake thing is that we got some food to maintain a somewhat healthy diet.
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111points
#8
My family was on World's Strictest Parents. We hosted two rebellious teenagers in our allegedly really strict home. The producers were bummed because the kids actually liked us and we got along with them, so they had to go up to the kids and convince them to get angry for no reason and cause drama. We're still close with the two teenagers and talk to them often!
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108points
#9
I was on a reality ambulance tv show when I was an EMT. The patients were real and their medical conditions were real. Everything else about the show was fake. When we filmed it was for a bariatric ambulance tv show. In the morning when the camera crew got there they filmed us driving lights and sirens around the parking lot. Then we did personal interviews where they let us talk about moving bariatric patients and how we felt about our jobs. Then they made us say a bunch of stuff that we normally would never say like "without us these patients would die" etc.. they used these clips of the stuff they made us say and spliced it into the real stuff we said. Our actual ambulance transport seen in the tv show was 100% planned and scripted. The patient wanted to go to the ER and have some decubitus ulcers looked at. However this patient being diabetic had a high blood sugar of 400 having just eaten and taken insulin. We took that and were forced to treat it like a life or death situation and then they used our earlier footage of saying things were life and death and our driving around the parking lot lights and sirens to make it seem like we were fighting for her life. In reality in about 30 min her sugar was going to go back down to normal and life would be good.
The whole experience actually really turned me off to reality TV and made me realize how fake everything is. If people are interested I'm sure I can find the youtube clip. I just have to double check and make sure I didn't sign a non disclosure agreement.
The whole experience actually really turned me off to reality TV and made me realize how fake everything is. If people are interested I'm sure I can find the youtube clip. I just have to double check and make sure I didn't sign a non disclosure agreement.
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97points
The thrill of the drama may explain part of the reality TV addiction, but the same goes with other TV entertainment, action and adventure movies. Another theory that explains our ongoing fascination with reality TV is that it makes us feel better about ourselves. Dr. Tobias-Webb suggests that people watch television shows to simultaneously make comparisons with the people on the shows and to feel better about themselves and their personal circumstances.
#10
I worked on a cruise ship when they filmed 'Undercover Boss'. The CEO pretended to be doing a documentary and had various crew members train him for a few hours. While no one was expressly told what the gig was, the show had already been going on for a year, so we all sort of knew what was up. When they were doing the shooting, he claimed to stay in a crew cabin to get a 'real' feel for how it was to be a crew member. Not only did they use a passenger cabin in the shot, he didn't even stay there. He stayed in the grand penthouse!! When they did the 'reveal' that he was actually the CEO, they did like five shots of the crews' 'surprise'. His big gesture at the end was $150,000 towards crew welfare (pays for parties, day trips, etc). It came to like $8 per crew member when you consider how many crew members there are. Those that were featured (and even one who got cut from the show) on my ship did get an all expense paid European cruise, so that was nice for them at least, provided they wanted to go on a cruise on their vacation from working on a cruise ship.
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93points
#11
I was on "this morning" when I was about 7 and they did a big makeover for me and my siblings. The premise they created was that we were a nightmare and my poor mum just wanted us to look smart for an upcoming christening. The main part I remember was them telling us to jump in the mud and shout no when our mum asked us to stop. Normally we wouldn't have dared so I remember that being fun! Oh and my sister ruined her hair three times before going on stage so they made us hold her hands so she couldn't touch it.
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91points
#12
When I was in university about 7 years ago we got an email inviting us to take part in 60 minute makeover (UK). It's a show where a person's family calls in a team of experts to totally re-furnish their house while they're away from home for the day. The audience at home are led to believe that all of the work is done within 60 minutes, and they make a point to start their countdown on camera and rush everyone in to meet their deadline.
About 10 of us joined the makeover team at around 8am on the day and were given flat-pack furniture to make outside the house before they started the makeover. The crew had a skip outside where they threw all of this poor unsuspecting guy's furniture, only to be replaced with this cheap stuff that was only available to him via sponsorship of the programme. (They list all of the new furniture's manufacturers in the credits at the end of the show.)
They also masked off all of the skirting boards and light switches ready for painting before we were let loose inside.
We were let into the house as a member of the ITV crew declared the start of our 60 minutes. After 30 minutes of frantic, patchy wall painting, carrying lamps, uncomfortable seating and chip board coffee tables into the house we were told to vacate.
We then had lunch in the street while the experts went in to clean up our mess and then did it all again for another strict 30 minutes.
After we were finished and the official 60 minutes were over, there was another period of professionals tidying and filling in our shoddy decorating before we all gathered outside and waited for a man to come home from work. He would find that all of his furniture had been smashed into a skip outside his house and replaced with stuff that may look good on camera for a couple of seconds during a quick sequence, but would be very disappointing to live with.
This man would be happy about his makeover and we would leave the scene as more experienced, well rounded students with an insight into TV Production.
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87points
Another interesting theory is that reality TV allows Americans to fantasize about gaining status through automatic fame. Ordinary people can watch the shows, see people like themselves and imagine that they too could become celebrities by being on television. And even if the contestants are shown in not the best light, the fact that so many people are still refusing to turn it off means they matter to us in one way or another.
#13
I tried out for Canadian Idol. The contract they made us sign literally stated that the producers could override the fan votes if needed to make sure the person they wanted to win would win. I still tried out. I was not the next Canadian Idol.
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86points
#14
In Holland there was a Dutch version of pimp my ride, a player of a football team we played against had his car ''pimped'' the car didnt even make it home, he had to call the car repair service on his way back from the studio...
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84points
#15
Obligatory not me but my cousin: She was on Hell's Kitchen and said that they would film for over 10 hours on a day, then would go to sleep around 11pm only to get woken up at 2am to film again to make them more irritable. The producers would purposely bring up topics to create drama within the chefs. They re-tapped when they answered the door in the beginning a couple times to make them seem "more surprised." They portrayed my cousin as the "classic hot blonde". It was certainly more of a reality TV show then a cooking show...
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83points
#16
Several years ago, my cousin went in for a tattoo at the shop from 'Inked'. The one in Vegas. It was an 'off' filming day, so NONE of the artists from the show were in. He got his tattoo started, and they asked him to come back in a few weeks when it was healed up to schedule an appointment to finish it. When he showed up, filming for the season was finished. The shop was closed, cleaned out, and the space was for sale.
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78points
#17
I was on Jerry Springer. The episode never aired but the entire thing was fake. They even asked me to find friends to complete the storyline of a double love triangle. Coolest part of it all was when they literally asked me if I wanted a fake doctors note or a fake death certificate made out in a fake family members name in order to get me out of work. They literally had a guy on staff whos only job was to get people out of work so they could attend filming.
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77points
#18
I had a friend who auditioned for The Voice on the second season I think? He has a beautiful voice but was told his "look" wasn't right for the show. Always thought that was pretty stupid.
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75points
#19
Not me, but my best friend was on 16 & Pregnant. Now I don't know if this is always the case, but none of the drama on her episode was fabricated. However at one point, they did ask her to reenact a conversation that she had had with her mother off camera. The funny part is, they had her reenact it about a week after giving birth so she was no longer pregnant. To hide that, she wore a big sweatshirt and held a teddy bear in front of her tummy so you couldn't tell the difference.
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74points
#20
My friend was on Intervention. We have the same genetic condition and live with severe pain, do that really pissed me off. They lied to get her on the show, saying it was a documentary about chronic pain patients. Then they forced her to take medicine when she didn't need it just to get shots of her "using" for the show. Then of course they editing everything to make her look bats**t insane. Her episode doesn't have a "several months later" segment at the end because when they sent her to rehab they realized she was in legitimate pain and actually increased her meds. I worked in the film industry and I understand you need to edit things to fit a narrative, but lying to someone to get them on camera and editing it to make them look bad is pretty sh***y IMO.
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69points