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14 People From Reality TV Share How Fake It All Was In This Viral Thread
Article created by: Mindaugas Balčiauskas
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.
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#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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#2
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.
#3
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.
#4
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.
#5
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.
#6
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!
#7
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.
#8
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.
#9
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.
#10
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...
#11
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.
#12
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.
#13
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.
#14
My brother was just in another reality TV show. It's the third or fourth he's been in. Without giving too many details(so he wouldn't get in trouble and so the show won't get ruined too early), it's insanely fake. He was given a new name and backstory, and even his "wife" in the TV show is some random actress he's never met that is married to someone else. They set up 90% of the stuff in his house specifically for the show. The only real parts of the show are his dogs and his house(as in the house itself, a lot of details were changed). It's not even just this show that is super fake. As I said before, he's been in several and all of them have done the same thing. The first one I remember him on was Room Raiders(pretty old now but it was on MTV back in like 04 or around then). They did use his room, but they staged almost everything. All the "significant" things that the girl would comment on or look at were all placed there by the crew, so it was all pre-planned and fake.
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