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17 Former Reality And Game Show Contestants Are Sharing Their Wildest Behind-The-Scenes Secrets And Stories
Article created by: Viktorija Ošikaitė
Let’s pause and think of all the precious time we shamelessly wasted watching reality shows. From The Bachelor and MasterChef to good old Fear Factor, Survivor Alone, from 90 Day Fiancé to Big Brother, American Idol, and X-Factor... okay, that’s enough.
The truth is that TV and the media have been very generous in showering us with some absurd, cringy, exciting, and totally captivating entertainment. No wonder our fellow reality TV aficionados will nod their heads if we say that we've always wanted to find out what’s happening behind the scenes.
So today, we are going to find out what people who participated in, worked at, or had something to do with a game or reality TV show in one way or another, have seen or witnessed. Thanks to these two (this and this!) Reddit threads, some secrets will be spilled today.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
My friend went on a dance show. He was the favourite to win so they asked him to sign a contract midway that said he will give 50% of all of his earnings from dance to the network. He'd already created a very successful dance school prior to appearing so he refused to sign the contract. He was evicted that week in a "surprise eviction". Joke was on the network though because ratings dropped after his eviction and now they hire him to do more work for the network than the actual winner.
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#2
I worked for a bakery that was on, and won, CupCake Wars. The premise of the show is to surprise the bakers with a few, more often than not, odd ingredients and see what they're really made of. In reality, we found out the ingredients a few months before the show. Had we not known, there's no doubt we'd have lost.
There are definitely people who thrive under pressure, both in performance and creativity, and they have better things to do with their time than crank out cupcakes for Food Network. Tell an unprepared contestant they have 40 minutes to make a delicious cupcake using tater tots and nine times out of ten you'll have a middle aged woman sobbing into her mixing bowl.
#3
I was on a weight loss show. They touted healthy diet and exercise but this is not what I was told off camera. The "trainer" advised me to fast/dehydrate myself prior to weigh ins to have a lower weight. The producer told me to use the "chew and spit" method (chew the food and spit it out instead of swallowing) to manage eating. Although there was not an explicit script - they would ask questions or direct you in such a way that there was only one answer (the one they wanted). We had to film the fitness events multiple times - to get all the angles and shots they needed. Where possible they would keep you exhausted and hungry so that you were more likely to have dramatic breakdowns. The producers tried to get between me and my husband- for drama purposes only - it was such an issue that I refused to allow any of my family/spouse be interviewed any more. The producer would berate me about this - presumably to generate more drama. Not a good experience but certainly an enlightening one.
#4
Extreme Home Makeover redid a house in my neighborhood when I was in high school. The family had to move out a year or so later because they couldn’t afford to pay the upkeep and taxes on it
#5
A friend of mine was on that old MTV show Next. One guy, four girls. She was the first "date" off the bus. She's really pretty, and a super cool girl. She and the guy hit it off, and he offered her the second date or whatever. She accepted. But then the producers asked her to get back on the bus because they didn't get a good shot of her coming out of the bus originally.
She went back on, waited for "action". When she came off the second time, the guy yelled NEXT!!
#6
The Kardashians film at a restaurant I used to work at. There's no reality to it whatsoever.
Their film crew gets there 4 hours early, and they make everyone sign waivers consenting to be on camera. They mic up the immediate wait staff, set up their equipment (boom mics, multiple cameras, lighting, etc.), and post security at the entrances. After that, the "stars" show up, usually about 2-3 hours late, order some food that they don't eat, and then leave 30 minutes later.
It's all coordinated days to weeks in advance with the owner and the GM.
#7
Just remembered another one.... When I was in college in LA, Jay Leno came to my school to film a Jaywalking segment. It used to be one of my favorite segments - I loved laughing at all the idiots he would find.
Turns out everyone is carefully screened for how well they can act like a bimbo/moron. I went to a small school so I knew several of the people who were chosen. One was my next door neighbor and she was a PoliSci major. The topic was politics. She was actually pretty smart and clearly knew the answers but played dumb for the camera.
After realizing how fake it was, I can't even watch Jaywalking anymore. It is so stupid and all staged. People just act dumb so they can get on TV. I failed at acting dumb but got on TV anyway... by "casually walking past the camera wearing a pair of ridiculous rainbow socks."
#8
my cousin went on Canadian Idol, went all the way to the celebrity judges. the Judges liked her but the producers changed their minds. she didn't get to go on the show.
talk about a let down.
#9
My family was the subject of an episode of Paranormal State on A&E. Although the paranormal stuff they captured all really happened, everything was put out of order and was heavily edited to make it more dramatic than it actually was. They pretty much made my family seem completely crazy (which we're not) by filming us without our knowing and dubbing certain scenes with different audio. All in all, it was an interesting experience but I'm not sure if I would want to do something like it again.
#10
I was in a wedding TV show. They did the "surprise wedding reveal" was done take after take. There were paid extra dancers. There were tons of unpaid extras to fill the wedding and reception, all shot in one location but appeared different in the show. The extras were all obvious because they were white and the couple and actual wedding party were all black. The cake was fake, we did serve cake but from another cake, not the one they showed. The wedding was actually pretty cool and after midnight they got to play music they wanted to hear. It was very glamorous but not high quality, on t. The chairs seemed very high quality but in reality had glue showing and cheap Chinese jewels on em. But hey who would complain about a free wedding?!
#11
My cousin went on Judge Judy once (sued her ex-bf for something or other), and the producers told her things like, "Make sure you tell her right away if the other person is lying, don't wait until she asks you" and "Don't make eye contact with her, it makes her mad". Having seen the show, she knew better and ignored everything they said. She won, but not after being berated by Judge Judy for being a liar even though she had all the evidence needed.
#12
I was on the reality tv show wife swap almost 5 years ago. I was 11 at the time and my mom got switched to Arizona. Anyway there are really no behind the scene secrets, most of it is manipulated in editing. To make things more dramatic and twist our words around. But a behind the scene thing that is awesome is they buy you pretty much any food you want xD
#13
A friend of mine tried out for American Idol and she said it always seemed like the people wait then they get their big shot in front of the TV judges. In reality it's a ton of steps, and hours of waiting, to go through loads of intermediate judges who decide if your either TV material, the insane or terrible people, or actually good enough to move on.
#14
I was an extra in one of those shows that take a failing restaurant and bring in a celebrity to fix all of its problems. It was not a fun experience; three things that stand out:
* All of the restaurant's "problems", every one, were either made up or things that had been solved years ago but were re-created for the cameras.
* The celebrity host had an earpiece and most of his lines, especially when he got all fired up, were fed to him.
* If the Food Network promises you will get a free meal for two hours of shooting, what they mean is they might give you a granola bar for eight.
#15
I dated a guy who worked on Paranormal State and he told me that 99% of the spooky sounds and whatnot are added in post
#16
I auditioned for The Voice last year and it is a horribly long process. I was at the audition site for more than 5 hours. But the strangest part is that they put you into rooms by genre, even if you don't sing that genre. So an incredibly talented "pop" singer won't get in because they were placed in a "country" genre room. It's pretty odd.
#17
I have a friend who used to frequently see filming of *Jersey Shore* live because he was from Jersey. He says that they have scripts hanging above the camera and it's not really real.
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