10 Truths Behind These Famous Reality TV Shows

Admit it, you kind of already know these are staged

Chelsi

• Published in Film & TV
• March 15, 2022

Despite the name, reality television is as produced as any fictitious Hollywood film or TV series. This doesn't diminish the fact that the content they show is much less staged than other shows, the scenes that make it to air are not, by any means, unedited.

We already know this, of course, thanks to people who have previously "exposed" the behind-the-scenes experiences they've had filming these various reality shows. Still, reality TV is one of our favorite pastimes, if not the favorite pastime.

Filmmakers and show staff work hard to make the stories believable through great actors as well as realistic production sets. If they succeed, it wouldn’t matter if everything is fictional, you’ll be so immersed that it wouldn’t feel like things are staged.

It’s movie magic but sometimes that ‘magic’ is done with reality shows too. Reality shows go on no matter what sticky situation the participants get into.

They involve real people in their casting and the drama that they go through. It keeps the audience hooked whenever tensions rise because you can’t possibly know what happens next with something that isn’t pre-written.

Reality shows are portrayed as if they aren’t touched by scripts and everything happens naturally. That isn’t the case in shows that are more famous than some, they have to find a way to get ratings up in one way or the other. 

Whether it’s with shady editing or producers nudging the participants to do something against their instincts, it all contributes to the ‘fakeness’ of the show. It’s not that rare in the industry for show creators to pull a reverse Truman Show card to make things more appealing.

This is the list of reality shows that have been in the discussions about whether they are actually more staged than real. And we hate to break it to you, some of them might ruin your favorite show.

1. Pawn Stars: the deals and prices on the show are not spontaneous sells; clients and the Harrisons agree on the price beforehand

Fans are hooked by the Harrison family who owns a popular pawn shop in Las Vegas. Their clientele looking to pawn precious collectibles, rare antiques, and historical artifacts range from random regular people to famous celebrities.

The fun part of the show is when Rick, Corey, or Chumley bring in an expert to weigh the value of the item and then try to haggle with the customer about the asking price. It's been revealed that customers are not really walk-in customers.

They have been vetted by production beforehand and any negotiation happening is scripted. The Harrisons also don't work on their pawnshop daily; they only come in to film.

2. Survivor: producers nudge the storyline along by suggesting who to vote out of the island depending on how popular a contestant is

Survivor is the most "real" show out of this bunch. Contestants are indeed on a remote island, overcoming physically and mentally testing challenges while trying to adapt to a new environment.

But, it's not really a 100% survive-with-the-tools-around-you type of show. Sometimes to start a fire, the production provides a lighter or matches to contestants and kind crew members even give them candies.

3. Storage Wars: producers sometimes plant high value items

Storage Wars was a very successful show and was A&E's best reality series to date. An ex-producer revealed that they use to give buyers extra cash to make the bidding more competitive.

4. Pimp My Ride: instead of improving already damaged cars, the crew sacrificed function for aesthetics

People who have been on the show revealed that the makeovers sometimes take months instead of weeks as promised. It's also been rumored that the high-value items installed in the car were removed after filming.

5. MTV Cribs: some of the celebrity houses shown are not even theirs

Celebrities were not really revealing their eccentric Hollywood mansions. Producers of the show rented the McMansions without informing the owners it will be used for the show; they only find out once the episode airs on TV.

6. Hell’s Kitchen: they only air the most dramatic parts but the contestants are filmed 24/7 for 5 weeks

The contestants work long hours (sometimes for 7 AM to 2 AM). If they get hungry, they have to cook for themselves in a separate kitchen shared with other 4 people.

They are also completely isolated from the outside world since production takes their phones away to prevent them from contacting anyone. It's different from its British counterpart which is recorded live with an audience; the American version is recorded in a studio.

7. Catfish: The TV Show: production handles most of the "investigation"

Nev Schulman and Max Joseph, the hosts of the show, do not handle the majority of tracking down the catfish, that's the productions' job. Most of the time, the crew is contacted by the catfish first and then they track a victim, not the other way around; once they find a victim, they start filming.

8. House Hunters: they choose participants who have already bought their house

They then recreate their house-hunting process for the cameras. Participants of the show also make $500 a week and some of the homes they view are not for sale and are instead "borrowed" from friends and relatives.

9. Man vs. Wild: Bear Grylls is a survival expert but they sleep in local hotels once it gets dark

To his credit, he does an amazing job teaching survival techniques but Grylls is accompanied by a whole crew when he's out in the wilderness. They also don't camp out at night exposed to dangerous predators, they instead stay in local hotels when the sun is down.

10. The Bachelor: the winner is chosen based on ratings

TV is a popularity contest and The Bachelor is no exception to this. The production crew expertly edits the footage to manipulate the narrative based on the audiences' reception of a contestant.

It's all about ratings, isn't it? Deep down you already know some of these shows are as fake as dragons but it doesn't stop anyone from watching them.

There's no shame in that. Sometimes, mind-numbing entertainment is just what we all need after a long, difficult week but don't believe everything in these shows because they're all as real as Truman's world.

Chelsi