How the 10 Most Famous Reality Shows Are Actually Made
Everybody knows that reality shows have nothing to do with reality. They have a prepared script, prepared participants who provoke conflict, and of course, great editing. All these things make the lives of the participants look like a cohesive TV series and millions of viewers can’t stop watching!
Bright Side decided to check which aspects of these 10 popular reality shows weren’t actually true. We have to admit that we were amazed: some of the shows turned out to be almost completely true!
Pimp My Ride
“Pimp My Ride” was one of the coolest reality shows of the 2000s where guys turned old cars into fantastic cars with TVs inside and huge speakers in the trunk. But in 2015, Huffington Post held an interview with the participants of the project and found out that in fact, it wasn’t all as great as it appeared to be on the air. They said:
- “The cars were in garages for about 6 months on average instead of several weeks as it was presented to us.”
- “They tuned the cars only for show: first, they didn’t fix the internal parts, second, most of the cool things they put on the cars were removed right after shooting (mostly because of safety precautions because installing a monitor on a door handle to watch a movie while opening the door is a really strange idea).”
- “Rusty cars, completely broken parts — most of these problems were made up by producers at the beginning of the show in order to demonstrate how big the transformation was.”
- “The final parts of the episodes were often shot many times. The producers said, ’Come on! We tried! Give us more emotion.’”
- The only person all the participants had very good memories of was Xzibit. As one of the participants remembered, “He was always relaxed, funny, and supported all ideas.”
The Bachelor
One of the most popular shows on TV looks a lot like a fairy tale. Well, in fact, it is a fairy tale, we’ll try to explain.
- First, there is an audition: some of the girls are invited for ratings, for example, famous models or bloggers. Another aspect is non-standard looking people: unusual appearances, professions, an extravagant image, a difficult life, and so on.
- The shooting process continues 24 hours per day, so a lot is not shown on air. The material is compiled in a way that makes it look more dramatic.
Survivor
You would probably agree that Survivor looks the most realistic compared to other reality shows. It is. But there are some things you should know:
- According to the participants, the producers often talked to them before the voting in order to offer them hypothetical ways the story could go. “What if this participant leaves today? What if you said that?” These questions planted ideas into the participants’ minds and sometimes made them make different decisions. This is a manipulation, but on the other hand, they didn’t intervene directly.
- The shooting crew helped the participants, but the stories are all about cameramen lending their lighters (but on the show, it looked like they got fire thanks to glasses and sunlight), or a journalist sharing candy. Not more than that.
- The theories about a hotel where the participants allegedly stayed are not true. There were hotels but only for the crew and usually on the neighboring island. On the island with the participants, there were only 5 people: 2 cameramen, 2 journalists, and a doctor.
Conclusion: Judging by the stories of all the organizers and participants, the show was very real and difficult. Many of the participants lost a lot of weight which is more proof that everything happened for real.
The Voice
The Voice is a show where there is no need to attract popular people or make fake conflict. However, there are some things that you should know.
And here is some information about coaches. If you’ve always wondered how such famous people can spend so much time on a show, here is the answer:
Man vs Wild
Man vs. Wild is a UK show hosted by Bear Grylls as he survives really tough conditions. Here is what the show’s Assistant Director says about the production of the show and the difficulties the camera crew had to deal with:
America’s Next Top Model
The most unusual aspect of the show is Tyra Banks. Let’s talk about the things that she managed to achieve.
And it’s really true: the show of one of the most popular top models in the world didn’t produce the next America’s top model. Out of 24 cycles, only 3 participants became famous: CariDee English who became a speaker for The National Psoriasis Foundation; Yaya DaCosta who played Whitney Houston on screen, and Analeigh Tipton who also became a Hollywood actress. But none of them became models.
Tyra commented on it this way, “On my show, I didn’t just make models, I made personalities. So, when I was sitting there in my character and I was fiercely criticizing the girls’ photos, I was trying to train them.”
Well, okay. But everyone expected to see professional top models in the end!
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
What Not to Wear
This was one of the first reality shows about “fashion help” where the participants’ old clothes were thrown away and they were given a credit card with a lot of money to buy new clothes. Here is what the participants of the program shared:
Hell’s Kitchen
The point of this reality show is simple: 2 teams of chefs compete against each other supervised by Gordon Ramsay. He screams and criticizes everyone.
Regular people take part in the show because of the pressure and the surprises from the crew like when the ingredients are switched, it’s almost impossible to stop watching. And according to one of the cameramen, this is all true.
By the way, during the second season, one of the producers noticed that at the beginning of the show, only 4 participants were smokers. And by the end of it, there were 10 smokers among them. Isn’t this proof of the atmosphere of the show?
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
This is the reality show that made the Kardashians the most famous family in the world. Journalist Mariah Smith discovered the principles of how this show works.
Let’s take a closer look. In season 11, in one of the episodes, there are 3 plots:
- A-Plot was Kris Jenner’s birthday party planning
- B-Plot was Kim’s birthday party
- C-Plot was Lamar Odom’s overdose
The stories are shown so that everything works like a movie, so there is a beginning, a development, and an end. But there are continuity errors. The events of one episode are supposed to happen at almost the same time, but in the same episode, you can see (now things might become a little confusing) Kris’s boyfriend presenting her a car for her birthday. But the scene was shot in August even though Kris’s birthday is in November.
So, the August episode is not about the birthday and it was only included in this episode just because it made the plot stronger. So, some episodes may actually be written by scriptwriters in order to make the scenes more powerful.
Bonus: Britain’s Psychic Challenge and other similar shows
As it turns out, shows like Britain’s Psychic Challenge often have invited actors to play psychics. Below is a situation that happened in the Russian version of the show.
The participant and winner of season 15, Julia Vang amazed the viewers with her amazing abilities. But few people know in 2009, Julia starred in a comedy movie. Earlier, in 2006, she took part in a different TV show where she played the role of a popular Russian singer’s lover. So, in the past, she was an actress and then suddenly became a psychic. However, there may be a simpler explanation: she is still an actress pretending to be a psychic.
Maybe you have your own opinion or your own stories about these shows? Tell us in the comment section below.