Reality shows are their own special brand of entertainment. From home renovation shows to Pawn Stars, network television has carved out a wide stretch of entertainment revolving around supposedly real people living real lives and doing real things. Unfortunately, reality doesn’t always make for great television, which is why many of your favorite reality shows are actually fake.
From scripted dialogue to staged scenes, here are just a few reality shows that aren’t as real as you’d think.
Basketball Wives
Basketball Wives is a reality show that chronicles the lives of women married to prominent basketball stars.
According to a former cast member, the deviously wonderful confrontations and fights are staged and the women are pitted against each other.
Britain’s Got Talent
You are probably thinking “this too can’t be faked”. Well, surprise people! The producers of this show and similar shows are actually in search of contestants with more sob stories than talents to give them a gold rating.
Keeping up with the Kardashians
We might all not be fans of the Kardashian-Jenner clan but it is undeniable that a peek into the fabulous lives of this famous family is intriguing. This family is smart – making us believe that every scene in the show is a real unedited moment of their family life.
RuPaul’s Drag Race
You are not alone if you think the drag queens in RuPaul’s drag race are extremely funny. You would also not be the only one shocked to find out they all wear an earpiece. Through which they are fed those hilarious one-liners.
Dance moms
By now you should realize that Dance Moms, like similar reality shows, relies on drama and confrontations to boost their ratings.
Dance Moms alum Maddie Ziegler in an interview with USA Today revealed that those dramatic moments are not exactly real.
Restaurants Stakeouts
The premise of Restaurants Stakeouts is a pretty good one – install cameras and bust the bad habits of struggling restaurants. In the show, the reason for most falling businesses is either a slacking employee or a rude one.
According to the owner of a restaurant featured in the show, the employees act according to a script and those annoying customers are extras.
Naked and Afraid
If this reality show is real, there would be a high mortality rate among the contestants. So yeah we are glad this is staged and no one has to fight off the forces of nature naked and without any form of help for 21 days.
American Idol
The American Idol isn’t fake per se but the “open” auditions aren’t that open. Everyone competing in the show is scouted and chosen by the producers before time.
So those audition scenes where you see the contestants blow the judges’ minds, are phony as heck.
Ghost hunters
The existence of ghosts is largely uncertain. But one thing we are sure of is – Ghost Hunters is a fake reality show.
The stars and producers don’t even believe in the reality of ghosts and never bothered to hide it.
Jersey Shore
So while the cast members of Jersey Shore are friends in real life, everything else from their personalities down to their facial expressions is rehearsed and shot multiple times to get the most realistic moment.
So much for being a “reality” TV show.
Love Island
Love Island is a dating show where contestants flirt and swap partners till they meet the “love of their life”. As expected, there are lots of intimate moments which are all fake.
Past contestants claimed that those “intimate moments” are shot multiple times to get the most realistic one.
Southern Charm
Another popular reality show made to make regular folks envy the “fabulous” lives of wealthy socialites. This time it focuses on the socialites of Charleston, South Carolina.
If you might be wondering how much of it is real – not much. The mansion allegedly owned by Jenna King was rented just for the series. Yeah, Jeana King neither owned nor lived in the mansion.
The Simple Life
Far from what we were made to believe, Paris Hilton is not the ditzy airhead her reality show depicted her to be. The socialite was depicted as a dumb spoiled girl, just to keep the show popular.
Plus were we expected to believe the ludicrous idea of two spoiled rich girls traveling across the country and working menial jobs?
The Real Housewives
If watching rich women throw things at each other on TV is your idea of fun, we have nothing against that. But we hate to break it to you that those fights and confrontations are not as raw and real as you think.
The series is produced like a normal movie scene where multiple shots are taken to get the perfect one.
The Hills
Okay, this one was pretty obvious. Not only was the show accused of being scripted, the stars pretty much confirmed it after they left the show. It’s crazy that none of those flings, hook-ups, and fights were remotely real.
Famously Single
Get a bunch of single but rich, famous, and attractive folks in one house and hope they hook up and fall in love. Even the most gullible fan of trashy Tv shows can see through the scripted situations and know the show is one of the fakest shows to premiere on E!
Long Island Medium
Are you surprised to learn that a reality TV show about a psychic is fake? Fans of the show accused the producers of feeding Theresa Caputo all the information about her clients and audience.They conduct background checks on the clients before the show.
House Hunters
In House Hunters, homebuyers are shown at least three houses to pick their dream home.
But contrary to what we are led to believe, most couples have already picked their dream home before filming even began.
Pawn Stars
The Gold & Silver Pawn Shop may be a real pawn shop but it has become more of a tourist attraction due to the popularity of the show.
The shop and the items are real but the transactions, not so much. So don’t expect to walk into the store and have the show stars appraise your item.
Fixer Upper
Chip and Joanna Gaines from the Fixer Upper show are not doing those home renovation projects out of the goodness of their hearts.
So while the whole house fixing and decoration thing is real, homeowners are expected to pay the costs. Failure to do so means they lose the stuff once the camera stops rolling.
