It is amazing that in this day and age there are people who believe that reality television is not scripted, the recent “outrage” about Married at First Sight using actors or at least “aspiring actors” is the perfect case in point. This is not, however, the first time that fans of a “real” series have been shocked to learn that the participants are, in fact, actors who follow a script.
Other massively popular shows like The Hills and its spin-off series The City were scripted and several “stars” of the programs admitted it. Kristin Cavallari went on record stating that she had followed a “semi-script” which was obivously her attempt at baring her soul while not leaving herself open to recriminations from the show’s makers.
Both Jezebel and the New York Post pointed out in 2008 that the faked MTV reality follow-on to The Hills featuring Whitney Port and her “New York Adventures” in The City was not real and that the young lady did not even really work for the fashion house as depicted in the show.
More recently, as in last year, the Internet was flooded with revelations that Duck Dynasty was not real. The allegations included “before and after” pictures of the Robinsons as well as claims that the “redneck act” was just that, an act. Doubting Thomas’ will no doubt recall the LGBT community up in arms about patriarch Phil’s anti-gay rant.
The network decided to immediately pull Phil from the show and the future of the “fake” duck hunting family appeared to be in jeopardy. Ratings, however, are the real reality and the show survived this tempest in a duck call and is still on air along with “homophobe” Phil. Even the tasteless TLC reality show Toddlers and Tiaras was shown to be faked with reports that one “spontaneous” song on an episode had to be reshot six times.
The vast majority of the cast members of reality television, at least in the MTV world, have actor or actress credits on IMDb. The main exceptions being from The Hills with Brody Jenner and Spencer Pratt being listed as Producer and Director, Writer, Producer respectively. One thing should be pointed out though, Jenner is the son of “gender issue” Bruce and part of the Jenner clan with all that entails, including the guilt by association of all things Kardashian (yet another reality television show “dynasty”).
This faking of reality television is not a phenomenon unique to America; in England there are a number of reality shows, influenced by The Hills, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, Jersey Shore et al. Two of the more popular shows in the UK there are The Only Way is Essex aka TOWIE and Made in Chelsea which are both versions of the MTV verse’s reality. The former show deals with “normal” chavs in Essex and the latter with a group of privileged “silver spoon” young adults.
The UK paper The Mirror accused “TOWIE” of faking its drama while the Metro website came out with the news that none of the cast of Made in Chelsea are members of the exclusive Raffles club and that scenes shot here were “set up.”
Of course no look at reality television would be complete without looking at Keeping Up With the Kardashians. While most allegations dealing with the show have more to do with Kim’s breasts and butt being fake, it is obvious to even the most ill-informed that the show is “set up.” From the baby shower for North West to the episode on plastic surgery, the shows are not free wheeling reality.
Reality television is not real and thus it has always been. Fans of the genre will hopefully realize that none of the events claiming to be real are, despite the desperate hopes of those who tune in each week.