Rules are made to be broken...

Is Reality TV real or just scripted non sense?

Hello all... I have another back stage story for you. This one has to do with the ever so popular competition reality show. You know like Top Chef or Americas Next Top Model... two shows I haven't worked on. I did work on this one design show where on one episode the designers were given an allotted amount of time to construct and design a bedroom from scratch. They were given a strict budget and the use of only specific tools and were only allowed to go to certain show approved stores (stores that where sponsors of the show). These were all the "rules" or "guidelines" of the challenge, whats a challenge if its not monitored in some way right? Well in reality, rules are made to be broken. All the challengers had to do was put up a little bit of a fight before they started getting their way. They got a significant amount added to what was supposed to be a minimal stringent  budget, they actually only went shopping at one of the approved stores and did a large amount of their shopping at non approved ones instead... in essence making my life harder because no one was pre image released. They also bought tools and materials from these non sanctioned stores that they originally were not supposed to use. What really shocked me was that after time was up, and the challenge was supposed to be over, no one had finished, and the producers ended up giving them all more time. The main point of the challenge was that it was time/deadline oriented and to just give the contestants more time is inconceivable to me. It also sucked because a normal 12 hour day became a 16 hour one.

The really funny part was that later on once the season aired I watched the episode on TV and saw that the editor skillfully snuck in a few B-roll shots of the exteriors of some of the stores that they were supposed to go to but didn't in that particular episode, to make it seem as if they did. They also completely edited out anything that was shot during the initial deadline and only kept in that of which made the story line seem as if they all finished on time, which being there I know they did not. My question is if your going to be a show based on challenges, why make it easier for all the contestants to succeed in the challenge if your just going to allow them to break the rules? Doesn't that cancel out the idea that the winner is  winning the challenge fair and square? This is another example of how Reality TV pulls the wool over our eyes and what we see is not always what actually happened.

The REALity...

So I was thinking every week I would try and include a post on something I witnessed from behind the scenes of a reality set that I have worked on... Obviously I wont be able to disclose what particular show or mention names but none the less it should be rather entertaining or at the very least eye opening.

On this one dating show I worked on I remember sitting in on a production meeting before an elimination. Little ol me thought we were going to discuss camera angles and lighting but to my surprise when I walked in they had the blown up pictures of the cast members up for elimination on a board. Under each picture there were notes. My second surprise was sitting in along with the producers was the star of the show... I use the word "star" loosely... They were telling him who he should eliminate and why and giving him incentives on why he should eliminate one girl over another. Hold the phone... wasn't this a reality dating show and the eliminations were supposed to be made based on lack of a connection or common interest and or bad dates... Silly me for thinking such, this was not how it was done at all... the producers essentially sat there and told him who was more photogenic, who would generate better ratings, who he looked better paired up with and who the audience would prefer him to be with, not once did he divulge who he actually liked or who he would like to pursue dating. It was never about love or trying to find this guy someone he actually enjoyed spending time with... it was all about ratings. I distinctly remember them keeping this one girl on because she didn't get along with the other girls in the house and the producers were trying to instigate a fight with her and the other girls for a future episode and story line even though he had no interest in her what so ever. When he said he liked this girl or wanted to get to know this other girls he was flat out told "NO" by the producers, and to pick someone else from the "approved" list.

This is just another example of how "reality TV" is nothing more then a scripted show with lesser talented actors with an air of realness about it that is intended to do nothing more than fool the viewers.