Criticism of reality television

In competition-based programs such as Big Brother and Survivor, and other special living environment shows like The Real World, the producers design the format of the show and control the day-to-day activities and the environment, creating a completely fabricated world in which the competition plays out. Producers specifically select the participants and use carefully designed scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor and other reality shows, has agreed with this assessment, and avoids the word "reality" to describe his shows; he has said, "I tell good stories. It really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama."[7]

Some shows, such as Survivor, do not allow the participants to wear clothing of their own choosing while on camera, to promote the participants' wearing of "camera-friendly colors" and to prevent the participants from wearing the same style and/or color of clothing. Additionally, some prohibit clothing with corporate logos.[8]

Reality television shows have faced speculation that the participants themselves are involved in fakery, acting out storylines that have been planned in advance by producers.[1] The Hills is one notable example: the show faced allegations that its plots are scripted ahead of time. During the second season of Hell's Kitchen, it was speculated that the customers eating meals prepared by the contestants were in fact paid actors.[9]

Daniel Petrie Jr., president of the Writers Guild of America-West, stated in 2004, "We look at reality TV, which is billed as unscripted, and we know it is scripted. We understand that shows don't want to call the writers writers because they want to maintain the illusion that it is reality, that stuff just happens."[1]

Various alumni of the MTV reality series The Real World have related incidents in which the producers staged or attempted to stage incidents for the cameras.[10][11] During a reunion show featuring the first four Real World casts, Heather Gardner, of the original New York cast, questioned members of the San Francisco cast if their situations were real, noting that situations from the original season seemed to repeat themselves in subsequent ones. On an edition of the E! True Hollywood Story that spotlighted the series, cast member Jon Brennan revealed that he was asked by the producers to state on the air that he felt hatred towards housemate Tami Roman for her decision to have an abortion, and that he refused to do so, stating that although he disagreed with her decision, he did not feel hatred towards her. Lars Schlichting of The Real World: London related an instance in which roommate Mike Johnson asked a question when cameras were not present, and then asked the same question five minutes later when cameras were present, which Schlichting added was not typical of Johnson.[12] Producers have also been accused of selectively editing material in order to give the false impression of certain emotional reactions or statements from the castmates.[13] New York cast member Rebecca Blasband says producers paid a man $100 to ask her out on a date, and that she terminated that plan when she learned of it. She also says that a heated argument she and Kevin Powell had in the seventh episode of that season was edited to make both of them appear more extreme.[14]

Various participants on the 2004-2007 show Pimp My Ride, which shows cars in poor condition being restored and customized in order to match their owners' interests, have stated that elements of the show were faked. These include cars getting their paint removed and additional litter put in before taping in order to make their starting condition look worse; cars getting outfitted with elements that were removed right after taping, like a robotic arm; and contestants being coached to act very enthusiastically after the final "reveal". Participants have also said that the overhaul process, implied in the show to last no more than a few days, actually lasted 6–8 months.[15]

Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose family starred in the reality series Hogan Knows Best and Brooke Knows Best, explains in his 2009 autobiography My Life Outside the Ring that paying unionized camera crews to film subjects continuously until something telegenic or dramatic occurs would be prohibitively expensive, and that as a result, such shows are "soft-scripted", and follow a tightly regimented shooting schedule that allows for typical work-related considerations such as lunch breaks. When filming soft-scripted shows, the subjects are given a scenario by the producers to act out, perhaps an exaggerated version of something likely to be encountered in their real lives, are informed of the outcome, and possible "beats" in between, and instructed to improvise, which Hogan says is a version of what he did as a professional wrestler. According to Hogan, this would result in behavior that members of his family would never exhibit in real life, as when his son, Nick tossed water balloons at neighbors from a window, or when his wife would wake up early to apply makeup and do her hair before camera crews arrived to film shots of the couple sleeping.[16]

Multiple takes of scenes can be shot in reality shows. Known examples include scenes on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in which families learn that they have been selected to receive a home makeover,[17] and some scenes in The Real Housewives of New York City.[18]

Mike Fleiss, creator of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, as well as former contestants, have stated that both shows are scripted. The Bachelorette Season 4 winner, Jesse Csincsak, stated that contestants on those series are required to follow producers' orders, and that storylines are fabricated in the editing room.[19] Season 13 participants Megan Parris related, "I don't think [the producers] showed any real conversation I had with anyone... The viewers fail to realize that editing is what makes the show... You'll hear someone make one comment and then they'll show a clip of somebody's face to make it look like that is their facial reaction to that statement, but really, somebody made that face the day before to something else. It's just piecing things together to make a story."[20] Parris also stated that producers "bully" and berate contestants into saying specific things to the camera that the contestants do not wish to say.[21][22] Fleiss stated in an appearance on 20/20 that he develops the show's contestants into characters that will cater to his audience's tastes and that they "need [their] fair share of villains every season."[23][24] On February 24, 2012, during the filming of The Women Tell All episode of The Bachelor Season 16, what should have been a private conversation between contestant Courtney Robertson and one of the show's producers went public when the microphones were accidentally left on in between camera takes. The leaked conversation revealed the producer's role as an acting coach who was encouraging Robertson to fake certain emotions for the camera which she was not feeling.[25]

The History series Pawn Stars depicts three generations of the Harrison family working at their family-owned Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas. However, as a result of the filming that takes place there, the four main cast members no longer work the counter, due to laws that require the identity of customers pawning items to remain confidential, and the tourists and fans taking photos and video in the showroom that would preclude this. When shooting episodes of the series, the shop is temporarily closed, with only a handful of customers allowed into the showroom.[26]

Dave Hester, one of the stars of the A&E series Storage Wars, filed a lawsuit against A&E in December 2012, saying that he was fired after he complained to the network and the production company that produces the show that the series is staged. According to Hester, the items that are seen in the abandoned storage containers that are acquired by the series' cast are appraised in advance before being planted in the containers by A&E, which pays for storage lockers for "weaker" cast members, scripts the cast member interviews, and stages the auctions seen on the show. A&E denied the accusation, saying that the show is entirely authentic.[27]

On February 4, 2013, Russell Jay, a producer on the series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, stated in a 165-page deposition in the divorce proceedings of star Kim Kardashian and her husband, Kris Humphries, that at least two of the scenes that were shot for that series were scripted, reshot or edited in order to cast Humphries in a negative light following Kardashian's decision to divorce him.[28][29]

The very premise of some reality shows has been called into question. The winner of the first season, in 2003, of America's Next Top Model, Adrianne Curry, claimed that part of the grand prize she received, a modeling contract with Revlon, was for a much smaller amount of work than what was promised throughout the show.[30] During the airing of the first season of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, in which a group of both men and women vied for the heart of Tila Tequila, there were rumors that its star was not only heterosexual, but also had a boyfriend already.[31] The show's winner, Bobby Banhart, claimed that he never saw Ms. Tequila again after the show finished taping, and that he was not given her telephone number.[32]

The international franchise Dragons' Den, which shows entrepreneurs vying to get investments from wealthy businessmen, has sometimes been accused of misleading viewers as to the seriousness of the deals being made. A 2016 analysis of the American installment of the franchise, Shark Tank, found that, of 237 deals shown being made, 43% did not lead to any sort of investment, and another 30% did occur but under different terms than what was agreed to on the show.[33] An analysis of one season (2017) of the Australian installment, also called Shark Tank, found an even worse outcome, with only 4 of 27 investment deals shown on the show actually coming to fruition.[34] A 2019 analysis of two seasons of the British installment, Dragons' Den, found that nearly half of the deals made on the show did not result in any actual investment.[35]

Misha Kavka argues in the book, Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond that even though the contestants are in a fabricated setting and the situation has been set up for a certain outcome, as in shows such as The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, what emerges on the screen is still grounded in reality. King writes:

I would argue, rather, that the simulated setting stimulates feeling, in part because the removal of the participants from their normal surroundings strips them to nothing but the space and affect of social interaction. The intimacy that arises out of this amplified situation is real – both for the participants and for the viewers.[36]