Reality Tv Is Fake

Reality TV Programs are Not Really Real

Introduction

Imagine this. A producer came to you and said: “Hi, I would love for you to be in a reality TV program.” So you asked what it means to be in a reality TV program. He’d answer with “all you need to do is act normally. Just do what you normally would do, but the exception that a camera crew will be following you around.” You agreed, and the camera men, producer, director and writer started following you around. And when they’re filming you and your friends having dinner together, they suddenly stopped and asked you to start talking about a certain boy in your school. You agreed, and started talking about some boy you know. And then the director and writer asked you to pretend you like the guy and squeal and spaz about him. But the thing is, you don’t like this guy. And you don’t want to squeal and spaz about him. You both are only friends but the director asked you to pretend that you like him.

So is that what reality TV is? Isn’t it about real life people doing real life stuff in a real life situation? But why are the producers and directors and writers asking you to do stuff that you don’t normally do? Why are they making something up to make it sound more interesting?

Reality television is a television program genre that presents unscripted situations, documents actual events and usually features unknown instead of professional actors.

What they do is the reality TV stars do whatever that they’re doing, just like what we normally do. But with the exception that there are cameras filming everything. Such shows usually have participants that double as the show’s narrator. They are interviewed about the situation and the participants talk about how they feel about it and what they think about the situation.

Another type of reality TV shows are competition based reality shows. They often have additional common elements such as participant being eliminated per episode, with a panel of judges, and the concept of immunity from elimination. The participants or challengers are put into tests and missions with the possibility of being eliminated or punished. And a prize is always on the line.

Is the reality TV shows really real? Are these reality programs fabricated and staged or are they genuine? If they are fabricated, how much then are they fake and how much are they real?

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All these reality programs are very successful not only in U.S but also all over the world. They are well known to people of every age, race, education, and language. They show how relatable these stars are to the viewers and how alike these stars are to the viewers. But are they real? Are these reality shows real? And if it’s not, how fake are these shows?

Pawn Stars chronicles the daily activities at a high end pawn shop, where staffs of the store interacts with customers who bring in a variety of artefacts to sell or pawn and who are shown haggling over the price and discussing its historical background, with narration provided by the Harrisons.

There are proofs in which these reality TV are not real. For example in Pawn Stars, there was an episode where a man named Rod who brought in his 1960 Les Paul Custom guitar. And he claimed that he had gotten the guitar during his tour with the bands Toto and Triumph. But with further investigations, it was later found out that the whole thing was completely staged. The Les Paul Custom guitar was actually from a local Las Vegas vintage guitar store, Cowtown Guitars. The “customer” Rod, was actually an employee of that store. And the “expert” that was also in the show was also another employee/manager (centraltendencies.com).

Another episode named Time Machines in season 1; the customer simply named Jim is actually Jim Waters, a local Las Vegas comedian and actor. He’s one of the founders of a Las Vegas group called Film and Television artists of Las Vegas. What was seen as a customer with an antique was actually an actor hired to stage an episode.

As for the competition-based reality programs, one of the most famous one is American Idol. It is a singing competition and after the preliminary rounds, the live shows start. And each week, a contestant will be eliminated through the votes of the public. Even with judges to give reviews of the participant’s performance that night, it is the public who will decide who would leave and be eliminated.

There are testimonies from an American Idol participant who have came out to testify how it really is when auditioning for the show. How all that we see on TV is not what it really is like. She’s known as Maria Saint, and in her writings are very explicit accounts of what she encountered during her audition process. At one point, all the contestants were asked to learn a new song: Billionaire by Bruno Mars and Travis McCoy, to test their ability to learn a new song fast. And what is shown on TV is a bunch of people singing the same song in front of the judges. But if you look carefully at the clip, you’ll notice that there was not a frame that shows the contestants and the judges in the same room. In actual fact, they are recorded at different times. According to Maria Saint, it was actually taped “to make that ridiculous compilation of people singing the same song privately, some good, and some bad (Saint).”

And at the final round before really going in to meet the judges, she accounted an event whereby an “adorable but strange little blonde haired boy, dressed kind of how you’d expect to see Forrest Gump, nice white dress shirt, slacks, and loafers, passionately waving an American Flag for the cameras” screeching the song “Smile.” And at that particular round, if a contestant is cut, and they act crazy, they will be put back in so that they can air the reaction on the show. And when “flagboy” were cut, he started crying hysterically. Cameras immediately swarmed over him, and were brought back into the audition room. A few minutes later, he came out proudly with his large sticker than indicates that he passed that round (Saint).

Amazing Race is another competition based reality TV show that is very famous around the globe. It is a game show in which teams of two people, race around the world with other teams. Each team are given missions and are needed to complete these missions in order to be able to go to ‘pit stops’ where the last team to arrive would either be eliminated or be faced with disadvantages in the next round.

Popular race show, Amazing Race is also not as it seems. What is shown on television has also been controlled by the producers and directors. The clothes that they wear, the expressions that they have on their faces and every scene has been altered so it would be shown on TV the right way and with the right angle.

The world of entertainment is making changes to spice up their programs. It was then the reality TV shows were introduced. And the audiences loved it. From a reality show of singing, acting, modelling, sports, magic, and even to parenting, audiences from all walks of life enjoys it.

Closing

In conclusion, as popular as these reality programs are, many of them are staged and controlled behind the scenes. What should not have scripts are actually scripted. And what should be natural and real are actually fake and created by directors and producers. And with so many demands in this genre, there would be more reality TV shows and they would still not be ‘real.’

Reference List

Centraltendencies.com. “History Channel’s Paws Stars is Fake.” August 15, 2011. Web. May 31, 2013. < http://centraltendencies.com/2011/03/pawn-stars-is-fake/>
Saint, Maria. “Part 2.” The Truth about American Idol Auditions: part 2. August 3, 2010.
Web. June 2, 2013. < http://truedat504.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=2>

Saint, Maria. “Part 3.” The Truth about American Idol Auditions: part 3. January 20, 2011.
Web. June 2, 2013. < http://truedat504.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-01-20T13:17:00-08:00&max-results=2&reverse-paginate=true>

Not Used!

One of a famous reality TV show is Keeping up with the Kardashions, which depicts the lives of a family and focuses on three sisters with their love lives, careers, and relationship with their family. It started in 2007 and it is still airing and with different franchises to the original. For example: Kourtney and Kim take New York, Kourtney and Khloe take Miami, and Khloe and Lamar.

Reality shows have created an artificial reality that threatens to overtake real reality. Television executives have created a monster and loosened it upon the public. Reality shows plunge real people into an artificial situation, and real people are running around with an artificial reality in their heads, and they can’t recognise the real reality outside their heads. Once this happens, people can no longer distinguish reality from the artificial reality, and mayhem ensues.