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Wikipedia defines reality television as “a genre of television
programming which presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous
situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people
instead of professional actors.”
With that, we know that there is no way the massively edited reality shows we see on television are part of this genre. To prove our point, hooked lists three of the so-called reality programs that are obviously reel than real.
But let's start from the basics - no single reality show is unscripted. It takes months of planning for numerous auditions with the producers designing a heavily controlled environment, in order to create a completely fabricated show with loads of drama and of course, cat fight, just the way you like it.
The Simple life
Don't we all love watching these two thoroughly spoilt socialites being tortured by real life? But were they, really?
In an interview with The Sun, Paris confessed that The Simple Life and her persona are "fake".
"Simple
Life is a reality show and people might assume it's real. But it's
fake. All reality shows are fake basically. When you have a camera on
you, you are not going to act yourself. So before I started the show I
thought I'd make a character like the movies Legally Blonde and
Clueless mixed together, with a rich girl all-in-one. Even my voice is
different and the way I dress is different from me in real life. It's a
character I like to play. I think it's carefree and happy. The public
think they know me but they really don't."
As if this comes off as a surprise at all. This so-called reality show was so obviously staged that Paris and Nicole both burst the
bubble themselves, freely talking about how they were acting their "characters" the way the producers wanted them to, on various talk shows.
According to TV Tome, "Obviously there is some cheating going on. About six minutes into the
show (season two), the girls get some money from a minivan for toll. When they zoom out to
show Nicole dancing, you clearly see a person in the background who had stopped
the minivan: probably a production assistant for the show who's reimbursing the
minivan driver the $6."
C'mon, I mean, right from the beginning of season one, would you actually believe for one second that Paris and Nicole would agree to leave their cell phones and credit cards behind, taking up low paying manual jobs seriously?
In fact, by season 5, the producers themselves had completely given up on pretending that this was a reality show. From "Camp Shawnee" which doesn't even exist, to the camp's staff, counsellors and campers, of which one is an actor and former
Abercrombie & Fitch model who was cast for this show, none of it was real.
Beauty and the Geek
 Don't get me started about the reality matchmaking programs. Just how many pairs actually work out? According to statistics - none (or not that we care what happens to them after the show anyway).
The most extreme one at that has got to be Beauty and the Geek. How do you define a geek in the first place? Horn-rimmed glasses, greasy hair, shirt buttoned to the collar, silly grin and never been kissed?
Isn't it funny how easy it is to typecast a geek's appearance? No wonder rumour has it that Richard from season 1 and Nate from season 3 were improvisational actors, and not true blue geeks. Well, if I were them, I'd take it as a compliment.
Project Runway
Fine, when it comes to talent competitions like American Idol, The Next American Top Model and Project Runway, you can't quite question its genuineness.
And yes guys, I know you only watch the Project Runway for Heidi Klum’s 2.2 million-dollar legs, but the popular bashing between Jeffery and Angela (season 3) is still a classic.
Angela (and Laura, apparently) claimed that Jeffery was outsourcing work to others to help with his collection during the competition. While it was clearly a big no-no to do so in the competition, I can't help but wonder, did they just let out a trade secret?
Well, I don't know about you, but I can never believe that they can actually design and create a brand new dress within an hour, when it takes other professional designers at least weeks to finalise and consolidate their ideas. The fact that Jeffery won the show makes it all the more suspicious.
However, when it comes to the entertainment world, everything is real in reel. We can only speculate for its secrets come only in the form of gossip.
While putting celebrities in an artificial context and see what
happens, even providing them a trailer for hair and makeup, is one
thing, to provide a script that carefully crafts whatever that is going
to happen, on the other hand, definitely does not make it a reality show at all.
The thing is, does the audience not know that right from the start? Or do they choose to be passive viewers, as long as it provides entertainment for us all?
hooked
Pictures courtesy of:
http://artfiles.art.com
http://www.impawards.com
http://www.e-pix.org
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