re: Reality show stories

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Anyone been associated with the shows or have stories about how real/fake they are?

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Similar story to yours, although thankfully the show never got picked up, but I was building for a celebrity designer who had a film crew following them shooting a pilot for a new show. I learned of this after the job started, but it was great working for them (they really were a good client) and I agreed to be on camera. The day before the first shoot I called them to find out what we would be going over and was told not to worry about it, just be natural, bla bla bla. I get to the site, the crew mics me up, I sign the release docs and they say go in the designer is waiting for you, but when you go in the cameras will be rolling - act like they're not there. So I go in, we say hello, exchange pleasantries and then all of a sudden boom - "WHY IS THIS HOUSE NOT COMPLETE? WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG?" I looked at the cameras and said "ok can we cut?" the house was taking long b/c shite wasn't finished being picked out yet by the designer. I didn't want to put them on blast b/c again, up until that point great client.

So we re-shoot the scene, I make up some bs to make them look good. We go to another part of the house that by all means looked fantastic. They got me to act proud of what we had done and then the designer just ripped it apart. I was like a deer in headlights. They said cut, the designer laughed and went to give me a high five saying that was great. I said, ".....hold up one fricking minute". They said "oh don't worry I don't ever make my builders look bad. This is all to build drama. There is no drama so we have to manufacture some. At the end we'll have a big reveal and you'll come off as a hero getting things done in time at the last minute." The next day they were set to film with the landscape architect and his crew. I gave him a heads up. Let's just say I don't think anything they shot with him was useable. But luckily it never went to air.