re: Reality shows

I was on a reality dating show in 2003 and will tell it it 100% scripted. What you don’t see is all the producers with their clipboards and headphones plotting how things will go, they shove a bunch of alcohol into everybody and tell you what to say, and it’s ridiculous.

No way I am telling you what it was. But yes it was trashy AF.

One of my former employees was on those cake wars shows. She said it’s all scripted and they know who the “winner” will be before they even film.

One of my favorite one-off reality shows was called Superstar USA. It cashed in on the success of American Idol. The concept was to find the worst singer, not the best. They had auditions like Idol but anyone with talent was verbally abused and sent packing. Those who had very little singing talent were praised and sent to the next round.

They managed to find lots of delusional no-talents who ate up the praise but the producers had a huge problem - what would they do when the contestants had to sing in front of a live audience on one of the episodes? The producers told audience members these young people were taking part in the competition because they had terminal illnesses, like a Make A Wish program. The audience members enthusiastically cheered for the talentless singers.

Brilliant.