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Uncover the surprising moments when reality TV crossed the line from real to rehearsed. From restaged police raids to scripted drama and staged interactions, many shows have blurred the boundaries of authenticity. Join us as we dig into the most infamous examples of how producers shaped reality to boost entertainment, covering fan favorites like “The Hills,” “American Idol,” and “The Simple Life.” Prepare to see your favorite shows in a whole new light!
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the moments in which unscripted
00:09programs deceived us, whether it was through editing trickery or full-fledged fake storylines.
00:30The makers behind this e-reality show had no idea what they had.
00:36Pretty Wild was already in production when Alexis Nyers was arrested for her involvement
00:41in The Bling Ring, a group of rich teens who broke into various celebrity homes in 2008
00:46and 2009.
00:47That's the kind of thing you need to get on camera if you're filming a reality show.
00:52Unfortunately, they didn't.
00:53Mom, what's going on?
00:54Go get your sisters.
00:55Can you secure all your animals?
00:56Just one second.
00:57Girls!
00:58Girls, get up right now!
01:00As revealed in the Netflix docu-series The Real Bling Ring Hollywood Heist, the scene where
01:05cops arrived with a search warrant actually happened off camera.
01:09Producers took it upon themselves to restage the scene with creative editing and no actual
01:14glimpse of the so-called cops.
01:16After all, it did happen, didn't it?
01:18How was it inside?
01:19It was good.
01:20It was not good.
01:21It was terrible.
01:22This way, Lexi!
01:23This way!
01:24This way!
01:25Number 9.
01:26Breaking Amish Scenes and situations are often played up for cameras in the unscripted
01:31sphere.
01:32The premise of Breaking Amish ended up being called into question.
01:35I was just trying to have fun and enjoy the night.
01:38I didn't mean anything bad by it.
01:41The show followed several young people trying to decide if they want to stay with their Anabaptist
01:46communities or pursue life in New York City.
01:49However, the cast members chosen were not exactly welcome in the communities they were presumed
01:54to represent.
01:55In your English clothes, that means we've lost you.
01:58Whoa.
01:59I don't know how to say this, but consider it lost.
02:03Producers didn't hide all of these facts, but the revelations of past indiscretions and
02:08violations of their communities' cultural customs seemed to bump against the show's
02:12stated premise.
02:13Were they Breaking Amish or had they already broken Amish?
02:17I kind of did my own thing.
02:19You know, since I figured since I'm up here, I might as well, you know, do whatever I feel
02:24like it.
02:25Number 8.
02:26The Simple Life.
02:27I've always heard that people hang out at Walmart.
02:29Why?
02:30I don't know.
02:31What is Walmart?
02:32It's like they sell wall stuff?
02:36From the very first episode, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie knew what the job was, and
02:41they got it done.
02:43The Simple Life saw the two rich socialites getting a taste of a working-class American
02:47existence.
02:48Years afterward, Hilton opened up about playing the air-headed rich girl archetype for the
02:53cameras.
02:54The producer said, Nicole, you be the troublemaker.
02:56Paris, you just be the dumb blonde and basically play into what, you know, people would assume
03:03that we were, and I would just put on that character.
03:09You mean to tell us she didn't really think Walmart was just a place where people buy walls?
03:14We can't say we feel cheated.
03:16The amount of laughs she gave us proves she has some of the best acting chops in the genre.
03:21What don't you need?
03:22We can take some at all.
03:23Great.
03:24So lame.
03:25Okay.
03:26Well, we don't need...
03:27Apple juice.
03:28Is apple juice on the list?
03:30No, I just want...
03:31Paris.
03:32Number 7.
03:33Next.
03:34If you thought this MTV dating series sounded awkward and stilted, there's a good reason
03:39for that.
03:40Most of it was scripted.
03:41I'm Jeff.
03:42I'm 18.
03:43And this guy's gonna pick me.
03:45I'm as crazy as my hair is.
03:47I'm Keith.
03:48I'm 20.
03:49And guys love me cause I look corruptible.
03:52The series saw five young people on a makeshift bus each getting a chance to go on a date with
03:57a special someone waiting outside.
03:59If that sounds cute, rest assured it's not.
04:02Those who didn't measure up were nexted in brutal fashion.
04:06Whatever, you're the loser here.
04:08One minute, one dollar, maybe I'll buy Evan some Rogaine.
04:12Most of the introductions and banter were delivered with all the gusto and believability
04:17of a middle school play.
04:19And let's not even talk about how badly it's aged.
04:22Eddie was more flame broiled than my hamburger.
04:25We're done with this entry.
04:26Next!
04:27I don't understand that.
04:28I don't understand that.
04:29I don't understand that.
04:30I wasn't meant to be, man.
04:336.
04:34The Osbournes
04:35Arguably the first famous family to do reality TV, Ozzy Osbourne and his eccentric brood were
04:41accused of staging outrageous moments from the start.
04:44Don't drink.
04:45Don't take drugs.
04:46Please.
04:47If you have sex, wear a condom.
04:49Siblings Kelly and Jack Osbourne later confirmed some of the situations were staged.
04:54But the show did some ultimate trolling with episode 20 of season 2.
04:58You cannot tell mom.
04:59I have to tell mommy.
05:00Please.
05:01It'll kill if she finds out.
05:02I can't believe this, man.
05:03I'll deal with it.
05:04Damn.
05:05I'm so sorry.
05:06Bye-bye.
05:07Bye.
05:08At this point, the show becomes wall-to-wall fiction.
05:13Full of soap opera melodrama and a truly macabre storyline involving the death of the
05:18family dog, the last scene reveals the entire half hour to be staged.
05:23Further, the episode pretends the entire show has been staged up to that point.
05:27Even going so far as to have famously foul-mouthed Ozzy remark that he's relieved not to have
05:32to pretend to swear anymore.
05:34It's all over.
05:35It's all over.
05:36I don't have to say to the airport anymore.
05:38I'm out again.
05:405.
05:41American Idol
05:42While many viewers upset at the results of eliminations always resort to the
05:46It Was Rigged conspiracy theory, American Idol has been pulling a fast one on its audiences
05:51for decades.
05:52That does not matter to me.
05:54I know my talent.
05:56I know my talent.
05:57I know what I can do.
05:59During auditions, its panel of judges were exposed to all levels of vocal talent, including
06:05the good, the bad and the ugly.
06:07What the show doesn't tell you is that there is a pre-audition process.
06:11Drink lots of water because they have you singing while you wait to audition.
06:15They had us doing all these chanting these songs and you're like, D, slow down.
06:18They're gonna make us lose our voice.
06:19Like, they're trying to trick us.
06:21And for the first few rounds, there's no judges.
06:24Just producers.
06:25Have you ever wondered who told those really bad singers they could sing?
06:30Well, the answer is American Idol producers.
06:33The only reason we get to see them is because their failure would make good TV.
06:37Thankfully, the ABC Revival series has curbed the amount of embarrassing auditions.
06:42I have to go.
06:43Wait!
06:44Wait!
06:45Wait!
06:46Wait!
06:47Wait!
06:48What are you doing in here?
06:49Uh, nothing.
06:50Let's go.
06:51Number four.
06:52Catfish the TV show.
06:53Here's a car.
06:55It looks like it's coming this way.
06:57Nope.
06:58Nope.
06:59She's late.
07:00Not the damn game or something, you know what I'm saying?
07:05I mean, she might not show up for all we know.
07:08Have you ever wondered why these nefarious catfish never run from Nev Schulman, Max Joseph,
07:13and Cammie Crawford's questioning?
07:15There's a good and potentially show-breaking reason.
07:18The catfish are often the ones who contact the show first.
07:22Episodes are then conceived from their victim's perspective.
07:25I'll tell you one thing right now, buddy.
07:27Excuse me.
07:28One thing you're gonna like, you're gonna learn to love it too.
07:31What the hell are you talking about, dude?
07:32What's going on?
07:33I'm gonna be the one wearing the pants in this one.
07:35Understand that?
07:36From a production standpoint, it makes sense.
07:39Why risk all that time and money on an episode that might not have a willing participant
07:43for the climactic meetup scene?
07:45But then it really blows a hole in the altruistic bent of trying to help people who have been misled
07:50by someone who isn't who they say they are.
07:52We've found the person you've been talking to beyond really any shred of doubt.
07:57And you still want to believe the thing that makes you happier.
08:01You need to know that you're not talking to Katy Perry.
08:04Number 3.
08:05Storage Wars.
08:06We have a Louis Vuitton briefcase.
08:08There's some good stuff in here.
08:09We'll just have to see how much it's gonna go for.
08:11There's some clowns today.
08:12The appeal of found items was the whole point of this A&E series about competitors going head-to-head
08:19and buying real abandoned storage lockers at auction.
08:22But were these storage lockers as real and untouched as they were purported to be?
08:27Not exactly, claimed fired cast member Dave Hester.
08:30That's not acceptable in my mind.
08:32I'm gonna get my crew out here first thing in the morning as fast as I can,
08:35separate what we have and start doing our homework.
08:37The fakery employed was later confirmed by producer Tom Beers,
08:41who admitted that some items would be moved between containers.
08:45The gulf between Hester's contention that the whole show was fake
08:48and Beers' that only some of it was fake is wide.
08:51But whether a little or a lot, it's still not total reality.
08:56Today my goal is to prove to people that I take this profession seriously.
09:002.
09:01House Hunters
09:02Airing on HGTV since 1999, this real estate-based series
09:07focuses on people shopping for a new place to live.
09:10But this so-called hunt is largely put on for cameras.
09:13It felt like we just had a few days to scrounge up some houses to look at.
09:17And it was our responsibility to find the houses.
09:19Former participants broke the illusion by saying the show
09:22didn't even touch their story until they had already closed on a house.
09:26So all that house hunting where the buyers look at different places
09:29is full of houses that they may have seen in the past.
09:32But their reactions and debate about them are totally inauthentic.
09:36This bathroom is really freaking me out.
09:38And what is up with this?
09:41What the?
09:42It doubles as a dance room.
09:44What did you do with that?
09:46Wow.
09:47HGTV essentially admitted this.
09:50Buying real estate is a lengthy process with a lot of potential hiccups.
09:54To produce an hour of TV based on it, it requires shortcuts.
09:58I don't think there's any way that the show could actually follow someone because real house hunts take months.
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10:191.
10:20The Hills
10:22I got an apartment with my good friend Heidi.
10:24I'm going to fashion school.
10:26And I scored an interview for a killer internship with Team Vogue.
10:30This is my chance to make it all happen.
10:32In the one city where they say dreams come true.
10:35Always ahead of the curve when it comes to reality, MTV really broke the mold with this Laguna Beach spinoff.
10:41Dogged by allegations of fakery and pre-planned storylines for its entire run, the finale lifted the lid off the whole enterprise.
10:49I can't believe this is really goodbye.
11:03As Kristen Cavallari and Brody Jenner share their final goodbye, suddenly the entire scene is revealed to be a Hollywood set.
11:10It's a deliciously meta and totally brazen confession played out like a magic trick.
11:15If anything, it almost makes it more impressive that this cast and crew could straddle the line between reality and artificiality for so long and still keep us watching.
11:25I think that's a pretty cool ending.
11:27Like, not that the storyline's bad, but I feel like that was creative.
11:31Me too.
11:32What's a reality show you think fakes it for the cameras?
11:35Let us know in the comments.
11:37I'm going to let you know how disappointed I am in your story.
11:41There's many things that I read in here that were false.
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