Wednesday, November 9, 2011

True confessions

In every "reality show" competition-type television program, there will be little interstitial bits where one of the participants will be telling "the camera" something-- going over what they were thinking when something happened, or describing how they feel about the other participants, or whatever.

I've always assumed that they just filmed about 15-20 minutes worth of material and then showed the best 10 seconds worth, but apparently, at least for some of the seedier, more desperate-for-ratings shows, they actually indulge in quite a bit of fakery.  Clips are taken way out of context, or even overdubbed.  Contestants are asked extremely leading questions, or coached, or in some cases outright lied to in order to provoke a particular reaction that fits with the producers' vision of a good dramatic story.

It's not like I didn't take it with a bit of fleur de sel when one Top Cheftestant was snarky about another.  After all, they're isolated, in the heat of a long contest, and of course the producers want to be able to field a cast of heroes and villains for the fans to argue about.  But I have to admit, I was kind of surprised at the lengths some shows will go to.

1 comment:

  1. I assume that anything I see on TV is scripted -- it's entertainment.

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