Wild Confessions From Former Reality TV Stars

Buzz Feed

a day ago

A while back, I rounded up the most shocking experiences from BuzzFeed Community members who've ever appeared on or auditioned for a reality show to share their most shocking experiences. In the comments, people shared even more!
Here are 16 of their top responses:
"I used to transcribe some reality TV shows, typically romance ones. The couples were genuine, and even the feelings seemed real, but the lines were fed to them and twisted their emotions to be what the production companies wanted. I was paid to transcribe everything I heard, so I'd transcribe them saying one thing when the cameras weren't rolling, and then transcribe the conversation with the production team where they were prompted to word their feelings in an often manipulated way. Then I'd transcribe them repeating the lines they'd been fed back to the rolling camera. Sometimes they'd express a degree of frustration at having to use words that didn't match their true feelings. I was never a big fan of the genre, but it put me off reality TV for life."
—cakecheese
"Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell filmed at a restaurant I worked at. That's how we got the new hire executive chef we needed. The restaurant had two swinging doors, one to go in and one to go out. They had my coworker fill a tray of drinks and intentionally spill them when someone came in the opposite way through 'the only swinging door' in the restaurant. My coworker played her part masterfully. 😂"
—smokinace
"I've tried out for American Idol and The Voice. I was a karaoke DJ for 10 years. I've been asked to sing for military awards ceremonies and private parties (nothing big), but I've been told I'm a good singer, so I should try out. I went in for The Voice. They took one look at me, gave me three seconds to sing, and said bye. They didn't give anyone a real chance unless they were already interested in you."
—mizmanet
"I saw the American Idol audition experience in person. They have casting judges before you get to TV, and they deliberately filter out good singers to film the bad ones or stupid-looking costumes for entertainment."
—panda_13
"When I auditioned for American Idol, I could hear hundreds of beautiful voices that continuously got rejected. The only people I saw picked were either dressed crazily (a guy dressed in full tinfoil while holding a toothbrush as tall as him) or people who acted wildly (a girl danced her way up to a producer like Shakira in slow motion). They did make it onto the show though, so...."
—helenmelon16
"I know a couple who broke up and went to court because he wanted the ring back, and she was keeping it. They were contacted by a court TV show asking them if they wanted to be on. I imagine they have low-level employees just scrolling through state online filings of court cases looking for anything juicy."
—hans___
"I can confirm. I took an ex to small claims court about 10 years ago and got a letter from one of those judge shows. I didn't do it, but my mom wanted me to since it was one of the judges she used to watch."
—flyerboy6
"I worked on…we'll call it a controversial UK morning talk show, which is no longer in production. We absolutely used to seek out stories in this manner, and even worse tactics. 😬"
—britneypeedonaladybug
"This girl I went to high school with tried out for The Real World in like 2008. She was pretty, popular, and dramatic and had three pet tigers, so I don't know why they passed on her. Now she's married to a famous rapper and is an influencer with more than a million IG followers."
—beaniebaby99
"I took the test for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Couple of things: I didn't realize you take the test first but have to stay through at least two show tapings to get your results, so I guess that's how they get at least part of their studio audience. The other thing that struck me was how hard the test questions were versus how easy the show questions were. It was curious to me how some of the contestants even made it on the show when they were missing so many of the questions. If they could pass that test in the first place, the show shoulda been a piece of cake! 🤷🏽‍♀️"
—sthumphrey24
"A girl I worked with was runner-up on The Bachelor. It was before it was a launching pad for social media careers, so she kept her real job and has a reasonable online presence. She actually came off as more mellow on the show than she is in person, which is probably the best outcome you can hope for."
—beaniebaby99
"Why anyone would be on a reality TV show is beyond me. There was a couple in my friend's neighborhood who were on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They had four kids with disabilities, so the house was built accordingly. Afterwards, the property taxes soared, and they couldn't afford to live there. They sold it and moved elsewhere. The construction was supposedly pretty half-baked, too."
—demoncopperhead
"My friend was scouted for My Strange Addiction because she makes a living through teaching and working with taxidermy. They wanted to portray her as some sort of dead animal addict who compulsively messed with the corpses. It was not the case at all. She had and has a normal life outside of her work and is perfectly healthy."
—problematik
"Went to a taping of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Ruined the show for me. They did multiple takes of a lot of it, with some jokes repeated, and others slightly tweaked."
—mustaaaaard
"I had a friend go on Tattoo Fixers. He was shown the designs before he actually went on the show, so he knew what he was going to get. The 'reveal' part was filmed a few weeks later after it'd healed, so he had to fake a surprised look."
—doublekmama
And finally: "I was on Trading Spaces while I was volunteering for the Ronald McDonald House. Doug was the designer. He chose to renovate the day room as a thank you because his nephew had cancer, and his parents had stayed in one while he was in treatment. It was really sweet and turned out gorgeous."
—bestunicorn88
If you've ever been on a reality show, what was your experience like? Tell us all about it in the comments or in the anonymous comments box below!