Long before he became president, “The Apprentice” put businessman and real estate tycoon, Donald Trump, back into the public eye. The show was a hit, but years later many behind-the-scenes tales have spread, making it clear that strategic editing played a role in the show’s successful run. Often, Trump’s stated reasons for “firing” contestants made no sense to the production team, so the editors would then have to come in and carefully splice footage together to make his sporadic dismissals make sense.
The boardroom, the suitcase, and the taxi ride… all fake too. In reality, the dismissed contestants simply went to another part of the tower and wait around with others who’d been fired previously.
Say Yes to the Dress
SYTTD manages to make wedding dress shopping seem glamorous, somewhat life-changing, and very dramatic of course. And the show does a great job at making shopping at Kleinfeld, a boutique in New York, look like a much more eventful experience than it actually is.
In reality, the store is much smaller than it looks on our TV screens (which is usually the case, to be honest), making the space pretty tight for brides who now want to shop there once they fit all of the camera crew there. If that wasn't disappointing enough, shopping appointments are limited to 90 minutes, and brides are allowed to look through only a selected number of dresses while the others are stored out of sight.
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
The times the Kardashians staged drama for their hit show, "Keeping Up With the Kardashians", are literally too many to keep up with. Even the house! Yes, Kris Jenner’s Meditteranean-style family home isn’t really where these Hollywood empresses reside. The house was actually empty at the time of filming and was just simply used as a stand-in home until the property was sold in 2018.
Many of the arguments that pop up between the sisters are scripted and even some of their Twitter rants are staged for ratings. Even love! People behind the scenes have reported that at least two of the marriage proposals on the show were staged. It’s literally all an act!
Catfish
If you watch "Catfish", you’re fed the idea that the victims are the ones that contact the producers, suspecting that they might be getting catfished, and it’s the hosts who are the truth-seeking saviors. But in reality, it's the catfisher, not the victim, who reaches out to the producers.
The catfisher is then investigated, signs some release forms, and must agree to the fact that their story would be modified to fit the necessary storyline. So, whenever the catfisher acts surprised when he or she is discovered, well… they’re just doing what they agreed to do and simply playing their role.
Celebrity Big Brother
In the summer of 2016 millions of viewers watched the live feed of the "Celebrity Big Brother" and were stunned to witness a staged set-up that had accidentally revealed itself on-air. Big Brother was heard wishing all housemates goodnight as the lights went out, and after the housemates, all replied shouting 'goodnight', it appeared as if they had all gone to sleep. However, just seconds later, the lights came back on and everyone got out of bed again, with ex-EastEnders star Ricky Norwood heard saying: "Great take, guys, great take."
If that wasn't enough, Big Brother continued to explain to the housemates that they had some busy days ahead and advised them to get a good night's sleep. Viewers were furious, as this is pure evidence that producers set up certain scenarios. Responding to the outrage, Channel 5 made the following statement: "Footage shown on the live feed involved Big Brother alerting housemates of a long final day ahead. The show is entirely authentic and the housemates are not scripted."