What's real about reality TV? Usually, less than you'd think. Whether they're fixing homes or talking to ghosts, these programs are all about putting on a show.
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00:00What's real about reality TV? Usually, less than you'd think. Whether they're
00:05fixing homes or talking to ghosts, these programs are all about putting on a show.
00:10NBC's America's Got Talent claims it's trying to find the best talent in the country.
00:14But is the production as pure in its intent as it claims to be? Like many ratings-hungry
00:19reality competition shows, the series has faced allegations that elements of the production
00:24are rigged. But is there any evidence that parts of America's Got Talent are indeed fabricated?
00:30You can't always trust those heartbreaking contestant backstories,
00:33especially in the early rounds. America's Got Talent ran into a serious fact-checking
00:38problem in Season 7 when singer Timothy Poe's story fell apart. Poe told the show he learned
00:43how to sing to help get over a stutter he developed after being injured while serving
00:46overseas as an army sergeant.
00:49I had got hit by a grenade in Afghanistan."
00:52After his audition aired, reports surfaced that his inspiring story was false. While he did serve
00:57in Afghanistan, it was only for a month, and there's no record of the grenade incident. To
01:02make things worse, a photo Poe provided the show supposedly of him in uniform was actually another
01:07soldier entirely. Plus, audio later surfaced of a stutter-free Poe calling his inspirational
01:13ailment into question. If that wasn't enough, he also lied about serving and getting wounded
01:18in Iraq. Producers later clarified that the show only does background checks on the top
01:2248 contestants, so they simply took Poe at his word.
01:26Season 2 runner-up Cass Haley claimed that during the audition process, he was manipulated
01:30by producers into triggering a young female contestant to cry on camera. It was an incident
01:35he later called, quote,
01:37"...the first time I realized I couldn't trust these people."
01:40Waiting in the green room with other hopefuls while the unnamed singer performed, a producer
01:44entered the room and told everyone she had made it, so they should get ready to cheer
01:48and clap. Haley says she entered the room, everybody cheered, and she broke down crying.
01:53Turns out, she hadn't made it, but the producers purposefully misled her fellow
01:57contestants into cheering and clapping to trigger her tears, at least, according to Haley.
02:02Watching the show, it seems like getting the majority of the judges to give you a thumbs-up
02:06qualifies you for the next round. However, according to past contestants,
02:09this is not necessarily the case. Season 10 competitor Kayvon Zand said he received
02:14three yes votes in the preliminary round, but was told in a generalized email from producers
02:19that he would still have to wait to find out if he would actually appear in the next round.
02:23Zand's claim was echoed by Season 7 comedian Sammy Obeid, who said he earned the necessary
02:28amount of yes votes, but was later told he was put on standby. While Zand and Obeid both wound
02:34up making it to the next round, it looks like not everyone who earns the judges' favor actually gets
02:38to advance, and could be secretly eliminated without getting a chance to perform again,
02:43a fact the show conceals.
02:45While the show makes it seem like the contestants get to choose what to perform,
02:48some reports claim producers have a heavy hand in determining what contestants do on stage.
02:53After he was eliminated in the second round, the street performer and magician known as
02:58Special Head posted a video on YouTube of an act America's Got Talent allegedly wouldn't allow him
03:03to perform, appearing to levitate another person while producing lightning from his fingers,
03:08a follow-up to his self-levitation that won him the first round.
03:12The tell-all book Inside AGT, The Untold Stories of America's Got Talent,
03:16confirms that the show does get to ultimately choose what happens on stage.
03:20While the artist is allowed input, the final decisions are all made by the show.
03:25For the initial audition and judge cuts, America's Got Talent is not a live show,
03:30and some believe this could open the door for fraud, specifically regarding magic acts.
03:34Speculation bubbled to a head in 2017 when famous YouTube skeptic Captain Disillusion
03:39posted a long video explaining how the sleight-of-hand magic act of so-called
03:43visualist Will Tsai was almost surely faked by producers using some CGI and creative editing.
03:48As Disillusion explains, Tsai is famous online not for his practical close-up magic tricks,
03:54but for his nifty post-production video skills.
03:56So his America's Got Talent performance was most likely pulled off in collaboration
04:01with the show's producers and post-production team, something the show did not advertise.
04:05Disillusion also notes that this wasn't the first time the show used editing in a magic act.
04:10It's a reality show.
04:12It's all fake.
04:13They can do whatever they want."
04:15Since 2014, Alaskan Bush People has been airing on the Discovery Channel,
04:19following the seemingly dangerous lives of the Brown family.
04:22But are those adventures real, or is Alaskan Bush People one big reality TV show lie?
04:27There are actually a few reasons why Alaskan Bush People is totally fake.
04:32Family patriarch Billy Brown wrote One Wave at a Time in 2007,
04:35which was the source of the inspiration for Alaskan Bush People.
04:38The Brown family supposedly ventured into the lower 48 for the sole purpose of turning his book
04:43into a movie or TV show.
04:45Capital City Weekly reports that the Browns took a production crew back to Alaska
04:49to recreate the journey described in the book.
04:51It was initially intended to be a one-season documentary in which the Browns reenacted
04:55their lives in the Alaskan bush, but the project proved so popular that it was repackaged into
04:59an ongoing series.
05:01True isolation means there are no roads, nearby towns, or neighbors.
05:05But this wasn't the case with the Browns when they set up shop during the first season.
05:09According to research by Alaska Dispatch News, the show films near a resident who
05:13admitted his family wasn't too thrilled with the noise.
05:15They also claim the first season took place half a mile away from a pizza place,
05:19because nothing says wilderness quite like melted cheese and pepperoni.
05:23Sometime between seasons four and five, the Browns found themselves in California,
05:27where Noah Brown allegedly met up with a pretty Californian brunette named Karina L.
05:32Later, she accepted an invitation to Browntown to reunite with him.
05:35Their date was filmed for season five, and shortly after their awkward encounter aired,
05:40internet sleuths found Kaufman's social media profiles and her IMDb page.
05:44The coincidence seems to imply that Alaskan bush people hired an actress.
05:48It wouldn't be surprising — after all, the date was mostly about Brown getting over his
05:52ex-girlfriend.
05:53He even performed a song about it for Kaufman.
05:55Because nothing wins a girl over on a date like a guy singing a song about his ex-girlfriend.
06:01CNN reported that the Browns pled guilty to lying on their permanent fund dividend forms.
06:05Dividend forms are used to pretty much give out free money for anyone staying in Alaska year-round,
06:10which the Brown family didn't technically do for a couple of years.
06:13The charges came with a potential prison sentence for much of the family.
06:18All I know is we'll do what we've always done.
06:20We'll take what comes, we'll knock it down, and we'll stand proud."
06:22Billy Brown attempted to explain the family's legal problems to TV viewers,
06:26implying that the family is innocent because the state won't allow them to live free and wild.
06:30They won't let you live like we live anymore.
06:32If anything else, what you and I are going through right now and about to go to jail for
06:37proves it."
06:38Using state money to support yourself is kind of the opposite of off-the-grid independence,
06:42anyhow.
06:43The Alaskan bush people creators went out of their way to claim that the Brown kids
06:46had no clue how an iPhone works, or who Kim Kardashian is.
06:50"...that's the princess, or queen."
06:52"...the queen's still alive."
06:54"...that's right."
06:55"...jazzy, jazzy."
06:57"...jazzy."
06:57But before they were known as Alaskan bush people, the family created a website to market
07:01themselves and Billy Brown's books, which pretty much shatters the claim that the Browns have no
07:05concept of modern technology.
07:07Sure, the site could have been professionally built for the Browns because of their lack
07:10of computer savvy, but there's plenty of other evidence that further proves that the Brown
07:15family really isn't a bunch of Kimmy Schmitz.
07:17Case in point, their individual YouTube channels.
07:20Bam, Gabe, Noah, Snow, and Rain Brown were all active on YouTube at one point, and their
07:24channels featured some very non-wilderness details about their lives.
07:28Unless arcade shootouts are just some Alaskan wilderness tradition that we just don't know
07:32about yet.
07:33Though HGTV is prime weekend binge-watching, it's no secret that the channel's popular
07:38home and renovation shows might not be what they seem.
07:40And we're not just talking about the phony house-hunting scenarios or the obviously
07:44manufactured drama.
07:45Still don't believe us?
07:46Hold on to your shiplap.
07:48Here are the reasons these HGTV shows are totally fake.
07:51Drumroll please.
07:53Love It or List It combines the house-hunt and renovation genres, but with a twist.
07:57At the end of each episode, homeowners decide to either live in their updated home or sell
08:01it and move into an upgrade.
08:03And are you gonna love it?
08:04Or are you going to list it?
08:06We are going to…
08:08List it.
08:08Love it.
08:09List it.
08:10Love it.
08:10But according to a Redditor who claims their aunt and uncle appeared on the show, producers
08:14actually had them record both endings, and the network chose to air its favorite.
08:18The Redditor also claims the show portrayed said uncle and aunt as having listed their
08:22home, but in reality, they stayed put.
08:24That story may or may not be true, but there have also been real-world legal ramifications
08:29from the show's shenanigans.
08:31Oh my god!
08:32In 2016, Dina Murphy and Timothy Sullivan from North Carolina sued the show, citing
08:37a variety of complaints.
08:39According to the Miami Herald,
08:40Murphy and Sullivan alleged the show misappropriated their renovation funds and used a subpar contractor
08:46who did questionable work.
08:47The lawsuit stated,
08:48The show is scripted with roles and reactions assigned to the various performers and participants,
08:53including the homeowners.
08:54These characters are actors or television personalities playing a role for the camera,
08:58and in this case, none of them played more than a casual role in the actual renovation
09:02process.
09:03We took out a substantial loan for this and put in some of our own money."
09:08We're guessing they didn't love it.
09:10In 2012, real estate blog Hooked on Houses landed a major scoop when it alleged that
09:15the fan-favorite House Hunters was almost totally fake.
09:18According to show participant Bobbi Jensen, her experience was phony from top to bottom,
09:23starting with the reason the family supposedly appeared on the series.
09:26I don't think there's any way that the show could actually follow someone,
09:29because real house hunts take months."
09:31Jensen claims that the producers made the family seem like they desperately needed a
09:35bigger house, but in reality, they were simply upgrading and had decided to rent out their
09:39existing home.
09:40Next, Jensen revealed her family had already purchased the home they would supposedly be
09:44hunting for.
09:45This is allegedly a common practice for any HGTV show that portrays prospective homeowners
09:49shopping for homes.
09:50So did they just go around looking at listings and pretend they were interested?
09:54Jensen revealed on the blog,
09:55"[The ones we looked at weren't even for sale.
09:57They were just our two friends' houses who were nice enough to madly clean for days in
10:01preparation for the cameras."
10:02And it looks like the show's spinoff series isn't any more authentic.
10:06I think this move will test our relationship because I've never lived with a partner before,
10:11so it will be really interesting to see what we both want."
10:15According to HuffPost, a woman whose Mexican villa was portrayed as one of the
10:19reject properties for prospective buyers on House Hunters International also claimed that
10:23the show
10:24"...swapped in a younger couple to play the buyers to appeal to a wider audience and
10:28steer away from the typical retirees that are often depicted."
10:31Another show participant, Dr. Nate Lambert, wrote a Medium post about his experience.
10:35He describes enjoying having his family move to Fiji documented,
10:39but he also confirms the phony home search.
10:41He recounted how producers over-dramatized a disagreement over kitchen views,
10:45and admits the realtor was an HGTV plant,
10:48which he says had to be done due to the way the real estate industry works in Fiji.
10:52Fixer Upper is the Waco, Texas-based home renovation show starring husband and wife
10:56team Chip and Joanna Gaines.
10:58And it goes like this.
10:59He's the contractor and she's the designer, and they work with a homeowner to flip
11:03run-down properties into dream homes.
11:05Fixer Upper also has a pretty good reputation for being on the up-and-up when it comes to
11:09the Gaines duo actually doing what they portray on the show.
11:12But there are a few discrepancies.
11:14Well, it's your fault.
11:14You're the one that showed them the house.
11:16First, the house hunt at the beginning of each episode is all for, you guessed it, show.
11:21It's the same deal as House Hunters.
11:23HGTV wants folks who are already under contract on a house,
11:26according to show participant David Ridley, who appeared on Season 3 of Fixer Upper.
11:30He told Fox News,
11:31"...they show you other homes, but you already have one.
11:34After they select you, they send your house to Chip and Joanna and their design team."
11:38At this point, we can all move past the fact that nobody is actually discovering their dream
11:42home for the first time on camera.
11:43But is everything else on Fixer Upper genuine?
11:45According to Country Living, yes, except if a homeowner wants to keep the furniture used
11:50for staging.
11:50They have to buy it.
11:51That seems fair, just so long as it's never revealed that Joanna doesn't actually love
11:55shiplap.
11:56The HGTV Dream Home giveaway has been going strong since 1997.
12:01But if you're picturing the lucky winner moving into their stunning new digs and
12:04living in the lap of luxury, think again.
12:07According to The Wall Street Journal, almost none of the winners can afford to keep the
12:10home because of the huge tax liability, which is estimated to be around 40 percent of the
12:14total value of the house.
12:15In fact, out of eight previous winners by 2004, only one actually retained ownership
12:20of the property.
12:21It was gonna be like, it's gonna cost you a million dollars to keep your free home."
12:24This exact situation occurred for 2005 winner Don Cruz, who wasn't able to satisfy the tax
12:29liability he estimated at $800,000.
12:32Cruz tried to make it work anyway, choosing to reject the option of taking cash and other
12:36prizes and living in the house for almost two years before letting it lapse into foreclosure.
12:40He told KLTV that by the time he gave up the house, he'd sunk into $1.43 million in debt.
12:47To state it simply, in order to win and keep the HGTV Dream Home, you already have to be
12:51rich.
12:52Otherwise, you've basically won a giant cash prize and the opportunity to be photographed
12:56in a particularly lovely house for a few minutes.
12:58HGTV's landscape renovation show Yard Crashers has one of the best concepts of all time.
13:04The show walks into a big-box home improvement store and randomly selects an unsuspecting
13:08customer for a stunning backyard makeover.
13:10A dream come true.
13:11How about taking me home right now?"
13:14Unfortunately, dreams aren't real, and apparently neither is Yard Crashers, according to one
13:18Redditor who says their good friend was selected for the show because his sister knew the producer,
13:23so they staged the supposed random encounter at Lowe's.
13:26On top of that, the Redditor also claims that some concrete work done by the show wasn't
13:30exactly top-notch, and that his friend ended up having to sink even more money into the
13:34makeover to fix structural issues.
13:36Again, this could all be hearsay, but host Chris Lampton did tell PopSugar that they
13:40screened participants for attitude and that they'd chat up at least 15 to 20 people before
13:45finally casting a homeowner.
13:46Call us crazy, but we're not sure how surprised the lucky homeowners are to talk to the guy
13:51who has a camera crew in tow and who just rejected a dozen other shoppers.
13:55Thanks to hooked-on houses becoming the go-to destination for HGTV participants to air their
14:00grievances, we also know that Designed to Sell, the show that gave homeowners a budget of $2,000
14:06and a pro design team in order to stage their house for the market, is also fake as a plastic
14:10ficus.
14:11Thank you so much, Designed to Sell.
14:12I've had several offers on the house.
14:14I'm so excited.
14:15I'm moving into the city.
14:16This has been awesome!"
14:18According to one homeowner, her house was not even on the market and would not be for
14:22over a year, but the show cast her anyway.
14:24As a result, producers staged a fake open house at the end of the makeover process that was
14:28entirely attended by the homeowner's friends and family.
14:31On top of that, she said that when the crew came through for what would essentially be
14:34the aftershots, there was incomplete work they had to avoid filming.
14:38Designed to Sell also took a page out of Lovetter Listet's playbook, allegedly having homeowners
14:43shoot multiple endings, one saying their house sold thanks to the makeovers, and one saying
14:47they haven't sold yet, but they've seen a lot of interest.
14:49Wow.
14:50In 2013, the A.V. Club spoke with Atlanta resident Chinate Pruitt about his experience
14:55on Curb Appeal the Block.
14:56While Pruitt claimed he had nothing but love for the production crew and the contractors
15:00for busting their humps, he did expose a few ways in which the show fudged his reality.
15:04For starters, the establishing shots, which are supposed to be the exterior shots of the
15:08surrounding neighborhood, were nowhere near Pruitt's house.
15:11Pruitt also claimed the crew carefully avoided shooting a, quote,
15:14"...sub-crack house monstrosity near his home."
15:16He also claimed the host,
15:17"...would park his convertible, walk around, then drive off."
15:20But aside from all of the TV magic that went into making Pruitt's episode,
15:24he suffered possibly the biggest manipulation after a retaining wall the contractors put in
15:28to prevent flooding had the complete opposite effect.
15:31Though the show sent contractors out multiple times to try and fix the problem,
15:34the basement still floods routinely after heavy rain, leaving Pruitt to feel like the
15:38fun he had with the crew maybe wasn't worth it.
15:41He said,
15:41"...I just wish things had been a little better planned."
15:44Oh my gosh, look at that water.
15:46There's a beautiful view.
15:47Gorgeous view.
15:48Beachfront Bargain Hunt is basically House Hunters International,
15:51if it only went to American cities with gorgeous coastlines.
15:54And just like that fake HGTV house-hunting show,
15:57this one also requires its participants to already own the house they're supposedly shopping for.
16:01And thanks to Outer Banks realtor Joanna's blog about her experience with the show,
16:05we can report on a few other small facets of fakery, as well.
16:09"...waterfront is a must-have, something with a deep water lagoon, perhaps, for a nice-sized boat."
16:14"...What size boat do you have?"
16:15"...I don't have a boat."
16:17Probably the oddest thing Joanna had to say was that producers told her not to
16:20use the word nice and that they were so serious about it they even had to start
16:24several scenes over when she accidentally used the term. Joanna also said that although there
16:28was no script, they were made to re-enter each room two to four times, repeating the
16:33exact same phrasing they used the first time to ensure the crew got the coverage.
16:36This all calls into question the overall integrity of a show that purports to capture
16:40the thrill and excitement of a beach home purchase. After all, if the stressful real
16:44estate transaction is fake, the home search is fake, and the genuine emotion of discovering
16:48a dream home is diminished by multiple reshoots, what's left? Oh right, sitting at home and playing
16:53what do these people do and how can they afford this from your obviously not beachfront couch.
16:58Okay, never mind, HGTV gives us life.
17:02In the world of home improvement dramas, Drew and Jonathan Scott are kings. The Canadian
17:06twin brothers have created one of the most compulsively watchable shows in the home
17:10decorating universe. But is everything what it seems? Not exactly. Here's why Property Brothers
17:17is totally fake.
17:19Be afraid, be very afraid."
17:21Although a tiny fraction of the Scott brothers' clients may actually be shopping around for
17:25a house, it seems most of them already have their home picked out, if not under contract.
17:30Please pray that this house is in our budget."
17:32Jonathan told PopSugar,
17:34"...we have homeowners who have identified a house that they already like. Because everything
17:38moves so fast for the show, we have found that it doesn't work well for people who haven't
17:42even started searching."
17:43In short, the walking-around-looking-at-houses portion is often just for show, as is the
17:48drawn-out, dramatic deliberation between the buyers as to which home they'll choose.
17:53"...I'm the realtor, that's my job."
17:55Considering most clients already have a house picked out, you can guess that a healthy
17:59percentage of the folks on the show aren't necessarily using Drew as their real estate
18:03agent. Yes, if you see some back-and-forth offering and counter-offering happening on
18:08an episode, it's probably legit. But for the folks who show up already holding the keys
18:12to their new house, Drew's just there to mug for the cameras.
18:16"...Alright, cut! That's a wrap on the brothers."
18:18"...Awesome, see you guys. Time to go home."
18:22However, sometimes the brothers will indeed change the homeowners' minds. Jonathan told
18:26PopSugar,
18:27"...sometimes when we're showing them other houses, because of the resources that we have,
18:31we can do more than they would have ever been able to do."
18:34Don't get us wrong, it's not like Property Brothers leaves its projects unfinished. But
18:38only about half the house, between three and four rooms worth, gets stripped down,
18:42rebuilt, and furnished to the gills with the Scott brothers' help.
18:45"...I have some ideas about things we could do to the space."
18:48Folks who appear on the show get to pick which rooms the brothers renovate, and even then,
18:53there are rules. According to MSN, homebuyers can either get their kitchen or their bathroom
18:58redone, but not both. If you want to be on the show, you'll have to make some tough choices
19:03about where you truly need that signature touch.
19:06"...Jonathan on the show would like you to believe that he does all the work,
19:09but in reality, I'm the puppet master."
19:12Jonathan is the face of the Property Brothers renovation machine,
19:15but he's definitely not the muscle. While he puts in an appearance at pivotal moments,
19:20one Reddit poster who auditioned for the show claims the bulk of the work is done
19:24by local contractors. If you're selected to be on the show, wear something comfortable,
19:28because Jonathan's gonna put you to work.
19:31"...have you done construction before?"
19:32He told PopSugar,
19:33"...if we find that our budget is taking hits left, right, and center, I'll jump in and do
19:37even more because I'm not charging for my time, or we'll get the homeowners to jump in and do more."
19:43Considering how much eye-rolling and infighting goes on between Property Brothers' prospective
19:47homebuyers, you could be thinking every couple on the show filed for divorce once the cameras
19:52stopped rolling. The truth is, the drama is likely just another cultivated element of the show that
19:57makes it more watchable. But it's not strictly limited to the clients. A 2017 profile in The
20:02New York Times revealed that during the filming of Season 5, Jonathan Scott once yanked a toilet
20:08out from the floor, but that the moment reportedly didn't have enough drama. So,
20:12producers had Jonathan shoot the scene while walking into the small bathroom again,
20:16acting surprised as he spied the toilet.
20:18"...I don't do this for just anybody. I do this because I love you."
20:22Another time, strong winds reportedly knocked a metal chimney off the roof and onto the driveway
20:27of a house the brothers were renovating the day before a scheduled shoot. So,
20:31the producers then recreated the high-intensity moment. According to the Times, the director
20:36ordered more workers out front, and when he hollered, bang, the workers pretended to act
20:41surprised. Drew then supposedly ran outside to tell the crew,
20:45"'Go inside, guys. I don't want you to work outside. It's too windy.'"
20:49As contrived as the majority of the drama on Property Brothers might be,
20:52there's one thing about the show that's definitely for real. According to many
20:56folks who've appeared on the series, Drew and Jonathan really are the nicest
21:00twin home renovation team on the planet.
21:03"'This is proof. These are tears of joy on my shirt.'"
21:06Unlike other renovation shows, The Scott Brothers let you keep all the staging elements,
21:11because it was all worked into the budget. Jonathan Scott told PopSugar,
21:14"'Every one of our shows, where it's a homeowner moving in, they all keep the furniture.
21:19I've heard that some other shows take it all away, and I was like,
21:22uh, that's a jerk move. You get someone to fall in love with a room, and then you're like,
21:26see ya. So no, everything that you see on TV stays."
21:31When The Hills debuted on MTV in 2006, the show was framed as a real look at a group of
21:37friends who moved to L.A. to chase their dreams. But seeing is not always believing.
21:42Now that 2019's reboot, The Hills New Beginnings, has made its drama-packed debut,
21:48it's the perfect time to reveal the made-up storylines from the original.
21:51"'Let's just do it and get it over with.'"
21:54One of the most infamous on-again-off-again relationships on The Hills was between
21:58Audrina Patridge and Justin Bobby Brescia. Patridge just couldn't seem to quit giving
22:04Brescia chances, even when he gave her every reason to walk away for good.
22:09"'I just keep waiting around for you to make a decision, and I just, I can't keep waiting.'"
22:14But in 2015, Brescia told Complex,
22:17"'Were we like boyfriend-girlfriend? No, we weren't. We worked a lot. We had some moments.
22:22We spent a lot of time together. We were mostly friends for the most part.'"
22:26Basically, even now, Brescia refuses to admit that he had
22:30any sort of real relationship with Patridge.
22:33"'He just left me. He's gone. Really? Yeah. I'm sorry. Seriously, I'm done.'"
22:42But Brescia's description of this supposedly on-off relationship fabricated for TV doesn't
22:48completely match up with Audrina's version of events. She told Entertainment Tonight in 2016
22:54that as far as her relationship with Brescia goes,
22:56"'It was a fine line of real and fake,
22:59because we definitely had real feelings for each other, and what we were going through was real.'"
23:03Audrina added,
23:04"'What we were going through in real life, we didn't talk about on the show.'"
23:09A key Season 1 storyline on The Hills involved Heidi Montag dropping out of college to pursue
23:15a career in public relations, much to classmate Lauren Conrad's dismay.
23:19"'Well, I wanna do PR. That's, like, my ultimate goal. I wanna be, like,
23:23the fun party PR girl in L.A.'s type of thing.'"
23:26But in a 2016 interview with BuzzFeed,
23:29Montag revealed that her entire job at Bolthouse Productions was, in fact, a lie.
23:34It seems that Montag's involvement with the company was a mutually beneficial relationship,
23:39but not an actual career. By the way, that promotion Montag supposedly got over her
23:44co-worker Elodie Otto in Season 3? That apparently was totally fake, too.
23:49"'Good for you. I mean, as long as, you know, I appreciate it as much as I would have."
23:54"'I do.'"
23:54"'But no hard feelings.'"
23:56Heidi said,
23:57"'I definitely did not get the promotion over Elodie. She really worked there,
24:01and I pretend worked there, so it was obviously a pretend promotion for her to be upset about.
24:06That whole plot was scripted.'"
24:08Yet that very same year, Montag gave an interview that seemed to suggest her job was real.
24:14She told InStyle,
24:15"'Working at Bolthouse was such a fun experience. It was great holding the clipboard and feeling
24:20like you're running the line. They're one of the biggest event companies in the world,
24:24throwing multi-million dollar parties.'"
24:27Despite her conflicting stories, holding the clipboard doesn't sound like much of a job
24:31description. Spencer and Heidi welcomed their first child in 2017, but when they were filming
24:37The Hills, one of their most memorable storylines involved Montag hatching a plan to get pregnant,
24:42despite Pratt's opposition to it.
24:45"'I took a pregnancy test. I'm not pregnant.'"
24:50But Heidi told Entertainment Tonight in 2016 that she wasn't actually trying to manipulate
24:55her husband into having a kid, claiming,
24:57"'Yeah, I would never do that. I think that's the worst thing any human could do.
25:01I don't like tricking or manipulating people or things like that. I think that's a really
25:06important step, and I was way too young. I wasn't even thinking about kids then.'"
25:11So there you have it. The baby drama was a sham cooked up for viewers to enjoy,
25:15and it totally worked.
25:16"'Everything's fake before you know it.'"
25:19Kristin Cavallari, the star of Very Cavallari and Laguna Beach,
25:23joined The Hills in Season 5 as Lauren Conrad's replacement.
25:27Understandably, Cavallari joining the cast stirred up some instant drama,
25:32especially when she took an interest in Audrina's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Justin Bobby.
25:37However, according to Patridge, there wasn't much truth to all that romantic tension.
25:42In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Patridge recalled filming a party scene and saying,
25:47"'You guys, I am not with Justin anymore. Kristin,
25:50have him. I want nothing to do with this. Like, I've moved on.'"
25:53Patridge went on to allege,
25:55"'Producers locked my car in the gate and took my keys.
25:58I called my lawyers and told them they won't let me leave and they want me to do this fake fight
26:03and it's just going to make me look bad. And I'm with someone else and I'm not obsessed with
26:08Justin and it's making me look like this crazy person.'"
26:11Whether or not these extreme filming techniques are really how things went down,
26:15it appears that neither lady was as into Justin Bobby as producers would have you believe.
26:21When asked if she regretted any of her on-screen romances,
26:24Cavallari told Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,
26:28"'I would say Justin, but I never really dated him.'
26:31"'It was fake.'
26:32"'Yeah.'"
26:33One particularly memorable moment on The Hills Season 5 took place when
26:37Lauren surprised Heidi by turning up at her wedding to Spencer.
26:41"'Regardless if anything's happened, I'm just, I really am happy for you.'"
26:45But Conrad's unexpected appearance at the nuptials was not all that it seemed.
26:49As Montag told BuzzFeed,
26:51"'I know Lauren did not want to come to my wedding,
26:54and I was shocked when I saw her. They must have paid her a lot to come.'
26:58I think producers had both Lauren and Kristen Cavallari there to kind of pass on the baton
27:04and show that Kristen was the new head b---- in charge.
27:08However, Conrad tells a different story about that wedding. Speaking to Us Weekly in 2016,
27:13Conrad claimed producers,
27:15"'Literally locked me in the basement with two security guards and wouldn't let me leave.
27:19And I was like, you can't keep me here. I was throwing a fit.'"
27:23Producer Adam DiVello pushed back, telling the mag that Conrad, quote,
27:27"'Might have felt locked in, but she was not.'"
27:30At the end of Season 1, series star Lauren Conrad was given the opportunity to spend
27:34the summer interning in Paris with Teen Vogue. However, Conrad ended up turning down the
27:40internship, thus forever becoming known as the, quote, "'girl who didn't go to Paris.'"
27:44"'Lauren didn't go to Paris. She's gonna always be known as the girl who didn't go to Paris.'"
27:49Lisa Love, the editor who offered Conrad the position, revealed that Vogue editor-in-chief
27:54Anna Wintour was actually the one who coined that infamous nickname. But according to co-star
27:59Whitney Port, the Paris internship wasn't as glamorous as it was made out to be.
28:03"'Honestly, when in your life are you ever going to get the chance to do that again?
28:07The Midnight Tour of Paris? Probably never.'"
28:09Considering Port was selected to travel to the City of Lights in Conrad's place,
28:13Whitney told Vogue,
28:14"'It wasn't an ideal situation, but I thought,
28:17okay, this is good for me because I really was pursuing a career in fashion.
28:21I thought it showed that I was down and determined to do this.'"
28:24But the trip wasn't the summer-long internship it was sold as on TV.
28:28"'I always have kind of seen myself more as like dealing directly with fashion,
28:32more so than just being like, you know, behind the scenes of a magazine.'"
28:36Whitney told ET,
28:37"'I wasn't really ever hired by Teen Vogue.'"
28:40Cavallari, who has since reinvented herself with jewelry brand Uncommon James and the reality show
28:46Very Cavallari, is probably the most outspoken cast member from the show.
28:51In 2019, during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,
28:55she expressed relief that Port had also revealed some behind-the-scenes truths.
28:59"'I can tell you, most of my stuff wasn't real. I'm just happy that more people are
29:04finally coming out saying that stuff isn't real because for the longest time it was only me.
29:07So thank you, Whitney.'"
29:08Cavallari also told Splash,
29:10"'The producers were really crappy to me. I felt like everybody was against me
29:14and manipulating me, and that forced me to be a b----.'
29:18"'It's gonna be like this, this b---- arm b----.'"
29:21But she seems to have since made peace with the role she was playing.
29:24In 2018, she told Parade that producer Adam DiVello asked her,
29:29"'If I was cool with the whole,
29:30the b---- is back slogan, and I was like, yeah, if I'm going to do it, let's do it.'"
29:35"'I knew what I was doing, you know, and it worked, obviously.'"
29:39If Very Cavallari is anything to go by,
29:41Kristen is much nicer in real life than The Hills made her out to be.
29:46Despite the fact that viewers were busy shipping Lauren and Brody Jenner,
29:50it turns out that their fledging relationship was totally fake.
29:53"'I feel like we're so distant. Can I scoot over?'
29:56"'Yes, you can scoot over.'
29:59"'Much better.'"
30:00Conrad broke the news in 2016, telling Us Weekly,
30:03"'We were always more friends than anything. He was always very sweet to me,
30:07and we enjoyed each other's company. But I think it was one of those things where
30:11producers really wanted us to be together, and we both knew that we didn't really have
30:16that kind of chemistry.'"
30:17Jenner concurred, revealing to Yahoo,
30:20"'We would literally, we'd film a scene of us kissing or being in this lovey-dovey scene,
30:24and then right after that cut, and it's like, all right, hey, good to see you,
30:26and then we'd go our separate ways.'"
30:28But the tryst with Conrad wasn't Jenner's only fake relationship on the show.
30:32He told the outlet,
30:33"'The hardest part of it was having to live that fake reality. The not being able to say,
30:38I didn't hook up with Jen Bunny, I didn't hook up with Audrina,
30:41I didn't hook up with any of these girls.'"
30:44"'Looking for chicks here, too. Whatever.'"
30:46When Spencer arrived on the show in Season 2, he was portrayed as Heidi's possible love interest,
30:51who just so happened to also be hanging out with Audrina.
30:55"'I think it might be kind of awkward. Because Heidi and I,
30:57I don't know what's going on. But we have some kind of, some kind of beef.'"
31:02In an interview with Broadly, Montag recalled the moment Pratt arrived at a club with Patridge,
31:07who supposedly wasn't on speaking terms with anyone thanks to rumors that she'd been hanging
31:12out with one of Lauren's exes. As Montag told Broadly,
31:16"...Patridge showed up with Spencer and we were like, b----, please."
31:20Just like that, Season 2's drama was born.
31:24However, Patridge claims that all of the friction between her and Montag was fabricated,
31:29and she never had any romantic interest in Pratt. She told Us Weekly,
31:33"...Oh God no! I did not have history with Spencer and this was one of the
31:37things that really upset me. And this was when I started distrusting the producers."
31:41Although we'll never know for sure, it seems some clever editing helped
31:45create a connection that was never really there.
31:48Season 6 of The Hills ended with the reveal that Brody's final scene was being shot on a
31:53studio lot, a not-so-subtle nod to the show's fake storylines. But things could have gone
31:59very differently because Lauren actually returned for the series finale and filmed
32:03an alternate ending.
32:04"...Hi. How you been?"
32:06MTV broadcast the special cameo years later, showing Conrad waiting at home for Jenna as
32:12if they were now living together. In reality, the secret girlfriend Jenna kept referring to
32:16throughout Season 6 was actually Avril Lavigne, who he was dating at the time.
32:22While Conrad previously told E! she had, quote,
32:25no plans to come back, producer Adam DiVello wasn't going to give up so easily. He told
32:30Entertainment Weekly,
32:32"...It's something I always wanted for the finale, and it just took a lot of persuading.
32:37I was relentless and I bugged MTV until they gave in."
32:40But when all was said and done, MTV didn't follow DiVello's vision,
32:44the one where Jenna and Conrad are cohabitating.
32:48But thanks to the internet, Conrad's totally fake cameo is now immortalized forever.
32:54The most polarizing character on The Hills was definitely Spencer Pratt,
32:57who admits that he played into his villainous storylines as the show got more popular.
33:02"...I say things that I feel."
33:04But according to Pratt, he couldn't be more different from the erratic,
33:08sometimes violent consummate dirtbag he personified onscreen.
33:12Heidi's other half told InStyle,
33:15"...we wanted to have a show that people watched,
33:17so we did all this stuff that made us look like the worst humans on earth.
33:21When the cameras were off, I was a complete gentleman,
33:24opening doors and going to the movies and cuddling."
33:27"...They needed a bad guy. I stepped in there, took the hit for the team."
33:31One of the show's producers seemed to confirm Pratt's version of events,
33:35telling Refinery29,
33:37"...I feel like he knew the character the show was portraying,
33:40and he played into it, and it helped him and the show out.
33:43Now I feel bad if any of that is ruining anything he wants to do moving forward."
33:48Even Pratt's now-estranged sister Stephanie described her brother as, quote,
33:52"...reality TV genius."
33:54"...If you guys could go back, would you do it all over again?"
33:57"...I would do it so much better."
34:00NBC's long-running hit reality show The Biggest Loser provided undeniable results for contestants,
34:06like massive weight loss and enormous lifestyle changes. But was it all legit,
34:10and were those changes all positive? As it turns out, no, not really.
34:15Here's why The Biggest Loser is totally fake.
34:18While contestants appeared to be weighed once a week, that period actually changed
34:22based on filming schedules, according to Season 3 runner-up Kai Hibbard,
34:27who has frequently spoken out about her negative experience on the show.
34:30This means audiences at home witnessed large fluctuations in how much weight the contestants
34:35would appear to lose from week to week.
34:38"...It's actually 20 days later that you see somebody dropping 30 pounds."
34:44Season 2 contestant Suzanne Mandonca told the New York Post that a show doctor
34:49advised contestants to eat baking soda to fight dehydration. But she alleges that
34:53recommendation was designed to covertly make them retain water and thus be eliminated,
34:58so that more dramatic contestants could stick around.
35:01"...Did you take it?"
35:02"...No, I did not. I just walked away from it. There was no way I was gonna ingest baking soda."
35:06Mandonca also told Entertainment Tonight that she regained 130 pounds after leaving the show.
35:12"...There's so many unhealthy things they do on the show that
35:15are not sustainable in real life."
35:17She told The Globe,
35:18"...I was eating baby food. I'd wrap myself in garbage bags to sweat.
35:22We would use the sauna for six hours a day. People were passing out in the doctor's office."
35:27Other contestants went even further with their allegations,
35:30claiming staff encouraged them to take illegal drugs,
35:33including Adderall and the FDA-banned weight loss substance Ephedra.
35:382008 contestant Joelle Quinn, who was coached by Bob Harper, told the New York Post,
35:43"...he goes away and his assistant comes in. He's got this brown paper bag that's bundled up. He
35:48says, take this drug, it'll really help you. I was like, what the f— is this? I felt jittery
35:53and hyper after taking it once." Authorities launched an inquiry into the show in May 2016.
35:59The program has denied the accusations, saying in a statement,
36:03"...we prohibit the use of any illegal substances,
36:05in addition to the many other rules and procedures of the show that are designed
36:09to ensure safety." Past contestants have revealed that the television weigh-in scale
36:14isn't actually even a real scale.
36:16"...when they step on the scale, don't even know their real weight and how much they dropped."
36:21She added that contestants are weighed two days prior to the episode's weigh-in.
36:26An executive producer eventually set rumors about the scale to rest,
36:30telling The Today Show that contestants are, indeed,
36:33weighed beforehand and the weigh-in on the big snazzy scale is just a prop used for television.
36:39Contestants desperate to stay on the show sometimes resorted to extreme and dangerous
36:43measures to lose a few last-minute pounds. Season 1 winner Ryan Benson wrote on his blog that he
36:49was so desperate to win that he abstained from eating solid food for the last 10 days
36:53before the final weigh-in. And for the entire last day, Benson claimed he put absolutely nothing in
36:59his body, not even water. He wrote,
37:01"...in the final 24 hours, I probably dropped 10 to 13 pounds in just pure water weight.
37:07By the time of the final weigh-in, I was peeing blood."
37:10"...and I sat in a sauna and I ran on a treadmill in a rubber suit
37:15and did whatever I could. It was very unhealthy, what I did."
37:20While the show made it clear that contestants were exercising constantly,
37:23it didn't show just how much. According to The Guardian,
37:27competitors were actually grinding out six to eight hours' worth of exercise a day.
37:31Not only is this far more workout time than is recommended by doctors,
37:35it's also much more than the average person could reasonably commit to.
37:40"...I can't do it."
37:40"...Yes, you can!"
37:42"...Don't you can't me."
37:43A National Institute of Health study confirmed several contestants' claims
37:47that the show wreaked havoc on their metabolisms and left them prone to
37:50quickly gain back the weight they'd lost, and more, after returning to regular life.
37:55The show has denied the allegations.