Reality Show Participants Share Their Most Shocking Experiences

Recently, the BuzzFeed Community shared their most shocking or surprising reality TV experiences.

Here are 13 of their top responses:

Note: Some responses are from comments on this post. Disclaimer: These stories have not been verified. The users are supposedly speaking from their own experiences.

1. “I had a friend go on Tattoo Fixers. He was shown the designs before he went on the show, so he knew what he would get. The ‘reveal’ part was filmed a few weeks later after it healed, so he had to fake a surprised look.”

2. “It wasn’t me directly on the show, but the fallout was wild. My father went on Ricki Lake in the mid-’90s as a ‘male prostitute and proud of it.’ My stepmom was in the audience, saying she approved, and they did it to pay her medical bills. It still circulates as a meme to this day.”

3. “A friend of my sister was on My Super Sweet 16 from MTV. My sister said she was one of the nicest girls she had ever met (my sister was invited to the party but couldn’t go because it was too far away), and production had to make up scenarios for the girl to be ‘mad’ at during party planning.”

4. “My sister knew someone who was on Parental Control, and all of it is fake. The ‘couple’ didn’t know each other prior to casting, and the parents were actors as well.”

5. “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.”

6. “I worked with someone who helped on the set of American Pickers. I was so disappointed because she said they send people (like her) out to fish for cool finds then leave them in convenient locations to make it seem like the guys found them themselves.”

7. “A family friend was on some HGTV show looking for a new house — fake as hell. They even made up a storyline that my friend (pregnant at the time) almost lost their baby due to a trip on the stairs (which never happened).”

8. “My high school was the featured school on MTV’s The Paper. The crew who filmed were absolute assholes and would push you out of frame, despite it not mattering if you were in it.”

9. “Swamp Brothers called my neighbor and asked to put a gator in their man-made swimming pond then ‘saved’ the family from it.”

10. “Mystery Diners that was on Food Network was completely staged. On the episode I was hired to film, I recognized the wait staff from the auditions.”

11. “I don’t even know if this aired anywhere, but I had an old friend on a show called Kicked Out. Basically, the premise was adult kids still living at home and freeloading. I’d say it was fake, but if you knew this gal, yeah…she was totally taking advantage of her parents and legit didn’t have a job and contribute.”

12. “Wipeout is filmed over the course of three days, and Wipeout Canada was filmed in Argentina.”

13. And finally: “My husband worked for South Beach Tow — all fake as hell.”

If you’ve ever been or worked on a reality show, what was the most surprising or shocking part of your experience? Let us know in the comments!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length/clarity.

Source: BuzzFeed