Category "reality-tv"

Why do contestants play quiz shows by speaking?

On most ratio/television quiz shows the contestants interact with the game (answering questions, activating lifelines) by speaking instead of pressing buttons.

Do the American Idol judges, judge every contestant?

It seems almost impossible to judge thousands of people per city in such a short time. Do the judges judge everyone or just select people from a crowd?

How are fake reality shows not false advertising? And if they are, why do they get away with it?

Wikipedia defines Reality Television as: "Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents unscripted situations and actual occurren

Any known cases of a person appearing in one reality TV show as having one career but later in another reality TV show as having a different career?

This question is not about following types of reality TV shows: "Big Brother" or "Jersey Shore" were the portrayed individuals are recognized as "actors"/"part

How to find out whether a reality show is scripted

So, a lot of 'reality television' is (partially) scripted. Now, normally with some Google-fu I am able to find out whether it was scripted, or at least people c

How do they shoot live commentary in reality shows?

In reality shows, like say Master Chef, you see constant commentary by the contestants as they are cooking. They talk of errors and mistakes in present tense. D

Why are the assistants called Bobs (Bawbs?) on Cutthroat Kitchen?

Often on Cutthroat Kitchen, Alton will ask his "Bobs"/"Bawbs" to bring in one of the nefarious devices to be used for the challenge. Any explanation for the nic

Cooking shows' last minute finishes

In competitive cooking shows like Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay and many others, at the end of each round they show all of the competitors doing their final preparat

Which was the first reality competition TV program that used the now common format of eliminating one contestant each episode?

It's now a common trope of the genre, whether it's getting kicked off the island or being told "You're fired!" but somebody had to have come up with this first.

Is Ghost Adventures real or fake?

I recently started watching Ghost Adventures and they seem real to me. But then I checked it on the web and found that it is a fake show. Some say it is fake, w

Why are license plates censored?

Very often in reality television shows, they will have scenes that take place on streets. The license plates of the cars are always censored from view or blurre

How do the live audience of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" see the funny animations or catch the jokes with punchline on screen?

Okay, so I've been watching The Late Show With Stephen Colbert for almost a year now, and I love every bit of it: the snarky-but-nice humor, the irreverent poli

Do the judges really receive menu at the beginning of the elimination challenge?

In The Taste (at least in the British version), when the contestants start cooking for the elimination challenge, the judges receive the menu with the dishes th

How do they keep the identity of the winner secret?

The Great British Bake-Off is filmed in the summer and aired in the autumn. The final episode reveals the winner at a large garden party, yet the identity of th

How does Gordon Ramsay judge each contestants' dish objectively?

There are heaps of competitive cooking events throughout all seasons of the American series Hell's Kitchen (I specify American because I believe there is a UK s

Why is the winner still awarded $1 million U.S.dollars?

When Survivor premiered on May 31, 2000, the grand prize offered to the winner was $1 million U.S. dollars. Survivor is now in it's 33rd season after airing fo

Did contestant keep the items they filled in their trolleys?

I was just wondering something For every contestant on Dale's Supermarket Sweep, did they keep the items that they filled in their trolleys?

On Cupcake Wars, how do they get the winning cupcakes to the event?

At the end of each episode of Cupcake Wars, two teams have created elaborate decorative stands that support 1000 cupcakes each. The winning team has their decor

Is the Bachelorette scripted?

I'm sure this applies to any and all reality tv shows but this came up for Season 13 of The Bachelorette. This started out as a discussion with co-workers to w

Why is People's Court unavailable on streaming services and other media?

People's Court became my guilty pleasure a few years ago and I've been happily watching new episodes daily at lunch since. However, there are not nearly enough