A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

[Fiddy]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

heck, i always thought reality shows were scripted to a certain degree..

[SPTO]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

Interesting stuff....

Too bad the article is about a stupid A&E reality show. I mean A&E lost all relevence since they stopped doing BIOGRAPHY. Now if this story was about American Idol or Survivor it would have a lot more currency. That being said, I've always felt a vast majority of reality shows are scripted or done with an angle in mind.

At least the stranglehold that reality TV has had in the last 5-6 years is starting to loosen up. It's not as prevalent as it used to be. I bet it'll eventually more or less vanish from the mainstream in the next 3 years with the exception of American Idol and The Amazing Race.

[Husker_OS]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

Really... normal people... how many of them have real jobs now versus those living off of the reality celebrity/reunion shows?

Well lets see...Tyrie is a student at Nebraska..Stephen at Howard University...Davis at UGA...

[Hootiefish]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

I believe that all of these "reality" shows are scripted.

I have a friend that is actually a "writer" for a reality show in LA.

[CMH]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

This isn't like Dan Rather making up the news or anything.

I'm only posting to say that I won't comment on this because we can't talk about these things here.

[Cebby]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

I know that is what was believed to be true, but in reality I believe Fox was milking that angle for its own shameless self promotion. It just seemed very convenient he went the week before Idol Gives Back when ironically he wasn't the worst of the bunch the previous night.

I've been on your side. This year's American Idol had no real star. Hell, I didn't know anyone besides Sanjaya's name until a few weeks ago. Last year, Chris, Taylor, Katherine, Kelly, and a few others stood out early. This year, nobody did. So you boost ratings by having a terrible person who happens to be the only one anyone remembers from auditions as the star of the show, scandalizing interest.

*X Files music plays*

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

I watch Flip This House every Saturday and saw the episodes in the story.

I hated that guy Sam whatever his last name is. He walked around like a big shot on the show. Like he was making millions off of real estate. Always walking around with a cigar.

I believed the sales in the show, however, I thought that all the footage was from years ago because I know that houses are not flying off the market for profits right now. So I was always leery of that...but still believed it.

His apprentice, Angie, is fine though. They're going to keep airing her shows. She looks like she's in her 40s but she's smoking.

I also don't believe the other dudes from South Carolina. Trademark Properties. I can't see them making that much money off of sales. Although, again, Ginger is fine as hell (for whoever watches).

The ones from San Antonio (Armando Montalango sp?) are just annoying to listen to.

[jfsolo]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

What?? A reality show a fraud, scripted?!?! It can't be! I've lost all faith in humanity.

Seriously though when Survivor was first announced way back when I thought this might be something interesting, then when I did some more reading I realized what it was really going to be like, I thought "This ain't no flippin show about surviving, this is BS ,I'm not watching this" Subsequently I have never watched one minute of any reality show ever. I just took it for granted that every reality show was 99% scripted.

Reality is so much better than any reality show. I can't image that any reality show could be more entertaining then the OS NBA forum. That is unintentional comedic gold right there. Unless that is scripted too

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

I can't image that any reality show could be more entertaining then the OS NBA forum. That is unintentional comedic gold right there. Unless that is scripted too

Actually, after a heavy night of drinking, I ghostwrite assanine topics for a poster named Erod.

[rsnomar05]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

So nothing. I made an observation... however, I disagree that most are normal people. I think producers conveniently leave off people's actual resume when they list their occupations. Chip & Kim and Uchena & Joyce, both Million Dollar Winners on The Amazing Race, never once were mentioned during their seasons that they were actors.... yet they are all four actors.

Bottomline is that it all goes back to the premise that reality TV ended with Real World 1. After that, people had an idea about what it was and how they could benifit from it. The first season of most reality shows is the closest they will ever get, but even at that.... it's all smoke and mirrors.

The Amazing Race does not hide who people are. They have revealed that people are actors/models in the past. Lena and Kristy were both models. Derrick and Drew were identical twin models. When they introduced Charla in season 5, they mentioned the fact that she was in the Blair Witch Project 2. Phil has also said in interviews that the most common applicants are models/actors because they have the most flexible schedule and can afford to take time off work. The show has also had everyone from Kentucky coal miners to circus clowns, bowling moms, Miss America contestants, dentists, hippies and NFL players' wives. If that's not diversity, I don't know what is.

Survivor, on the other hand, many contestants state that they had never seen the show but were recruited. The reason is that Survivor has a type-cast for the contestants that they want, and they will recruit to fill that. Most people are normal and not actors, they just are suited to fill a certain role.

With the Amazing Race, however, I see no evidence that they recruit, especially since practically every contestant will make some comment about earlier seasons, things like "The one thing we said we weren't going to do is follow other teams, because that hasn't worked in other races." And if you ever read the Return of the Racers blog on cbs.com, it is pretty obvious that they are all fans.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

Originally, "Flip this House" was started by Richard Davis and "Trademark Properties". This group was based in South Carolina. I used to watch the show back then and I think this group was legit. After the first season Trademark had a falling out with A&E. Trademark (who had the idea for the show in the first place I believe) was told to get lost and A&E brought in new groups. One was the Montelongos in San Antonio and the other was Sam Leccima's group in Atlanta. I trust the Montelongo's about as much as I trust Leccima, which is none.

Trademark has since sued A&E (There is a website about it somewhere, forget the name) and now has a new show called "The Real Deal" on TLC.

The whole happenings behind Flip This House is a black eye on A&E as a whole. Wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if A&E was quite aware of what was going on.

good info.. wasnt mr. davis on a TLC show called Flip THAT house before the real deal?

[joshuar9476]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

reality shows scripted???!!!! .....

that's why i loved the joe schmo show on spike tv. at least you knew it was fake and it was funner than hell.

[The Chef]

Re: A&E Reality Show Exposed as a Fraud

good info.. wasnt mr. davis on a TLC show called Flip THAT house before the real deal?

I dont believe so, everything that previous poster mentioned is true, he is sueing A&E for stealing his idea since he was the one who pitched it to them. Seeing that this guy was a fraud leads me to wonder if the Montelongo's arent a fraud as well, or at the very least they exagerate the number of houses they sell, when they claim they sell 200 houses a year I get the feeling they are full of it. Think about it, 200 a year would require approx. 3-4 per week and considering they dont seem to have any real employees working for them, unlike Richard and Trademark, I cant see how they can do that many in a week, seems impossible.