Love them or hate them, there is no ignoring reality shows. Mainly because people won’t let you. Reality TV enjoys massive popularity and year after year, it finds a new crop of loyalists who are way too invested to think about what happens behind the scenes.
Which brings us to the question: What does happen behind the scenes? Here, we try to find that out. These are some of the secrets ex-contestants of these shows have shared and while some of them are interesting, some simply unfortunate. Read on.
For instance, Bigg Boss contestants Priya Malik and Shefali Bagga had these things to share about the show.
1. There is a group discussion debate through which the contestants are chosen for Bigg Boss.
This is only for the ‘commoners’ entering the house and it’s done to judge the temperament of the contestants who are then picked by the Bigg Boss team.
2. Contestants have to clean the house themselves and they actually do all the work they are seen doing in the show.
Basically, no, Bigg Boss crew doesn’t come to make their beds.
3. Salman Khan sends food from his house during the weekend episodes. This includes biryani, karela gosht and aloo gosht, etc.
4. Salman Khan has a room near the set, which has a lounge area and a gym. This is possibly where he rests between shoots.
5. The show is not fixed but it is heavily edited, which can influence people’s perspectives.
And then, there is KBC. Many people who participated in the show took to Quora to share the details of what happens before someone finds their way to the hot seat.
6. Tax, going up to 31%, is deducted from the amount earned by a contestant on KBC.
7. A lot of members in the audience do not have the polling device, so when a contestant takes their help, the results are mostly inaccurate.
8. When a contestant is selected to play after winning the fastest finger first round, the 3 people they have nominated for phone-a-friend are immediately called and informed about the same.
9. Apparently, people who have a ‘story to share’ are given preference over others. The focus is on people who come from remote areas.
10. As per reports, contestants on Roadies are made to sign a contract which says that they can’t share backstage or production secrets, else they will have to pay ₹10 lakh to the makers.
11. The same report quotes a contestant named Palak as saying that the show is scripted and people are eliminated based on how much people are liking them. Wild card entries are also done keeping this in mind.
12. An ex-Splitsvilla contestant said that the show is “not scripted but it’s rigged”. He said that people act fake to get more screen-time and the same report also suggested that the makers of the show sometimes ask the contestants to do certain things to get TRPs.
13. A contestant on Indian Idol revealed how people stand in queues for hours without any facility to use a toilet. A lot of them don’t even leave the line to drink water because they are scared of losing their place.
14. He also said that the production team chooses people and makes them recite scripted bits for the camera.
15. Not only this, they make people sing randomly and those who are not good at it, are sent in front of the judges to get some laughs as the person stands there all embarrassed.
You can read his thread, here:
The reality sows are not so real after all, are they?