What TV Reality Show is the Most STAGED?

Self | July 27, 2012 | PJ-Comix

[PJ-Comix]

All TV Reality shows are staged to one extent or another. However, what TV Reality show do you think is the most STAGED.

My nominee would be "Barter Kings." To watch that show you have to put your brains in deep freeze to accept the premise that someone will trade something valuable for a near worthless piece of junk. Plus Steve was supposed to have been a car salesman so he can use his sales skills but his sales pitches sound really unconvincing. His voice doesn't really express much confidence when he asserts that his junky item will earn the other guy money.

Another time a woman told Antonio she would trade her horse for a horse trailer but it better NOT have rust. So what does Antonio do? He shows up with an incredibly rusty horse trailer and she still does the deal.

Here is the basic premise of the show: "I want to trade this dried buzzard turd that I found in the Mojave desert for your brand new car stereo system." And guess what? The lopsided barter deal goes down almost every time.

So why do folks accept such lousy deals. Because they are on TV. Yeah, if they don't accept the deal they don't appear on the tube and probably don't get paid for their appearance on "Barter Kings."

I've done bartering and in real life you just don't get such lopsided deals. You can trade up but you can't start out in the morning with an Elvis plaque and end up in the afternoon with a motorboat just in time for your family's boating excursion.

So does that mean I won't watch TV Reality shows because they are staged? No. I love watching "Storage Wars" even though I know it is staged (note how the featured characters almost always win the storage bins even though hundreds of people might show up at an auction). One reason is that I do like to look at the antique and collectible stuff they find (I really hope they haven't been planted in the bins). Another reason is that I used to go to storage bin auctions years ago in Los Angeles. Not in a big way but one time I bought a small storage bin for just $10. One item was a Director's chair which I took down the street to where a crew was filming a TV show and sold it for the $10 I paid for the bin. Also in the bin was a few hundred bucks of Black Hills gold jewelry. So that worked out great.

I also like "Hardcore Pawn" in order to take a look at the grim urban realities without having to be there.

Other TV Reality Shows I am currently watching or have watched in the past:

"Deadliest Catch" ---I once thought I could do that but after watching I know I couldn't last a day due to extreme cold and seasickness.

"Swamp People" ---A shoutout to Troy!

"Ice Road Truckers" ---A great first season but I can't get into it any longer.

"American Pickers" ---I enjoy seeing the antiques and collectibles they pick up.

[upchuck]

This is one of many reasons why the last TV I watched was Sara Palin’s acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican Convention.

[madison10]

Storage Wars HAS to be rigged. How can the same four buyers keep getting the storage rooms? Only good thing is that people watching might discover they have items of value at home.

[Squantos]

American gun .... The Colorado gunsmoke store. Fake prices, breasts an shabby snake oil owner.

[Charles Henrickson]

The two shows I have seen some episodes of are "American Pickers" and "Cake Boss." I like both shows. The stuff is interesting (AP), the cakes are interesting (CB), and the people are interesting (both shows).

I don't think these two shows are staged. Keep in mind, there is a difference between "staged" and "edited."

[PJ-Comix]

Too bad I didn't have a TV camera trained on me back in my L.A. Barter days. I used to specialize in buying the BetaMax VCRs. One flaw they had was the fuse would often blow. I discovered that when I bought one for $10 thinking maybe I could fix it. Well, I opened it up and right away spotted a blown fuse so I bought a new fuse for under a buck and popped it in and it worked. Soooo... I kept looking for those BetaMaxes with blown fuses and bought them incredible cheap then fixed them up to sell or trade.

One time a guy had a BetaMax that wasn't working but he wanted $30 for it so I refused. To sweeten the deal he tossed in about a dozen porno tapes. I took the deal, fixed the BetaMax right away, and then took it for a barter deal. I wanted to trade for an IBM Selectric 3. The guy was interested in the BetaMax but didn't want to do the trade because the Selectric 3 was used by his wife and she was at work. So I popped a porno tape into the BetaMax and the guy was amazed. Keep in mind this was the early 80s when many people still hadn't watched much video as was apparent in this guy's reaction. After a few minutes, I popped out the porno tape to the other guy's obvious disappointment. I told him I would toss the tape in with the deal and he began wavering so then I told him I had a bunch more tapes just like it in the car and would toss those in. The guy thought for a moment and finally agreed. As I was hauling the Selectric 3 out, the guy began worrying if his wife would become angry because he traded away her Selectric 3 so I said, "Don't worry. She'll love the VCR," and just continued straight out the door. I was so nervous the guy would come running out to change his mind that it took me 3 tries to turn my engine over. Finally, it turned over and I got out of there FAST.

A week later, after my ad for the Selectric 3 appeared in the Recycler newspaper, I got a call from a company near LAX. I brought it over and the office secretary asked if I would accept a company check for my $780 asking price. Normally I don't accept checks but I figured I knew where the company office was and could come right back if there were problems with the check. I took the check to their bank right away and cashed out for a profit of $750. I actually got what I asked for which surprised me. I was willing to shave a couple of hundred bucks off my asking price but they didn't ask.

The funniest thing is that IBM Selectric 3 machines were already obsolete due to word processors then coming out on the market so I was lucky to sell it for the price I did.

[Charles Henrickson]

I wouldn't call it "staged," but more a case of "product placement."

On "Cake Boss," they were commissioned to make a cake for an identity theft company, which was also a sponsor. Another cake was for an "Ice Age" movie, which I'm guessing was a similar deal.

And on "American Pickers," on one episode the boys stopped in Subway for lunch, and that looked like an in-show commercial.

[scrabblehack]

I’ve had my doubts about “Undercover Boss.” In any company, there are bound to be employees with sad stories, and setting up a scholarship fund or training program for one employee is bound to cause misgivings among the rest of the workforce.

[joy361]

Trailer Park Boys is more convincing than some of those stupid reality shows and it’s a parody of them.

Ahhhh, shout out to my Boys! Nice to see another fan on here. Had the extreme pleasure of meeting them last fall. What a good, hardworking bunch - and so kind.

I totally agree with you about the stupid reality shows.

[Doc Savage]

No way. The two Awipes on horseback chasing two other Awipes. Does anyone get it that there is a complete camera crew following these nitwits. Hell, a blind man could track those Joffs!

[Bikkuri]

Are you seriously saying I’m not nice?! :O

I was a cop before I came to Japan... and, I was nice :)

[PJ-Comix]

I recently did a barter deal that sort of got "hijacked" at the end. I went overboard picking up FREE body wash via coupons lately and had way more than I needed. Sooooo... I traded a couple dozen bottles of body wash for a 1 liter bottle of "Grey Goose" vodka because I heard good things about it and wanted to give it a try. I picked up the Grey Goose on a Friday and the next day, just hours before I planned on opening it and partaking of its pleasures, I was at the supermarket and ran into a friend of mine, Ray. Well, I told Ray I couldn't wait to get home to try out the Grey Goose. Ray then BEGGED me to sell it to him because it turned out that Grey Goose is his favorite liquor. I told him I really wanted to have it for myself but Ray kept on begging and asked for my address. So I gave it to him and he was over at my place within an hour with thirty bucks for the Grey Goose. And now I have to try to do another barter deal for the Grey Goose. Based on Ray's reaction, I really need to get another bottle and try it for myself.

Hmmm... Wondering if the Grey Goose guy would be open to trading for 3 dozen bottles of low dose aspirin?

[kingu]

Very true but I also noted a show where they said there were 25 units and after three they were at the “last unit of the day” I suspect they edit out the other bid winners.

I do not know about seeding the units,,,they may to make for better tv...but I always am suspicious of the cavalier way they assign “values” and I wonder about the “experts” pricing of items.

I've known quite a few people who run storage yards, and have attended one of the Storage Wars auctions. Units that are up for auction for Storage Wars are pre-inspected by producers and the locks replaced. That is why they ALWAYS look new when cut. The morning is spent shooting the 'entry' scene, then it's off to the side to film the various bits, and near noon they shot the three auctions the characters were bidding on - the public was welcome to bid against them, but bins that might have gone for $200-$400 suddenly go for $2000.

Valuation of the found items is pretty far from the actual sale value - more than a few times I've seen them give insurance valuation (about 10x what it should sell for.) But do these 'finds' happen? Oh, absolutely.

[squidward]

Anything on “True” TV is completely fake. I find it odd that it is even named that since everything is so scripted and badly acted. Also, the show on Spike TV that I think is called Worlds Worst Tenants.

[bert]

Justified
Hell on Wheels
The Closer
Mad Men

[squidward]

Anything on “True” TV is completely fake. I find it odd that it is even named that since everything is so scripted and badly acted. Also, the show on Spike TV that I think is called Worlds Worst Tenants.

[squidward]

Anything on “True” TV is completely fake. I find it odd that it is even named that since everything is so scripted and badly acted. Also, the show on Spike TV that I think is called Worlds Worst Tenants.

[PJ-Comix]

I thought it was ILLEGAL to enter a storage bin before a sale takes place.

[squidward]

sorry for the multiple posts. My trigger finger must have gotten itchy

[dagogo redux]

It’s all trash.

[squidward]

Pickers is not rigged. The arrival and leaving of the property may be staged to get the camera where they need it to get the shot, but the actual picking is real. They came to my small town last year and did a pick.