Frankenbitten
My last essay for my nonfiction writing class last quarter. Hopefully this will keep you full until I return!
I think we can all admit that reality television is a universal guilty pleasure. It’s like owning a fake Prada bag or wearing cheap drugstore cologne. Secretly, you love it and it makes you feel good but you would never admit the truth to anyone. How would people perceive you if you said The Hills was your favorite show? Wouldn’t you be embarrassed to admit you never missed an episode of Flavor of Love? How would people react to the claim that Kimora Lee Simmons’ Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane inspired you to become a ridiculously rich bitch?
Reality television has definitely gone downhill over the years. What once was fresh and innovative has become trite and trashy. Shows like Survivor and The Real World used to be groundbreaking and original when they first premiered, but now the Survivor formula of stranded and starving backstabbers is getting stale and The Real World cast has turned into a half hour long advertisement for rehab. Plus, it has been revealed over the years that reality television isn’t one hundred percent real. So, it begs the question: if reality television has gotten so bad and if people are edited to look different than they actually are, why do people still want to be on reality television and why are people still watching it? Fortunately, I know a few people that have been involved in reality TV and knew they’d be the ones to answer my questions.
According to Time magazine, the term “Frankenbiting” is a reality television technique used to fudge facts, manipulate people’s choices, or craft a situation to have a completely different outcome. It’s an official term for deceptive editing. But, what exactly does the crew change around? Is it voiceovers, splicing footage together to make it look like two people on different sides of an apartment are in the same room, the crew instigating conflict between two cast mates? Many times the answer is yes. I asked my friends, Dillon and Adam, about their experiences on reality television and pried for any behind the scenes information they could give me.
Dillon, a bartender and high school friend of mine, was on the ABC Family show Switched! in May of 2004. The show was about two teenagers who switched lives for four days to see what it’s like to live life in someone else’s shoes. Dillon was on the celebrity edition and switched places with Andy MacDonald, a professional skateboarder. So, as Dillon jetted off to California to bust his butt on a skateboard, Andy MacDonald became a senior at Opp High School. First, I wanted to focus on how real his experience really was. I asked him if he was edited to look different than he really is.
“There were a lot of stupid moments that I had. And they made Opp (our hometown) look super hick.”
“How did you feel about that?”
“Well, I am not a stupid hick and I kind of feel like that I was edited to look that way at times and that kind of made me mad.”
I then asked him if anything was shot more than once for clarity or continuity purposes and he said that many things were. He wasn’t allowed to drive on the show so his friend Amanda had to pick him up so they could go to school.
“She had to come to the door and knock three times.”
Filming certain scenes repeatedly, such as exits and entrances, doesn’t seem too deceptive, especially if it’s a mundane task such as knocking. It’s only when real moments are not captured and have to be filmed again that these shows begin to lose their authenticity. The credibility of reality TV is also chipped away when relationships are completely fabricated, as in Dillon’s case.
“They tried to make Brianne look like my girlfriend. We were just friends, though.” With a chuckle, he continued, “Brianne said the director even asked her to cry when I went to the airport. I thought that was pretty funny.”
Adam, a web and graphic designer from Seattle, Washington, was on the MTV show True Life: I Can’t Stay Thin. He echoed Dillon’s statement about having exits and entrances being filmed several times. He also told me there was one scene that was not so true to life.
“There was a scene in the show with my mother that was totally set up. They looked like I had just gotten to Mexico and not seen my mom in 6 months when in reality I had been there 3 days and had spent a lot of time with my mother.” Adam’s reasoning for the staged scenes were that “sometimes it was just easier to plan conversations than just let them happen naturally.”
When asked if he thought he was portrayed accurately, Adam responded, “They made my life look miserable! They filmed 6 months and plucked out the worst moments to show on TV. I absolutely went through extremes to lose weight and a lot of hard times but I also had a lot of fantastic things that happened.” He continued, “I did more than just sit all day on my couch and starve. I did get out. I have the greatest friends. I shut myself off from a lot of things in life to lose weight but not to the extent they presented. I would like to think I am a much happier guy than I was on the show.”
I think in some ways, shrewd editing is necessary to create a complete and entertaining story. Most people don’t realize that shows are filmed for months at a time and all of that footage has to be filtered into thirty to sixty minute episodes. Dillon was filmed for about a week and his experience was condensed into thirty minutes. Adam was filmed for six months and his life was crammed into an hour. Unlike fictional shows, life’s messes are not tidied up in thirty minutes or an hour but for the purposes of reality television, they have to be.
The fact that many of these shows are fabricated in some way would cause one to wonder why anyone would be willing to subject themselves to an inaccurate representation in order to be a participant on reality television. I asked Dillon why he wanted to be on Switched! Laughing, he responded, “You know I am an attention whore. I wanted everyone to talk. I also wanted to go to California and experience things I have never experienced. That was a big part of applying for the show.” As if exposing your life to the world wasn’t weird enough, I had to wonder what it was like having intrusive cameras following your every move. It wasn’t a problem for Dillon, who said, “I just forgot about them after a while.”
Adam had different reasons for being on True Life. “Being a passive person, I had no interest in fame or
notoriety. Having dealt with the issues of weight gain, bingeing, and compulsive overeating for the majority of my life, I knew it was a huge opportunity to help a lot of people going through the same thing. The chance to present those issues on a much large scale such as MTV was a rare thing to be able to do.” As for the cameras, Adam seemed fine, yet always aware, of their presence. One might expect several cameramen with lights and microphones following Adam around but he said he usually only worked with one or two cameramen at a time. Although he was comfortable being filmed, he did admit to some awkward moments. “To do nothing while someone films you is a very strange feeling. I almost felt bad for the camera man at times thinking how boring it must be to film me sitting on the computer or reading a book!”
When asked if they would do it again, Dillon immediately said yes. He said he is always up for a new experience and a little bit of exposure. Adam is currently filming with True Life again for an upcoming update show. When asked why, he said, “They promised this time they will show me being happier and in a better place in life…I am excited to get my happy ending after being presented as such a sad person in the original episode!”
After having talked to Dillon and Adam about their experiences on reality television, I decided to turn my attention to those who have not been a part of reality television but have considered it in the past. What would drive these people to want to participate in a public showcase of their lives? For some, such as Haley, a SCAD student from Tennessee, it’s opportunity. “If I could be on a show that would help me get a job, that would be great,” she said, “like that Scream Queens show (on VH1), the girl who wins that gets to be in Saw 6! I’d love to be in a scary movie.” When asked why she’d go the reality television route instead of just auditioning, she said, “Well, I don’t know. I think it would be fun.”
“What about the cameras following you around all the time? And what about dealing with the other girls?”
Haley’s face scrunched in contemplation. “Yeah, I guess that would get annoying. I don’t think I would like that very much.”
“But what if you got paid?”
“I could probably handle it a lot better.”
“Would you go on The Real World if you were paid?”
“Oh, hell no!”
I guess some people can be motivated by money, but they even have their limits.
Jaryd, a SCAD student from North Carolina, said he would love to be on a game show such as Survivor or Fear Factor. “Something with a cash prize at the end.” He added that he would not be interested in a documentary-type reality show, unless he was paid. Interestingly, Dillon was paid one thousand dollars for his appearance on Switched! He added that he didn’t even realize he would be given money until after filming had wrapped. Adam, however, was not paid for appearing in True Life.
I have to wonder if money is enough. What people fail to realize is that money slips away but what’s caught on film can be everlasting. That footage might come back to haunt them, especially if it is unflattering to their characters. I asked Dillon and Adam if they had any concerns about their reputations after their shows aired. What was it like after the cameras stopped rolling and it finally settled in that their lives were going to be broadcast to the world? Dillon’s main concern was looking like a hick and Adam was horrified at the notion of the world knowing what he did to lose weight. He added, “My family was also heavily involved in the show and I didn’t want it to affect their lives.” And while Dillon was on a family friendly show and Adam was involved with a somewhat respectable documentary-style show, not everyone appears in “quality” reality television. The cast of Rock of Love will have to live with their drunken debauchery being caught on film. They’ll have to deal with the public response and sometimes that response isn’t pretty.
Multitudes of people want to be on reality television for a multitude of reasons. Some do it for the fame, the fortune, or for the sheer fun of it all. I suspect there has to be a deeper reason for facing possible manipulation and humiliation. I think people just want to be seen. Sure, they might want to reach out to others but they want to be reached themselves. Those who want the attention television brings are lacking it in their daily lives. Those who want to help others with similar struggles also want to help themselves by not feeling so alone. It’s all about making a connection through whatever means possible. And as long as that desire for a connection is still alive, reality television will be as well.