You’ll probably be surprised to find out that the iconic scale that contestants weigh themselves on is just a prop. Yes, it doesn’t do anything, and the contestants actually do their real weigh-ins two days before shooting the episodes. You may have also heard the rumors that have circulated about the medical staff on “The Biggest Loser” not actually being medical professionals.
The drama is mostly created by the producers and the editing often makes contestants look lazier than they really are, a fact that has garnered an increasing amount of criticism throughout the seasons the show has been aired.
Pawn Stars
Sure, the characters really do run a pawn shop, but that's probably as 'real' as it gets on this show. Rick Harrison never works the actual counters, and all of the customer interactions seen on TV are carefully curated before shooting. Any item a person is interested in selling to the pawnshop is cleaned and vetted, and the customer must sign a consent form most of the time.
To be fair, though, this shouldn’t be a huge surprise because if you wouldn’t trust a real pawnshop, then why trust one on television with the sole purpose of being entertaining?
Duck Dynasty
If you were to take a look through some old photos of the "Duck Dynasty" stars before their show aired, you’ll find a bunch of clean-shaven, sharply-dressed guys who’d look more at home on a yuppie golf course than in the wilderness. As for all of the crazy arguments between the star characters... well, they are scripted for the most part.
The stars themselves have even explained how the show's producers create such tense situations. And sometimes “bleeps” are even added into their fake arguments, just to make things sound more heated than they actually are.
Jersey Shore
Did you know that most of the cast of "Jersey Shore" isn’t even from New Jersey?! And before the show, no one called Nicole LaValle “Snooki”. In fact, it was just put in the show’s application when asked for a nickname as a joke and somehow it stuck.
While some of the outlandish shenanigans on the hit reality show, "Jersey Shore", are actually real, eyewitnesses have said that many scenes are exaggerated for dramatic effect. For example, producers decided on who would stay at the house overnight, so no one was just a random club pickup. And that vicious fight between Vinny and Pauly in Italy...Yes, sorry to break it to you, it was also staged.
Long Island Medium
TV has a long history of fake psychic mediums, and Celebrity medium, Theresa Caputo, is yet another one. Her methods include doing lots of research on her clients well before “reading” them.
"What are her research methods"? you may wonder. Well, she digs dip into their social media. That combined that with lots of generic advice and a bit of misdirection, and voila, you've got your “psychic” reading. Not to say that real psychics don’t exist — you decide for yourself — but dear Caputo isn’t one of them for sure.