Reality television has been a media fixture for years now, and everyone more or less accepts that reality TV is anything but. That's part of the appeal for many, though. Even the most scripted shows can't stage anything. Sooner or later, the truth comes out, making for some compelling television.
Few reality shows are as consistently entertaining as The Real Housewives, with drama so intense, you won't care if it's real. It's a franchise that makes chaos its bread and butter, blurring the lines between what's real and what isn't. Spanning nearly a dozen individual series, there's plenty of "reality" to go around.
20 Real: They Are Really Dining In Empty Restaurants
If you’ve watched this show frequently enough you know that anytime the cast dines at a restaurant they seem to be the only ones in it. The reason for this is a budgetary one. The producers don’t want to needlessly pay out the extras that happen to appear in the background of the shots, so they purposely book “lunch” to take place at 10 am when they know the restaurants will be much quieter.
19 Fake: Conversations Are Pre-Scripted By The Cast, And NeNe Leakes Can Prove It!
This is a bit disturbing as it attacks the legitimacy of this show in a big way. NeNe tells of a time when she and Cynthia Bailey were in an argument and Leakes called bailey’s husband a few names. Leakes went on social media to show screen captions of her phone which reveal that she and Bailey had already discussed how they would shoot the scene – way prior than usual.
18 Real: The Show Was Inspired By Desperate Housewives
When Desperate Housewives first aired, it was immediately obvious that the show would take off and become a huge success. It certainly was. The show was such a hit that it became the inspiration of the Real Housewives franchise which now has multiple spin offs of its own.
17 Fake: Some Scenes Are Repeatedly Shot
Scenes are shot multiple times on the Real Housewives. After several takes and a lot of shuffling around, it quickly becomes clear that this show isn’t very reality based at all. Producers are steering the cast by cueing them on when to start rolling, when to cut, and are providing them with directions and instructions the majority of the time.
16 Real: Some Of The Drama Behind The Scenes Is As Intense As What You See On TV
One thing that is very, very real is the venom that these women spew at one another. They obviously don’t all get along and they definitely aren’t shy about conveying their feelings. Even when the cameras aren’t rolling, these ladies go through many moments that are full of anger, tears, and overall drama.
15 Fake: Vicki Gunvalson In The Real Housewives Of Orange County Actually Did Know About Her Daughter’s Wedding
Vicki Gunvalson made a huge fuss over the fact that her daughter Briana got married hastily and without telling her about the wedding. Understandably so, as any mother would want to be more involved with her little girl’s wedding day. Just one thing though… texts eventually ended up revealing that she was in fact aware of the wedding before it took place.
14 Real: Drescher Really Threw Her Prosthetic Leg Out Of Anger
Aviva Drescher really threw her prosthetic leg on the Real Housewives Of New York City and the reason she did it will absolutely shock you. She claims to have done it in order to secure her spot on the upcoming season of the show. E News reports that Drescher admitted to trying to provide enough entertainment value to be asked to come back for more filming
13 Fake: “Spontaneous” Moments Are Not Spontaneous At All
In many cases, it appears that the ladies on the Real Housewives spontaneously land in restaurants and find themselves gathering to shop, hang out, and share time with one another. However it may seem at first glance, this is not an indication of what is actually transpiring. Sadly, nothing happens in a spontaneous manner as everything is already structured and pre-arranged.
12 Real: The Signature Wine-Throwing Move Was Unscripted And Tamra Judge Was The Creator
Wine throwing has become a signature move on this show. Wine glasses are flung so often that this has now become “a thing” and we can’t get enough of the drama! Credit should be given to Tamra Judge from The Real Housewives of Orange County as she was the first person to do this when she was fighting with Jeana Keough.
11 Fake: So Many Storylines (Like When Tamra Didn't Want To Film... She Was Taking Care Of Her Daughter)
Some storylines are entirely faked and incredibly contrived, much to the dismay of the cast members. Each cast member has a producer who works with them to create the story line. At one point they created drama by faking an entire story line about Tamra Judge being reluctant to take part in filming. There was a lot of time spent on this storyline, but as it turns out, Tamra was at home taking care of her daughter.
10 Real: The Anger Is So Real That Cast Members Have To Sign Legal Documents Preventing Them From Suing One Another
Contracts are a normal process of life and we all understand the importance of the functionality of these documents, but some of the terms in this particular contract are very different. Things must get very heated behind the scenes of the Real Housewives show, because cast members have to sign away their rights to sue one another!
9 Fake: Brooks Ayers Faked Cancer
Fans felt gut-wrenching sympathy when it was revealed that Brooks Ayers had cancer. However, they soon learned that he faked the cancer results and was actually perfectly healthy and they were just as quick to turn on him. People released a report of his shocking “fake news”, outlining the fact that he fully admitted to the lies and deceit.
8 Real: Teresa Giudice Really Served Time In Prison
It’s no secret that Teresa Giudice has served time. She had a 15 month visit at Danbury which is in Connecticut. During this time, there was a lot of media attention and press coverage. Eventually this prison became the inspiration for the Netflix drama, Orange Is The New Black.
7 Fake: Many Stars Pretend To Be Richer Than They Are (Looking At You, Kim)
The stars of the Real Housewives are not immune to money problems. While the premise of the show is to features ladies that live in the lap of luxury and have affluent partners, sometimes life gets in the way and situations change. Kim Richards is a great example of an employee that is not as rich as they may seem. She owes a significant amount of money to the tax man and much of what she owns is purchased on credit.
6 Real: Slade Smiley Paid A “Donation” To Land Jo De La Rosa Her Role
Bribes can apparently get you a spot on the Real Housewives. According to Jo De La Rosa, her former boyfriend Slade Smiley paid a $2,500 “donation” to the Bravo show which suddenly secured them a spot on the Real Housewives of Orange County. He’s dated many women from this show and we wonder how often this happened.
5 Fake: Some Of The Drama Is Pre-Planned By Cast Members
Many of the cast members discuss their next moves and action with one another in order to strategize around their roles. They will go so far as telling one another what to say to stir up anger, for the sole purpose of keeping the viewers connected to the show.
4 Real: Ramona Singer Had Enough At The Reunion And Was The First To Walk Off
Acting out in moments that would usually require some basic adult-constraint seems to be a very common occurrence on the Real Housewives. Just ask Ramona Singer. She walked out of the reunion show in The Real Housewives Of New York, and according to Insider this was all a result of her wanting to end a conversation.
3 Fake: On-Camera Calls Are Often Staged (Right, Heather?)
These ladies always have their phones in hand and believe us when we say it's not a coincidence. On-camera calls are often faked and staged by the actors as a result of orders given by the production team. In 2014, Vicki Gunvalson accused Heather of answering fake calls and declares that she couldn’t see the phone screen light up so she knew there was nobody on the other line.
2 Real: Reunion Shows Take Hours To Tape
If you feel like the reunion shows are super long, you’re absolutely right, and that’s just the part that you’re seeing! There are hours and hours of endless reunion show footage nobody ever sees. Insider reports that reunion shows air as multiple part specials because the actual filming takes as long as 12 hours to shoot!
1 Fake: The Producers Antagonize The Cast
This is tricky and relatively troubling. It turns out that the producers really love the fights that take place on the show. They are so fixated on creating dramatic, entertaining television for their audience that they are known to antagonize the cast and do whatever they can to encourage and instigate fights between them.