Faked Scenes, Lies And Payoffs! What's Real And What's Fake On TV's Hottest Reality Shows

Jesse Csincsak found his wife Ann Leuders through the ABC franchise, but he ended up being picked by DeAnna Pappas in Season 4 of The Bachelorette. So while true love is possible, Jesse admits the producers orchestrate events through casting. "They are going to have the villain...the drunk..the kook," he says. Insiders say what you see on the show is highly manipulated and even Anderson Cooper once said, "Can somebody please explain to me why anyone...thinks this is real?"

The Real Housewives franchise is filled with drama and as Taylor Armstrong's marriage unraveled many people wondered if it was real or pumped up for ratings. it was real, in fact all too real. Her marriage was awful, Taylor was boozing far too heavily and husband Russell committed suicide in August, 2011. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills later revealed she was beaten badly by Russell.

Even before this ratings-challenged season of American Idol began, execs knew they needed something extra to keep it interesting. Then before the first show airs, reports are everywhere that Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey DESPISE each other. Ratings ploy? Actually, no! "They can't stand each other," a source said. "I definitely don't think she likes me," Minaj said in a great understatement on one talk show. And yes, Idol hyped the feud but it hasn't helped the ratings for season 12.

We loved the fighting on The Hills but it was too good to be true -- at least MOST of it. After the series was canceled, Kristin Cavallari admitted the show was scripted."It was pretty fake. Fake relationships. Fake fights," she said. The cast was told what to say and even the romances were made up. But wait, there was some reality: Kristin and Lauren Conrad truly did despise each other. Their feud started in high school and producers squeezed it for ratings.

You saw Kim Zolciak and Kandi Burruss go at it on Real Housewives of Atlanta. Sure it was great for ratings, but was it real? Yes it was, so real in fact that Burruss is now suing Zolciak over royalties for a song they worked on together.

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries enjoyed a made-for-TV romance and wedding that seemed as plausible as any episode of "Lost." In this drama there was no smoke monster or Dharma Initiative -- just 72 magical days of love until it all fell apart! In what turned out to be one of the biggest jokes in reality TV history, the couple's divorce dragged on longer than the marriage as Humphries claimed the marriage was a fraud and a producer admitted to scripted scenes in a divorce-case deposition.

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries enjoyed a made-for-TV romance and wedding that seemed as plausible as any episode of "Lost." In this drama there was no smoke monster or Dharma Initiative -- just 72 magical days of love until it all fell apart! In what turned out to be one of the biggest jokes in reality TV history, the couple's divorce dragged on longer than the marriage as Humphries claimed the marriage was a fraud and a producer admitted to scripted scenes in a divorce-case deposition.

Here's an idea for a Kardashian episode: Khloe doubts she's a REAL Kardashian, everyone talks about forever and she takes a DNA test. This all happened weeks after Star magazine ran an exclusive interview with Khloe's dad's widow who revealed Robert Kardashian had doubts if he was her father because Kris was cheating! And a show idea was born. The DNA test proved Kris is Khloe's mom but for some reason Khloe didn't test her siblings to see if Robert was her biological father.

Once upon a time there was unfriendly banter between Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres on American Idol. Then seats were switched to move Ellen away from Simon at one point. Simon, a master at creating story lines to promote his reality shows, seemed to be up to his old tricks, trying to turn controversy into ratings. But in this case the dislike was real. "Simon really couldn't stand her," one source said. "He complained about her all the time. She just got on his nerves."

Dave Hester aired all of the dirty secrets from Storage Wars, suing A&E and revealing how the show was fixed. But one thing he hasn't talked much about is that he helped rig the show too! Yuuuuup! Hester planted items that he owned in lockers he bought and was even paid by the production company for "renting" those items. You know it's rigged when you help rig it!

It's the show that spawned a million imitators. The shaky hand-held camera showing viewers mostly ground as police officers chase a suspect became part of TV legend. This is one of the few reality shows where what you see is what happened. Sure there's some editing. But no one was playing for the cameras here.

If there was a playbook for reality singing shows one chapter surely would be, Make Sure Judges Fight With Each Other. Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera followed that script for The Voice with constant on-air insults. And while some was for dramatic effect (read: ratings), much of it was real. "They fought off camera too," a source said. "There were times they barely spoke to each other off camera."

Put all these different personalities into one house and see what happens. But wait, what if nothing interesting happens? Well, let's just say that the execs at Big Brother have that covered! The reality game show has several international versions and there are multiple reports that the talent is sometimes given "suggestions" on what to do to keep things interesting. Creepy fact: In 2009 nine women were rescued from what they thought was a Big Brother-type house but was really a criminal enterprise.

They sweat. They starve. They cry. Sure, The Biggest Loser is crafted for maximum dramatic effect with the weigh-ins and the trainers' admonishments. But there's no faking weight loss. This one is the real deal.

They sweat. They starve. They cry. Sure, The Biggest Loser is crafted for maximum dramatic effect with the weigh-ins and the trainers' admonishments. But there's no faking weight loss. This one is the real deal.

An Amish mafia! it seemed too compelling to be true and it was a ratings winner right from the start. But soon the lack of reality started to be exposed in the world of Lebanon Levi and his gang protecting the Lancaster County, Pa. Amish community. Events were "recreated" a disclaimer said. Some reports said professional actors were used. Much controversy erupted from this show, with professors attacking its depiction of the Amish and a former local prosecutor saying there was no Amish mafia.

Hey I got a golden ticket to Hollywood! First you audition, then the judge's confer, then they make their decision. That's how American Idol works, right? Not so fast. First, we hear that some contestants are recruited for the show. And then we understand that not everything is done in sequence. We hear some contestants are judged first (and not by the TV judges, but by TV execs) and know they are advancing before they step before the TV judges.