I can summarize my reasons for believing this in one word: lawsuit.
Think about it. If someone frigtened, kidnapped, assaulted, accosted, or otherwise abused you–all which I have seen on these programs–you would sue them. Wouldn’t you? And yet I never hear of anyone doing this.
I actually first noticed this with Alan Funt’s Candid Camera. I’ve mostly seen him only in reruns. But throughout the years, it is clear, his stunts became more and more outrageous. Then there was Celebrity Bloopers and Practical Jokes in the 1980s. In one stunt they played a “joke” on the star from the 1980s’ classic sitcom, Gimme a Break.
She was allegedly going to a professional decorator. Only she didn’t “realize” that they had actually sneaked into her apartment earlier and taken all her furniture out. You can imagine how “surprised” she was when everything they showed her looked just like the stuff in her home. The “punchline” came when they brought out her two Emmys. She seemed to take it all in stride. I don’t know about you, but if someone did that to me, I would be outraged.
So now I just assume that all of these so-called stunts are staged, either by extras or actors. And yet no ever seems to talk about them like that. I wonder why.
Moderator’s Note: This doesn’t really seem to be a debate. I guess, if you’re asking, “Are hidden camera shows all fake?”, it could be sent to General Questions. Since it seems more like you just want to discuss a particular genre of TV show, I’ll move this to Cafe Society instead.
I know that they usually do the pranks a few times on a few different people, and what you see is the best result. The Jamie Kennedy Experiment (a great show) played clips from some of the alternate versions of previous jokes, a few with angry participants. I think so many people are just relieved that it was all a joke and happy to get their faces on TV that they’ll sign any waiver the shows need.
I know that they usually do the pranks a few times on a few different people, and what you see is the best result. The Jamie Kennedy Experiment (a great show) played clips from some of the alternate versions of previous jokes, a few with angry participants. I think so many people are just relieved that it was all a joke and happy to get their faces on TV that they’ll sign any waiver the shows need.
On the radio show Loveline, Adam Carolla once said he hates doing hidden camera stuff for The Man Show because invariably the funniest “marks” never want to sign the waivers, so they can’t show their best stuff. There are other legal issues involved too, because he also commented that they usually stage them in Nevada because the laws there let them get away with more.
MTV hired Ashton Kutcher to do a reality show where they played hidden camera pranks on people, and they got sued by some of their victims who checked into a hotel room and found a (fake, of course) bloody corpse lying in there.
It’s equally persuasive to say that I’ve never heard of anyone coming forward to say “Hey, I featured in one of those candid camera TV shows and guess what, they were all faked”.
Now there have been several of these shows, and each ran for several series, with at least 2 or 3 victims per show. If they were faled and staged, don’t you thnk at least a few people would have opened their mouths and given the game away by now? But I’ve never heard of this happening.
When these shows first emerged, the pranks played on the public were funny but not horrendous or offensive enough for anyone to actually sue. Hence the death of lawsuits. (Even in a very litigation-happy society, it’s hard to get a guilty verdict for 'playing a harmless practical joke on me and then asking for my permission to show it on TV, which I can refuse to give).
It’s true that more recent incarnations of the same idea have gone to greater extremes, but at the end of the day the same reasoning applies. If the TV people are taking care not to cause any permanent damage, and to restore everything to how it was before the prank, and to secure permission and even possibly pay people if they let the footage be aired, then no lawsuits are going to get anywhere. But of course if they mis-judge it really badly, as seems to have happened with the dead-corpse-in-hotel-room prank, then yes, legal action will follow.
But in general, no, I don’t believe these shows have routinely been faked, and there are rules and regulations in place which broadcasters are supposed to follow which would generally prevent them from mis-representing the material facts.
Maybe not faked but I bet that many of the victims figure out that they’re being pranked and just go along with it to be polite (and to get more exposure.)
Most of those shows are lame but I did see one that was one of the funniest things that I had ever seen. It involved the very large football player, Bubba Smith. He was told that he was going to a costume party for charity and they dressed him up in a tooth fairy costume. Imagine a 6’7" man dressed in pink tights, a tutu, a tiara and little fairy wings on his back. The limo pulled up to a street and they told him to go into a certain door and that’s where the party would be. Bubba walked in and they had a fake restaurant set up so it was like he has walked into the wrong address. Bubba knew immediately that he had been set up and the actors in the restaurant were laughing so hard that they couldn’t even begin to get out their lines. A classic.
the part I never understand is when a new one of that type of show is on and at the end of a prank they say “your on spy tv” or whatever. and people understand what they are talking about… no one ever says “I’m on what!?”
Here in the UK, we have occasional shows where people are tricked (but not assaulted or kidnapped :eek: ).
Then they appear in the audience of the programme where the clips are shown, and the host makes a fuss of them and says what a good sport they are.
I don’t think that’s much of a risk - it’s becoming part of the culture.
However I did see an extract from a Japanese TV show which seemed way over the top.
An unsuspecting person was invited to fire a crossbow at a target.
Then an actor staggered out from behind the target with a (fake) crossbow bolt in his stomach and (fake) blood flowing everywhere.
They let the victim scream and burst into tears for about a minute before explaining how ‘funny’ it was. :smack:
at the risk of hijacking this thread, i’ll throw my 2 cents in about this question. i’m pretty sure that bangbus is fake. I’ve seen most of their free promo movies, and some of the girls are laughably bad at acting outraged at the end.
and bangbus has been around for a while now. if they really were screwing over the girls (pun intended) like their videos show, i think someone would have alerted the law.
I’m reminded of a story I read once about Candid Camera. Somehow, he was able to film a show in Moscow without permission from the Soviet government. He was able to smuggle film, equipment, and a camera crew into and out of the Soviet Union (the guard thought he was a tourist, so they didn’t take a look).
I would tend to agree that they are mostly fake and staged. I agree with owlofcreamcheese’s comment that victims always seem to be familiar with the show once they are exposed. Reminds me of Candid Camera when Allen Funt (never in disguise) would wrap up the joke by asking, “do you watch tv…do you watch Sunday nights…do you know Candid Camera?” Of course they all were big fans of the popular show, yet no one ever recognized him!
The lawsuit angle is a great point, but also consider asking yourself these questions when viewing a “joke”… If you were in that situation, would you do what the victim did? Do you know of anyone who would react this way? The answer will surely always be a firm NO! Consider a show from the 80’s called “Totally Hidden Video”. Guys from employment agencies are called to work the day in an office. A female boss accidentally spills something on the supposedly unsuspecting worker’s pants. She then apologizes and tells him she’s going past the cleaners and that he should remove his pants (behind a screen) and give them to her. Of course they all do it. Then seated behind the desk the pantless guy is left alone (oh yeah that would happen!) Then of course an attactive businesswoman client enters and makes all kinds of demands that require him to stand. He’s so embarrassed just in front of one lady! But somehow he agrees to let this be shown to the entire country. What became of the shyness, modesty and embarrassment??? Now if you were the guy would this ever get this far?
There’s a Russian hidden camera show called Naked & Funny where they do naughty practical jokes. Usually it’s a naked woman popping out in the most unusual places to fluster men, but sometimes it would take some disturbing dimensions. In one episode there was a joke where women who thought they were at a doctor’s office were instructed to undress. After they were undressed they were chased around by a naked guy. Another one was were they had a collapsing changing room by the beach. After the unsuspecting woman undressed and was just about to put on her bikini, they would collapse the changing room and expose her to the world and the camera. Hilarious.
They have a site where some of their videos are available. ht tp://nakedfunny.com/ (NSFW).
