How much of Starting Over is reality and how much is enhanced reality?

Question

What's your opinion? Reality shows are a packaged presentation but most don't involve people working through issues like this. Do you think they use re-enactments? Do they cut and modify film to turn the women into certain types of characters? Do they have a staff member posing as a house member to ensure drama? Do they get background information on each participant so they know how to trigger certain problems? What do you think?

Answer 1

I do think they try to find women for the household that will challenge one another as far as getting along. They're looking for people with different personality traits...different temperments and whatnot. But while this does create drama, it also creates growth for the women. The only way to avoid conflict...is to isolate yourself from the rest of the world...and having these fights, having these disagreements, bursts of anger and frustration help the women in the long run because they learn how to deal with it. The truth is if they can learn to deal with these triggers in the house, they can incorporate that into their real lives with their own families and coworkers, etc.
While I don't think they present the show in a phony manner...I think we get a fairly accurate presentation of everyone's personality. HOWEVER, I do think they misrepresent events in their promos. They always make the "on the next episodes of Starting Over" clips look very dramatic, over-the-top, out of control, raging fights...and then you watch the show the next day...and it wasn't really like that. Or they'll arrange things where it looks like certain housemates are saying this or doing that...and it turns out they've got everything out of order.

Answer 2

I do believe that they bring in certain types of woman to create the greatest amount of drama. They don't just bring in woman who need a tiny bit of work and who'll deal just fine in this environment. No, they find the woman who are a bit messed up. It does create more of a challenge for the people trying to help, it makes them stay on the show for longer, and adds more to the drama. And some of the things they make the woman do, can create conflict or just drama between the other cast woman. It's all done for the success of the show. It may help the woman, but it helps the creators and other higher ups make money. Period!