Lifetime’s ‘UnREAL’ Is Exactly What ‘The Bachelor’ Is Like Behind The Scenes, Says Former Contestant
Will Lifetime’s new series UnREAL scare away potential contestants from applying to be on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette?
Jamie Otis, who was given a terrible edit on Ben Flajnik’s season of The Bachelor, recently tweeted that UnREAL is “exactly what behind the scenes look like” of ABC’s popular reality show is like.
I was on #TheBachelor. At @AETV upfronts I saw @UnRealLifetime. I was shocked-Its EXACTLY what behind the scenes of The Bachelor looks like.
— Jamie N. Otis (@jamienotis) May 29, 2015
For reality show fans, and those who want to become contestants, UnREAL is must-see TV. The series’ co-creator is a former Bachelor producer who spent nine seasons working on the show. Sarah Gertrude Shapiro tells the LA Times that she spent three years behind the scenes, “climbing the ranks from associate producer to field producer.” She left in 2005, noting that some of what went on when filming the ABC reality show was “having a real-life impact on the contestants.”
“You truly cannot know what you’re signing up for. You can’t understand the power of editing. There are a lot of really smart people making these shows. It’s a chess game you can’t win.”
On Monday night, right after episode 3 of The Bachelorette, the premiere of UnREAL will air on Lifetime. While producer Sarah Shapiro says her new show is “far off from being an exposé” of the Bachelor, viewers will undoubtedly compare the two — after all, the storyline is just a bit too similar.
“UnREAL gives a fictitious behind-the-scenes glimpse into the chaos surrounding the production of a dating competition program.”
Jamie Otis, who recently appeared on FYI’s Married at First Sight, is one of many former contestants who know all about a bad edit, and how producers can, as Shapiro reveals, perform “CIA-level interrogations” on the ladies and men who are cast for the show. Otis, who also appeared on The Bachelor Pad, tells Hollywood Life that her experience on the show was “conniving, manipulative and crazy.”
“Just seeing it back, I mean I had no idea and it makes you look like a fool because when you’re an honest person and you believe that you’re seeing something from a person and then all of a sudden you see this whole different story that’s happening behind your back that you don’t know about.”
On the current season of The Bachelorette, cast member Josh Seiter doesn’t hold back about what goes on behind the scenes. After he was eliminated by Kaitlyn Bristowe at the first rose ceremony, he revealed that host Chris Harrison was a “diva on the set” who treats the Bachelorette production staff like his “personal servants.” Harrison called Josh “the creepiest” contestant for doing stripper moves on the season premiere, but Seiter claims that producers nixed his idea to just hug Britt and Kaitlyn, asking him to strip instead.
Watch the premiere of Lifetime’s UnREAL at 10 p.m. ET on June 1. If you’ve thought about applying to become a castmember on the Bachelor or the Bachelorette, the show may change your mind.
[Image: UnREAL TV/Lifetime]
