The reality show ''Doomsday preppers''...real or fake?

So I watched 2 episodes of ''Doomsday preppers'' on youtube. Something tells me its a fake ''reality'' show. If prepping is a serious matter, just why would preppers go on a TV show announcing their plans and inviting attention? At least, to the non-preppers living around them. One family of ''preppers'' carried out this expensive and elaborate plan to dig an underground tunnel to a safe room and.....wait for it....gave away the big secret that the entrance is ''hidden'' under the garbage can in front of their house!!!!. According to the show, they actually finished their project. Either they are really that stupid or the show is fake. Thoughts?

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


I think all reality television is 'fake'.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n

Could be fake , who knows these days. But people do stupid things for a bit of money and they would have been payed if they are real people or actors.

my problem with it is it fits the "American reality" genre these people always look too well dressed, like they have makeup on and like every American "reality" show it sounds and looks heavily scripted.

shows like "ghost town gold"
"west coast customs"
"storage wars"

its all unbelievable

'mob wives'

remember the pre-2012 scene, movies catering to it, etc
what they did was 'cash in on an event'
and now all the people who are 'alternative' are all tarred with the same brush
a bit like little bush saying, "you're either with us or against us"

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


I don't doubt Hollywood embellish on aspects of the show , but I doubt they go around making fake shelters to put on the show when there is no shortage of people looking to get their 15 minutes of fame (good or bad). If anything I think they purposely over dramatize the people interaction.
However, I can't put it past them in the pursuit of entertainment and the all mighty dollar that they wouldn't.

Also some of the shows I have seen they don't disclose the location of where the shelter is located.



In my case I don't really watch it for reality but rather entertainment , so it really doesn't matter for me. I like analyzing the scenarios and observe to what crazy extreme people go to survive a scenario that millions people already live in a third world nation.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n

The production companies cherry-pick people who look good on TV and have the right personalities. This means the TV shows won't ever have 'average' humans; they'll always have dramatised, motivated people. For the biggest shows, 1000s are rejected and we only see the ones with those special TV qualities.

In the first episode the main guy is typical of reality TV. He's a charismatic ex-cop who makes a great living in the prepper industry. When he pays $450 000 for a bunker, you just know he's not the average Joe. Is he on the show because he was cold-called and invited or did he apply? Either way, he stands to gain new business from the show and the TV producers get a photogenic family of four who the audience can relate to.

Tbh, I was hoping the show would focus on the cranks and nuts and instead I found it informative and interesting.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


Pick any "reality" show that you want, the pawn shop shows, the gold mining shows, the chef shows,the treasure-finding shows, they are all fake to a large degree. Frankly, I can't believe you would have to ask that question about any "reality" show.

To understand how those shows can happen, imagine that a TV crew comes around with a nice contract and says, "Hey, fella, we want to follow you around as you drive your honey-dipper truck from house to house draining septic tanks and show American's how much excitement you have in your job."

Do you say, "Naw, I don't need a $100K extra laying around the house. Go see Sam across the street. He as a plumber he has some wild stories to tell." More than likely, you would take their money and take their directions on how to hotten up your virtual act to give the public the action it needs. Ever notice how conflict between members of any reality show is the real issue and not the specific jobs that are being shown?

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


It may not be faked but heavily scripted and edited. Me and my brother have a ritual of watching Wicked Tuna every week and they do their best to make you believe things that are inaccurate such as proximity to other boats, fish that are actually caught may be smaller than what is pulled into shore. They often only show the boats as often being tens of miles out when in actuality they may be just a couple of miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

Sometimes you will here the fisherman lose gear and how it costs them hundreds of dollars in equipment when it probably coast them fifty bucks. This is all to make the show more than it is. I believe the shows may start out being somewhat accurate but as time and popularity grows you have to make things a big more sensational so they do what they must to get the ratings...

I'm quite confident all reality shows do this

I'm also noticing more subtle sponsorship on the shows from real makers and pro shops as depicted on everyone's shirt in the show with the exception of two different boats...

I think the show has been very real for a couple folks, to give something to look at for it.

‘Doomsday Preppers’ felon pleads not guilty to gun charge

Prepper Sentenced to 21 Months In Prison For Stockpiling “Destructive Devices” After Insider Rats Him Out

The first link was a guy on the show and the second one was a guy that show footage was used in court for as part of the case against him. I'm not sure how accurate the whole story is on link #2, but when sites go to the trouble to print retractions or corrections, those are generally right, I've found. The top updates their correction for it.

I think it varies for who they have on from a few I've thought would make good neighbors, to a few I think are the very reason I have guns myself...and it's not to support them, either. lol...

They have had some real nuts on there. It's still mixed with decent people though, so when I watch any TV that's one I'll flip over to.

I transcribe for a living and one of the areas I transcribe for is entertainment, specifically, doing interviews for some reality shows. You know how when you're watching the show and they cut in for a quick little "what's happening now" shot with one of the people from the show? Those. They will do a QA session on camera for several episodes in one sitting, where the interviewer will ask them questions about what was happening during certain parts of the show and will tell them to answer as if it's happening right now. They even have the cast change clothing between interviews, depending on what episode they're discussing. For the most part, the characters are not led and the answers are their own, but there are instances where the director wants specific types of answers.

It's reality with an emphasis on "show." I remember doing one where the particular episode they were discussing was full of drama about some competition or argument that happened between two (spoiler alert) boat captains and it had the fan base up in arms, but when interviewed, the captains had to be reminded what they were talking about. The drama was 100% fake. Matter-of-fact, one of the cast didn't even know what the show had done until he watched the episode and when he saw, he was livid. Apparently, it made him look like a bad guy or something. The show will also do things like adding in sound bytes to stick in certain shots during editing, where they might have a "dramatic" scene they want to beef up with maybe some yelling or something. I stopped watching them after I learned all this. The way they do it could make almost anyone's life seem TV-worthy.

I have worked on a few "reality" shows, pilots, and teasers. They are all scripted, choreographed, produced, and designed to look as real as possible, but when you have a crew with 2 or 3 cameras, sound recordists, boom operator, directors, 2nd ADs, grips and gafferes, set dec, scripty, PAs, etc. How real can it be?

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


Ha, ha, you may be right about that. Considering locals who know these people who are showing off their shelters are probably thinking, "if the shtf, we know where we can find a safe shelter!"

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


it's either staged,or the guests are too stupid to survive SHTF! I recall one guy making pipe bombs for land mines.....he got arrested! In my opinion,they must get paid well,or paid a little to be coached to these antics. And the reasons for them prepping are outrageous too! IThings like,"I fear an economic collapse,so I need a nuke proof bunker".One guy in Virginia was worried about the Madrid fault,so of course he canned food in glass jars,on shelves in his bunker....real bright idea! Its all for ratings.

reply to post by blkcwbyhat


I hate to say it, but I lean toward the 'too stupid', personally. On some of them, anyway. One I recall watching was making and testing a Cannon that would have fit better on a scaled down model of an old military ship under sail.

I'm thinking to myself...Umm...Modern military mount smaller versions of that with belt fed grenades ..and they are anything but magic solutions to end a fight. Impressive...from what I've seen, but not a super-weapon. That's firing automatic. They seemed entirely serious about their 'several minutes to reload' iron Cannon for defense.

Umm... In a movie maybe?

Not sure if it real or not but some people have some pretty good ideas. Even though they are putting all their plans out there for everyone to not worry about prepping and just beating all these guys to their hide outs. Some are nonsense and just want to be on tv it seems. But I think that it has to be scripted because some people really opulent know what to do and probably get bleeped out most of the time for being real.

Wasn't gonna post but then thought I would share my experience with Reality television. Its all fake, I remember watching a interview with a guy from the ITV channel (UK) and he explained that almost 99 percent of reality television is fake, it has to be to make sure nothing dangerous happens to people, he even said that reality shows like Big Brother and I'm a celebrity get me out of here, are prime examples. He said name a channel that would insure celebrities who are heading into a jungle with giant poisonous spiders.

I used to love reality television then after watching this interview it sort of put me off and now if I do flick over to it I can now spot the fake moments. There is an episode of Jersey Shore (I think that's what its called) where a thick necked character is arguing with two other blokes and I was watching their mouths (the other guys) and they were mouthing the words that the character from the show was saying.

Like the news, reality tv is fake.

I remember when I first watched Lizard Lick towing which is so obviously fake it's funny. There was one episode where Bobby was to get in a trunk of a car and Juicy was suppose to sneak him in to a gated car lot so he could take back a car. The camera crew showed Juicy driving off into the place then it switched to where the camera man is standing a few feet back recording Bobby sneaking out of the trunk inside the lot. I had to change the channel from there. How did the camera man get in to film him?

When watching any of these shows keep the camera in mind. When the actor says I'm here alone and the camera is zooming in and out on his face it's obviously b.s. Finding Bigfoot does this. There was an episode where Matt Moneymaker was supposedly doing an 'investigation' by himself miles up in the mountains. As he talked to the camera it was obvious someone was operating it. He was like "I'm all alone... blah, blah, blah"

How about the Moonshiners show. What fool would record themselves making illegal alcohol and then distributing it?

blkcwbyhat
it's either staged,or the guests are too stupid to survive SHTF! I recall one guy making pipe bombs for land mines.....he got arrested!

Do you know who turned him in? I see so many things on these various "reality" shows that have to be fake...if a TV crew sees someone building pipe bombs and doesn't turn that person in then they should be standing right beside that guy in court.

The one that absolutely kills me is "Moonshiners". If that were real everyone involved would have been arrested after the first episode aired.

Another one of my favorites was the "wild boar" incident on Survivor a few years ago, there is no way an insurance company would have allowed that as it was presented on TV.

If it's on TV it's fake.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


Oh, I think the folks on those shows are real. Shows like that highlight the worst and craziest of whatever subject they are filming and then, through the magic of editing, make them look even worse. It can be funny in a sad sort of way until you realize that they are ridiculing a pretty important idea...Prepare before you need to prepare.

I would take those shows a little more seriously if they actually tried to help/inform people living in disaster prone areas (i.e. This weeks show will focus on a family living in Tornado Alley). Maybe that would be a good idea for a show, find a family who is not prepared and show them how to sensibly prepare for an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, etc.