People Who Have Been On TV Game Shows Are Revealing Behind The Scenes Secrets

"For my 19th birthday, we went to a Jerry Springer taping. This was about 12 years ago when it was still in Chicago. It's faker than I thought but far more entertaining than seeing the occasional episode on TV. The guests are small time actors trying to get screen time in. [...] Most of [what's] filmed is never used and you also get tired from non stop clapping.

"However, during breaks they show live marionette sex scenes and also give beads to women if they go topless. (These are audience members). You're also encouraged to antagonize the actors on stage with one-liners. 10/10 would never go back but it was fun." — opusx28

The producers must have got desperate if they could only think of marionette sex scenes as a way to keep the damn audience entertained in between takes!

"They let the other girl in the Showcase Showdown (Price is Right) rebid after the audience booed her original bid (something silly low like $10,000). When it aired, they cut her original bid and showed only her second, winning bid. I lost." — pumpkinspicerabbit

I don't think that I would have been able to keep my cool if I'd lost after someone changed their bid! Also, after so many people responded to this one, they added, "You aren't given rules before taping, if I recall correctly (over 10 years ago), so I can't tell you what they did or didn't say. And I'm not complaining now - just sharing something that would not have been known because it was cut, and might not be the only time (who knows?)."

"I was on Wheel of Fortune. You have to get there at 5 AM where you draw straws with other contestants to decide when you will film. They film the entire week of episodes in 1 day. Pat Sajak is incredibly friendly and interacted with us on every break. The wheel is HEAVY." — Pickitline

I would now be nervous of going on and not being strong enough to spin the damn thing. There were a lot of other people who confirmed that the wheel is indeed heavy. I also like it when people confirm that someone is actually nice in real life. I always just expect that people on TV will be weird when the cameras aren't rolling!

"A work colleague of mine was one of the couples in married at first sight. She had a horrible experience, needed counseling afterwards and is still receiving an 'appearance fee' (read hush money) [...] Producers would extract personal info about the people being paired up prior to the coupling and then do the opposite for dramatic tension. So if you had someone that had been a victim of domestic violence in the past, they’d get paired with someone with a hot temper.

"Also, producers would leak information to others to set up a stand off. So perhaps one person might say something over drinks to another in confidence. The producers then take that and plant it with another person so that over dinner it comes out and drama ensues. And of course out of context filming to create the character tropes: the victim, the villain, the winner, etc.

"My work colleague had an irrelevant story about a past relationship come out during a group dinner and apparently it triggered a very angry response for the person she was paired with and for the rest of the season she was goaded by him and the producers. They also weren't too interested in her leaving mid way through, so kept stringing both people along to get what they needed on the contracted filming period." — W2ttsy

"I was on 'Who wants to be a millionaire', and its all scripted. The filming took half a day for 30 minutes of film. When you win the intro round, you are taken out to get your make up on, and then they instruct you how to act when you celebrate.

"The reason the audience is so completely useless (And why you see so many press wrong on obvious answers) is because 20-30% of the audience is friends and family to the other 7 contestants who are waiting for their turn. We spent two days in the studio, and if the initial contestant loses, the others get their chance. If one contestant goes far and takes a lot of time, no one else gets a chance, so the audience tells the wrong answer on purpose." — RandomPunktSucks

In fairness, there was quite a lot of debate around this one and it seems that the experiences on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire differs depending on which country you apply on. Anyone who had any different experiences, be sure to let us know in the comments below!

"Been on a few in the UK, most notably The Chase. In all honesty, there's little in the way of 'secrets'. I met my team on The Chase that morning in the hotel waiting for the taxi. On one show we were kept apart from our opponents probably to stop colluding about splitting or stealing. Another was just a long wait in the green room waiting for other episodes to film.

"As other people have said, clothes are important. No logos, solid colours, no solid black or white though. Had very little interaction with hosts other than between takes or when they introduce themselves before the show. They have a job to do, so can't just spend time shooting the shit with you. That being said, Bradley Walsh was really nice." — DegenGAMBLOR

They also went on to say that Bradley Walsh also genuinely doesn't know which chaser is going to be coming out. I don't know anyone who has ever spent any time in the UK and doesn't end up loving The Chase!

"I was on University Challenge (UK). This wasn't always the case, but Jeremy Paxman was wearing basically a completely unmatched pair of loose fitting corduroy trousers on the bottom half and a suit on his top half.

"You never see his legs on the show, but I had always assumed he would wear a full suit. I don't know why he didn't just go the whole hog and wear tracksuit bottoms (perhaps he does sometimes)." — JockAussie

This could be one of my favorite answers on the thread. Now I will not be able to watch University Challenge without picturing what bizarre combination of clothes Paxman is wearing underneath the desk!

"I attended a taping of Conan several years ago. As soon as the show is finished Conan grabs a mic and roams the aisles while singing, 'This is the after-the-show song that nobody knows about' or something similar. Definitely a crooner, and I openly swooned because come on, Conan is a dream and a treasure." — Skwr09

If there is anyone out there who has also been to see Conan live and can confirm this then I will love you forever. Although, the idea of this in my head alone may well be enough.

"Was in the audience at a Food Network taping and Iron Chef America really is a 60-minute competition. That's not fudged. The judging on the other hand takes foreeeeever." — gambalore

A few people refused to believe this. However, this person went on to say, "Things are edited to look more dramatic for sure but they do legitimately have a 60-minute clock that they keep to. There were things that they played up as dramatic points in the episode that I saw that I didn't even notice happening live."

"Not a game show but me and my sister were in the audience of America's Got Talent a couple years ago. It was winter and freezing outside, but because they were releasing it in the warmer months they asked everyone to take off all their coats etc to make it look as live as possible (which sucked because I was still cold haha). I only remember two acts— one was Piff the Magic Dragon and another guy who the audience and judges boo'd and disliked.

"The guy who was boo'd, unfortunately, had to stay on stage longer because the producers wanted more shots or something. I remember how uncomfortable he looked while everyone had to wait silently, staring at him, while the producers made up their minds." — schweppes-since-1783

I don't think that I'd be able to stand there and look enthusiastic while I was freezing! Also, this might be a little unrelated, but I actually saw Piff The Magic Dragon live once, and it was bloody fantastic!

"I was on Pointless in the UK. If you're the first couple to answer and haven't thought of anything, they just give you longer by doing some chatting with the other contestants.

"Alex and Richard were incredibly friendly, and Richard has the biggest hands I've ever seen." — chollisketteridge

In fairness, if I had to pick one gameshow to watch for the rest of my life, I think that it would be Pointless! This person also went on to say that the hosts were lovely and seemed like genuine close friends, which thankfully hasn't ruined the illusion for me!

"My dad was on Countdown on Channel 4 (UK broadcaster) back in the days of Richard Whiteley. There is a LOT of stuff that gets repeated and recorded multiple times to fix stuff like reflections off glasses, coughing, eyes closed, continuity etc.

"Also Carol Vordermann wasn't the maths genius she was portrayed as. She did do most of the numbers game calculations, but for the REALLY hard ones where neither contestant can get the exact answer, it wasn't Carol who worked it out, it was a Scottish guy called Michael Wylie.

"He'd spend ages scribbling away while the rest of the show was being recorded and when he eventually worked it out, the calculations would be passed back to Carol who would record her bit which was then edited into the show to make it look like she had worked it out in real time." — realmofconfusion

Michael Wylie was actually the runner-up on season one of Countdown and went on to work as an assistant producer of the show!

"For the audience only bits: they're fun. You just sit and watch Gordon or other judges react to the food. Ramsay is a serious professional at getting the right takes or shots for things. Sometimes he will react to something 2 or three different [times] and in different ways, I assume for editing purposes. It's interesting to watch.

"When we actually ate there... It was quite the experience. Firstly, it's not an actual restaurant, it's just a really well designed set on a sound stage, I forget where but it's somewhere in LA. You get all dressed up, but no one actually walks the red carpet like you see on the show. Everyone is taken into a green room, and you're handed menus to choose ahead of time what you want to eat.

"We had a unique experience, as we got a different menu from everyone else. Apparently Gordon starts deciding pretty early on who will be making it to the finals, and they will spend a service or two testing their final menu on various guests. That's the menu we got. I [don't] remember what all it was (this was nearly 10 years ago) but I remember it was really good." — Saiyaliin

"This isn't a game show, but I was on Judge Judy. The civil cases are real. The producers of the show go through small claims court paperwork to get your phone number and call and ask if you want to be on the show. I was actually suing my landlord in real life and they found my case. They pay you to go on and if you are the one who lost the case or owes money, you get humiliated but you don't have to pay out of pocket yourself, the show does it for you. They film about 2-3 cases all in that one day." — jaythenerdgirl

Another person added a similar reason as to why they had gone on Judge Judy, writing, "The reason I went on judge judy was [that, no matter what,] we'd get paid (and I got to see someone I couldn't stand get really embarrassed by judge judy). People's court and some other show contacted me the same way, they just flip through small claims, especially in the LA area. She's kind of scary though, and it's not like you get to talk to her or anything outside of the case itself."

"I was part of the 'paid' audience for american ninja warrior. I was actually with a vegetarian group that collected the money earned for charity, so that was cool. What wasn't cool was getting downtown at midnight, for there to be hundreds of bats flying around and a two hour delay.

"We were only allowed to wear certain colors, no logos, and yeah they did take the audience cheering/booing to edit in later, which was honestly a good thing because at around 3 am, most of the audience started leaving. The stands were empty so they had us moving down the course as they filmed to make it look more full haha." — Amatorious

In fairness, I would much rather have tons of bats flying around than have the place be flooded with mosquitoes! Actually, I suppose that depends on how big the bats are.

"My wife got a tattoo on a tattoo competition show. They gave her headphones to wear while she was being tattooed, but she wasn't allowed to actually plug them in and listen to music. Pure product placement [lol.]

"Other than that it was a really good experience! Producers worked with her for several weeks leading up to [it] and made sure she got a tattoo subject and style that she wanted." — byfuryattheheart

A lot of people speculated that this was Ink Master but they never confirmed. Also, why would they not let her listen to music on the headphones? How could that possibly impact anything?

"It's not a game show, but I was at a group date for The Bachelorette. As you can imagine, the show is heavily produced. They only aired about 5% of what actually happened on the date. I have a really reactive face, so they used a bunch of my reactions in the show, but they were completely out of context because they cut all of the actual drama out of the date, and only aired the vanilla stuff.

"So one contestant says something like 'women are always right' and they show me making this gasping face, that's totally out of place haha." — ninten-dont

The power to be able to make people react however you want to any statement is quite terrifying when you think about it! They can make anyone seem like anything they want, which is some power!

"I was on Cash Cab. You can't just hail a cab in New York which turns out to be the Cash Cab. There is a vetting process, but you don't know you are going to be on the show so the reaction is genuine. Also, there is alot of awkward silence time while he is listening to the producer in his ear. There is a cameraman riding shotgun unseen on TV. The money he gives is prop money for TV. They mail you a check after the show airs. Ben Bailey was genuinely a nice guy." — hockeyfn16

Do you have any stories about being in the audience for TV shows? If so, be sure to let me know in the comments below. I love getting storied from people who have peeked behind the TV curtain!

"Everything looks waaaaayyyy cheaper in person. Like most stuff is made of plywood. Commercial breaks usually include a weird stage manager telling you to do something different or the audience to get more involved. Those were as a contestant. Working on those shows is a whole other story.

"I nearly murdered the director of Masterchef because we spent 12 hours setting up the sets, then he wanted everything to shift over about a foot. Luckily the union stepped in and said nope." — Skrillamane

"I auditioned for X-Factor. You don't go to the celebrity judges first you go in front of some 'off camera' judges. So every terrible and horrible singer you see on the show has already been told they are better than the many talented ones not deemed 'tv worthy' which makes it a lot more disgusting to me." — Epic-Hamster

I actually know someone who worked on the UK version of The X-Factor and they confirmed this. They are literally choosing people for the general public to ridicule and laugh at, which is disgusting.