5 Times ‘Sesame Street’ Tackled Really Tough Subjects

Kids have been relying on Sesame Street to teach them all kinds of things for years.

We learn how to count and how to spell, letters and numbers and months and days of the week, but also how to treat other people, how to handle diversity in our spaces, and how to watch for others who might be struggling.

In this year of unprecedented struggles the television show is stepping up to the plate, talking about staying safe and healthy in public spaces and how to handle racism and racist behavior in your life.

The show as always been written and run and consulted on by experts in the field of child development (and others), so you can rest assured that if your kid is watching it, their mind is being catered to in the healthiest possible way – and below are 5 times they went above and beyond to tackle the really tough topics that affect kids every day.

5. Big Bird learned about death.

On Thanksgiving in 1983, Sesame Street talked about the death of Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper on the show for 14 years. Big Bird drew a picture he wanted to show Mr. Hooper, forgetting that he was gone, and the humans on the show help him understand what that meant.

It opened the door for parents to answer questions their kids might have about death at home.

4. Kami is HIV-positive.

The show introduced Kami in 2002, a character on the South African version of the show. She’s HIV-positive and has become a global symbol of acceptance and education of the disease.

3. Telly learned about racism (back in 1993).

Gina (a white character) got an upsetting call from a stranger angry that she was friends with Savion (a black character). Telly Monster witnessed the incident and had many questions about why someone would be upset about a choice of friends.

Sesame Street recently tackled the topic again on a CNN town hall, discussing racism, protests, and policing in a way accessible to kids.

2. Julia has autism.

Julia is a preschooler who “does things a little differently when playing with her friends,” and was introduced back in 2015. She has autism, and officially joined the cast in 2017.

1. Elmo reacted to 9/11.

Sesame Street calls New York City home, and so felt they needed to address this tragedy. Elmo does so by visiting a fire station and learning what firefighters do, and felt safe again after witnessing a fire in Hooper’s Store.

I try all the time to get my kids more into Sesame Street for reasons exactly like these.

What is your favorite memory of the show? How has it impacted your children? Tell us about it in the comments!

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Tweets That Capture the Highs and Lows of Parenting

Life is all about peaks and valleys, and anyone who lives a good long while will tell you for sure there are plenty of both. And even if you’re dreaming of perfect days and weeks and years while pregnant with your first amazing baby, here’s the truth: that applies to parenting, too.

It’s one big, long ride, and honestly, would a rollercoaster even be fun if you didn’t occasionally plunge screaming into the abyss?

I didn’t think so! And these 14 parents are here to remind you to laugh while you’re shrieking. It’s the only way.

14. It’s the call of the beast.

See also, anything you’re trying to sneak.

Image Credit: Twitter

13. It is super annoying when you realize you’re just living with yourself.

And yeah, you’re annoying, too.

Image Credit: Twitter

12. It’s how you know someone had a baby I mean.

The internet world is so weird sometimes.

Image Credit: Twitter

11. Every single time.

And don’t believe them when they tell you they’re doing “nothing.”

Image Credit: Twitter

10. So many things you never imagined you’d have to say out loud.

I’ve honestly lost count.

Image Credit: Twitter

9. It will be an awkward conversation.

And no way are they going anywhere. They know they’ve got it good.

Image Credit: Twitter

8. Except now this isn’t a lie.

I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying.

Image Credit: Twitter

7. This is what the #blessed was really made for.

So we all know it’s tongue-in-cheek, right?

Image Credit: Twitter

6. Why did we want a house with stairs, again?

It will be nice when they’re older.

Image Credit: Twitter

5. In my house he says “I’m okay!”

Which is not my main concern but he’s cute.

Image Credit: Twitter

4. You’ve gotta pick your battles.

Now it’s somebody else’s problem.

Image Credit: Twitter

3. Hey, I think I’ve seen that one!

It’s not as good as Hamilton.

Image Credit: Twitter

2. That’s gonna be fun to unpack one day.

Just get them a good therapist. It’ll be fine.

Image Credit: Twitter

1. They really are a mystery, right?

A disgusting, frustrating mystery.

Image Credit: Twitter

I think these people are hilarious and also I need more parent friends!

What’s your favorite way to remind yourself that every day ends eventually? Share your tips for getting through the tunnels in the comments!

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These Black Women Should Be History Class Staples

There are many things that have received much-needed attention during the recent movement for social justice. One of those things is just how poor our education is in America when it comes to the plight and contributions of Black people throughout history.

If a Black person contributed to history in some way they should be in all of the books and be taught all year round, not only during Black History Month, and we definitely think these 11 Black women deserve whole chapters (if not whole books) dedicated just to them.

11. Madam C.J. Walker

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Inspired by Madam C. J. Walker #blackexcellence

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The Guinness Book of World Records calls Madam C.J. Walker – an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist, the first female self-made millionaire in the country.

Born in 1867, she made her fortune with Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. The company developed and marketed a line of cosmetics and hair products specifically for Black women.

10. Gladys West

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Gladys West is one of the reasons why you can receive driving directions from your phone or tag a photo location on Instagram. At secondary school, during history lessons, my teachers taught me that my ancestors were slaves. I still remember asking “what were they before they became slaves?” I was told nothing. That’s not on the school curriculum. I remember feeling embarrassed and ashamed as my classmates looked on. I had the feeling of being a slave, being punished by whipping, subjection, shackling, beating, burning, mutilation, branding, raped, and imprisonment and even more, that we contributed nothing to the world that we live in. Back in Jamaica, I learnt about heroes like Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, Sam Sharp and sheroes like Nanny of the Maroons. But, they were all freedom fighters or civil rights activists. No creators or inventors. I never learnt anything about our ancestors at school besides slavery and freedom fighting. I was puzzled. I questioned my family and asked “how is it possible that the Nubian race (Black people) never created or contributed anything of substance to the world, to humanity?” I was encouraged to read, to get a better understanding of where we came from and l discovered myself in the process. I discovered that my paternal great-grandparents were born into slavery. I also learnt about Egypt- Africa as a whole. In the end, that’s where my ancestors came from. I learnt that we have, and still continue to contribute to the world, to humanity. That many of our school books were written by celebrated historians like #Davidstarkey – are full of lies to disguise our contributions. My husband says “formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” I love reading and discovering. #gladyswest #changethecurriculum #schoolcurriculum #ilovereading #historybooks

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Gladys West, a mathematician, contributed to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work and models were later incorporated into the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

In the 1970s and 1980s, Gladys programmed an IBM computer that delivered precise calculations to model the shape of Earth. She used extremely complex algorithms that took into account variations in gravitational, tidal, and other forces of nature that impact the shape of the globe.

9. Valerie Thomas

If you like 3D movies, say a quick silent thank you to Dr. Valerie Thomas. She was an American scientist and inventory who held various positions at NASA, where she authored multiple scientific papers and applied for a patent for the illusion transmitter – a device that simulates a real-time, 3-dimensional viewing of an object through optical illusions with parabolic mirrors.

In normal speak, her technology allowed for the creation of 3D technology for everyone.

8. Barbara Jordan

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? Today is #internationalwomensday and I felt like listening to #barbarajordan ? Barbara Charline Jordan was an American lawyer, educator and politician who was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. Known as an eloquent speaker she was pivotal in the impeachment hearings during Nixon's tenure. ⁣ ?Inspire others to Reach for their greatest self ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣ ?follow @melanininspires ⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ #MelaninInspires #pureexcellence #melanin #melaninpoppin #blackandabroad #civilrightsmovement #impeachment #blacklove #womenhistorymonth #makeastatement #blackgirlmagic #blackgirlsrock #blackmenaredope #senator #melaninbeauty #blackinamerica #afrolatino #africanamerican #blackhistory #blackwomenyoushouldknow #presidentnixon #blackhistory365 #wethepeople #constitution #angelarye #maxinewaters #kamalaharris #shirleychisholm

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The first African American woman elected to the Texas Senate (in 1966), Barbara worked to establish a minimum wage law, a Fair Employment Practices Commission, and anti-discrimination statements in business contracts. She was elected as Senate President in 1972, becoming the first Black woman in America to oversee a legislative body.

Later in her career she was elected to Congress – the first African American woman to be elected from the South since 1898 – and took center state during President Richard Nixon’s impeachment hearings.

7. Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune was an educated and activist often referred to as “The First Lady of The Struggle.” She was born to slave parents and when she was 30, opened the Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in a small house near a dump. It later merged with a boy’s school, taking on the name Bethune-Cookman School.

In 1924 she was elected president of the National Association of Colored Women’s Club, then founded the National Council of Negro Women.

In 1936, FDR named her director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, making her the highest ranked African-American woman in government at the time. While serving, she created the Women’s Army Corps, ensuring they would be racially integrated.

6. Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, and the first woman (and African American) to seek the presidential nomination from one of the two major political parties in 1972.

She introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation while in Congress, where she also spoke out for racial and gender equality, for the poor, and strove to end the Vietnam War.

She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971, and in 1977, became the first Black woman (and second woman ever) to serve on the House Rules Committee.

5. Daisy Bates

Daisy Bates lost her mother after she was raped and murdered by 3 white men. She dedicated her life to fighting the kind of inequality that shaped her world, and played a leading role in the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957.

She and her husband ran The Arkansas Weekly, one of the only African American newspapers dedicated solely to the Civil Rights Movement.

Daisy was the President of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for many years, and was integral in enrolling Black children in white schools after the Supreme Court made it possible.

4. Mary Kenner

Born to a family of inventors, Mary Kenner came up with and tried to patent the idea for an adjustable sanitary belt with an inbuilt, moisture-proof napkin pocket – the precursor to modern sanitary pads.

She never made any money off her idea, because her patent was rejected because she was Black.

3. Barbara Smith Conrad

Photo Credit: humanitiestexas.org

Barbara Smith Conrad was admitted to the University of Texas in 1956, where she sang opera and, somewhat unwillingly, became part of a racial controversy when she got the lead in a musical over a white performer.

They took the role away from her, which led to protests and media coverage.

2. Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai was the first woman from East and Central Africa to earn a PhD, and the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize. She was a social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 – an environmental non-governmental organization that put their main focus on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights.

1. Alice Coachman

Alice was an amazing athlete and the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal. In 1948, her medal was presented by King George VI, and in 1952, she became the first African American woman to advertise an international product – Coca-Cola – as she continued to support other young people in sports.

She’s credited with opening the door for future African American track stars.

 

I’m dying to know more about each and every one of these ladies.

And honestly, I’m pretty upset that I’m middle aged and don’t already know it all already. Major fail, public high school and private college!

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Small Acts of Kindness That People Will Never Forget

Most of us try to do right by other people every day. We pick up the trash, we hold the doors, we help people carry their groceries or make faces at their kids while they wait in line at the store. We give money or a cup of coffee to a homeless person, buy Christmas gifts for kids who might not otherwise get them, things like that.

You never know what will stick with someone in the moment and turn into an act of kindness they’ll never forget – I imagine it’s different for everyone, and probably depends on where you are in that very moment.

For these 14 people, these small acts of kindness changed them forever.

14. This is the best of us.

I was out of a job at a time that I had to support my mother. Finally landed one but I had to walk back and forth and I didn’t have any shoes that would hold up on the walk or the work. Went to fb and mom asked around for some hand me downs we could buy from some one. A day later a very kind man showed up with a brand new pair of really nice shoes he had just gone out and bought for me. He left before I could even get any money for him. I cried

13. What an amazing “trick.”

Neighbors asked to borrow my truck. Told them I could not trust my truck because the tires were bad

Next day mr neighbor called and said he was getting new tires for his suburban and I could have his old ones. Told me to just show up at this certain tire shop and they would put them on

Get to tire shop and they put on brand new Goodyear tires. I asked what happened to the old tires I was suppose to receive.

Shop owner said the “old tires” was just a story to get me in the shop.

Mr neighbor bought me a full set of new tires instead of the old tires he said I could have.

12. Remember how much impact teachers have, good or bad.

My gym teacher purchased me lunch in 3rd grade after I dropped mine. I’m 34 years old and still remember this.

11. That’s Canada for you!

Riding my bike on a long trip through Canada. With about 50 miles to go, I had a major mechanical failure. Stuck on the side of the road in a foreign country within 5 minutes at least 10 cars had stopped to check on me.

One guy loaded my bike in the back of his truck and drove me 30 miles to the border where I could catch a ferry back to the US. Amazing kindness and generosity toward a stranger. He just asked that I pay it forward and to date I’ve helped 5 cyclists who were broken down in honor of that promise.

10. I want to fist-bump this teacher!

I recorded a homemade album with my garage band in high school and handed out a few CDs. A few weeks later my English teacher approached me with 5 pages of notes on what he liked and what I could improve on. He apparently got the CD from someone at the high school and listened to it all the way through (it was over an hour long). He didn’t know I was the singer and guitar player until he asked the person who gave him the CD. He said that if I ever got a shot in a studio, I would create something amazing. Thank you to all the teachers out there who believe in their students. It makes all the difference to some of us.

9. The little things quickly become big things.

I was given access to a shower and a hot meal after being homeless for 9 months.

8. How friendships are born. The good ones, anyway.

At work I was complaining about heartburn once. I was still pretty new to the job. Didnt really have any work friends. Felt like an outsider. My life outside of work was pretty shit as well.

The bartender on shift overheard me and ran to a nearby coffee shop to get me a chocolate milk. It definitely made the heartburn go away but it was such a needlessly kind act. I dont think ill ever forget it. 2 years later we’re still friends and she is definitely one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.

7. This makes my heart happy and sad at the same time.

I was nine years old, waiting for the school bus in Wisconsin winter. I had a thin coat, no hat or gloves. A woman driving past saw me and stopped, giving me a blanket from the back of her car. It was a long skinny one, so she wrapped it around my head and shoulders like a big scarf. I remember thanking her, but being confused. I told her I didn’t know how I would give it back when I was done borrowing it. She hugged me and said not to worry. I still have that blanket.

6. A little to you, a lot to someone else.

During the single most difficult time of my life, a stranger on reddit gifted me $500. To me, it was a fortune. I received it while at work and just broke down. It started the change of my life and a few months later I was able to move, met my now-fiancé, had my son, and found my job. I still message them once in a while to update them on my life and continue to thank them for their generosity, but I think they abandoned their account years ago.

5. No thanks required.

Alternator died while I was driving home from university. Engine died as I exited the freeway in the middle of the night in a not-so-pleasant part of town in the days before cell phones. As I’m pushing my car out of the intersection, a guy in a truck comes up and offers to push my car to my neighborhood a good three miles away. He does so, and I’m pulling into my neighborhood, he simply gives a wave and drives off into the night. I never even had a chance to thank him.

4. So many people want nothing more than for you to pay it forward.

So, there was this one time in the 1990s. I was helping my brother move from a teaching job after college. This was in the middle of nowhere in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He was driving his little pickup truck pulling a trailer and I was driving my crappy little Ford station wagon, packed to the gills with his stuff.

It was a Sunday. I’m driving along and my car just dies. No warning, nothing. I coast to a stop on the side of a rural highway and wait for my brother to realize I wasn’t behind him anymore and turn around. After about 20 minutes, he finds me, the hood up and neither one of us knows very much about cars. Soon, though a man from the house we broke down in front of comes out, takes one look at the engine and says, “Timing belt.”

We inquire about getting the car towed the 30 miles to the closest large town and realize that it was going to be an expensive repair, even if the engine was OK and not ruined. This man, though, he takes on look at the situation — sees two broke kids in their early 20s just trying to get by in life and he says, “Well, it’s Sunday. Nothing’s gonna be open. I tell ya what. My next-door neighbor is a mechanic. Let’s push the car down to my driveway and we’ll see what we can do.”

So that is exactly what we do. His neighbor calls his buddy at the auto parts store (which is closed on a Sunday), who does a favor and gets the parts needed, drives them 30 miles out to the house and well sit around telling stories while the car gets fixed. This man’s son, a kid of about 9 or 10, is hanging around. He is extremely bored. There were no kids nearby his age, and he’s craving any kind of interaction, even with two guys in their 20s. The kid goes “Want to see my treehouse?” and points to the woods out back. My brother and I look at each other, shrug, and say, “Sure.”

We end up spending two hours with this kid, helping him build his treehouse. When we are done, we go back to the house and the car is all fixed. My brother and I have maybe $60 in cash on us (combined) and try to pay the man who did the work but he refused. He said, “No, you boys were in need of help and I wanted to help. You don’t need to pay me. Plus, you kept my son occupied for several hours, which I truly appreciate.”

He then says, “I want you to do something for me, though. The next time you see someone in need of help and you have the means, I want you to repay this favor.”

And that is one of the rules of life I live by, taught to me by a generous man in the middle of nowhere who helped me out when I was in a time of need.

3. Sometimes you’re just on the right side.

When I was young(19) I lost my wallet and someone used my license to rack up tickets.

It was pretty obvious once courts looked at the location of the tickets and what vehicle was used, the signature, that it wasn’t me.

I had to go to around 3 courts clearing it up.

The 3rd judge was the only one with a problem. He said I had failures to appear since the tickets were ignored. I explained what was happening and how I’ve been dealing with this and I came in as soon as I was made aware of the issue.

He wanted to put me in jail because he didn’t trust I’d be back. He wouldn’t look at my paperwork because it was an arraignment. He would only look at it during the trial date.

I didn’t know what to do, but I had the name of the public defender memorized. I asked if I could talk with her first.

He called her in and said, “this young man seems to know you…”

I quickly explained what was happening and showed her my evidence. She told the judge that if he didn’t release me to come back, she’d pay my bail out of her own pocket.

He scorned me but released me. I just had to return the next month during the trial date.

I was 19 then, 39 now…

2. You just have to really see the people around you.

I have two moments that I’ll never forget.

When I was younger, my mum was depressed and we had very little money. It was either heating or eating a lot. An old lady around the corner from us would invite us over for tea sometimes or breakfast before school. She knitted me, my baby sister and my mum cardigans, socks and a blanket each one winter when it was really bad.

I was at a terrible time of my life at 17, had a bad day at work, and then my train home was 1 hour+ late. I just started crying at the train station and was really wondering if it was all worth it. A woman just held me for bit while I cried. She was a complete stranger, I’ve never seen her since but I needed her I guess. I think she saved my life that day.

1. We all need some grace and patience now and again.

I took my sister whose in a wheelchair to the cinema for the first time on my own. At the end, I realized I could’t undo the brakes and was blocking everyone. I felt like crying because I thought everyone was pissed at me, but some nice lady helped me, then took me and my sister out. She said she once had a son who needed a wheelchair. This was long ago but I’ll never forget

So many of these just brought a tear to my eye!

Has anyone ever done something small for you that made a huge impact? Share it with us in the comments!

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Crazy Mysteries That Remain Unsolved

A lot of us grew up watching and loving Unsolved Mysteries, our jaws on the floor and our brains trying to figure out what in the heck happened.

Now there’s a new series, which is also crazy good (or bad, depending on your point of view), but I’m not sure any of those stories hold a candle to these 17 unsolved mysteries.

17. Isn’t there DNA in poop?

The Miyazawa family.

Just listened to the Casefile podcast on this and it has my mind blown. Someone entered the family home around 11:30 pm, killed everyone, ate some ice cream, took a nap, pooped and didn’t flush, changed clothes and left like 8 hours after the crime.

20 years on and we don’t know who or why

16. I sure hope we never see that thing again.

The lost A-bomb off the coast of America, which the US government said not to worry about in the 50’s and tried to cover up. Was dumped in the ocean in an aviation accident and it’s still lost to this day.

100x more powerful then what was dropped in Japan.

15. This sh*t infuriates me.

The ” suicide” of LaVena Johnson a black female US Army private who was found shot to death inside a burning tent with a broken nose, black eyes, broken teeth, raped and acid burns on her genitals in July 2005.

US Army ruled her death a suicide.

14. What in god’s name is happening?

THE CIRCLEVILLE LETTERS

In 1976, residents of the small city south of Columbus Ohio began receiving handwritten sinister and graphic letters. Each letter included secret and dark details about their personal lives.

One resident received a ton of letters, accusing her of various unsavory acts. The author warned the resident that he had been keeping an eye on her home, as well as her comings and goings. The resident was horrified and tried to keep the letters a secret until her husband began receiving them.

The attacks on the family continued, with large posters appearing around town spreading rumors about their 12 year old child. One day in 1977, the husband left the house after receiving a call from who he thought was writing the letters. A few minutes later, the husband was found dead at the end of the street dead behind the wheel. The sheriff had ruled it a homicide when he realized that a single shot had been fired before the accident, but there was no evidence that the husband was shot at the site. The sheriff found the husband was twice the legal limit and ruled it a drunk driving accident.

The letters began once again, this time accusing the sheriff of covering up the true nature of the death. The letters also accused the sheriff of mishandling an investigation into the county coroner who had been accused of other grotesque acts.

The harassment continued, this time with signs along the road and in 1983, the original resident who had been accused of having an affair pulled over to remove a sign. During the effort to remove the sign, she discovered a box was attached and inside of it was a small pistol. The gun was part of a booby trap designed to fire when the sign was removed.

Paul Freshour was arrested and given 25 years…but one small problem. The letter writing continued even after Freshour was put in jail.

In a new batch of letters, the author had promised to dig up the grave of a deceased baby and mail the bones to the police in the case of another potential affair turned murder.

Hundreds of residents continued to receive personal letters until 1994 when everything stopped.

13. History really can be interesting.

But my favorite is Chauvet cave. (If you have a chance, watch Werner Herzog’s documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams. I think it’s still on Netflix.) It has some of the most stunning cave art in the world, which almost certainly had some kind of profound significance, and we don’t – and will likely never – know what it is. Moreover, there’s evidence that the cave was abandoned for thousands of years and later returned to, only for the returnees to continue to make paintings in the exact same style and, possibly, for the exact same reasons.

There is so much to be seen in these figures. There’s a portrait of an animal tossing its head that looks like one of the world’s earliest explorations of stop motion or sequential art. When I look at it I can feel the will of the painter, who wanted so much to convey this sort of motion…

There are also the footprints of a boy, who arrived much later to the cave than its original users, whose marks appear to be contemporary with the pawprints of a wolf. It’s hard to say now, according to Cave of Forgotten Dreams, whether they walked together, whether they walked 20 years apart, whether they were friends or whether the wolf was stalking the boy. But I read a blog post by a professional hunter and tracker, who looked at the footage of the prints from the film and said that they likely walked together. I wonder what they were thinking. If the boy had some knowledge of what he would find there, or if he was simply exploring a cave and found some of the greatest art in human history.

In Chauvet there is also the solution to a mystery. Until the discovery of Chauvet cave paleontologists were unsure as to whether cave lions had manes. On the cave walls there is an illustration of a cave lion with visible testicles and no mane, settling that debate.

12. The death of Cindy James.

I remember seeing a video about a woman that after getting divorced started getting stalked and assaulted in her own house. Everytime police would arrive no one more than her was at the scene, sometimes she would appear with bruises, once she appeared with a screwdriver through her hand. This happened so many times that police started ignoring her calls after the investigation on her husband and on the case left no suspects.

Three months later she disappeared just to reappear next to a highway in the middle of the desert, miles away from her house, with her hands tied, dead. Autopsy later confirmed she was beaten to death. Creepiest shit I know.

11. I need to know more about this immediately.

The toxic death of Gloria Ramirez. 23 people became ill due to her mere presence and 5 were hospitalised. We have never worked out what happened. There’s an episode of the “Stuff you should know” podcast that talks about it.

About 8:15 p.m. on the evening of February 19, 1994, Ramirez, suffering from severe heart palpitations, was brought into the emergency department of Riverside General Hospital by paramedics. She was extremely confused and was suffering from tachycardia and Cheyne–Stokes respiration.

The medical staff injected her with diazepam, midazolam, and lorazepam to sedate her. When it became clear that Ramirez was responding poorly to treatment, the staff tried to defibrillate her heart; at that point several people saw an oily sheen covering Ramirez’s body, and some noticed a fruity, garlic-like odor that they thought was coming from her mouth. A registered nurse named Susan Kane attempted to draw blood from Ramirez’s arm and noticed an ammonia-like smell coming from the tube.

She passed the syringe to Julie Gorchynski, a medical resident, who noticed manila-colored particles floating in the blood. At this point, Kane fainted and was removed from the room. Shortly thereafter, Gorchynski began to feel nauseated. Complaining that she was lightheaded, she left the trauma room and sat at a nurse’s desk. A staff member asked her if she was okay, but before she could respond she also fainted. Maureen Welch, a respiratory therapist who was assisting in the trauma room was the third to pass out. The staff was then ordered to evacuate all emergency department patients to the parking lot outside the hospital. Overall, 23 people became ill and five were hospitalized. A skeleton crew stayed behind to stabilize Ramirez. At 8:50 p.m., after 45 minutes of CPR and defibrillation, Ramirez was pronounced dead from kidney failure related to her cancer.

10. I’d say we all need to know what happened.

The Oakville Blob.

In 1994, there was a rainstorm in Oakville, WA–only the “raindrops” were a strange clear substance that had the consistency of Jello. Lots of people experienced flu-like symptoms after coming into contact with it, and peoples’ dogs and cats all over the city were dying.

When a local hospital ran a lab test on the substance after one of the patients suggested it, it was found that whatever this mysterious “rain” was, it had human white blood cells in it. Some time after that, a sample was also sent to the Washington State Health Laboratory, where it was being researched by epidemiologist Mike McDowell. After he determined that it was man-made and speculated that it was some sort of matrix for transporting viruses/bacteria, the samples suddenly went missing from the containment facility and his supervisor told him not to ask any questions. There are no known samples of the stuff anywhere today, despite being sent to several different facilities by various Oakville residents.

So yeah, I’d personally say that this was clearly some sort of bio-weapon test run, but by whom? I’d like to give the US Government the benefit of the doubt here and assume it wasn’t us testing something like that on our own citizens, but if it wasn’t, why would it have been covered up like that? And you’d think an event like this would be a lot less obscure. Also, even if it being a bio-weapon seems super obvious, how the heck did whoever dispersed it manage to make it rain over an entire city for several days??

9. This story always raises my hackles.

3 lighthouse workers with impeccable mustaches traveled to a remote island on December 7th, 1900 for a lighthouse shift that should have lasted for two weeks. When a boat arrived to pick them up, they were gone. No trace of the bodies, and the lighthouse was strangely locked.

Not only was the setting normal (meal ready to be served), but there was no fire in the fireplace, and the clock stopped. One of the men kept a log in a diary, and he said that the seas were rough one day, but when monitored, it was actually calm. No one knows what happened to them.

8. When you find a rogue leg.

On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The explosion killed 168 in what was the deadliest terrorist attack on the United States until 9/11 – to date, it still remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in the country.

One of the lesser known things about this is the case of the missing leg. Investigators discovered the leg laying among the rubble and identified it belonging to Lakesha Levy, the only problem was, she’d already been buried with both her legs.

She was exhumed, her severed leg was placed in her coffin while the other leg was taken to the F.B.I laboratory for identification. Since it had been embalmed, a DNA sample was unable to be obtained. The extra left leg, which had been mistakenly buried with Levy, is suspected to belong to an unidentified 169th victim, whose body had mostly disintegrated in the blast.

This has lead people to suspect there was an additional terrorist involved even though perpetrators Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols had been convicted, with two others later identified as accomplices.

so who was the possible additional bomber? they still remain unidentified now 25 years after the attack.

7. Why do people still walk their dogs there?

The Overtoun Bridge.

It’s a bridge in Scotland where dogs always unexplainably jump off. It’s very strange and nobody knows for certain why they do this. Dogs who survived reportedly walked back up and jumped off again. They even had to put up a warning sign to keep your dog on a leash and to watch them. A lot of theories say maybe it’s because of certain scents or animals down below, but most people have disagreed with this theory. It’s fuckin weird.

6. The mystery of the human brain.

A strange but not creepy mystery: The disappearance and reappearance of Lawrence Joseph Bader: he was a cookware salesman from Akron, Ohio who went missing in 1957. He went fishing, a storm hit, and his boat was found the next day with some damage. He was in debt and in trouble with the IRS and his wife was about to have their third child.

Four days later, John “Fritz” Johnson appeared in a bar in Omaha, Nebraska (spoiler: it’s Larry Bader). “Fritz” was known for his wild personality, he attracted local attention for sitting atop a flag pole for 30 days to raise money for polio, he became a radio announcer and a TV sports director. He drove around in a hearse with a bar and became a minor celebrity in Omaha… by no means was avoiding attention. In 1964, a cancerous tumor was found behind his left eye and it had to be removed.

In 1965, Fritz was in Chicago for a tournament and an acquaintance from Akron recognized him (despite the eyepatch) and confronted him, and then brought Bader’s niece to take a look. She agreed it was her uncle and confronted him about it as well. Fritz denied it but found it humorous. Fritz’s fingerprints were then matched to Larry Bader’s military records and it was confirmed.

Fritz Johnson always maintained he had no memory of his former life as Larry Bader. Psychiatrists examined him and believed he was telling the truth even though he had financial reasons to assume a new identity and the concept of someone forgetting their past and entirely constructing a different one with false memories is hard to fathom. It is also considered a possibility that the eye tumor had something to do with it. He ultimately died in 1966 from the eye tumor and it was never determined conclusively whether he was lying or not.

I am fascinated by this case especially because he had an entire change in personality, an entire life backstory as Fritz, and he made no effort to live a low profile to avoid discovery…. I found this case while looking through the Wikipedia category of people who have faked their own deaths (though it’s debatable if this guy should even be on there…), all of which are great stories

5. More proof that you can’t trust people who like jazz.

The Salish Sea Feet or the Mad Axeman of New Orleans.

The Salish Sea Feet are the approximately twenty dismembered feet found in or around British Columbia or Washington, USA. The feet sometimes are found still inside of shoes. No one knows how they got there or where they came from. Over the course of the last thirteen years, the authorities have ruled out foul play.

The Mad Axeman of New Orleans ran rampant in 1918 and 1919. He murdered six people (usually those of Italian descent) with axes or straight razors. In March of 1919, he sent a lengthy letter from “Hottest Hell” that was pretty nonsensical. But the most relevant paragraphs read:

“Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:

I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.”

There were no murders that night because every dance hall in NOLA was filled to capacity.

4. Nothing good happens underground.

This dude got lost in the catacombs, and they found camera footage of his journey, but at some point he drops the camera and just starts to run.

As far as I know, nobody has found out wtf happened to him

3. He probably killed himself.

The whereabouts of the last Gestapo Chief Heinrich Mueller.

The last verified sighting of him was in Berlin roughly 3 days before it fell, he had stated he knew full well what the Russians did to prisoners and he had no intentions of being captured. As chief of the Gestapo he more than likely had access to foreign documents as well as ways to replicate them.

Both the CIA and the KGB spent time looking for him but no trace has ever been found

2. In what world is this a suicide?

Another one is Colonel Philip Shue’s death:

“On April 16, 2003, 54-year-old Colonel Philip Shue left his Texas home and headed to work. Two hours later, he was found dead in his car, an apparent victim of a car crash. The car was caved in on the driver’s side and Philip suffered major head trauma as a result. He was killed instantly.”

This is where it gets weird:

“Philip had a tear in his T-shirt under his fatigues. There, they could see a 6-inch vertical gash in his chest. Above the entrance to the 6″ gash were at least five scratch marks, which the autopsy report said were consistent with hesitant marks. Both his nipples had been removed with surgical precision. The fifth digit on his left hand had been amputated and his left ear had been lacerated down to the bone. Duct tape was dangling from both of his wrists and the top of his boots.”

It was ruled a suicide….

1. I feel like this could be an episode on the show.

Where is Kimberly Langwell?

She disappeared in 1999 in Beaumont, Texas. Her car was found in the parking lot of an Eckerd’s Drug Store, but her purse and keys were missing. Her cell phone was inside.

We all know she wouldn’t have left her daughter, Tiffani, just like that. She loved her and loved life and those who surrounded her. Everyone who knew Kimberly loved her. She was the shining star on a dark night.

If you have seen her alive, please call the police. I have posted her case below.

Y’all there are so many insane stories in the world. I need all of them in my brain.

What’s your “favorite” unsolved mystery? If it’s not here, share it with us in the comments!

The post Crazy Mysteries That Remain Unsolved appeared first on UberFacts.

Crazy Mysteries That Remain Unsolved

A lot of us grew up watching and loving Unsolved Mysteries, our jaws on the floor and our brains trying to figure out what in the heck happened.

Now there’s a new series, which is also crazy good (or bad, depending on your point of view), but I’m not sure any of those stories hold a candle to these 17 unsolved mysteries.

17. Isn’t there DNA in poop?

The Miyazawa family.

Just listened to the Casefile podcast on this and it has my mind blown. Someone entered the family home around 11:30 pm, killed everyone, ate some ice cream, took a nap, pooped and didn’t flush, changed clothes and left like 8 hours after the crime.

20 years on and we don’t know who or why

16. I sure hope we never see that thing again.

The lost A-bomb off the coast of America, which the US government said not to worry about in the 50’s and tried to cover up. Was dumped in the ocean in an aviation accident and it’s still lost to this day.

100x more powerful then what was dropped in Japan.

15. This sh*t infuriates me.

The ” suicide” of LaVena Johnson a black female US Army private who was found shot to death inside a burning tent with a broken nose, black eyes, broken teeth, raped and acid burns on her genitals in July 2005.

US Army ruled her death a suicide.

14. What in god’s name is happening?

THE CIRCLEVILLE LETTERS

In 1976, residents of the small city south of Columbus Ohio began receiving handwritten sinister and graphic letters. Each letter included secret and dark details about their personal lives.

One resident received a ton of letters, accusing her of various unsavory acts. The author warned the resident that he had been keeping an eye on her home, as well as her comings and goings. The resident was horrified and tried to keep the letters a secret until her husband began receiving them.

The attacks on the family continued, with large posters appearing around town spreading rumors about their 12 year old child. One day in 1977, the husband left the house after receiving a call from who he thought was writing the letters. A few minutes later, the husband was found dead at the end of the street dead behind the wheel. The sheriff had ruled it a homicide when he realized that a single shot had been fired before the accident, but there was no evidence that the husband was shot at the site. The sheriff found the husband was twice the legal limit and ruled it a drunk driving accident.

The letters began once again, this time accusing the sheriff of covering up the true nature of the death. The letters also accused the sheriff of mishandling an investigation into the county coroner who had been accused of other grotesque acts.

The harassment continued, this time with signs along the road and in 1983, the original resident who had been accused of having an affair pulled over to remove a sign. During the effort to remove the sign, she discovered a box was attached and inside of it was a small pistol. The gun was part of a booby trap designed to fire when the sign was removed.

Paul Freshour was arrested and given 25 years…but one small problem. The letter writing continued even after Freshour was put in jail.

In a new batch of letters, the author had promised to dig up the grave of a deceased baby and mail the bones to the police in the case of another potential affair turned murder.

Hundreds of residents continued to receive personal letters until 1994 when everything stopped.

13. History really can be interesting.

But my favorite is Chauvet cave. (If you have a chance, watch Werner Herzog’s documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams. I think it’s still on Netflix.) It has some of the most stunning cave art in the world, which almost certainly had some kind of profound significance, and we don’t – and will likely never – know what it is. Moreover, there’s evidence that the cave was abandoned for thousands of years and later returned to, only for the returnees to continue to make paintings in the exact same style and, possibly, for the exact same reasons.

There is so much to be seen in these figures. There’s a portrait of an animal tossing its head that looks like one of the world’s earliest explorations of stop motion or sequential art. When I look at it I can feel the will of the painter, who wanted so much to convey this sort of motion…

There are also the footprints of a boy, who arrived much later to the cave than its original users, whose marks appear to be contemporary with the pawprints of a wolf. It’s hard to say now, according to Cave of Forgotten Dreams, whether they walked together, whether they walked 20 years apart, whether they were friends or whether the wolf was stalking the boy. But I read a blog post by a professional hunter and tracker, who looked at the footage of the prints from the film and said that they likely walked together. I wonder what they were thinking. If the boy had some knowledge of what he would find there, or if he was simply exploring a cave and found some of the greatest art in human history.

In Chauvet there is also the solution to a mystery. Until the discovery of Chauvet cave paleontologists were unsure as to whether cave lions had manes. On the cave walls there is an illustration of a cave lion with visible testicles and no mane, settling that debate.

12. The death of Cindy James.

I remember seeing a video about a woman that after getting divorced started getting stalked and assaulted in her own house. Everytime police would arrive no one more than her was at the scene, sometimes she would appear with bruises, once she appeared with a screwdriver through her hand. This happened so many times that police started ignoring her calls after the investigation on her husband and on the case left no suspects.

Three months later she disappeared just to reappear next to a highway in the middle of the desert, miles away from her house, with her hands tied, dead. Autopsy later confirmed she was beaten to death. Creepiest shit I know.

11. I need to know more about this immediately.

The toxic death of Gloria Ramirez. 23 people became ill due to her mere presence and 5 were hospitalised. We have never worked out what happened. There’s an episode of the “Stuff you should know” podcast that talks about it.

About 8:15 p.m. on the evening of February 19, 1994, Ramirez, suffering from severe heart palpitations, was brought into the emergency department of Riverside General Hospital by paramedics. She was extremely confused and was suffering from tachycardia and Cheyne–Stokes respiration.

The medical staff injected her with diazepam, midazolam, and lorazepam to sedate her. When it became clear that Ramirez was responding poorly to treatment, the staff tried to defibrillate her heart; at that point several people saw an oily sheen covering Ramirez’s body, and some noticed a fruity, garlic-like odor that they thought was coming from her mouth. A registered nurse named Susan Kane attempted to draw blood from Ramirez’s arm and noticed an ammonia-like smell coming from the tube.

She passed the syringe to Julie Gorchynski, a medical resident, who noticed manila-colored particles floating in the blood. At this point, Kane fainted and was removed from the room. Shortly thereafter, Gorchynski began to feel nauseated. Complaining that she was lightheaded, she left the trauma room and sat at a nurse’s desk. A staff member asked her if she was okay, but before she could respond she also fainted. Maureen Welch, a respiratory therapist who was assisting in the trauma room was the third to pass out. The staff was then ordered to evacuate all emergency department patients to the parking lot outside the hospital. Overall, 23 people became ill and five were hospitalized. A skeleton crew stayed behind to stabilize Ramirez. At 8:50 p.m., after 45 minutes of CPR and defibrillation, Ramirez was pronounced dead from kidney failure related to her cancer.

10. I’d say we all need to know what happened.

The Oakville Blob.

In 1994, there was a rainstorm in Oakville, WA–only the “raindrops” were a strange clear substance that had the consistency of Jello. Lots of people experienced flu-like symptoms after coming into contact with it, and peoples’ dogs and cats all over the city were dying.

When a local hospital ran a lab test on the substance after one of the patients suggested it, it was found that whatever this mysterious “rain” was, it had human white blood cells in it. Some time after that, a sample was also sent to the Washington State Health Laboratory, where it was being researched by epidemiologist Mike McDowell. After he determined that it was man-made and speculated that it was some sort of matrix for transporting viruses/bacteria, the samples suddenly went missing from the containment facility and his supervisor told him not to ask any questions. There are no known samples of the stuff anywhere today, despite being sent to several different facilities by various Oakville residents.

So yeah, I’d personally say that this was clearly some sort of bio-weapon test run, but by whom? I’d like to give the US Government the benefit of the doubt here and assume it wasn’t us testing something like that on our own citizens, but if it wasn’t, why would it have been covered up like that? And you’d think an event like this would be a lot less obscure. Also, even if it being a bio-weapon seems super obvious, how the heck did whoever dispersed it manage to make it rain over an entire city for several days??

9. This story always raises my hackles.

3 lighthouse workers with impeccable mustaches traveled to a remote island on December 7th, 1900 for a lighthouse shift that should have lasted for two weeks. When a boat arrived to pick them up, they were gone. No trace of the bodies, and the lighthouse was strangely locked.

Not only was the setting normal (meal ready to be served), but there was no fire in the fireplace, and the clock stopped. One of the men kept a log in a diary, and he said that the seas were rough one day, but when monitored, it was actually calm. No one knows what happened to them.

8. When you find a rogue leg.

On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The explosion killed 168 in what was the deadliest terrorist attack on the United States until 9/11 – to date, it still remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in the country.

One of the lesser known things about this is the case of the missing leg. Investigators discovered the leg laying among the rubble and identified it belonging to Lakesha Levy, the only problem was, she’d already been buried with both her legs.

She was exhumed, her severed leg was placed in her coffin while the other leg was taken to the F.B.I laboratory for identification. Since it had been embalmed, a DNA sample was unable to be obtained. The extra left leg, which had been mistakenly buried with Levy, is suspected to belong to an unidentified 169th victim, whose body had mostly disintegrated in the blast.

This has lead people to suspect there was an additional terrorist involved even though perpetrators Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols had been convicted, with two others later identified as accomplices.

so who was the possible additional bomber? they still remain unidentified now 25 years after the attack.

7. Why do people still walk their dogs there?

The Overtoun Bridge.

It’s a bridge in Scotland where dogs always unexplainably jump off. It’s very strange and nobody knows for certain why they do this. Dogs who survived reportedly walked back up and jumped off again. They even had to put up a warning sign to keep your dog on a leash and to watch them. A lot of theories say maybe it’s because of certain scents or animals down below, but most people have disagreed with this theory. It’s fuckin weird.

6. The mystery of the human brain.

A strange but not creepy mystery: The disappearance and reappearance of Lawrence Joseph Bader: he was a cookware salesman from Akron, Ohio who went missing in 1957. He went fishing, a storm hit, and his boat was found the next day with some damage. He was in debt and in trouble with the IRS and his wife was about to have their third child.

Four days later, John “Fritz” Johnson appeared in a bar in Omaha, Nebraska (spoiler: it’s Larry Bader). “Fritz” was known for his wild personality, he attracted local attention for sitting atop a flag pole for 30 days to raise money for polio, he became a radio announcer and a TV sports director. He drove around in a hearse with a bar and became a minor celebrity in Omaha… by no means was avoiding attention. In 1964, a cancerous tumor was found behind his left eye and it had to be removed.

In 1965, Fritz was in Chicago for a tournament and an acquaintance from Akron recognized him (despite the eyepatch) and confronted him, and then brought Bader’s niece to take a look. She agreed it was her uncle and confronted him about it as well. Fritz denied it but found it humorous. Fritz’s fingerprints were then matched to Larry Bader’s military records and it was confirmed.

Fritz Johnson always maintained he had no memory of his former life as Larry Bader. Psychiatrists examined him and believed he was telling the truth even though he had financial reasons to assume a new identity and the concept of someone forgetting their past and entirely constructing a different one with false memories is hard to fathom. It is also considered a possibility that the eye tumor had something to do with it. He ultimately died in 1966 from the eye tumor and it was never determined conclusively whether he was lying or not.

I am fascinated by this case especially because he had an entire change in personality, an entire life backstory as Fritz, and he made no effort to live a low profile to avoid discovery…. I found this case while looking through the Wikipedia category of people who have faked their own deaths (though it’s debatable if this guy should even be on there…), all of which are great stories

5. More proof that you can’t trust people who like jazz.

The Salish Sea Feet or the Mad Axeman of New Orleans.

The Salish Sea Feet are the approximately twenty dismembered feet found in or around British Columbia or Washington, USA. The feet sometimes are found still inside of shoes. No one knows how they got there or where they came from. Over the course of the last thirteen years, the authorities have ruled out foul play.

The Mad Axeman of New Orleans ran rampant in 1918 and 1919. He murdered six people (usually those of Italian descent) with axes or straight razors. In March of 1919, he sent a lengthy letter from “Hottest Hell” that was pretty nonsensical. But the most relevant paragraphs read:

“Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:

I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.”

There were no murders that night because every dance hall in NOLA was filled to capacity.

4. Nothing good happens underground.

This dude got lost in the catacombs, and they found camera footage of his journey, but at some point he drops the camera and just starts to run.

As far as I know, nobody has found out wtf happened to him

3. He probably killed himself.

The whereabouts of the last Gestapo Chief Heinrich Mueller.

The last verified sighting of him was in Berlin roughly 3 days before it fell, he had stated he knew full well what the Russians did to prisoners and he had no intentions of being captured. As chief of the Gestapo he more than likely had access to foreign documents as well as ways to replicate them.

Both the CIA and the KGB spent time looking for him but no trace has ever been found

2. In what world is this a suicide?

Another one is Colonel Philip Shue’s death:

“On April 16, 2003, 54-year-old Colonel Philip Shue left his Texas home and headed to work. Two hours later, he was found dead in his car, an apparent victim of a car crash. The car was caved in on the driver’s side and Philip suffered major head trauma as a result. He was killed instantly.”

This is where it gets weird:

“Philip had a tear in his T-shirt under his fatigues. There, they could see a 6-inch vertical gash in his chest. Above the entrance to the 6″ gash were at least five scratch marks, which the autopsy report said were consistent with hesitant marks. Both his nipples had been removed with surgical precision. The fifth digit on his left hand had been amputated and his left ear had been lacerated down to the bone. Duct tape was dangling from both of his wrists and the top of his boots.”

It was ruled a suicide….

1. I feel like this could be an episode on the show.

Where is Kimberly Langwell?

She disappeared in 1999 in Beaumont, Texas. Her car was found in the parking lot of an Eckerd’s Drug Store, but her purse and keys were missing. Her cell phone was inside.

We all know she wouldn’t have left her daughter, Tiffani, just like that. She loved her and loved life and those who surrounded her. Everyone who knew Kimberly loved her. She was the shining star on a dark night.

If you have seen her alive, please call the police. I have posted her case below.

Y’all there are so many insane stories in the world. I need all of them in my brain.

What’s your “favorite” unsolved mystery? If it’s not here, share it with us in the comments!

The post Crazy Mysteries That Remain Unsolved appeared first on UberFacts.

Reality Show Employees Talk About What Really Goes on Behind the Scenes

Whether you’re into the drama of programs like Real Housewives, love home renovation stories like Property Brothers, or get wrapped up in dance competitions like Dancing with the Stars, most of us have to admit to watching at least some reality television on a weekly basis.

What’s it really like to work on one of these shows, though? How much is real, and how much is really scripted? If you’re dying to know, these 17 people who have been on set are here to tell you!

17. I always figured the craziest people were plants.

Not me, but a friend told me that one of those reality tow truck shows tried to hire him to play a crazy customer. The staged shot was that the crew was going to try and take “his” rusty pickup truck from his lawn, but he was supposed to come at them in just a wife beater with two sawed off shotguns.

I believe that the big black woman of the crew was supposed to run at him and knock him out with a wrench, but I can’t remember the exact details. Even though I think he turned them down, it goes to show how much of “reality” shows are staged for those who didn’t know it before.

16. I guess he didn’t want to eat cold food.

In the very first episode of Top Chef they ever filmed, Tom Colicchio flipped out because the dishes the contestants had cooked were getting cold while the film crew took “food porn” shots of them.

From then on, all the contestants have to prepare two dishes. One for the judges to sample, and one for the cameras to pan over and show the audience.

15. Sometimes the producers get desperate for drama.

I worked on American Ninja Warrior.

Member that time that video of a “naked” guy running around on the course? It was planned and fake, the “streaker” is one of the testers of the course, so he knew exactly how to do it, and he wore underwear.

PAs (only with iPhones, not Samsung) were called to go into the audience and film it and upload it to youTube. Yuuuup pretty dumb and lame. I laughed about it, thought “wow EPs are desperate” and went to Crafty and filled up on chips and soda.

14. There aren’t exactly scripts, but…

I’ve worked on almost 20 different reality shows in the past 15 years, I have never seen a script created for participants in any way. I HAVE seen the contestants told what to say, I have seen scenes re-staged to get what the director/producers want. Never scripted. It is far easier to tell them what to say and have them parrot your way of saying to get it right. Non of these folks can act worth a shit. It is easier to just do call + repeats.

I’ve never worked on anything on TRUTV as they are the bottom of the barrel and are known to screw folks on cash so i cannot say their dreck is not scripted. But usually story producers have a clue who likes/hates each other, (alchohol is always introduced to get to the roots of this quicker), then the emotions are manipulated in predictable ways to get the needed shots. Noways, so many know the reality game that many participants will offer to redo a take immediately.

Those are the folks who want to use a show to get famous. Release a sex tape – it is infinitely quicker way to fame if you want it that bad.

13. Scripted v. Staged.

My old boss had a reality show. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it scripted, many scenes were staged to some extent and they would often film multiple takes. There were also a lot more “friends” and celebrities (office was in LA) stopping by on the days they were filming.

12. There are tons of leading questions.

One of the first production jobs I took was on a reality show TV Pilot called, “Life Begins at 40”. It was a show that followed the lives of a couple who put their dreams on hold for their kids, and the show helped them pick up where they left off after the kids left the nest. Really sweet idea, as the husband wanted to run a car garage and the wife wanted to own a bed and breakfast. There were a few things that come to mind of how contrived shows are:

During segments where the couple were talking, the “director” of the show was behind the camera guiding them through the conversation. They arrived at the house they were staying at, and the husband noticed the wife overpacked. The director, off camera, would tell the husband, “Wouldn’t you say your wife packs too much?” to which the husband replied, “Yeah, Honey, you packed way too much!” The director then said, “Wouldn’t you say that she packed up your entire closet?” “Yeah, yeah, sweetie, did you pack the entire closet or something?”

During another segment, the husband sends the wife on a mission to go buy an auto part for the garage he is working with. The producer was going to send me to basically pre-plant the part she needed, that way she wouldn’t have to pay for it. Turns out the segment was scrapped because she asked so many questions to the husband she knew exactly what she was supposed to get (as opposed to the “drama” that would unfold when she was supposed to call the husband about the part at the store).

The couple didn’t know, but they were going to another state for the second part of the show. I created their plane tickets (they would get real ones when they got to the airport). So, over dinner, when their bill arrived, they opened it to find the plane tickets. I had a little fun with them the night before when they asked me if I would be with them for the entire production. I responded, “I’ll be with you the entire time you’re in Florida”, which was true since they were only there for one more day. After the reveal, they realized what I did when I was driving them home and we had a nice laugh.

Those are the only stories that come to mind (that was nearly ten years ago!) It was a lot of fun, and everyone was really awesome. Definitely had more of an “Extreme Makeover” vibe rather than the catty, angry and drama-filled reality shows.

11. A niche story, but interesting.

So I used to have these two American co-workers. One of them was signed with an extras agency and would occasionally get small roles in films and TV.

One day I hear the extra telling the other guy about a London club which for the opening night had an open bar after a £20 entry fee. They decide to go and the other guy says “hey why don’t you come Martlar?” So I agree to go to this club.

The extra finds me later to say it’s actually part of a show here called The Real Hustle that shows how cons are pulled off. His agency has asked him to invite people who wouldn’t recognise the presenters and spoil the con. So I go along with it knowing I’d get my £20 back at the end of the night.

Afterwards the producers took us to a bar and bought us all a drink. Talking to the other people there, about two thirds of the people “conned” were in on it.

10. Paid actors? What!?

A close friend of mine worked in casting for several shows. Most notably: Pawn Stars. She told me one night while we were drinking that around 90% of the time the people bringing items into the shop were NOT the true owners. They would scour the internet for people selling interesting things and then hit them up to see if they wanted to bring it on the show. If the true owners were total duds and not suitable for camera work, they would pay them a few bucks to take the item and have a trained actor bring it to the pawn shop for the purposes of the show.

She also said that Adam Richmond, the guy from Man Vs. Food, got so sick and out of shape from all the crap he ate all the time that he could no longer be insured. They had to change the format of the show so that he would coach people in eating competitions, as opposed to doing it himself.

9. Why not just call it a scripted series then?

A few years ago my parents owned a restaurant where an episode of an MTV “reality series” was filmed. It was totally staged and MTV gave them details about what would go down in advance.

8. This was an amazing concept.

I worked as a fake contestant on a game show, it was my job to screw up various contestants as much as I could.

Before each episode shoot, they would tell me challenges and ask me to practice being terrible at it. Finally being good at being terrible paid off.

7. That seems like it would be a hard thing to sign.

I wasn’t actually on a reality show but I almost was. We had to sign paperwork agreeing to “re-film” scenes that didn’t look good the first time or things the camera didn’t catch. We also had to agree that our words could be edited however they wanted (so they could basically take things out of context/manipulate the way we came across). Dropped out at the last minute though, so I guess I’ll never know what it would have been like to be on tv.

6. This is the best story.

MTV did a reality special on my hometown in the early 1990s, profiling it as “the worst place in the world to spend spring break.” They came for two weeks with a comedian host and made fun of us constantly. For one episode they wanted to showcase the town’s music scene, so they got a dozen 3rd graders to play Hot Cross Buns on recorders. I was one of those 3rd graders.

The comedian came in the day of and was super serious. He told us this was our big break and would be broadcast to a million people. Naturally, we responded by taking it VERY seriously and felt that we were representing our town. When the cameras started rolling, it was obvious that it was total bullshit. The comedian kept jumping up and down behind the cameras shouting “POOPEY LIGHTBULB” to make us laugh. Then he gave us fake Ray Bans and t-shirts.

5. Here, have another drink.

Alcohol consumption. Talent gets plastered, producers get results.

All special events, trips, etc. are planned and paid for by the production. During those moments, there’s incredible pressure on everyone to deliver good material.

The crew is overworked and underpaid. I clocked on average 100hrs a week. On one show, I worked over 30 days straight without a day off (I was on a weekly contract, not hourly, so they could get away with it).

A genuine, unaltered moment in the final cut of an episode is as rare as a unicorn. (It doesn’t exist).

4. They do sometimes get a head’s up.

In a similar thread /u/Sallymoustacheride gave some insight into something that I am sure is true about a lot of reality shows to make them work:

I worked for a bakery that was on, and won, CupCake Wars. The premise of the show is to surprise the bakers with a few, more often than not, odd ingredients and see what they’re really made of. In reality, we found out the ingredients a few months before the show. Had we not known, there’s no doubt we’d have lost.

There are definitely people who thrive under pressure, both in performance and creativity, and they have better things to do with their time than crank out cupcakes for Food Network. Tell an unprepared contestant they have 40 minutes to make a delicious cupcake using tater tots and nine times out of ten you’ll have a middle aged woman sobbing into her mixing bowl.

3. People aren’t always what they seem.

I’ve worked in TV and film for a decade. Here are some I can mention:

Remember that show MTV Cribs? Most of the rappers houses were rented specifically for the shoot. Actors and sports stars were their real houses for the most part.

Gordon Ramsey is actually a pretty nice guy. The Hells Kitchen restaurant is a set in a soundstage. The customers are usually friends and invited guests of the show and its crew.

Most reality shows are scripted to an extent, and the cast is usually coached to say certain things during a those interview style shots to help tell or shape a story. They are cut together and manipulated as needed to tell different stories. Most of the time they are talking about something totally different than what is happening on screen.

Most reality stars don’t “decide to part ways” with the show. The money is too easy. 75% of the time there were asked to leave or not return. It’s easier on everyone if we never say “fired” unless you are Donald Trump.

MTV was illegally using music for years and years for all of its shows. MTV was a major source of exposure in the 80’s and 90’s for music, so they took advantage of their position and illegally used copywrited music in all of their TV shows, especially reality shows without permission or compensation to the publishing and sync rights holders. They were eventually sued by all the major record companies in the late 90’s/early 2000s when they ceased to be the music player they once were and had to cease use of copywrited songs. Cheaper reality shows had to resort to library songs while the bigger shows had to pony up licensing fees for major artists.

Award shows like the MTV movie awards, Kids Choice awards, etc were merely created as cheap ways to get big names and big ratings. Artists are not compensated for showing up at these events and look bad for not showing up to accept the made-up award. Easy money.

I’ve never worked on Dr Phil, but he is a giant douche to everyone especially his crew. Needlessly and entirely for his own ego.

2. They are really long days.

Nice. Something I can finally comment on. I’m a Production Sound Mixer based in LA and I frequently find myself on reality gigs. The pay is pretty good but the days are very long. Minimum work day will be 12 hours (the most I have done is 20 hours in a single day) with the only real break being a half hour to an hour lunch. This is pretty typical for most LA based productions.

So what do our days consist of? Well, yesterday I started a new reality ENG style doc for a major network which pretty much fits the typical “reality shoot” mold. Usually a day or two day before picture is up, the crew will receive a call sheet. The call sheet has a list of the cast, crew and shot list along with other details about that particular production day. The shot list details which talent will be in each scene along with details of when and where the scene will take place… AND what we are there to shoot in each scene.

Every scene is shot under the guidance of the director and producers and not unlike scripted episodics or features, the scenes are shot multiple times. This means that when you actually watch something happen in reality television, not only was that scene and the actions/conversations within planned days before, you’re likely watching the forth or fifth time that “real” event actually happened. Very rarely can any of these untrained actors nail a scene on the first take. If there’s time to shoot another take, you can bet your ass the director is going to call for it.

Have you ever been watching a reality show and after a cut from one angle to another you think, “well, gosh… Shouldn’t a camera guy be standing right there? The previous angle just one second before that cut was from the exact direction I’m now looking directly in!” Well, that’s because that’s from another take after the crew has repositioned to run the scene again for coverage.

Next would be the audio element… My world. Ever been watching the new hit reality show “Hardcore Midget Pawn” and out of nowhere an angry customer bust in the store screaming and yelling with sound as crisp as can be and in perfect frame from multiple angles? Well, that was 100% planned. Before that, a tech like myself would have placed a lav mic and transmitter pack on the angry customer’s person, tested levels and RF reception while still having a little time to make any adjustments as the camera department established the action of the scene, the lighting, camera lens selection and all that jazz. So buy the time that angry customer bursts in the door, we have already prepared everything, have slated the take and called “ACTION!” And now await their surprise visit which we will shoot numerous times.

1. Well that would be irritating.

I’ve worked in TV and film for a decade. Here are some I can mention:

Remember that show MTV Cribs? Most of the rappers houses were rented specifically for the shoot. Actors and sports stars were their real houses for the most part.

Gordon Ramsey is actually a pretty nice guy. The Hells Kitchen restaurant is a set in a soundstage. The customers are usually friends and invited guests of the show and its crew.

Most reality shows are scripted to an extent, and the cast is usually coached to say certain things during a those interview style shots to help tell or shape a story. They are cut together and manipulated as needed to tell different stories. Most of the time they are talking about something totally different than what is happening on screen.

Most reality stars don’t “decide to part ways” with the show. The money is too easy. 75% of the time there were asked to leave or not return. It’s easier on everyone if we never say “fired” unless you are Donald Trump.

MTV was illegally using music for years and years for all of its shows. MTV was a major source of exposure in the 80’s and 90’s for music, so they took advantage of their position and illegally used copywrited music in all of their TV shows, especially reality shows without permission or compensation to the publishing and sync rights holders. They were eventually sued by all the major record companies in the late 90’s/early 2000s when they ceased to be the music player they once were and had to cease use of copywrited songs. Cheaper reality shows had to resort to library songs while the bigger shows had to pony up licensing fees for major artists.

Award shows like the MTV movie awards, Kids Choice awards, etc were merely created as cheap ways to get big names and big ratings. Artists are not compensated for showing up at these events and look bad for not showing up to accept the made-up award. Easy money.

I’ve never worked on Dr Phil, but he is a giant douche to everyone especially his crew. Needlessly and entirely for his own ego.

I’m not surprised at all, but I do love a good behind-the-scenes pick!

If you’ve got some experience and relevant stories to tell, we’re here to listen!

The post Reality Show Employees Talk About What Really Goes on Behind the Scenes appeared first on UberFacts.

Reality Show Employees Talk About What Really Goes on Behind the Scenes

Whether you’re into the drama of programs like Real Housewives, love home renovation stories like Property Brothers, or get wrapped up in dance competitions like Dancing with the Stars, most of us have to admit to watching at least some reality television on a weekly basis.

What’s it really like to work on one of these shows, though? How much is real, and how much is really scripted? If you’re dying to know, these 17 people who have been on set are here to tell you!

17. I always figured the craziest people were plants.

Not me, but a friend told me that one of those reality tow truck shows tried to hire him to play a crazy customer. The staged shot was that the crew was going to try and take “his” rusty pickup truck from his lawn, but he was supposed to come at them in just a wife beater with two sawed off shotguns.

I believe that the big black woman of the crew was supposed to run at him and knock him out with a wrench, but I can’t remember the exact details. Even though I think he turned them down, it goes to show how much of “reality” shows are staged for those who didn’t know it before.

16. I guess he didn’t want to eat cold food.

In the very first episode of Top Chef they ever filmed, Tom Colicchio flipped out because the dishes the contestants had cooked were getting cold while the film crew took “food porn” shots of them.

From then on, all the contestants have to prepare two dishes. One for the judges to sample, and one for the cameras to pan over and show the audience.

15. Sometimes the producers get desperate for drama.

I worked on American Ninja Warrior.

Member that time that video of a “naked” guy running around on the course? It was planned and fake, the “streaker” is one of the testers of the course, so he knew exactly how to do it, and he wore underwear.

PAs (only with iPhones, not Samsung) were called to go into the audience and film it and upload it to youTube. Yuuuup pretty dumb and lame. I laughed about it, thought “wow EPs are desperate” and went to Crafty and filled up on chips and soda.

14. There aren’t exactly scripts, but…

I’ve worked on almost 20 different reality shows in the past 15 years, I have never seen a script created for participants in any way. I HAVE seen the contestants told what to say, I have seen scenes re-staged to get what the director/producers want. Never scripted. It is far easier to tell them what to say and have them parrot your way of saying to get it right. Non of these folks can act worth a shit. It is easier to just do call + repeats.

I’ve never worked on anything on TRUTV as they are the bottom of the barrel and are known to screw folks on cash so i cannot say their dreck is not scripted. But usually story producers have a clue who likes/hates each other, (alchohol is always introduced to get to the roots of this quicker), then the emotions are manipulated in predictable ways to get the needed shots. Noways, so many know the reality game that many participants will offer to redo a take immediately.

Those are the folks who want to use a show to get famous. Release a sex tape – it is infinitely quicker way to fame if you want it that bad.

13. Scripted v. Staged.

My old boss had a reality show. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it scripted, many scenes were staged to some extent and they would often film multiple takes. There were also a lot more “friends” and celebrities (office was in LA) stopping by on the days they were filming.

12. There are tons of leading questions.

One of the first production jobs I took was on a reality show TV Pilot called, “Life Begins at 40”. It was a show that followed the lives of a couple who put their dreams on hold for their kids, and the show helped them pick up where they left off after the kids left the nest. Really sweet idea, as the husband wanted to run a car garage and the wife wanted to own a bed and breakfast. There were a few things that come to mind of how contrived shows are:

During segments where the couple were talking, the “director” of the show was behind the camera guiding them through the conversation. They arrived at the house they were staying at, and the husband noticed the wife overpacked. The director, off camera, would tell the husband, “Wouldn’t you say your wife packs too much?” to which the husband replied, “Yeah, Honey, you packed way too much!” The director then said, “Wouldn’t you say that she packed up your entire closet?” “Yeah, yeah, sweetie, did you pack the entire closet or something?”

During another segment, the husband sends the wife on a mission to go buy an auto part for the garage he is working with. The producer was going to send me to basically pre-plant the part she needed, that way she wouldn’t have to pay for it. Turns out the segment was scrapped because she asked so many questions to the husband she knew exactly what she was supposed to get (as opposed to the “drama” that would unfold when she was supposed to call the husband about the part at the store).

The couple didn’t know, but they were going to another state for the second part of the show. I created their plane tickets (they would get real ones when they got to the airport). So, over dinner, when their bill arrived, they opened it to find the plane tickets. I had a little fun with them the night before when they asked me if I would be with them for the entire production. I responded, “I’ll be with you the entire time you’re in Florida”, which was true since they were only there for one more day. After the reveal, they realized what I did when I was driving them home and we had a nice laugh.

Those are the only stories that come to mind (that was nearly ten years ago!) It was a lot of fun, and everyone was really awesome. Definitely had more of an “Extreme Makeover” vibe rather than the catty, angry and drama-filled reality shows.

11. A niche story, but interesting.

So I used to have these two American co-workers. One of them was signed with an extras agency and would occasionally get small roles in films and TV.

One day I hear the extra telling the other guy about a London club which for the opening night had an open bar after a £20 entry fee. They decide to go and the other guy says “hey why don’t you come Martlar?” So I agree to go to this club.

The extra finds me later to say it’s actually part of a show here called The Real Hustle that shows how cons are pulled off. His agency has asked him to invite people who wouldn’t recognise the presenters and spoil the con. So I go along with it knowing I’d get my £20 back at the end of the night.

Afterwards the producers took us to a bar and bought us all a drink. Talking to the other people there, about two thirds of the people “conned” were in on it.

10. Paid actors? What!?

A close friend of mine worked in casting for several shows. Most notably: Pawn Stars. She told me one night while we were drinking that around 90% of the time the people bringing items into the shop were NOT the true owners. They would scour the internet for people selling interesting things and then hit them up to see if they wanted to bring it on the show. If the true owners were total duds and not suitable for camera work, they would pay them a few bucks to take the item and have a trained actor bring it to the pawn shop for the purposes of the show.

She also said that Adam Richmond, the guy from Man Vs. Food, got so sick and out of shape from all the crap he ate all the time that he could no longer be insured. They had to change the format of the show so that he would coach people in eating competitions, as opposed to doing it himself.

9. Why not just call it a scripted series then?

A few years ago my parents owned a restaurant where an episode of an MTV “reality series” was filmed. It was totally staged and MTV gave them details about what would go down in advance.

8. This was an amazing concept.

I worked as a fake contestant on a game show, it was my job to screw up various contestants as much as I could.

Before each episode shoot, they would tell me challenges and ask me to practice being terrible at it. Finally being good at being terrible paid off.

7. That seems like it would be a hard thing to sign.

I wasn’t actually on a reality show but I almost was. We had to sign paperwork agreeing to “re-film” scenes that didn’t look good the first time or things the camera didn’t catch. We also had to agree that our words could be edited however they wanted (so they could basically take things out of context/manipulate the way we came across). Dropped out at the last minute though, so I guess I’ll never know what it would have been like to be on tv.

6. This is the best story.

MTV did a reality special on my hometown in the early 1990s, profiling it as “the worst place in the world to spend spring break.” They came for two weeks with a comedian host and made fun of us constantly. For one episode they wanted to showcase the town’s music scene, so they got a dozen 3rd graders to play Hot Cross Buns on recorders. I was one of those 3rd graders.

The comedian came in the day of and was super serious. He told us this was our big break and would be broadcast to a million people. Naturally, we responded by taking it VERY seriously and felt that we were representing our town. When the cameras started rolling, it was obvious that it was total bullshit. The comedian kept jumping up and down behind the cameras shouting “POOPEY LIGHTBULB” to make us laugh. Then he gave us fake Ray Bans and t-shirts.

5. Here, have another drink.

Alcohol consumption. Talent gets plastered, producers get results.

All special events, trips, etc. are planned and paid for by the production. During those moments, there’s incredible pressure on everyone to deliver good material.

The crew is overworked and underpaid. I clocked on average 100hrs a week. On one show, I worked over 30 days straight without a day off (I was on a weekly contract, not hourly, so they could get away with it).

A genuine, unaltered moment in the final cut of an episode is as rare as a unicorn. (It doesn’t exist).

4. They do sometimes get a head’s up.

In a similar thread /u/Sallymoustacheride gave some insight into something that I am sure is true about a lot of reality shows to make them work:

I worked for a bakery that was on, and won, CupCake Wars. The premise of the show is to surprise the bakers with a few, more often than not, odd ingredients and see what they’re really made of. In reality, we found out the ingredients a few months before the show. Had we not known, there’s no doubt we’d have lost.

There are definitely people who thrive under pressure, both in performance and creativity, and they have better things to do with their time than crank out cupcakes for Food Network. Tell an unprepared contestant they have 40 minutes to make a delicious cupcake using tater tots and nine times out of ten you’ll have a middle aged woman sobbing into her mixing bowl.

3. People aren’t always what they seem.

I’ve worked in TV and film for a decade. Here are some I can mention:

Remember that show MTV Cribs? Most of the rappers houses were rented specifically for the shoot. Actors and sports stars were their real houses for the most part.

Gordon Ramsey is actually a pretty nice guy. The Hells Kitchen restaurant is a set in a soundstage. The customers are usually friends and invited guests of the show and its crew.

Most reality shows are scripted to an extent, and the cast is usually coached to say certain things during a those interview style shots to help tell or shape a story. They are cut together and manipulated as needed to tell different stories. Most of the time they are talking about something totally different than what is happening on screen.

Most reality stars don’t “decide to part ways” with the show. The money is too easy. 75% of the time there were asked to leave or not return. It’s easier on everyone if we never say “fired” unless you are Donald Trump.

MTV was illegally using music for years and years for all of its shows. MTV was a major source of exposure in the 80’s and 90’s for music, so they took advantage of their position and illegally used copywrited music in all of their TV shows, especially reality shows without permission or compensation to the publishing and sync rights holders. They were eventually sued by all the major record companies in the late 90’s/early 2000s when they ceased to be the music player they once were and had to cease use of copywrited songs. Cheaper reality shows had to resort to library songs while the bigger shows had to pony up licensing fees for major artists.

Award shows like the MTV movie awards, Kids Choice awards, etc were merely created as cheap ways to get big names and big ratings. Artists are not compensated for showing up at these events and look bad for not showing up to accept the made-up award. Easy money.

I’ve never worked on Dr Phil, but he is a giant douche to everyone especially his crew. Needlessly and entirely for his own ego.

2. They are really long days.

Nice. Something I can finally comment on. I’m a Production Sound Mixer based in LA and I frequently find myself on reality gigs. The pay is pretty good but the days are very long. Minimum work day will be 12 hours (the most I have done is 20 hours in a single day) with the only real break being a half hour to an hour lunch. This is pretty typical for most LA based productions.

So what do our days consist of? Well, yesterday I started a new reality ENG style doc for a major network which pretty much fits the typical “reality shoot” mold. Usually a day or two day before picture is up, the crew will receive a call sheet. The call sheet has a list of the cast, crew and shot list along with other details about that particular production day. The shot list details which talent will be in each scene along with details of when and where the scene will take place… AND what we are there to shoot in each scene.

Every scene is shot under the guidance of the director and producers and not unlike scripted episodics or features, the scenes are shot multiple times. This means that when you actually watch something happen in reality television, not only was that scene and the actions/conversations within planned days before, you’re likely watching the forth or fifth time that “real” event actually happened. Very rarely can any of these untrained actors nail a scene on the first take. If there’s time to shoot another take, you can bet your ass the director is going to call for it.

Have you ever been watching a reality show and after a cut from one angle to another you think, “well, gosh… Shouldn’t a camera guy be standing right there? The previous angle just one second before that cut was from the exact direction I’m now looking directly in!” Well, that’s because that’s from another take after the crew has repositioned to run the scene again for coverage.

Next would be the audio element… My world. Ever been watching the new hit reality show “Hardcore Midget Pawn” and out of nowhere an angry customer bust in the store screaming and yelling with sound as crisp as can be and in perfect frame from multiple angles? Well, that was 100% planned. Before that, a tech like myself would have placed a lav mic and transmitter pack on the angry customer’s person, tested levels and RF reception while still having a little time to make any adjustments as the camera department established the action of the scene, the lighting, camera lens selection and all that jazz. So buy the time that angry customer bursts in the door, we have already prepared everything, have slated the take and called “ACTION!” And now await their surprise visit which we will shoot numerous times.

1. Well that would be irritating.

I’ve worked in TV and film for a decade. Here are some I can mention:

Remember that show MTV Cribs? Most of the rappers houses were rented specifically for the shoot. Actors and sports stars were their real houses for the most part.

Gordon Ramsey is actually a pretty nice guy. The Hells Kitchen restaurant is a set in a soundstage. The customers are usually friends and invited guests of the show and its crew.

Most reality shows are scripted to an extent, and the cast is usually coached to say certain things during a those interview style shots to help tell or shape a story. They are cut together and manipulated as needed to tell different stories. Most of the time they are talking about something totally different than what is happening on screen.

Most reality stars don’t “decide to part ways” with the show. The money is too easy. 75% of the time there were asked to leave or not return. It’s easier on everyone if we never say “fired” unless you are Donald Trump.

MTV was illegally using music for years and years for all of its shows. MTV was a major source of exposure in the 80’s and 90’s for music, so they took advantage of their position and illegally used copywrited music in all of their TV shows, especially reality shows without permission or compensation to the publishing and sync rights holders. They were eventually sued by all the major record companies in the late 90’s/early 2000s when they ceased to be the music player they once were and had to cease use of copywrited songs. Cheaper reality shows had to resort to library songs while the bigger shows had to pony up licensing fees for major artists.

Award shows like the MTV movie awards, Kids Choice awards, etc were merely created as cheap ways to get big names and big ratings. Artists are not compensated for showing up at these events and look bad for not showing up to accept the made-up award. Easy money.

I’ve never worked on Dr Phil, but he is a giant douche to everyone especially his crew. Needlessly and entirely for his own ego.

I’m not surprised at all, but I do love a good behind-the-scenes pick!

If you’ve got some experience and relevant stories to tell, we’re here to listen!

The post Reality Show Employees Talk About What Really Goes on Behind the Scenes appeared first on UberFacts.

People Recall the Worst Thing They’ve Heard While Pretending to Be Asleep

Most of us have pretended to be asleep at some point for various reasons. When you’re a kid, it’s because you’re supposed to be asleep and you were actually reading under the covers. When you’re older, it could be because someone(s) came in your room and they think you’re sleeping, so you play along – or maybe your spouse is coming to bed and you’re not in the mood?

I wouldn’t know anything about that. Ahem.

Sometimes, though, you really wish you hadn’t done that, because you end up hearing something you’ll never be able to get out of your brain again – and these 16 people’s stories will convince you that’s absolutely true.

16. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

‘no wonder people at school think he’s gay’ – my step mum

15. OMG he had to have known!

When I was a kid, I used to be scared of monsters or something creeping up on me in my sleep, so I would always ask my dad to check on me before he went to bed. It made me feel more comfortable. One night, I was still awake when I heard him coming up the stairs, and I wasn’t supposed to be awake and knew I would get in trouble if he saw me, so I pretended to be asleep. He came in to my room and just kinda stared at me for a few seconds, then came up close to my bed, lifted the blanket up, farted under it, turned around and left.

It’s been at least 15 years and I remember that night vividly. He vehemently denies it to this day but I know what happened.

14. Please tell me you’ve never let him live it down.

My older brother in the next room when he snuck a girl in. They had sex for about a minute and then I could hear him apologizing for about 20. May not be the worst ever, but its definitely the funniest.

13. This is horrible.

Late in the comments here. But I heard the news my dad passed away pretending to sleep.

I was 12 at the time, woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Headed to the kitchen to get some water after and saw my sister sitting on the couch. She asked if I could sleep out in the living room with her and I didn’t think anything of it.

Woke up the next morning and kept my eyes closed, I heard my mom telling my dad’s best friend we lost him. I won’t forget it.

12. That will give you nightmares.

My mom and I were sharing a hotel room on a trip and unfortunately only had one bed so we had to share that too. As I was trying to fall asleep, I kept hearing the text tone from my mom’s phone going off and her giggling. My parents hate each other so I knew it wasn’t my dad she was texting with.

Curious, I opened my eyes just a little bit to see that she was flirting with other men while on a trip with her family and I was in fact staring at a dick pic. I couldn’t really go back to sleep after that.

11. More devastating news!

I pretended to sleep through the doctor sitting at my kitchen table telling my dad he had stage 3 cancer. I was 9.

He’s totally fine now! But it really sucked at the time.

10. Why are boys?

Probably the funniest was on a camping trip with the boys. I have sleep apnea and use a cpap machine. I overheard a couple of my mates talking about smoking a joint and hotboxing me through the air intake of my cpap machine.

9. My heart hurts for this little boy.

My father telling my mother that sometimes he just wanted to kill me (I was 5 years old when I overheard this). Being that my Dad was an alcoholic and full of rage I believed him and lived my entire childhood believing he was going to kill me.

8. Ew ew ew this is not okay.

My mum’s boyfriend sloppily trying to fuck my mum all drunk as shit whilst we’re all sharing the same fucking Hotel room. I was 13.

7. Aww, little baby college boy.

Freshman college roommate watching porn on his laptop wearing headphones, humping his mattress like there’s no tomorrow.

6. Ohhhhh man this will do a number.

My mom and aunt talking, thinking 10 year old me was asleep.

Aunt, “Little Runs_N_Goses is so cute.”

Mom, ” No, he’s not very good looking at all.”

5. That puts Matchbox Twenty in a whole new light.

Sleeping over at a friends house when I was 14, all of us on the floor in living room. Couldn’t sleep. Two of my friends (guy and girl) directly next to me start doing freaky things to each other. I was extremely shy and a couple of years younger than them so I stayed quiet and hoped they’d stop. Had to listen to them for an hour while she made weird ass moaning squeaky noises and he was singing (in a weird slightly whispery singy voice) matchbox 20 songs to her while he did whatever he was doing. That was last time I slept over at a friends house.

4. It was definitely Edward Cullen.

I was at my bf’s apartment staying over, his roommate also happened to have some friends who were dating there as well, I was in my bf’s room and they were sleeping in the living room. They were definitely fucking. Weirdest thing of it all were these literal banging sounds, like someone was hitting the fucking wall.

The whole time I had to piss like a mother fucker but getting to the bathroom involved walking by the living room and I did not wanna risk it. When we woke up the next morning someone had ripped a chunk out of one of the curtains and the TV remote was snapped in half… to this day I don’t wanna know what the fuck was going on in there

3. Well this is kind of an amazing story.

My grandparents won $10000 at the casino, and they told all of their children (and presumably gave them some of that money) except my dad. My dad is a dick so I didn’t tell him either.

2. It’s sweet and terrible all at once.

I was a camp counselor… two girls very much liked to make hot or not lists. One of them suggested a male counselor was hot, and the other said he was saying mean things about me behind my back, which made him not hot. Hurt to hear that from my campers, but glad they supported me.

1. At least he found out before something happened.

My “friends” talking about going into my wallet later and steal my money, and then leave before I notice, I kicked them out

I do not know how I would react to these situations, but it wouldn’t be easy, that’s for sure!

Has this ever happened to you? Tell us about it in the comments!

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