- 6 weeks ago
The cameras may have stopped rolling, but the secrets were just getting started. Join us as we count down the most shocking behind-the-scenes revelations made by former reality competition show contestants after their NDAs expired! Did these bombshells change how you see your favorite shows? Let us know in the comments below!
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00:00I literally was on the show and they were like, oh you win a million dollars or whatever, no you
00:04didn't. They lied.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're covering the production details former reality TV contestants revealed once their NDAs expired.
00:14For this video, we're focusing more on competition series contestants and not on docu-soaps like The Real Housewives.
00:20And then I was like, I can't watch the show anymore. And then she just puts it on the screen
00:25in front of me.
00:27Zoe Alexander claims sabotage, the X Factor.
00:30For every inspirational talent show audition, there's hundreds more that end in heartbreak and even fury.
00:36Zoe Alexander made her living as a pink tribute act, but she was looking to step into her own persona.
00:41The judges were critical when she sang a pink song anyway.
00:44Zoe, it's a pity because you've got a great look. You absolutely look like a pop star, but the vocal
00:49was just very, very average.
00:50But I think with time, you could be fantastic, but I think you need to go and find yourself and
00:55come back to Zoe.
00:57Alexander lost it, insisting the show told her to sing a pink song and left in a vulgar and violent
01:02tantrum.
01:03Alexander made a formal complaint to Ofcom, claiming sabotage.
01:07I didn't want to sing a pink song.
01:08You guys told me to sing a pink song.
01:11The producers later had to confirm that while they did suggest she sing something from the artist's repertoire, they didn't
01:16force her.
01:17Apparently, it was up to Alexander to go against the producer's advice.
01:21She's Britain's number one pink tribute act.
01:24I'm sorry.
01:24To put that in context, to put that in context, I'm the second best pink tribute act.
01:29Mistreatment on the set, Squid Game, The Challenge.
01:32With a cast of over 400 people and only one winner,
01:35there were bound to be some contestants left cold by their experience on Squid Game, The Challenge.
01:41Every player eliminated will add $10,000 to the prize fund.
01:47I'm here.
01:48I made it to the next round.
01:49The bank is growing.
01:50The money is showing.
01:52According to some, that was literally what happened.
01:54Reports that the players were kept in freezing conditions and required medical care
01:59overshadowed the production before shooting even wrapped.
02:01Four unnamed contestants alleged unfairness and rigged results in the show's very first episode.
02:07If you were in a position that was really hard to hold,
02:11you were probably going to give up.
02:12This is why up to 279 players got eliminated after that first challenge.
02:19That sounds terrible.
02:20Rolling Stone published a story on these and other set secrets in February 2023,
02:25several months before the show finally premiered on Netflix.
02:28Upon release, it shot to the top of the streaming service's top 10 TV shows.
02:33At the end of the day, we're not here to play fair.
02:36We're here to play a game, and I'm going to play by any rule that I want to.
02:40Class action lawsuit, Beast Games.
02:43YouTuber and philanthropist Jimmy MrBeastDonaldson
02:46took his skill for large-scale stunts and challenges and brought it to television.
02:50According to a lawsuit filed by six former contestants,
02:53the production of Beast Games was an ethical nightmare.
02:56This role also couldn't find someone to sacrifice themselves, so...
03:04Oh, there they go!
03:05On top of allegations of sexual harassment,
03:08the class action lawsuit also accuses the show and its producers of negligence,
03:12mistreatment, and dishonesty.
03:14Players say they were endangered beyond reason during several challenges and were not properly fed.
03:19Again, all of these allegations, more of the specifics that we're getting here,
03:24penning contestants into enclosed spaces, underfed, overtired contestants,
03:29stressful, exhausting challenges for cash.
03:32A fee of $1,000 that they claim was promised to them was never paid out either.
03:38Until, that is, the lawsuit was made public.
03:40Donaldson, while unable to give an official comment on the outstanding case,
03:44made a point that most of the Season 1 participants had a great time playing Beast Games.
03:50A game will begin where half of you will be eliminated.
03:53This show will take place over the next month.
03:56So if I were you, I'd get comfortable in this city.
03:59You're gonna need it.
04:01A bait-and-switch.
04:02Hell's Kitchen.
04:03Chef Gordon Ramsay's angry persona is pretty clearly played up for TV.
04:07None of you are working as a team!
04:10Where's the lamb sauce?!
04:12However, his long-running competition series had an even bigger secret.
04:16Hell's Kitchen claims to be looking for a new executive chef at Ramsay's newest restaurant venture.
04:21The show uses this term loosely.
04:23While the promise of a job is fulfilled,
04:25former contestants have revealed that the position is actually more like a head chef or senior chef.
04:29I was extremely disappointed in the reality that I was not going to be the executive chef.
04:37In fact, Season 15 winner Arielle Malone claims she was not only kept from running the kitchen,
04:42but she was often barred from even cooking.
04:44Told she was essentially hired talent,
04:46her duties were mostly to take pictures with fans of the show and be a mascot for the restaurant.
04:51When I got there, it was mostly they wanted me to kind of like be on the floor.
04:55They didn't want me in the kitchen.
04:56They wanted me just to like take pictures and kiss babies and that kind of thing.
05:00And I'm like, no, I'm a chef.
05:02And they're like, no, you're paid talent.
05:05Accusations of Chemical Enhancement, The Biggest Loser
05:08Long before the three-part documentary about the show dropped on Netflix,
05:12The Biggest Loser and its coaches were under fire.
05:15The series, which pitted contestants against each other in a weight loss competition,
05:19caught negative press for unethical and dangerous medical interventions.
05:22But the documentary says that the medical staff on The Biggest Loser banned them
05:26because they can be dangerous in high doses.
05:29In a dramatic moment in season 15, Jillian Michaels was reprimanded and her team penalized
05:34for using them.
05:35Former participants, such as season seven's Joelle Gwynne,
05:39alleged they were supplied with stimulants and other substances to aid in rapid weight loss.
05:43While trainer Jillian Michaels later admitted to giving contestants caffeine pills,
05:47she insists those were not against the rules.
05:49They did it because they said, while they're allowed caffeine in her contract,
05:55and this is true, Jillian is not allowed to give them anything.
05:59The reportedly toxic nature of the show has since been blown wide open by a three-part Netflix
06:04documentary where trainer Bob Harper and more figures behind the show denied all allegations.
06:10I would never put anyone in harm's way giving drugs or pills to the contestants.
06:17It's all just madness.
06:21I mean, I will stand behind everything that I've ever done on that show.
06:25Kelly Clarkson's Prizes, American Idol.
06:27As Simon Cowell once said, the long-running competition series never would have gotten
06:31off the ground if Kelly Clarkson hadn't won.
06:34The domino effect, like, was crazy.
06:36I actually genuinely do not believe we would be sitting here today if you hadn't entered the show.
06:41Oh, you're...
06:42That's so bad.
06:43That's so bad.
06:43The very first American Idol champion has expressed both gratitude and frustration for
06:48the show, but the contract and record deal that came with it appeared to have been often stifling.
06:53Clarkson's post-idol contract included her appearing in the ill-conceived movie From Justin to Kelly.
06:58You cried for a solid hour on the phone with the creator of American Idol trying to get out
07:04of the contract that said you had to make the movie From Justin to Kelly.
07:08Yes.
07:09She made headlines with a recent, half-joking revelation to Traders contestant Rob Rauch that
07:13she didn't receive part of the prize she was promised as the show's winner.
07:17Is 24 years too late to make things right?
07:20And then they said you get a car and I needed it because my car was bashed in and I
07:24couldn't
07:24afford the deductible and I, and then, and no, I did not get a car.
07:29Omarosa Manigault Newman's unhinged memoir, The Apprentice.
07:33Instantly infamous for her appearance on the first season of The Apprentice, Omarosa Manigault
07:38Newman eventually landed a spot in the office of public liaison for the first Trump administration.
07:42Her disillusionment and criticism of President Trump was documented in her 2018 memoir, Unhinged.
07:48That should be alarming to any American, that the President of the United States does not
07:52know what's happening with an assistant to the President who's known him for 15 years.
07:56While her tidbits about his first presidency grabbed the most headlines, her insight into
08:01that show's production was just as juicy.
08:03Standard reality TV manipulation, such as predetermined eliminations, were just the tip of the iceberg
08:09here.
08:09I made suggestions that I thought would make our team much more successful and it was like,
08:15let's shut Omarosa up, but let's open the discussion for all of the women.
08:19Omarosa alleges multiple instances of Trump using racial slurs on camera that were, of
08:23course, never left in the final edit.
08:26So I was curious, the context in which you alleged the President used the any word.
08:30He was talking about some African Americans in the production, okay, during the course of
08:34The Apprentice, which is unacceptable.
08:36Willem spills the tea, RuPaul's Drag Race.
08:39Ever since her run on season four, spilling backstage secrets about RuPaul's Drag Race, its parent
08:44company, and even its host has become a mainstay of drag performer Willem Belli's persona.
08:48Like when they didn't pay Alyssa for Alyssa's secret, she came to me to ask how to get paid
08:52for season three and I was like, you haven't been paid?
08:56From calling out the fake story around her disqualification, to reporting on the Drag Race
09:00crew's disrespect, to mistreatment on the set, she's exposed the show's off-screen
09:04machinations consistently for years.
09:06They weren't feeding us right, they were giving us like literally $75 for 12 people
09:11to eat, that makes like $6.75 per person or something, at like 10.30 at night, they didn't
09:16know our name.
09:17Despite this, she alleges she was also led to believe that she would be on the first All-Stars
09:21season before being dropped at the very last minute.
09:23Her ongoing commitment to holding the show's feet to the fire has been called obsessive by
09:28some, and brave by others.
09:29They let me think that whole month leading up that I was going to be on All-Stars and
09:34gave me the list and everything.
09:36And then two days before I'm supposed to be there, like, yeah, it's not going to work.
09:40Producer interference, Survivor.
09:42When the blockbusting first season of the CBS survival show hit the airwaves, the question
09:46on everyone's minds was, is it real?
09:49Contestant Stacey Stillman filed a lawsuit against executive producer Mark Burnett and CBS
09:54after airing.
09:55But when the spotlight then shifts to the show itself, the controversy hits a whole new
10:00level.
10:00She claimed Burnett influenced her castmates to vote her out.
10:03The suit was later settled out of court.
10:05Eventual winner Richard Hatch claims he caught a producer breaking the rules by leaving food
10:09for his opponent, Kelly Wigglesworth, who actually confirmed this happened.
10:13Then he starts claiming that, you know, people are leaving me food everywhere.
10:17And I explained to him that I caught producers cheating and that she'd been eating, etc.
10:24As penance, Hatch claims that Burnett promised he would pay the taxes on his grand prize money,
10:29which has yet to be corroborated.
10:31Hatch has since served jail time for tax evasion.
10:34Trouble is, Hatch has no evidence to back his claim.
10:37And many of the others just don't buy it.
10:40It says in our contract, you are responsible for your taxes.
10:44The top models tell all.
10:45America's next top model.
10:47Tyra Banks and company's secrets were supposedly mostly hiding in plain sight.
10:51The list of alleged offenses against Banks, producer Ken Mock, and judges Jay Manuel,
10:56Nigel Barker, and Miss Jay Alexander were laid bare in Netflix's explosive three-part docuseries,
11:02Reality Check.
11:03There was a leak to page six that said the three of us were fired.
11:07Banks booted judges Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, and Miss Jay in a stunning top model housecleaning.
11:13When you line up the torment, body modifications, and genuinely dangerous situations the aspiring
11:18contestants were put through one after the other, it becomes impossible to ignore.
11:23Just like laying on the floor in a fetal position, just crying, and they just
11:29like get up to leave, and they both came up to me and they said,
11:32we're really, really sorry that we had to film that.
11:35The doc also sheds light on what seems to be one of the show's biggest unspoken secrets.
11:40Top model contestants were actually at a disadvantage once they entered the fashion industry.
11:44Though the doc suggests Tyra Banks knew this, the show creator has since filed a defamation
11:49suit, accusing the network of supporting a false and defamatory narrative.
11:53And so to have her, a black woman, say to me over the phone that I knew you were struggling
12:02and I did nothing about it?
12:04What?
12:05Did these stories make you think differently about any of these shows?
12:08Tell us in the comments.
12:14Let's see.
12:15Let's see.
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