Rebroadcast: How “real” is reality TV?
Apple News In Conversation
Apple News
4.2 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is an episode from our archives.
Reality shows — like Survivor, The Bachelor, and Love Is Blind — are some of the most-watched TV series in the U.S. But how much “reality” is actually being shown? In her book Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV, New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum reveals how this industry came to be and takes people behind the scenes of some of the top reality series. Nussbaum speaks with guest host Sam Sanders about the most surprising aspects of this divisive genre.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, it's Shemitha here. This week, we're bringing you an episode from our archives, |
| 0:06.0 | all about reality TV. With Love Island USA, arguably the show of the summer, officially |
| 0:11.6 | wrapping up its reunion this past week, we thought it was the perfect time to revisit this |
| 0:15.7 | conversation about how reality TV gets made, what it reveals about our culture, and why shows like Love Island |
| 0:22.4 | keep pulling us back in. The episode was hosted by Sam Sanders, who filled in for me during |
| 0:27.2 | part of my maternity leave last year. I hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:34.2 | This is In Conversation from Apple News. |
| 0:40.6 | I'm Sam Sanders, sitting in for Shumita Basu. |
| 0:44.3 | Today, how real is reality TV? |
| 0:51.2 | All right, I will admit as we start this episode, I am a big reality TV fan, really big. |
| 1:02.9 | But dear listener, even if you don't watch reality TV, you know it. The Bachelor, Survivor, |
| 1:10.0 | love is blind, Vanderpump Rules, all the Real Housewives, |
| 1:14.5 | I could go on. All of those shows I just listed, they rank among the most popular TV shows in |
| 1:20.6 | the U.S. year after year. But, and we've known this for a while, there are big questions about just how real these reality shows are. |
| 1:30.4 | Heavily edited would be an appropriate term. |
| 1:32.9 | Things were cut and edited a certain way. |
| 1:36.1 | So much of it was not what I remember doing and saying. |
| 1:39.1 | It was mentally taxing. |
| 1:40.8 | Physical and emotional manipulation tactics. |
| 1:43.4 | I felt worse than I've ever felt in my life. |
| 1:46.2 | I felt like there wasn't a fair shot for us. |
| 1:48.6 | The whole experience is hell on earth. |
... |
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