People are Afraid of Reality

The first year I was shooting Til Debt Do Us Part was a real learning experience for me. So were years two and three. I vacillated from having the time of my life to just about popping my cork.

Maybe my biggest lesson was how much “fake” stuff existed in TV Land. Yah, I know, TV isn’t real. So why do they call it Reality TV?

I was determined that the work I did would be useful, true and REAL. It wasn’t always easy to make real Reality TV. But with a strong team and a firm commitment, we decided to do the impossible… create a TV show that would reflect what was actually happening in people’s lives. But it wasn’t always easy.

When you hear me tell people just what Dumb Bunnies they are, that’s real. And when they look stunned at the numbers I’m showing them. That’s real too.

One of the funniest things we noticed while we filmed the show was how people responded to the screen that I use to show them their numbers. The shooter-boys, Adam and Ben, would set up the shot, decide where we should all stand, and light so that you can see a twinkle in my eye. We’d start and I’d show my couple their first screen. As we moved from screen to screen, the couple would inadvertently back away from the screen – almost to the point where they were out of camera range. We would have to stop shooting to reposition them so they could see the screen properly, and the camera could see them. It seems there was just too much reality in them thar numbers.