Performances. Competition. Judging other people. These are the reasons we all can't help but love talent competition shows (or "shiny-floor shows," as they're technically called). But what if I told you they're... not exactly as they seem?
Well, you're about to hear some *insider info* that boils down to, yeah, these shows can be deceiving — straight from former contestants themselves. User u/jake2897 asked, "Redditors who have auditioned for a talent show such as America's Got Talent, The X Factor, etc, what goes on backstage that we don't know about?" Here are the wildest answers:
Disclaimer: Though people claim to be speaking from their own experiences with celebrities, BuzzFeed can't confirm the validity of these stories.
1. Contestants' choice of songs to sing isn't endless... copyright laws make this part a bit selective:
"Licensing the song is always quite interesting. For the biggest part, contestants who passed the auditions can't sing whatever they want. It has to fit the narrative, and for the biggest part they have to choose songs from a list of pre-licensed songs.
FYI, songs from The Beatles won't be licensed at all. As far as I know, the same goes for Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson songs."
2. You barely get enough time to properly show them your skill:
"My wife auditioned for American Idol. She said it was just a massive line to get in, and when it's your turn to sing, you have only a few seconds before they shuffle you out. First impressions are absolutely everything."
3. Contestants who start out performing badly and improve as the episodes go on were probably just good all along:
"One day before class started, this guy Tom announced that he was going to audition for X Factor. We all knew he was going to bootcamp.
At this unrecorded 'pre-audition,' he sang Make You Feel My Love by Adele, which I know he can sing amazingly. The producers made a deal that they'll let him pass to the real audition, only if he sang Listen by Beyoncé. They said things like: It wasn't good, but raw, and that is what X-Factor is all about. You are like a diamond that needs to be polished. You got that 'it.'
He didn't want to do that song, so they told him that he will get disqualified if he didn't do the song they wanted him to do. TL;DR: producers lie and try to make you fail."
4. The panel of judges is, more than anything, just there for show.
"The role of the jury is probably the most fake of the show. Their roles are scripted, and their choices are the choices of a group of producers/editors. That's where they have numerous meetings about, and the stage jury is only involved in the final stage."
5. If you're trying to get famous from the show, you seriously need to be *the real deal*:
"I had a friend a while ago go and audition for one (I think it was America's Got Talent, not sure though), and he was a very, very good singer.
Anyway, he went and auditioned, and went through some stuff, and they told him that, while he was good, but they usually take people that are either absolutely fucking amazing, or absolutely terrible, and he didn't fit into either of those categories."
6. The waiting is LONG. Like, days of no sleep, without a promise you'll actually be seen:
"A long time ago, when reality TV was still new, i auditioned to be on the second season of American Idol in New York City. After not sleeping for two days so that I could wait in the line, I was told that I had an exceptional voice, but that New York was already booked solid, so I should travel to one of the smaller auditions and do it all over again, and that they'd be willing to film me for that.
I politely turned them down because I had a job and bills and responsibilities, so I was never on the show."
7. And waiting in the lines might be a complete waste altogether, because there are secret preliminary rounds that count much more than the "auditions":
"I worked for America's Got Talent in San Antonio, and one of the people who worked full-time on the staff told me that those who just show up to audition have almost 0 chance of actually making it in front of the judges.
There is a preliminary round that is not filmed for TV, where thousands of people show up, and pretty much all the ones that make it through to the TV rounds are people that the show reaches out to themselves. It's mostly people they discover on YouTube."
8. Simon Cowell's opinion of you MATTERS. He pretty much holds your future in his hands:
"A friend of mine got through to the bootcamp stage of X Factor and did pretty well. He was talented, but for whatever reason, Simon Cowell took a dislike to him and this made things a million times more difficult for my friend."
9. In addition to contestants, they also choose "understudies" after the unrecorded screenings and auditions, just in case:
"Some people either can't make it or get stage fright. The people on reserve are like understudies — they get stage prepped (told where and when to hit their marks, how to use the mics, and get a sound check), but they may not go on.
I was 4th reserve at the day of filming. 3 people didn't show for check-in and stage prep that morning, so I didn't go on."
10. The producers reeeeeally want to see you cry — even if they have to cause that reaction themselves:
"Behind the scenes and between takes, there was a team who worked for the show whose specific job was to make people cry. Literally, they would go around and ask horrible questions and put people down to make good TV. Really not a job for nice people."
11. It literally takes months of auditioning until you actually start shooting — oh, and you better prepare more than one genre of songs:
"So I've auditioned for The Voice a few times. It starts with mass auditions all over the US. Afterwards, the producers would either let everyone leave or hold someone back. There, you would do a different song from a different genre.
Next, you wait a few weeks for the callback on their proprietary sign-up site. At that callback, they fly you to LA for 2 days and you preform a full act for the executive producers. Then, they send you back home. Wait 2 more weeks, then when you get a call back, you're either confirmed for shooting, on reserve, or you get no call back."
12. Once you've actually reached star-level, there's not much regard for your friends back home:
"A friend of ours was on one of those shows, and once he got to a certain level, they had him change his email, phone number, everything. He was removed from his normal circles, and we haven't heard a word from him since, besides what we read about him or see on the interwebs. Kind of a bummer, really. We really liked him."
13. Certain contestants are... luckier... than others. Like, their luck is put in writing.
"Some people get contracts that guarantee them they'll reach a certain stage.
My dad is a performer, and sources reached out to him guaranteeing him he'll reach semi-finals if he does his professional performance onstage at the show.
Several of my dad's students have actually performed at these shows to get some TV publicity for their professional acts. Their success is all agreed upon before they even meet the 'jury.'"
14. Winners have to sign with a particular label or accept a certain deal, which might not bode well for them in the long run. So it might be best to shoot for 2nd or 3rd.
"My cousin was actually a winner of Canadian Idol when he was younger. Unfortunately, when you win, you have to sign with the Canadian Idol record label, and they really screwed him over. They took a ton of money from him and eventually went bankrupt and pretty much ruined his career, while the 2nd- and 3rd-place contestants went on to be quite famous.
It's too bad, really. He's since gone back to school and has a great job, but he never really sings anymore."
15. Contestants who aren't "good" might have a better chance at progressing.
"My friend was a decent singer, good enough that she earns a living singing. She applied and got turned down from X Factor. She didn't even get through to see the judges you see on TV.
That means when the really bad people are on the show, they are selected because they are bad. For laughs. Feels pretty mean spirited to put people up on a stage to laugh at them. I haven't watched anything like that since then."
16. If you haven't gotten this already, there's pretty much nothing real about the auditions — not even the location where it's filmed — and the shows are no stranger to autotune:
"A friend who is a musician was a featured audition on one of the shows. They specifically contacted her agent to cast her. She was paid for her 'audition,' and accommodated for travel/lodging.
The TV show said she auditioned in Miami, but she actually was in LA with a backdrop they changed for different locations. Also, they ridiculously autotuned her voice, and it barely sounded like my friend's live shows. She also had makeup and wardrobe, a rehearsal for an audience, and a filmed it three times. There was nothing 'off the streets' of that audition."
17. They aren't afraid to prioritize sad stories:
"A friend of mine was on American Idol a few years back. He has an amazingly soulful voice and I've personally seen him sing. Dude is straight-up good.
He made it through the first 2 rounds, but had no back story. Good parents, upbringing, job. All legit. They went with another, less-talented guy because he had lost his mom a year earlier."
18. Voting is pretty much a sham — even in countries where there are laws enforcing fair voting:
"By law (at least in the UK, following some high-profile scandals) nobody can fake or misrepresent the votes cast. To get around that, they have multiple methods of trying to boost or depress certain acts' vote share each week. Many people aren't 'voting for their favorite' so much as being manipulated into not voting for certain contestants."
19. Audience reactions aren't actually real, as seamless as the edits look:
"When the audience is seated before auditions begin, they spend an hour or so filming audience reactions, asking them to cheer or boo. If it isn't obvious enough, audience reactions on AGT are heavily edited and aren't actually the true reactions to the act that's 'onstage' during the episode."
20. Arguing is the *key* to good TV — and producers know that:
I auditioned for the very first Apprentice. I flew to Denver and took it very seriously. At 22, I was already a book-worthy success story.
They interviewed us in groups and didn't care at all about our accomplishments; we had enough to get to that table, and from there they just wanted us to bad-mouth each other. Every question was to get us to argue and bad-mouth each other."
21. And finally, they shoot scenes more than once — even the ones meant to look quick or hectic:
"I was on the Queen Mary in Long Beach once when they were filming American Idol auditions. I remember them shooting a thing where, just after the judges see the person audition, the person runs out of the room to their family/friends that are waiting outside all excited and screaming because they got put through to the next round. Must have filmed them running out of the audition room at least 10 times."
I hope I didn't just completely shoot down your hopes at making it on one of these shows. If I did, my bad! At least you're more well-informed now. I know I definitely have more appreciation for the contestants.
