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I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain by Courtney Robertson

If there’s a juicy drama this summer that’s not yet on your radar and 100 percent should be, it’s Lifetime’s new series UnReal. The dark new satire strips popular reality dating shows (read: The Bachelor and The Bachelorette) down to the bone, giving us the behind-the-scenes look we’ve been dying for thanks to its show-within-a-show premise. If you aren’t dialed into UnReal yet, here’s a quick breakdown: UnReal takes places on the set of the “hit dating show,” Everlasting, and follows the trials and tribulations of the producers, show runners, the bachelor and the contestants as they navigate filming the show all while dealing with their private lives.UnReal is helmed by former Bachelor producer Sarah Shapiro and the incomparable Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Private Practice, Mad Men) and has everything you need to get hooked. I’m talking drama, intrigue, cat fights, sex, secrets, lies and (spoiler alert!) death. Yep, UnReal just aired episode 7– and already there’s a dead body! The show is so insanely good, that even the cringe-worthy moments have you cheering. Don’t believe me? Check out the trailer.

Thanks to Shiri Appleby (Producer Rachel), Freddie Stroma (Bachelor Adam), Constance Zimmer (Executive Producer Quinn) and Josh Kelly (Cameraman Jeremy), you’ve got a powerhouse cast that makes every single scene worthy of applause. With the addition of fabulously talented ladies like Breeda Wool (Contestant Faith) Nathalie Kelley (Contestant Grace) and Ashley Scott (former Contestant Mary — missing you already, girl!), UnReal lives up to its name.

credit: Deidhra Fahey

UnReal‘s Breeda Wool credit: Deidhra Fahey

“It’s a very wild and clever deconstruction of how you get these contestants, some of which are there for love and some of which are there for notoriety and fame and attention, to become caricatures,” Wool explains to us. “[The show] shoves them into these stereotypical boxes, such as the virgin, the slut and the bitch, and each contestant has a predetermined stereotype about how these producers are pushing them into these boxes. It’s totally bizarre and dark and a very clever show.”

In perfectly timed fashion, UnReal airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EST immediately following The Bachelorette, which is currently airing its 11th season. It’s almost a surreal experience to switch from what we believe is “reality” over to a scripted series that owns the fact that it’s producing a “reality” show, which is manufacturing its own drama. (Is your head spinning yet? SO meta!)

I sat down to watch the first episode, not totally knowing how I’d feel about the whole thing. After all, I am a diehard Bachelor/Bachelorette fan, so my curiosity was piqued but I was nervous the show just wouldn’t hit the marks. Well, I’m here to tell you, Lifetime nailed it. UnReal’s own “reality” show, Everlasting, says what everyone has known for years but just chooses to ignore: that “reality” dating shows aren’t really reality at all, but the manipulated and sometimes scripted outcome of the machinations of producers and on-set handlers.

So just how real is the drama that we’re seeing on the set of Unreal’s Everlasting? Does this stuff actually go down behind the scenes of your favorite dating shows?

“When I watch UnReal, I get the sensation that an entire other group of people are actually making the story after [the actor does his/her] part,” says Wool. “It’s like a relay race. The roll of Rachel Goldberg is definitely fictitious, as well as all of the inner-workings with her and the contestants and her strife. The things that the show really hinges on are all fictitious. Now in terms of dealing with how television is made, when I watch the episodes I’m like, ‘Whoa, that’s not how I remember it happening.’ So there is an element of just being a human being making TV, where you get the finished product back and you’re like, ‘What was that?’”

Lifetime has already picked up UnReal for a second season (Yay!) and I personally am entirely on-board for an Adam/Rachel relationship, including all of the amazing fall out that will come from it. But if my opinion doesn’t hold enough weight, maybe you can take the word of a particularly well known Bachelor Nation member, none other than Courtney Robertson, The Bachelor season 16 winner and former fiancè of Bachelor Ben Flajnik.

“I am watching UnReal,” Robertson spills to us. “I just watched this week’s episode and holy unreal! I went to their premiere and met some of the cast and I love it. I’m so hooked. Obviously some things are a little bit over the top, but there are definitely some things I’ve seen where I’m like, ‘Oh my God, they totally do that!’ The storyline of the main character Adam and the suspense building with the producer, Rachel, is really interesting. I just wonder if that’s ever happened. I’ve never heard of anything like that, but it makes for such good TV and the acting on it is so good. I would love to be on that show or be a consultant for them. I’m just so hooked. It’s so well written and I can’t wait to watch every week.”

Now that I think of it, I honestly only have one complaint: Sorry Brennan Elliott (Host Graham), but you can never live up to THE Chris Harrison! No one presents the Final Rose of the Night quite like Chris.

Main image: Joseph Viles/Lifetime Television

Recommended reading:
I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain,
Courtney Robertson (Dey Street, 2015)

o-COURTNEY-ROBERTSON-570In I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends, Courtney Robertson reveals exactly what led up to her break up with The Bachelor‘s Ben Flajnik, including the journey of falling in love with Ben and where it all went wrong. From Robertson’s ultimate decision to join the show, which she backed out of a couple of times, to ultimately becoming a contestant and being cast as “the villain,” she finds a way to share every little detail, making you feel like you were there with her. This tell-all page-turner needs to be on your TBR list immediately.

 

Buy this Book!

Amazon
I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain by Courtney Robertson
Publish Date: 1/6/2015
Genre: Potpourri
Author: Courtney Robertson
Publisher: Dey Street Books
ISBN: 9780062326680
Beth Wasko

Beth Wasko is a lover of all things books, TV, movies and music. She’s obsessed with traveling, photography and scrapbooking. When she’s not at her day job, she’s catching up on the latest “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” news (read: drama!). Known as “The Real G.G. [Gossip Girl]” by her nearest and dearest, this former New York City gal is always looking for the next new adventure, even if it means it’s within the pages of a novel.

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