It's not uncommon for reality TV shows to either be scripted or completely fabricated, and Wife Swap is no different. Based on a similar show in the U.K., Wife Swap aired on ABC in 2004 and was an instant hit in America. The show lasted six years before taking a two-year hiatus before returning to ABC in 2012 for a single season. The concept of the show was found so entertaining that the producers decided to up the stakes and made a spinoff show, this time with big-name celebrities such as Flavor Flav, Terrell Owens, Coolio, and even Alan Thicke.

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However, like most reality TV shows out there, Wife Swap comes with its own behind-the-scenes revelations that sometimes make viewers question the validity of the content they're watching. From hiring actors to play the roles within the families to fabricating dramatic situations out of nowhere, the producers of Wife Swap have had to get creative in order to make compelling episodes.

Updated Nov. 22, 2021 by Lynn Gibbs: Wife Swap was all about the differences in which families run their households. For two weeks, two contrasting families swap the women of each household so they can see how other households are run and where they can improve. The best Wife Swap episodes were filled with emotion and showed the people involved new perspectives about other ways of life. Some of the best Wife Swap episodes ended on a feel-good moment, but not all were that way. Given all the drama, though, some fans can't help but ask: Is Wife Swap real? The answer is hazy, so whether the episodes are real or fake will forever be questioned. 

Fake: The Families Are Given "Roles" To Play In Each Episode

A Wife Swap kissing in the woods outside of their home

Every family has its own quirks and personality, while some are as plain as vanilla ice cream. Either way, Wife Swap is a great, family-friendly reality TV show. The same goes for some families that have appeared on Wife Swap, which has enabled producers to take a more creative approach when it comes to each episode.

According to The List, to create a more interesting dynamic for the viewers, some families are given roles or even classic stereotypes to help ramp up the drama for the visiting wives to endure during the episodes. While this isn't the case for every family, The New York Times stated it has been confirmed by previous guest stars on the show, as well as people involved in the development, that in some episodes certain families have been given such roles such as being extremely health conscious (almost to a fault), over-the-top religious, or even extremely messy and dysfunctional.

Fake: The Producers Manipulate The Children To Manufacture Drama

King Curtis in a throwback episode of Wife Swap

Just as producers step in for reality shows like Big Brother, the same is done on Wife Swap. When things are dull, producers go to the kids first to help flare up tensions or make for more interesting drama within the show. One way to get the contestants to act out is by the showrunners to sit with the kids and ask them the same question over and over until the kids react the way they want. With how impressionable kids are, it's no mystery that they would be manipulated, according to Nicki Swift, to help steer the show in the direction the producers want.

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One of the highlighted kids on the series was "King Curtis." This young boy spent the majority of the show expressing his belief that bacon and chicken nuggets were the golden ticket to a healthy lifestyle and even further, he made his parents refer to him as "King Curtis."

Real: Balloon Boy

Balloon Boy's family smiling on Wife Swap

Wife Swap fans may remember the Heene family after they fabricated a story about their child being inside a helium-filled balloon that floated away. Their time on Wife Swap was as equally weird as they required no false family stories or actors. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the father, Richard Heene, is a devout UFO enthusiast and is convinced that Earth is not only visited by aliens on a regular basis but that humanity itself is descended from a strange alien race that once came to the planet a millennia ago.

Their unique personalities made for an extremely interesting and entertaining pair of episodes — especially when they had to share their home with a psychic who did not mesh well with them. They remind fans what a hilarious concept this reality show really is.

Fake: The Manuals The Parents Read Are Totally Fake

A man and a woman talking to kids on Wife Swap

In every episode of Wife Swap, the new wife shows up at their temporary family's home and is given a manual with all the necessary information about the family they are about to live with. This so-called manual proved that this reality show really was about changing a family's lifestyle. However, MrsAshKing did an AMA on Reddit in 2015 and said that the manual is created by the producers, not the wives.

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It's one of the most convenient ways for them to change the way the families are portrayed, as well as being a good reference guide for the families themselves for their new personas. The new wives are given these manuals before they even meet the families, so it's the perfect avenue to help create these false first impressions.

Fake: The Producers Leave Out Important Information On Purpose

A couple in orange talking on Wife Swap at home

A lot of editing goes into making TV shows. If they showed all the content they filmed, each episode would take hours to watch and would make it be way more different.

A clever technique that is used during development is for the showrunners to leave out certain information, not only to help make the families personas more convincing but also in some cases to change the dynamic of the families entirely. One perfect example of this was in an episode where the family was portrayed to live secluded from the world in a treehouse. According to East Bay Times, they made it apparent that the father was the only one allowed to venture in to town to get the supplies needed for their survival. Turns out that was not the case at all, as the mother had a full-time job and all the kids even attended the local public school.

Real: Too Real For Anna Courtenay

Anna Courtenay talking to the cameras in Wife Swap

Anna Courtenay, a TV presenter in the U.K., came to this realization too little, too late and ended up regretting it entirely, according to Standard. Courtenay had a familiarity with the British reality TV business and knew there would be some catch to her being on the show, however, she had no idea what the producers had planned for her.

In the episode, Anna was sent to live with an environment-friendly family who lived on a tugboat without electricity or running water. To her horror, she found out that the family shared one towel between every family member. When the time came for her to implement her own rules, she asked for cleaning supplies and was only given air freshener, which conflicted with the family's rules entirely. If it hadn't been for the contract she had signed and the likelihood of losing her compensation, she would have walked away from production.

Fake: One Wife Was Replaced With A Man

Wife Swap digital promo picture

Wife Swap has had its fair share of scandals. One of the highlights of these created a lot of controversy for the show when one of the wives was replaced with a man, making both of the husbands appear to be in a same-sex relationship.

According to Pink News, Jeffrey Bedford sued ABC's parent company for being "misled" by producers. Instead of swapping with a heterosexual couple, the person taking the place of his wife was a gay man. Bedford claimed he was threatened by producers to go along with the surprise or there would be financial damages. However, Wife Swap notes that the wife swapped could be male or female, making Bedford's suit invalid. Regardless, it goes to show that even producers get involved in the drama, but it also proves that Wife Swap could've been a reality TV show with better LGBTQ+ representation.

Fake: Rule Changes Aren't Natural

A family walking down the driveway on Wife Swap

One way Wife Swap likes to shake things up is by implementing rule changes during the episode. As it turns out, rule changes are another scam. The way it works on air is that about a week in, the new wives are told that they can add their own rules to the household that their new families must adhere to. To create as much controversy as possible, the rules the new wives add to the house are generally opposites of the ones already in place.

However, in the AMA by MrsAshKing, it looks like the rules are actually created by the producers in an effort to spike tensions and create some entertaining drama for the viewers. Some examples of these rule changes would be 'no eating meat' in a family that is big into hunting or a strictly regimented schedule for a very laissez-faire family.

Real: Stephen Fowler Lost Everything

Stephen Fowler and his family standing outside on Wife Swap

Stephen Fowler is someone who was later given the nickname "the worst husband in America," according to No Valley Voice. During the episode, he was instructed by the producers to play the role of an uptight and extremely tough-to-love husband and father, which he did perfectly. Before the show was even finished premiering, he started receiving threatening phone calls, e-mails, and Facebook messages that started his unfortunate downfall.

According to Fowler, when the filming became dull a few days in, the producers began to instruct him to take things further and be as over-the-top as possible to help create drama for the show. It ended up being a big mistake on his part and he regrets being a part of the reality show. It would later end up costing him not only his relationship with his real wife but also his career.

Fake: The Spouses Occupations Aren't What They Seem

A family standing outside of their home for Wife Swap

It comes as no surprise that the producers would go to such lengths as to adapt jobs for the adults to embody, especially after everything else they come up with, according to TV Over Mind.

Of course, it comes with a purpose as they choose certain occupations in order to make them seem uptight and professional or crazy and out of their minds. It undoubtedly added an element of excitement to each episode that would be easy to pull off.

Fake: They Use Basic Set Manipulation To Recreate Day And Night

A woman at a restaurant with a screaming child on Wife Swap

Besides coming up with altered occupations, fake drama, and tense situations, this controversial reality TV show's production crew had to also create a false sense of reality by creating artificial sunlight and darkness when needing to film scenes in daylight and at nighttime.

Due to their long rigorous filming schedule, sometimes when they would be filming at night, they would need to reshoot daytime scenes and vice versa. To achieve this effect, they would use simple studio techniques such as setting up many powerful lights outside windows to mimic sunlight and vice versa.

Real: A Woman Sued The Show For $100 Million

Alicia Guastaferro dressed in a tiara for Wife Swap

Not everyone left Wife Swap having a good experience. One stand out is Alicia Guastaferro, who felt she was represented in such a false light on air that she ended up suing the show for $100 million, according to TMZ.

Alicia was underage at the time of the episode's premiere, meaning that her parents were the only ones to receive compensation. On top of that, she claimed that after starring on the show she was bullied, which ruined her confidence. According to her, the show made her out to be some sort of spoiled and entitled 15-year-old girl who had to have her way and made her parents' lives a living hell. The lawsuit was settled in 2011.

Fake: Celebrity Wife Swap

Sean Lowe and his wife in a confessional for Celebrity Wife Swap

Turns out that even celebrities aren't spared from being given the "lifestyle makeover" that comes with being on Wife Swap or Celebrity Wife Swap.

In fact, according to some of the celebrities who have appeared on the show, they are "directed" even more than the usual families. However, once the contract is signed, they are legally obliged to follow through or potentially face a lawsuit. One prime example of a Celebrity Wife Swap gone wrong is the episode that starred The Bachelor's former leading man Sean Lowe and his wife Catherine. Sean's replacement wife was surprised on the first day to receive a "to-do" list from Sean that had some over-the-top requests that made his wife look more like a maid than a life partner. After the episode aired, People noted that Sean Lowe took to the Internet to combat the animosity he gained from the episode by telling the public that it was all a hoax and he never gives his wife a list at all.

Fake: Timeline Editing

A group photo of a smiling family on Wife Swap

Besides finding ways to steer certain scenes and interactions in the directions they want, they also edit the overall timeline of filming in order to suit their needs. According to Nicki Swift, the show claims that the filming takes place over the course of a few weeks, but in reality, it usually doesn't take any longer than a week to get all of their scenes captured.

They rearrange scenes to add different angles of drama, trick the viewers into thinking it's day or night when it's really not, and they even bring their own array of props to further fool the viewers — all in order to complete the narrative for the families that they decide on before the production even starts.

Real: Unfortunate Turn Of Events

A group photo of the Stockade family on Wife Swap

According to Us Magazinethe Stockdale family appeared to be an average family with a devoutly religious background, even playing in their own band: The Stockdale Family Band. They did have some strict household rules such as no video games or TV at all, however, it turns out all the safeguarding the parents did for the kids wasn't enough.

Jacob Stockdale, one of the sons, began to deal with severe ridicule and bullying in the time after the show aired. Everyone who knew him had always said that he was a very happy young man. Eventually, all the negativity mentally broke Jacob. One day he went too far and committed terrible crimes against his family. It is easily one of the most tragic stories regarding the families involved with Wife Swap. No one could have guessed that Wife Swap would become a dangerous reality TV show.

Fake: The Families Are Shown A "Fake Family Cut"

A group photo of those from Wife Swap in a promo

Most families that have been on Wife Swap have said that if they knew how they were going to be portrayed on the show, they would have never agreed to go on at all. The producers are aware of this and to avoid risking losing their investments, they have been confirmed to show certain families an entirely different cut of the episodes that is nothing like what the final cut shows on TV, according to a Reddit AMA.

Nicki Swift noted that there have been a few lawsuits against the show, which never amounted to anything for the families involved since they could never actually prove that they were shown a "fake cut" to keep them happy.

Real: The Fosters

A promo for Wife Swap

Like the U.S. version, U.K. Wife Swap has also had its fair share of broken lives and families due to the backlash from the episodes. Simon Foster and his wife Jane decided to appear on the show with a girlfriend for the both of them. However, the way they portrayed their open relationship humiliated Simon. The episode made it quite clear that Jane was much happier with her own girlfriend than Simon was with his.

After the show premiered, Simon and Jane eventually split up and Jane pursued a private relationship with her girlfriend. Simon spiraled downhill from there and had a devastating ending, noted The Daily Star

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