Shhhhh!!!
MTV struck reality gold when they came up with the idea for 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. The wildly successful show wouldn't have its successful ratings without the scandals and drama the girls went through, but like they say, even bad press is good press. Anybody who watches reality television knows that some parts of the show don't happen naturally... which makes you wonder, what's real and what's fake? Is there drama behind the scenes that we don't see?
We've scoured the Internet and have found some of the best kept secrets about the MTV show that every fan should know.
Southern Mammas
Out of the 47 teen moms featured on the first four seasons of 16 and Pregnant, more than half of the girls were from the south. This means almost 30 of them were from south of West Virginia or east of Texas. Why? Southern girls have more of that famous attitude and "redneck" character that does so well on reality television.
Reenactments Galore
Kailyn Lowry almost quit the show after she was unhappy with the way her season 2 footage was edited. She said the intimate scene (a shower scene) between her and ex-boyfriend Jo was scripted because MTV wasn’t around to catch her cheating.
She also revealed that the scene where she confesses her infidelity to Jordan was reenacted, which is why she comes off so “coldhearted.” Jordan already knew about the cheating, but because of his contract, they had to reenact the conversation on camera.
Crew Members AKA Paparazzi
In order to capture as many personal stories from the girls as possible, film crews would begin following them during their fourth and fifth month of the pregnancy.
A director, producer, and camera crew would be assigned to each girl and tail them around for up to 13 hours a day. One former camera operator, known online as “Opticalsk” wrote on a Q&A chat on Reddit, “It’s one of the worst jobs I’ve had.”
Can't intervene
As a viewer, people often wondered why crew members do not intervene in dangerous situations (like the fights between Amber and Gary or when Jenelle passed out on camera while she was high off heroine). According to the former camera operator, “As a camera operator I’m not allowed to interfere. Legally can’t even hold the babies. The producer/director would interfere and shape the ‘story.'”
The former MTV employee continued to say there is a policy in place when neglect or abuse is suspected, writing, “[The] rule was to file your complaint with [the] production manager. If the production manager felt that they were legally bound to submit the complaint to the authorities they would. Of course, they never did. It took a lot of alcohol to fall asleep. I couldn’t take it half way through the 3rd season and quit.”
Dirty Moms
The ex-employee also admitted that many of the teen's houses were ‘filthy’ and ‘disgusting.’ (Leah's was by far the worst, apparently.)
He wrote: "Filthy houses (dog poop on the floor, bloody tampons sitting in a corner for months, weeks old food everywhere, etc). One of the worst is Leah (Messer), filthiest person I’ve met. When feeding her twins she would spill a bunch of cheese puffs on the nasty carpet and the girls would crawl around and suck up the cheese puffs, no hands involved. This made me cry a few times.”
Best Person to Film
When asked who the camera man thought was the most level headed, he admitted he liked Corey Simms, Leah’s ex-husband and the father of her twins, the best. “The best person on the show is Corey, Leah’s ex. Really sweet guy. He never should have agreed to be on the show," he wrote.
Crew Members Hooking up
Now this is something we've always wanted to know. Do the crew members ever hook up with the teens? "Ha. No, these girls are repulsive," Opticalsk answered. "Their friends would hit on the crew a lot. One crew member was caught in the hot tub at our hotel with one of the girls friends. He was promptly fired. They were in the tub. She asked for his age. He was 38. She started screaming and shit hit the fan."
Worst Person To Film
"Admirable qualities are rare with these girls," he began. "Kale is the most level headed and the only one who has potential in being a good mom. I would have to say that Leah is the worst. Lots of horror stories about her."
Ah Leah, at least she's grown up a lot in the past couple seasons!
What's fake?
Danielle Cunningham from season 3 of 16 and Pregnant wrote in her book, Teen Mom Confidential: Secrets 7 Scandals From MTV’s Most Controversial Shows, that producers would often purposely instigate conflict during filming in hopes of creating more drama for the show. The stars were instructed to discuss troubles in their relationships while cameras were rolling.
Ex-camera man wrote, "it’s not scripted in the way a narrative would be but the storyline is heavily produced by the director. It gets to the point where the director is feeding them lines."
Shocking Salaries
As for the girls' salaries, Opticalsk wrote, "They are making 150k and up when including the ratings bonus. Less ratings = less money for them. So don’t watch the show!"
"They make a lot," he continued. "Especially when considering where they live and the cost of living. They spend unwisely. If they were smart they could be set for life."
Sexually Abused
Catelynn Lowell's now-husband Tyler Balterra was sexually abused as a nine-year-old. He admitted, "One day I went over to her house with my sister and some other people, and for some reason or another, everyone else left but this older girl and me. For the next several hours, it was sex act after sex act after sex act. It went on all day. She had us going everything she could think of, one thing after another."
He says he felt confused: "I didn't know what the hell had happened."
All an Act
On the show, it seemed like Adam Lind vowed to file for 50/50 custody of his daughter Aubree with Chelsea Houska after he was denied the request during the season. But when filming stopped, so did Adam’s attempts to have custody of his daughter!
“Adam hasn’t filed papers or anything,” a source wrote. “Chelsea still has full custody and Adam visits every other weekend, like it’s always been. Adam is just saying he wants custody again for attention. He wants to look like a good dad to fans.”
So there you have it! Did you learn something new? If these secrets shocked you, be sure to SHARE this story!