Is 'Supermarket Stakeout' Real? Here's the Truth

June 2024 · 4 minute read

'Supermarket Stakeout' is a highly addictive pageant display, however occasionally lovers question simply how real the fact display is. Here's what we all know.

Stephanie Harper - Author

One of the most appealing aspects of reality TV is the incontrovertible fact that cameras observe real other folks in real-life scenarios, giving us a glimpse into their private lives and emotions along the manner. Many of us have come to simply accept that almost all reality presentations are not solely real (finally, there is a lot that goes into setting up scenes and getting the proper shots). But if we come to find out that a truth show is too staged, it has the attainable to turn audience away.

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Supermarket Stakeout, hosted via the superb Alex Guarnaschelli, is a Food Network festival that first premiered in 2019. Four cooks come to cook dinner in a grocery store parking space, and their main ingredients can most effective come from the buying groceries baggage of random other folks leaving the retailer. Each contestant is given $500 with which to go on a spree off of apparently unsuspecting strangers. But are those customers extra in-the-know than the show would really like us to consider?

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Is 'Supermarket Stakeout' real or scripted?

One of the causes fans of Supermarket Stakeout are questioning the validity of the display is a Reddit thread which went poking holes into its believability. According to the thread titled "My neighbor's son worked on Supermarket Stakeout — and it's 100 percent bulls--t," a Redditor explained what she heard via a conversation with a member of the display's group.

"I met [my neighbor's] son who came home for Labor Day weekend, just talking across the fence," they wrote. "He said they filmed many months ago and the entire show is bulls--t. I'm afraid to say what he does, in case my details get him in trouble with the production company. But he worked behind the scenes."

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The Redditor endured to say that everything on the display is deliberate prematurely, with "customers" in truth being paid cast individuals who arrive ahead of filming for hair and makeup.

"The production staff puts together each cart of items," they added. "Each round, they have each customer line up with their corresponding cart. Each customer/cart has a preset time to come out and get approached by the contestants."

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Here are some other hints that the display may well be staged.

The Redditor broke down a few other pieces of knowledge that may disclose more perception into how staged Supermarket Stakeout really is.

"Notice that there isn’t an instance where two or three customers come out at the same time," they wrote. "It’s all conveniently spaced out, one customer at a time for the contestants to approach and film."

The publish continues to spotlight a number of different things that audience may not realize to start with glance, together with:

[Editor's be aware: This Reddit thread was once first posted a number of years ago. In recent seasons of Supermarket Stakeout, you do see contestants purchasing frozen pieces off of shoppers and there have been people whose faces had been blurred out, albeit few.]

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The submit additionally issues out that the shoppers are usually dressed in nicer outfits than what many people wear when going to the retailer on the weekend. "Absolutely none of the customers are in sandals and basketball shorts," the Redditor wrote.

Despite some lovely convincing arguments that the display is set up in some ways, the reaction in the remark phase used to be normally positive. After all, staged television does not necessarily mean unhealthy television.

"This actually makes me want to watch the show even more," one consumer wrote. "The only part that bother[ed] me was walking up to complete strangers and asking for their stuff. So, if that's all scripted, I feel much better about it.”

Just as staged television doesn't mean bad television, staged TV also doesn't mean scripted TV. While many aspects of Supermarket Stakeout might be planned ahead of time, the contestants are still cooking and don't know what ingredients they may get. "It's a cooking competition the place the chefs don't get to pick out their very own components," another user added. "Everything else is simply amusing/foolish window dressing."

Perhaps user jedikitty put it best: "It's simply something a laugh to watch because I really like Alex." (We second that!)

New episodes of Supermarket Stakeout air on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on the Food Network.

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