Entertainment

Was The Cheating Scandal Her Idea?

by Lia Beck

Since the premiere of her new show on April 22, rumors have surfaced that Tori Spelling faked the cheating scandal with her husband Dean McDermott in order to land a television show. The show, True Tori , is described by Lifetime as "Intimate, raw, emotional and completely real, Tori will tell her story for the first time as it should be told—by her." The fact that the entire show is based on Spelling explaining things that the tabloids have already reported is a red flag — Shouldn't there be more going on? Even the Kardashians use their sponsored family trips to build drama — but would they really fake the entire scandal?

Here are some reasons the scandal may or may not have been faked by Spelling and McDermott:

Not Fake: Spelling Is Not A Good Actress

Spelling is not a fantastic actress, so she should be smart enough to know that she wouldn't be able to pull off such an intensive farce.

Fake: Spelling Is Not A Good Actress

But if she did fake the scandal, then her bad acting made that apparent on the show. As Jezebel reported, her opening monologue speech for the first episode was supposed to seem spur of the moment, but was clearly memorized.

Not Fake: That Would Be Insane

Spelling and McDermott had a reality show before on Oxygen which ran for six seasons. It could be that Spelling and McDermott wanted another show so badly that they would do anything, but doing anything is absolutely crazy. They have four kids that, if they weren't already going to have issues because they were filmed on the first reality show, would absolutely end up with some emotional problems if their parents faked a cheating scandal for a second show.

Fake: That Would Be Insane

They did already subject their children to another reality show for six years (well, the ones who were born at the time) and, not only that, they subjected themselves. You have to be a little crazy to be on a reality show about your personal life for six years.

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Fake: Spelling Has Admitted To Lying Before

In her tell-all book, Spelling It Like It Is, Spelling wrote of a photo shoot,

For the Us Weekly photo shoot the next day, my publicist had given me clear instructions as to what I should say about my weight loss. Women didn't want to know that I had lost weight through dieting, not exercising. I didn't want to be the asshole who didn't work for it. So I said that I swam. It was sort of a bad choice. I can't do much more than doggy-paddle.

Not Fake: Some Sources Said It Wasn't Faked

A source who spoke with E! Online said, the "drama and problems are definitely real." Another added, that the scandal and McDermott's rehab stint were "not fabricated just to sell the show."

Fake: The Sources Were Anonymous

They could be Spelling and McDermott for all we know!

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Fake: Spelling Has Admitting To Exaggerating For Reality TV

In the book she also wrote,

As most people know, the lines of reality and reality TV get blurred. Our lives might be interesting enough for TV, but there is still no such thing as straight documentary, ever, in film or TV... I'm Aaron Spelling's daughter. I knew how to write the story. I knew what would tug on heartstrings.

Not Fake: Maybe She Was Just Lying In The Book Too

Spelling wanted the book to sell, so maybe she exaggerated some facts. It could be she wanted to paint the behind-the-scenes of reality TV as scheming and dramatic. If that was a lie, then her current reality show could be very real.

Not Fake: The Format Of The Show

True Tori is filmed as it goes along meaning that the show started airing while future episodes were still being shot. As Lifetime explains, "Since viewers will be seeing events almost immediately after they occur, nobody knows how the drama will unfold—not Tori, not Dean—and only time will tell if Tori and Dean’s marriage survives."

Fake: The Timeline Is Screwy

McDermott was said to have checked into rehab before Christmas, but he was active on social media until January. On January 9, McDermott and Spelling were seen smiling while leaving a rehab facility which lead Jezebel to believe that they were location spotting.

It's unclear whether the entire thing was faked for the show, but there's some good evidence that True Tori isn't just Tori Spelling talking about her life without a script or any pre-established scenarios. The show's finale might shed some light on that. If they don't end up back together, it was probably real. They can't go for a second scandal unless they patch things up in between.