10 Insane Rules TV Shows Weren’t Allowed To Break
9. An Unsettling Lack Of Privacy - Jersey Shore
Reality TV is one of the more baffling trends that have emerged from 21st century television, and it does not seem to be dying down anytime soon. The idea of following people around as they live their lives (however scripted may be) seems trite and invasive in some cases.
The latter is the case with Jersey Shore, one of MTV's most enduring (and not in a good way) reality shows. Its premise and characters are well-known at this point, so they will not be the focal point of this entry. The show's cast was not allowed to use cell phones in its early days, and in their place the Duck Phone was used.
The duck-shaped phone was the primary communication device in the castmates' house and all their conversations bar one were recorded. The latter was a strange mandate and made some newbies to the show wonder why the cast's private conversations were recorded.
This was probably a means to manufacture tension or big reveals but it was still odd to see these (sometimes) personal conversations play out onscreen.