The Truth About 'The Girls Next Door' And Why Fans Think It's Fake
Ever since shows like The Real World, Survivor, and Big Brother popularized the genre, so-called “reality” shows have been a television staple. Of course, there are many reasons why so many “reality” shows are in production at any given time. For example, that kind of show tends to be relatively cheap to produce and fans often care very deeply about their favorite “reality” shows since they feel like they are investing in real people.
Even though “reality” shows are sold to viewers as being depictions of real people and events, many of them shouldn’t be taken at face value. After all, it turns out that many so-called “reality” shows actually are a lot more fake than fans want to accept. For example, in the years since The Girls Next Door ceased airing new episodes, the show’s fans have been given reasons to believe the show was very fake.
How The Girls Next Door Became A Success
When the first issue of Playboy was published in 1953, the magazine easily could have been a massive failure. Thankfully for all of the people that would go on to work for Playboy at some point, the magazine became massively successful. In fact, Playboy was so popular that even the magazine’s publisher Hugh Hefner became so famous that he was a household name by the time he passed away.
In recent years, many people have been looking back on Hugh Hefner’s life in a new light. For example, many people now realize that Hefner’s entire lifestyle was a genius branding move from the very start. After all, it seems very clear that Hefner worked hard to make people associate his name with beautiful women, The Playboy mansion, and bathrobes.
After years of marketing himself to people, Hefner’s efforts arguably reached their zenith with the release of the “reality” show The Girls Next Door. A show that was based around Hefner’s relationship with his “girlfriends”, The Girls Next Door attracted viewers by offering them a chance to get a look at life inside The Playboy Mansion.
Was The Girls Next Door Fake?
When The Girls Next Door was on the air from 2005 until 2010, most of the show’s viewers thought they learned a lot about who Hugh Hefner’s famous girlfriends are as people. In the years since The Girls Next Door ended, however, some of the show’s aforementioned stars and the people who made the show have talked about the series’ production. As a result of some of the resulting comments, it seems pretty clear that The Girls Next Door was a fake “reality” show.
In March of 2021, The Girls Next Door star Kendra Wilkinson and the show’s executive producer Kevin Burns were interviewed by Andy Cohen for his show For Real: The Story of Reality TV. Amazingly enough, Wilkson and Burns were both very open about how fake The Girls Next Door actually was. For example, Wilkinson revealed that the relationship she had with her co-stars onscreen was completely fake.
"On camera, you saw us together and it was the trio. Off-camera, we would just disappear into our own little world. We just never bonded. We were not friends." Of course, if Kendra Wilkinson was the only The Girls Next Door star who claimed that the show was fake, it would still be possible to conclude that she was misrepresenting things. However, Wilkinson’s former co-star Holly Madison has revealed how manipulated The Girls Next Door actually was. Considering that Wilkinson and Madison feuded off and on for years, it says a lot that they agree about The Girls Next Door being fake.
In 2015, Holly Madison released her memoir “Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny”. In the pages of that novel, Madison revealed several secrets about The Girls Next Door’s production. For example, Madison revealed that Hugh Hefner created “characters” for the show’s main stars to play on camera. According to Madison, Hefner told her "Kendra Wilkinson is the one who wants to have fun, Bridget Marquardt is the one who wants a career, and you're the one who cares about me."
As The Girls Next Door fans will no doubt remember, things seemed pretty emotional during some episodes of the popular show. According to what Madison wrote in her book, however, on at least one occasion she was upset because the show made her feel like a fraud. "I was crying because of what a farce this whole thing was and how stretched thin my nerves were at that moment."
Still not through, Holly Madison revealed that the depiction of Hugh Hefner’s behavior as a boyfriend was far from accurate since she claims he was “abusive”. Despite how he really conducted himself, Hefner insisted on being portrayed as a wonderful boyfriend during episodes of The Girls Next Door. "Hef was adamant that no real drama or 'negativity' play out on the show. We were to be depicted as a happy family, blissfully sharing our boyfriend at all times...He wanted to be portrayed as the best boyfriend ever."
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