Though it might be all glitz and glamour on-screen, filming for the Real Housewives franchise is nothing like the final product seen by the audience.
According to Real Housewives of Toronto alum Kara Alloway, there’s plenty going on behind-the-scenes that we never see – from in-depth psychological assessments to manipulation by show bosses.
Spilling all exclusively to Daily Star, Kara explained: “Before you even start filming, you do a psychological assessment and a physical assessment.
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“The physical makes sense. I met Kiefer Sutherland when he was filming in Toronto, and he was at the same physician that’s known for doing these physical assessments – for the insurance.
“Because if you have something that’s going to prohibit you from filming, they’ve invested a lot of money into filming so they want to make sure you’re good.”
(Image: Getty Images)
“But the psychological assessment was two hours long, and the deepest one I’ve ever done. I kept trying to second-guess, like, ‘Why are they asking me this?’
“They said the reason for it was because the backlash on social media from trolls is really harsh. ‘We want to make sure you can handle it.'”
But, curious to know what was written about her, Kara demanded her records after filming wrapped – and the first line read: “Kara Alloway has a very high emotional intelligence”.
The Simple Life producer Jonathan Murray, at a TV production seminar years later, told Kara: “The number one thing you look for in a villain is a high emotional intelligence.”
(Image: Getty Images)
She revealed: “I was the villain before we even started filming. In the psychological assessment feedback, they listed my fears – large spiders, driving on the freeway, and other people’s big dogs.
“The first two scenes I had to film, I was in the park with large dogs, and then taking a phone call in my car while driving on the freeway.”
In addition to strict assessments before Kara even got into filming the show, another strange on-set rule meant certain artworks couldn’t be shown on camera and had to be removed from her home entirely.
“They’re very picky about what they’re filming, you have a set decorator who sets up the traditional house.
“They take all art off the wall if they can’t contact the artist and get clearance from them. So there were some paintings they couldn’t get clearance for; my son had all sorts of Super Mario on his walls and they said his room was a nightmare.”
Kara also exposed how show bosses manipulated her to look like the villain in the editing process, including one scene with her own dog.
“The camera is always on, and the mics are always hot,” she revealed.
“I have a big dog of my own, and big dogs like a kennel. The door is always open, but it’s his space where, if he felt nervous, he could go lie down; his bed was in there.
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“So the camera crew comes and says, ‘Kara, we’re going to be filming today. We’ve got so many cords, can you put your dog in the kennel, because we’re really worried he might bite a cord or something?’
“Then it was, ‘And you’d better shut the door because we don’t want him to trip over him. So in the show, what they end up filming is my dog locked in a kennel.
“I cannot tell you how many people were like, ‘She is a horrible person’ after that.”
Kara’s experience of playing the villain came in useful when penning her debut novel, Most Hated – which is available in all good bookshops and online.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
