By now, we all expect so-called reality shows to be heavily produced, but even shows such as The Real Housewives feature what seem to be actual fights, regardless of how provoked they may be by producers. This does not seem to be the case with the now defunct Restaurant Stakeout, the Food Network show that supposedly outfitted restaurants with NSA-level surveillance in order to catch employees doing some dirt. According to The Journal News (via Reality Blurred), a show participant alleged that "none of it is real."

Another restaurateur featured on the show, Lucia Ivezaj, of Mount Ivy Cafe, seemingly corroborated that claim, explaining that she was "told what do, how to act," and had to "change clothes every couple of hours, pretending it was another day." She also claimed producers hired a waiter who "dropped food and drank on the job after lying." Of the phony waiter, Ivezaj said, "They wanted a lot of drama, and unfortunately we don't have drama here. So therefore they made some of their own drama."

On top of all of that, let's pause for a second to see who they got to host the show. According to the New York Daily News, before restaurateur Willie Degel became successful with his steakhouse chain, he was convicted in 1994 in "a federal credit card fraud trial with Louis Ferrante, a crony of John (Junior) Gotti, the Gambino boss' son." The following year he was indicted on "federal hijacking and robbery" charges, and the year after that he was accused of being involved in the beating of an off-duty police officer. Granted, we're not saying that proves anything shady about his TV show, but it certainly doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence.