Reality television often isn’t. All those fights on Lizard Lick Towing are as real as The Undertaker vs. HHH. That’s why they call it “Not Reality. Actuality.”
If you talk to any fighter who has been a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter they will tell you that nothing is faked. And they will also tell you that editing can exaggerate what happens.
In fact, on TUF, reality can even defeat attempts to act.
When Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva were opposing coaches on TUF Brazil 3, it was intended to be the hated racist against the beloved national hero. But Chael is actually a nice person. And Wand actually has human problems. So despite the producers’ attempts at creating drama, Chael came out of the show more popular, and Wand less so, with the Brazilian audience.
Chael was upset about that intrusion of reality into the world he scripts so brilliantly.
The latest season of The Ultimate Fighter features UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and challenger Claudia Gadelha. In the second episode, Jedrzejczyk tells the Brazilian to “go back to the Jungle because that is your place.” Then she threatens to spit in her face. Jedrzejczyk chews out her own team, and berates the opposing coaches. She seems a little like a bully.
It is possible too that at other points Jedrzejczyk brought plates of steaming, homemade Galumpkis to all members of the cast and crew, and that that was left out in the interests of creating compelling drama.
But at no point was Jedrzejczyk handed a script and told “It’s time for a Heel Turn, we need you go South Pole – threaten to spit on the other coach’s hair, no, her face, that’s better, and disparage her country.” Still, selective editing does shade scenes significantly; the Pole appeared recently on Steve Cofield and RJ Clifford’s SiriusXM Fight Club, and said she is not happy with how she comes across on the show.
“I don’t watch TUF,” she said, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “I don’t watch it because I don’t like how they show me… I know the stories, I know the things which happened so I’m not watching because what I saw in the first two episodes I wasn’t happy with that so I’m not watching this.”
“I heard every day that I’m a very good coach, that I’m a very good partner for my teammates and for my fighters but they show on TV that I’m a bad person but I’m not. So that’s why I’m not watching this. I’m focused on my preparations for my upcoming fight with Claudia Gadhela and I just want to make sure that I’m gonna be at 100 percent and you’re gonna hear ‘and still’ on July 8th.
“The second episode, or the third, I saw that I was jumping to one of Claudia’s coaches but the story was different. They started the fight. I’m the champ. I became the champion a long time ago. You know I’ve been working so hard for my title and I cannot let Claudia or someone from her team jump to me. You know what I mean. They cannot push me, they cannot yell at me. I’m kind of tough girl and they cannot just play with me. When you’re nice to me, I’m nice to you; but when you are not nice, I’m even worse.
“People just see tense situations in the TUF program. They can see that I am bully but it wasn’t like that. Don’t trust everything you see on TV.”
“They can show in a few ways that I was a good coach, that I was a good teammate for my fighters, that I was fighting with Claudia but they still could show for example that I had good relations with the main coach of Claudia Gadhela or that I did some other good stuff for my fighters. But I don’t mind. I have a fight coming up soon and people are still gonna love me for what I’m gonna do to Claudia on July 8th.”
“It was an amazing time. I spent an amazing six weeks with the fighters, with the teams, with the crew. I don’t blame Claudia, I don’t blame the TUF people, I don’t blame myself because I did my job. I said what I said and that’s all.
“I would love to do this again. Even if they’re gonna show me as this person again because I know who I am. I am who I am and I know who I am.”
Joanna Jedrzejczyk fights Claudia Gadelha at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale on July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada. And if you take any single thing from what the champion said, let it be this – “Don’t trust everything you see on TV.”
