‘Are You the One’ Is Chock-Full of Drama, But Not Scripted, Former Cast Members Say

Are You the One fans have often speculated the dating show is scripted because the drama never ends … season after season. That would seemingly be the case, but former cast members have spoken out about their experiences and claimed the series is the real deal. 

Is ‘Are You The One’ Scripted?

AYTO premiered in 2014 and has stood out among the rest of the popular love-inspired reality shows with its eighth and most recent season airing in 2019. The series was first on MTV, but now seasons 1 and 2 have been added to Netflix, leading viewers to wonder about the authenticity of the show yet again. 

Although reality TV has a reputation for being fake, past stars from Are You the One said producers are capturing genuine moments shared between them. “I have a lot of viewers asking me, ‘The show’s fake, right? It’s scripted.’ It’s nothing scripted. Nobody told me what to say. Nobody told me how to act,” Giovanni Rivera from season 4 told International Business Times in 2016.  

What Has the ‘Are You The One’ Cast Said About If the Show Is Real Or Fake?

“What you’re going to get from the show is you’re just going to get that authenticity of 20 young people going through it because we went through hell and back. There [were] a lot of tears,” he continued. “A lot of blood. There [were] points throughout the experiences where you start to lose hope.” 

In retrospect, Giovanni said the highs and lows were daunting at times, but that’s what made it so compelling to watch. “There’s points where you [try] to be positive and you get dragged down and there’s points where we do something good, and it was such a rollercoaster ride and it’s draining. Nobody can prepare you for that … You cannot prepare yourself for an experience like this.” 

The show uses a dating algorithm to help singles that are looking for love by finding their perfect match. After doing in-depth interviews, questionnaires and compatibility testing, the contestants slowly have to figure out which partner is right for them all while trying to win the $1 million group prize. 

Tori Deal, another season 4 alum, said it definitely gets intense when cameras are rolling and feelings are at stake. “People felt like they were in love. People felt like they hated people,” she said about her time on the show in the IBT interview. “It’s really real. It was really real for me.”

Most cast members have insisted the show is authentic, though nine stars from season 5 – which remains the only cast to not win the $1 million – claimed to Daily Beast in May 2021 that production company Lighthearted Entertainment prevented them from winning the prize in order to make the season more dramatic.

The former contestants also claimed that the company threatened to withhold their small stipend for appearing on the show if they didn’t go along with the producers’ plans.

More recently, season 9 star Eduardo Dickerson Jr. opened up about his recent experience on the show and was “surprised” how the show edited his fellow costars. 

“You would think that reality show producers would use all messy footage of contestants and present it to the world. You can’t hide when you’re being recorded 24/7,” the New York native wrote via his unverified Twitter page in January 2023 after watching episode four. “I’m excited to see what makes the episodes as anyone else, but from my vantage point, I’m surprised what DOESN’T make it. THE DRAMA.” 

While season 8 concluded on MTV in 2019, the show returned for season 9 on Paramount+ in January 2023.