Here’s How Reality TV Casting Directors Decide Who Makes the Cut
How are you unique and interesting? Why do you want to find love? How do you think you’ll play this game?
The Emmys have nominated a wide array of reality programs for outstanding casting direction. From “Squid Game: The Challenge,” which needed to find over 400 participants, to “The Amazing Race,” which needed to find teams willing to race across the world, the demands of casting reality series are incredibly specific. And yet, there’s a lot of overlap in the questions they all ask potential players.
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IndieWire reached out to all five Emmy-nominated casting teams about what questions they use in auditions at the initial stage of casting and also the questions they use at the final stages of the process. From “Love on the Spectrum” to “The Golden Bachelor,” each of the casting teams’ approaches were strikingly similar.
At the end of the day, reality series casting is about finding folks who can be their authentic selves, whether the cameras are on or off. Goloka Bolte, part of the casting team for “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” told IndieWire that they’re always looking for folks who are already their own No. 1 fan. “As Mama Ru says, ‘If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love somebody else?’ Having self-love (or being on the journey towards it!) is the foundation not only for being successful on Drag Race but also for being an inspiration to those watching!” Bolte told IndieWire.
It’s not just relationship reality series that look for that kind of self-love, although “The Golden Bachelor” and “Love on the Spectrum” both did. According to casting director Jesse Tannenbaum, one of the questions that “The Amazing Race” team asks in the final stage of casting is, “How would racing around the world with your teammate affect your relationship?”
“The dynamic of each team is incredibly important,” Tannenbaum told IndieWire. “While casting any show, we are always looking for that ‘diamond in the rough,’ which is challenging enough when you are just looking for one person, but for this show, we need two diamonds who happen to also share a very special and unique relationship that is also relatable to the audience.”
Just like scripted series, reality shows have to create a balanced cast with a number of archetypes, so that every member of the audience can relate to and root for somebody. As Robyn Kass, one of the casting directors for “Squid Game: The Challenge,” pointed out, a reality series’ cast shapes the show’s tone and direction. Ideally everyone, even those out in the first round or only part of the show briefly, will have stories that casting teams believe will resonate with the challenges the show sets and the audience who watches them.
“Casting for reality shows is much more than just finding attractive people or picking individuals you like,” Kass told IndieWire. “There is so much that goes into finding each person. There is research, outreach, interviews, phone calls, pitch sheets, and pitching, but it doesn’t end there; if people are approved, then they must go through background checks, psych evaluations, and medical examinations all to make sure they are a viable candidate for the show. During this process, some people will fall out, and others may not pass certain qualifications.”
Kass and fellow casting director Erika Dobrin needed to complete this process 456 separate times for “Squid Game: The Challenge.” On a show like “Love on the Spectrum,” which doesn’t need to pull nearly as many contestants but does need to find them among a population who don’t often see themselves as reality TV show stars, the casting process doesn’t ever really stop.
“We are always open to new people coming our way, and specifically when it comes to finding matches for our main cast,” Cian O’Clery, “Love on the Spectrum” co-creator, told IndieWire. “As we film with them and get to know them more and more, and they get to know more about their own preferences (many are dating for the very first time), we are always ready to pivot and do our best to find the right match for someone, which means casting continues throughout production.”
Bolte said that the process for unscripted casting wasn’t entirely unlike investigative journalism. “We’re looking for ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ stories and hidden gems who may never have considered being on TV. And once we find them, we need to get them to open up in an on-camera interview and tell their own stories, so sometimes we feel more like psychologists than casting directors,” Bolte said.
Drawing out confidence from potential participants with great stories was the key for “The Golden Bachelor” casting director Jacqui Pitman, who said the team needed to take a more deliberate approach, unlike most dating shows on TV, which draw on people who are (usually) actively dating already.
“Many people over 60 have stepped away from the dating scene. As a result, we relied heavily on referrals and nominations from loved ones. Our line of questioning, while similar, had to be adjusted as well. We were dealing with individuals who had 30 to 40 years of romantic experiences to reflect on, so our interviews took much longer to get a snapshot of their lives,” Pitman told IndieWire.
It’s not just a snapshot that casting directors are looking for, either, but for what that snapshot can teach an audience. “For this reason, we always want a super diverse cast so everyone has a voice and all stories and experiences are represented,” Kass said.
That diversity requires diversity within casting teams, too. O’Clery stressed the importance of having both neurodiverse members on the team for “Love on the Spectrum” and neurotypical folks with autistic loved ones; because everyone’s experience of autism is different, the behind-the-scenes team needs to have different points of view while all still speaking a similar language.
Tannenbaum told IndieWire that while he’s ultimately the person bringing “Amazing Race” candidates to the powers that be, “each of us has a different perspective on what makes a great duo for ‘The Amazing Race,’ and we listen to one another,” Tannenbaum said. “The casting process is a collaborative effort.”
In the final round of their casting process, all five Emmy-nominated casting teams ask some version of “What are you hoping to get out of this experience?” The potential cast members’ answers might differ wildly, but the casting teams’ hopes for finding people with great stories are the same. So is the effort to actually find them.
“People often think casting is all fun and games, but we are typically working against a ticking clock. When we take on a project, we commit to sometimes delivering over 100 people to narrow it down to a final cast of 10. We face strict deadlines and work long hours, often six to seven days a week,” Pitman said. “Sometimes I even forego my salary to ensure we deliver what we’ve contractually agreed to within the set timeframe. It’s a demanding grind that I genuinely love and enjoy. It’s just not as easy as it looks.”
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