Ex-Contestants From Pimp My Ride Reveal The Show Is Nothing Like We Thought
Pimp My Ride was one of the shining lights of ’00s reality TV — but it may have been nowhere near as ‘real’ as we thought! Several ex-contestants — including Seth Martino, Justin Dearinger, and Jake Glazier — have spilled the beans on what really went down at West Coast Customs. Don’t worry, though — ya boy Xzibit comes out smelling of roses!
40. The contestants always knew MTV was coming to their door
Contestants being astonished to see Xzibit at their door was a hallmark of Pimp My Ride, but it wasn’t quite real. You see, they’d already been picked by MTV and knew that, when they opened the door, it would either be Xzibit or a gift card/prize — this way their surprise was at least partially genuine. Oh, and the house wasn’t even theirs — it was rented by MTV!
39.They were often coached into their excited reactions
The ecstatic reactions when pimped rides had their big reveals were often contrived. Glazier told HuffPost that his first try was too muted, so, “Big Dane, very big dude, he… walks me around the shop for like ten minutes and he’s like, ‘Listen, we put a lot of work into this. We expect you to be a little more… enthusiastic.’” Cue another take and a much more obviously excited display!
38. Contestants were given topics of conversation
None of the interactions between Xzibit and contestants were scripted — but they weren’t entirely off-the-cuff either. In reality, the contestants stayed within the confines of the ‘character’ producers had chosen to depict them as possessing. For example Dearinger revealed in his Reddit AMA, “All they gave me was a topic and we just went with it. My topic, obviously, was the ‘hopeless romantic.’”
37. Their self-shot audition videos weren’t quite “real”
Pimp My Ride led viewers to believe the contestants were chosen because of the audition videos shown at the start of the show. This is where they would plead with MTV to choose their cars to be given a makeover. But here’s the thing — all these audition videos were professionally shot. The contestant had obviously already been chosen by the show!
