Most people would think that auditioning for an MTV reality show would be somewhat glamorous, but one person recently revealed that their time auditioning for the turn-of-the-century fever dream Say What? Karaoke was anything but.
The MTV reality show ‘Say What? Karaoke’ pitted amateur karaoke singers against each other
Say What? Karaoke premiered on MTV in 1998. It was a spinoff of the popular reality show Say What?, where music videos for songs with fast or hard-to-understand lyrics were shown with the lyrics shown on the bottom of the screen.
Regular people, typically college students, would sing karaoke and then receive critiques from the judges. Celebrities like Shia LaBeouf and Ashlee Simpson appeared as guest judges, and Say What? Karaoke was hosted by a series of stars like Boy Meets World actor Danielle Fishel, Dave Holmes, and singer Joey McIntyre.
It ended in 2003, but a reboot series, SWK 2.0, was launched in 2007. It was hosted by Saturday Night Live cast member Mikey Day and featured celebrity judges like Tiffany “New York” Pollard and Danity Kane member Aubrey O’Day.
A former contestant says those auditioning ‘were locked in the room for the whole day’
Even though competing on Say What? Karaoke seemed like a lot of fun, a past contestant shared that the audition process was a little stressful. They wrote that auditioning was like the “cattle calls” they’d experienced when auditioning for musical theater productions (per BuzzFeed).
“We were all in a huge room together, and your ‘audition’ was in a three-sided cubical facing a camera,” they continued. “You couldn’t hear yourself, and we were all locked in the room for the whole day. There were no snacks or water, and if you left, you weren’t allowed back in.”
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While they didn’t make the cut to get on Say What? Karaoke, the show asked the rejected auditioners to come back and serve as audience members during the taping of episodes.
“When that day came, filming was long, and they bribed us to stay energized with high-ish end prizes,” they laughed. “I still have the Donna Karan evening purse I got tossed for faking excitement.”
Other MTV reality show stars share their stories, from ‘The Real World’ to ‘Laguna Beach’
MTV started by showing music videos from popular acts of the day, but quickly became known for its reality shows. Buzzfeed featured another story about someone who knew a guy who almost made it onto The Real World, a show where a group of young people live together in a house and are filmed non-stop for months.
“He got pretty far in the [audition] process,” they shared. “They didn’t end up picking him, but he said that he could tell by the way they talked to him in the interviews that he would’ve been portrayed as the ignorant, small-town guy.”
Other former MTV reality show stars have spoken out against the shows they were on. Kristin Cavallari, who appeared on Laguna Beach and The Hills, said the shows were “taking advantage” of the young people who starred in them (per Fame10).
