NEED TO KNOW
How far would you go to get on TV?
A former guest on the popular 90s talk show Ricki Lake is sharing the story of how she lied to get on the show.
In the final installment of Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV, ABC News Studios’ three-part documentary about the rise of 90s daytime talk shows that aired on Wednesday, Jan. 28, Sarah Bunting — a guest on Ricki Lake in 1995 — explained the crazy story she and a friend made up to get a spot on national TV.
“I didn’t really want to go on the show. I wasn’t a huge fan of the show. Friends of mine thought it was hilarious to make up some crazy story for the ‘I Have a Secret to Tell You’ episode,” said Bunting.
In the fictional story, Bunting’s friend Kimberly entrusted her with taking her sick dog to the vet to have it put to sleep. Instead of taking the dog to the vet herself, Bunting gave the dog to her boyfriend, who purportedly hit the dog with his car, dumped it in a lake, and took Bunting out to a nice dinner with the cash she was given for the task.
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“Here’s the thing you might not recognize when you’re watching these [shows], the audience is on top of you. They’re like 4 feet away,” said Bunting. “I’m telling this story, people are crying, and they’re all right there. So I was like, well if I get caught now, I’m going to be set upon and torn apart, so I gotta sell this.”
She continued, “It’s hard to believe how little vetting was done.”
According to the documentary, Ricki Lake gained a reputation for broadcasting fake storylines over the years.
“We really tried to not let them do that [fabricate stories], but it happened with increasing frequency as guests figured out a game,” Ricki Lake producer Garth Ancier said. “There’s definitely a part of society that wants their 15 minutes of fame. How else can you explain blatantly lying?”
Halle Sherwin, another producer on the show said “Ricki Lake actually had a fact-checking department, but it’s very difficult to fact check a personal story. People are gonna get through.”
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Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV details the rise of 90s “Trash TV” talk shows, where hosts competed for the most ridiculous guests and storylines, sometimes resulting in violence.
Along with Wilkos, fellow hosts Maury Povich, Montel Williams, Sally Jessy Raphael and Leeza Gibbons also appear in the documentary, reflecting on the cultural impact and legacy of their popular TV shows.
The first episode dove into how the daytime format exploded in the ‘90s, with sex and conflict becoming key to the shows’ appeal. The second episode explores why viewers watched and why guests agreed to bare it all on air. It also told the story of the shocking incident where one guest murdered another after a taping. And the third and final episode detailed how The Jerry Springer Show brought the genre to “new levels of sensationalism”.
All episodes of Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
