Now, I think it could be fake on 2 different levels:

(1) The ‘accidents’ that occur are actually written into the script, because the whole suspense of the show comes from “Is he going to figure it out?”
(2) Chase is just another actor, in on the whole thing from the beginning.

I think (1) is fairly certain. The scene where the deaf girl jumps and puts her hands over her ears at the sound of a champagne cork? Nobody has an exaggerated reaction like that! Also, all of the actors must have failed improve class because they are constantly giving each other glances, snickering or whatever.

Which brings us to point 2. In Tuesday night’s episode we see several of the actors smirking and laughing in the back seat of the van at Chase’s reactions. Yet, Chase should be able to clearly see them in the rear view mirror and would wonder why they are doing that. There are lots of other little suspicious things and it would seem to be a lot safer to just script the entire show when you have that much invested in it. Certainly wouldn’t be the first time a ‘reality’ show was almost completely scripted.

I loved the first two seasons, especially season two when the woman figured it all out midway through and they incorporated her into the cast (luckily, they had two Schmos that season). And let’s not forget, season one gave us our first glimpse of Kristin Wiig on national television! The appeal of watching it, for me, isn’t really the Schmo but seeing how everyone reacts when things go wrong and how quick they are on their feet to get things back on track. But I don’t know why they cast the guy who plays Randy. He was on Notes from the Underbelly> Even I recognize him!