'Worst Mistake of life': TikToker Heidi Mae says 'Wife Swap' used her traumas for drama
TikToker and Influencer Heidi Mae has opened up about the time when her family appeared on the reality show 'Wife Swap'. It seems that it was not a pleasant experience for her as she does not have anything nice to say about the show and her experience working with them.
Over a decade ago, Heidi appeared on the sixth season of 'Wife Swap' which featured two families who switched wives for a specific period of time. She was 20 years old at the time and grew up performing in the family's traveling theater show called 'The Caboodlestoppers'. In the show, Heidi's mother and the mother of the other family exchanged their places. This was done with the idea that if Heidi's 'clean-cut family' and the other 'rule-free family of low riders' will swap moms, it would create a high-tension reality drama show.
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On TikTok, Heidi said, "It was the worst mistake of our lives." Before entering into the show Heidi's family had to take a 700-question psychiatric evaluation and sit into a session for an hour with a psychologist face-to-face. This was done to make sure that the people participating in the show are 'mentally sound enough' for the experience.
She revealed that the fears and trauma which she shared in the psychological interview were told to the 'other mother' who came to live with them. This was then used against her to create more drama on the show.
While sharing with her viewers on TikTok, she said, "growing up traveling full-time, I get really lonely sometimes, so when I feel alone, it makes me cry, it makes me really sad." She added, "And I kid you not, the first, the first conversation with the 'other mother', she... looks me dead in the f**king eyes and she says, 'you are alone. Nobody cares about you. You have no friends. I don't care about you'. And I just f**king broke down."
The accusation that her psychological evaluation was exploited for television is not an accusation made for the first time. In recent times, this accusation has been made against several television reality shows.
'Wife Swap' ran in the United States from 2004 to 2010. Previously, the show faced a lawsuit filed by a teenager who appeared on the show. The teenager claimed that the producer purposefully, intentionally, and knowingly caused severe emotional and psychological harm to her and the aim behind doing this was to earn more TRPs and profit. Later, the suit was settled outside of the court.
In 2019, Heidi told The Natural Aristocrat® that she "learned the hard way that reality TV is a story that producers want to tell. And they will accomplish that story by whatever means necessary."