Is Prison Brides real?

Prison Brides features the real-life relationships of real inmates, but it seems like the show may take some liberties with its editing.

For many, there is nothing quite as enticing as watching someone else’s problems play out on television.

And since Lifetime’s new docuseries, Prison Brides, spotlights the trials and tribulations of seven different unconventional couples – there is certainly more than enough relationship drama to go around.

The show’s first season follows Erin and Michael, Jessica and Craig, Emma and Curtis, Svea and Joseph, Olivia and KJ, Andrea and Cage, and Gabby and Jamal, as they try to make their relationships work despite the fact that all of the men in these relationships have been incarcerated for serious (and often violent) crimes.

How real is Prison Brides?

If you have found yourself scratching your head over why these women would choose prisoners as partners, how these couples even got to know each other, or even how this could all be real – you are certainly not alone.

But, in the end, it seems like although Prison Brides does get to cherry pick just the juiciest parts of these relationships to showcase on screen, many aspects of the show are indeed much more “real” than they seem.

Prison Brides season 1

So far in its first season, Prison Brides has showcased incredible grand gestures, such as the women in these relationships travelling across the world to visit their inmate other halves, and many happy moments, such as the releases, pregnancy announcements and even a few engagements. But there have also been a fair few low points.

If you want to judge for yourself whether you believe that these moments are truly real, you should ensure that you are all caught up with all of the season one episodes. The episodes that have aired to date are:

Why did the cast of Prison Brides agree to do the show?

Whenever a new reality television show appears on television, there are always concerns that the cast members may be fabricating their unconventional lives for attention.

And while there is no real way to prove what the Prison Brides cast’s true intentions are, some of the show’s cast members have discussed their reasoning for sharing their stories so publicly.

When Emma appeared on the Tamron Hall Show, she explained that she had decided to do the show in order to show that Curtis “is actually a real person” and “an incredible human.”

And Gabby has shared that she and Jamal agreed to share their love story on Prison Brides because they hoped that the show would help them to get more eyes on Jamal’s case.

The convictions are real

As difficult as it may be to imagine that Prison Brides somehow found seven international women who had gotten into serious relationships with seven different real inmates in the United States, it seems like this part of the show is entirely real.

In fact, if you really want to fall down an internet rabbit hole, you can find news articles about many of the Prison Brides inmates’ real arrests.

This includes Cage’s case, which made headlines back in 2014, Jamal’s case, which is available on the Michigan Courts website, Curtis’s case (which made it all the way to Fox2Detroit) and many more.

It seems like the show gets creative with the editing

While none of the Prison Brides cast members have let anything slip about the show being scripted or staged yet, some of the show’s stars have spoken out about the way that it is edited.

Jessica recently took to her private Instagram account to let her followers know that she had had a truly unenjoyably day on set.

According to Jessica’s version of events, she felt “forced” to talk about certain things and her boundaries were completely disrespected.

Jessica added that she had spent “8+ hours a day filming each meticulous detail to see 2 mins of it make it to screen”.

Interestingly enough, Gabby said something similar during a recent interview on the Kiki and Kibbitz YouTube channel, where she clarified that the show had not given much detail about what had truly happened during Jamal’s trial.

So it seems like while Prison Brides is not exactly “fake.” the show is not giving us the entire story either.

• Also read: Prison Brides’ most interesting characters