– IGN has another preview of WWE Tough Enough up this week and has comments from show producer Eric Van Wagenen.
Regarding the show exposing too much of the wrestling business, he said WWE had a consulting producer on the show to monitor things like that. Van Wagenen said:
“We have a consulting producer that if he thinks we’re drawing the curtain back too far, you know, he just sort of says it, and I don’t really question it. Certainly we want WWE and the executives there to feel comfortable with what we’re showing. To me, [Tough Enough] is about these personal stories that these people have. It’s a hard life. It’s a really hard lifestyle, and it’s hard to break through that, much like any kind of professional sport, and in particular something that’s so sort of personal and you walk out into that ring practically naked and you expose yourself; you know, emotionally you do.”
Van Wagenen also said the only person that chooses which contestants stay or go is Steve Austin. He said:
“The only person who makes those decisions is Stone Cold Steve Austin,” Van Wagenen said. “Obviously, Steve can’t be there to see everything that goes down 24 hours a day. So there is some sort of information that gets funneled to him from the producers. I think that, if I can borrow from the wrestling vernacular, if it’s a work, nobody’s going to want to see it as a reality show. My goal is to make it a reality show. And so, with Steve as the judge and jury, we have to empower him that way.”
