'Love After Lockup' Is as Real as Possible, but It's Heavily Edited

The WE TV series Love After Lockup is all about couples who meet when one of them is behind bars. While it is a more unconventional way of meeting someone, some people believe that the reality TV show isn't so real.

Many reality shows have a bad rep for being scripted for views or for scenes that are done multiple times over to make sure they're just right. Reports say the show is as authentic as possible, but some people think some of the relationships are faked to make the show more interesting.

Over the years, Love After Lockup has been accused of hiring actors to play the everyday people on the show. On the 2020 season of the show, Michael Simmons meets Sarah's new boyfriend, a guy named Malcolm Woolridge. But Malcolm is said to be an actor. 

He's supposedly listed as an actor on Facebook and it's said his mother said that he's been working on new "projects." But no one has openly confirmed or denied if this is true.

Even if Love After Lockup is 100 percent real, editors of the show may make it seem fake or present situations in an inauthentic way. We TV hasn't said anything about the editing process of the show. 

Many fans in the Love After Lockup subreddit also feel like the show is fake. One thread talks about how editing on an episode featuring Shavel Moore and Quaylon Adams shows Shavel's hairstyle looking one way, and in the next scene, it looks completely different. It also changes color from red to black. 

The post calls it an editing error, but there are so many differences in Shavel's appearance here, it looks like a huge oversight. And because there's such a big difference, there's the question of what fans would have seen if that first scene was finished and what was missing from the beginning of the second scene.

Michael and Sarah may have been in love at one point, but now, that's far behind them. After Michael cheated, the two ended their marriage. Currently, the two are co-parenting their daughters but Sarah has said the situation is difficult. 

In an interview with Screen Rant, Sarah says that it's been difficult raising kids alone during the coronavirus pandemic. 

"One of the biggest things I was worried about was their mental health," Sarah said. "How I'd be able to portray what's going on, explain and have them understand, that's been tough. But honestly, in the quality time that we have been able to spend together because I'm not as busy because I lost my job, I've learned so much more about my kids. I've been able to actually enjoy my children, and that's been a good part of it, even though it's completely exhausting."

But, Sarah's getting help. She told Screen Rant that her sister moved in and has been helping her. "She decided to temporarily move in and help me with my kids, and that has been the most appreciative thing ever," Sarah said about her sister. "She decided to temporarily move in and help me with my kids, and that has been the most appreciative thing ever."