The Rehearsal is a HBO show that allows contestants to play out significant moments in their lives before they happen. The idea is to prepare the contestant for a particular event. For instance, in episode 1, Kor plans to reveal to his close friend that he’s lied for years about having a master’s degree.
The show’s creator, comedian Nathan Fielder, recreates an exact replica of the bar where Kor’s encounter will occur. Kor then rehearses the confession to a female actor playing Kor’s friend. Later, we view the real encounter to determine whether the preparation worked.
Nathan’s show is outrageous and utterly confusing yet surprisingly intriguing.
The Rehearsal is both scripted and unscripted.
The Rehearsal is both real and fake. Nathan claims the participants responded to an ad on craigslist and decided to participate in the experiment. They are real people with real issues about to make potentially life-changing decisions.
The series uses actors and props to recreate certain moments, so we believe that part of the show is scripted. However, the real encounters that follow are not scripted.
Some fans on the internet allege that the entire series is a rehearsal, and Nathan will eventually reveal that the contestants were actors. Given the show’s outlandish nature, that theory seems plausible. A user tweeted:
“Does anybody think there’s a chance we get to the end of The Rehearsal and Nathan explains that the whole show was fake the entire time?”