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I'm quite sure that these people ARE for real, for the most part. Of course once you put cameras on them you're guaranteeing that they're not going to react perfectly naturally to all situations. And there are a few examples of people who are obviously not trying to be taken seriously -- i.e. Puck -- but in general it would actually surprise me a lot if these people weren't at least 90 percent genuine.
First, MTV deliberately casts for people that are going to be overdramatic all the time. Second, they put them in a situation where most people would overreact to stupid stuff -- crammed into a house where they're sharing bedrooms (NO privacy), no television, no music, you have to get permission from the producers before you leave the house, you have to work with these people . . . And third, it's 18 minutes of footage each week. You take six of my friends and me and put us in a house together for a week and I'm sure you could cobble together 18 minutes worth of drama. Easily.
Besides, if MTV was making this isht up, we wouldn't be subjected to things like THREE episodes of the Paris season devoted to who was slacking on their deadlines for the book. MTV could make up some more interesting stuff than that.
I do think that MTV does some "influencing" of minor players -- like when NO Melissa revealed that their boss was a major jerk to them on camera but totally nice off camera -- but I think that the "seven strangers" are, well, pretty much being themselves.
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