The Bachelor: aka an alternate reality in which everyone travels with their own personal lighting director

As a film student, lighting is one of the first elements of a screen work that I notice. When it's done well, essentially, it should not be visible. But in the age of reality television, the line between fantasy and reality has become blurred when it comes to lighting.
I have just finished watching the most recent episode of the Bachelor. My thoughts on the harmful effect that reality dating shows have on society (and how I secretly love them) I will save for another day, but I what I did notice -- more than usual -- were the very clever lighting tricks and set ups being employed by the crew behind the Bachelor.
In one particular scene, Bachelor Richie and his most mysterious bachelorette Olena are sitting and eating a picnic together in a park near her family's home. They are surrounded by beautiful dappled light, and are shaded from the bright summer sun by the trees they are sitting underneath. The lighting crew have expertly made this scene look natural and seamless. But it takes a trained eye to realise just how artificially crafted this particular scenario is. If the lighting were as 'natural' as they are making it seem, Richie and Olena's faces would be barely visible under the shade of the trees. There is undoubtedly some poor production assistant charged with the task of holding a reflector up out of view to make sure that the dappled sunlight falls onto their faces as if it were magically coming from underneath them as well as above. It is also very possible that a few warm fill lights have been secretly placed around their picnic spot to enhance the 'sunlight' effect.
The lighting on Olena in her close up is notably artificial, adhering to the standards of appearance that we, as a society, have placed on women, and anybody filming these women for their screen works. If these people were presented as they naturally appeared on the shoot day, it would be subject to public ridicule. Which brings us back to the harmful effect this can (and, I daresay, does) have on society. Rationally, we know that what we see on TV is not real. But the lines are ever blurred in the exponentially growing sector of reality TV. It is presented to us as at least kind of real, however ridiculous. And with reality TV becoming more popular, more lucrative and more ubiquitous, where will this leave us in 5 years time?
I shudder to think.