While the show had an excellent idea... the show is an absolute crock. While I don't think it is actually scripted, you can pretty well bet that everything in it is pretty well faked.
Of the first 15 contestants, 8 of them are from California or New York... two of the biggest states for wanna be actors or actresses. A ninth lives less than an hour outside of New York in Jersey.
Arthur "Red" Vanwinkle - Was on last year "The Blue Grass Boys" a reality tv show about pot growers in America...
Dedeker Winston - A professional Actress (albeit poor) and professional model...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3515790/
http://www.modelmayhem.com/1748674
Robert Hospidor - Contestant on another Fox show, "My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss"
Nikki Noce - A health nut doctor who has been featured on many things
http://www.drnikkinoce.com/media/
Bella Betrand - Real name Anne Scoville, another failed actress/model, though she does have real estate advise in her resume
http://www.exploretalent.com/annescoville
http://abcmastermarketing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=77
Not saying that some of these people on the show aren't "legit", but it does seem that some people were thrown in just to keep things interesting, and might be following some loose script to cause conflict within the show...
On a side note...
Taylor Vaugh - Listed himself as an MMA fighter, Utopian profile says "loves cagefighting" ... dude has an amatuer career fight time of 62 seconds, where he tapped out. 0-1 amatuer career.
