Written By Brianna Yellen and Robert Brooks Cohen
Directed By Alex Chapple
A contestant on Heart's Desire claims she was raped, but when SVU questions the man who was involved with the victim, they discover he is innocent and that it was another man in the house who committed the crime in a bid for more media attention. All the while, the executive producers of the show hide evidence from the police and put the blame on their producer to save their own skins.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: Near the beginning of the investigation, Fin Tutuola postulates that the rape allegation could be fake since everything on reality TV is fake. This is interesting since his actor, Ice-T, starred in at least 2 reality shows himself.
- Answer Cut: After watching a few seconds of "Heart's Desire", Benson asks the waiter to turn it off and asks rhetorically (and with mild disdain) to Tucker who even watches that kind of show. Cut to Rollins and Carisi at Rollins's home watching said show.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Lizzie Bauer (played by Larisa Oleynik) appears perpetually stressed and almost on the verge of tears when talking to the NYPD and angrily snapping at the reality stars.
- Disapproving Look: Upon hearing that Rollins and Carisi had dinner the night before, Fin gives both of them a Meaningful Look of suspicion, and even after Carisi clarifies that nothing happened, Fin still didn't believe them, letting of a disbelieving "Mmmm hmmm".
- Fall Guy: Well, the fall GIRL. The Executive producers set up Lizzie to take the fall. The SVU catches them by having Lizzie film a confession from them admitting that they set the whole thing up.
- Last-Second Word Swap: While being interviewed by Rollins, Gigi admits to hooking up with Ryan in his room. She said that she "blew his...mind".
- Slut-Shaming: Par on course for an SVU episode, the victim is subjected to this from her co-stars, the producers, and the host.
- Take That!:The episode is one to The Bachelor and Reality Shows in general.
- Too Hot for TV: Downplayed In-Universe. At the start, the producers show sex footage from The Dream Suite. In reality, this would lead to the producers and the network getting penalized by the Federal Communications Commission
for showing an actual sex act, which could fall under "Indecent Content" or even "Obscene Content."
