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A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object. Hidden cameras have become popular for household surveillance, and can be built into common household objects such as smoke detectors, clock radios, motion detectors, ball caps, plants, and cellphones. Hidden cameras may also be used commercially or industrially as security cameras.

A hidden camera can be wired or wireless. The former will be connected to a TV, VCR, or DVR, whereas a wireless hidden camera can be used to transmit a video signal to a receiver within a small radius (up to a few hundred feet).

Some hidden camera shows have led to lawsuits or being denied to air by the people who were trapped in set-ups that they found unpleasant.

[edit] Hidden camera shows

Hidden cameras are also sometimes used in reality television to catch participants in unusual or absurd situations. Participants will either know they will be filmed, but not always exactly when or where, or do not know they have been filmed until later, at which point they may sign a release of give consent to the footage being produced for a show. This latter sub-genre of unwitting participants began in the 1940s with Allen Funt's Candid Microphone theatrical short films..

An attempt at a comprehensive list of hidden camera shows aired in the USA is below:

• $25 Million Dollar Hoax - NBC 2004 (3 episodes)
• Animal Kidding Animal Planet 2003 (16 episodes)
• Balls of Steel- Channel 4 (UK) - 2005 - Present (?? episodes)
• Boiling Points - MTV 2003-2005 (?? episodes)
• Breaking up With Shannen Doherty - Oxygen 2006 (14 episodes)
• Burned – MTV 2003 (30 episodes)
• Buzzkill - MTV 1995 (?? episodes)
• Candid Camera
• Candid Candid Camera
• Celebrity Undercover - MTV (20 Episodes)
• Cheaters
• Crossballs: The Debate Show - Comedy Central (?? episodes)
• Da Ali G Show - HBO
• Damage Control - MTV 2005 (16 episodes)
• Faking the Video - MTV 2004 (7 episodes)
• Fire Me...Please - CBS 2005 (4 episodes)
• Funny Business
• Girls Behaving Badly – Oxygen 2002-2007 (72 episodes)
• Guys Behaving Badly – Oxygen 2005 (5 episodes)
• Hi-Jinks - NIK 2005
• Hidden Howie: The Private Life of a Public Nuisance - BRAVO 2005 (6 episodes)
• Infarto - Azteca América
• Invasion of the Hidden Cameras (When Hidden Cameras Attack) - FOX (12 episodes)
• Jamie Kennedy Experiment - WB 2003 (?? episodes)
• Just For Laughs - ABC
• Kids Behaving Badly - Oxygen 2005 (10 episodes)
• Laugh Out Loud^[1] - M-Net, South Africa (? episodes)
• Meet the Marks - FOX 2002 (7 episodes)
• MotorMouth - VH1
• My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss
• My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé
• Oblivious
• People Traps - Animal Planet 2002 (1 episode)
• Peter Jacobsen Plugged In
• Punk'd - MTV (64 episodes)
• ROOM 401 - MTV
• The Real Wedding Crashers - NBC 2007 (6 episodes)
• Really Naked Truth - Playboy (22 episodes)
• Red Handed - March 8, 1999 – July 1999 UPN
• Scare Tactics - Sci Fi Channel
• Show Me the Funny - FOX 1998 (155 episodes)
• Skunked TV - NBC 2004 (13 episodes)
• Sledgehammer - VH1 2001 (5 Episodes)
• Spy TV - NBC June 2001 (27 Episodes)
• Taxicab Confessions - HBO
• That’s Funny - 2004 (80 episodes)
• THEM - Totally Hidden Extreme Magic - NBC (2 episodes)
• Totally Busted - PlayboyTV
• Totally Hidden Video - FOX
• Tourist Traps - 2001 (6 episodes)
• Trapped in TV Guide - TVG 2006
• Trigger Happy TV - UK 2000-2001, US 2003 (13 episodes)
• TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes
• Ultimate Revenge - TNN/SPIKE 2001 (26 episodes)
• World Shut Your Mouth - BBC 2005 (7 episodes)
• You’ve Got a Friend (My New Best Friend) - MTV 2004 (8 episodes)

[edit] Hidden camera pilot episodes or unaired shows

• 5 Non Blondes - VH1 April 2004
• Celeb Look-Alike Show
• Clipped - February 2005
• Close Encounters - USA August 2001
• Evil Puppet Masters - SPIKE TV 2003
• Exploding Baloney - NIK 2004
• First Night (aka Skid Row) - May 2006
• Gagsters - WB 2004
• Game Show In My Head - CBS 2007
• Go Sick - ABC 2001
• Guy’s Night Out
• Hotel Hell - FOX 2001 (4 episodes)
• The Joke's On You - NBC 2006
• The Jon Lovitz Show - CBS 2005
• Mabe in the USA
• Make My Day - WB 2003
• Man Maid - 2007
• Only Human - CBS 1993
• Only Joking - FOX 2000
• Outfoxxed - TBS December 2003
• The Papdits - CBS 2006
• Payback - NBC
• Relative Chaos - September 2006
• S.O.B - BET
• Scare TV - WB Kids
• Shameless - MTV
• Stung - MTV January 1, 2001
• Sweet Revenge - NBC September 2000

• Untitled Martin Lawrence Project - TBS March 2004
• VH1 Undercover - VH1 April 2001

[edit] Shows with hidden camera skits

• Anything for Love - FOX 2003
• Dateline - NBC
• David Letterman
• Jackass - MTV
• Jay Leno
• Jimmy Kimmel Live
• Noel's House Party - BBC
• Primetime
• The Man Show

[edit] See also

• Exposé (journalism)
• Lipstick camera
• Surveillance

[edit] References