Temper tantrums, fame-seeking moms and sexy costumes are all part of the recipe that makes “Toddlers & Tiaras” one of the most controversial shows on TV.
But much of the drama is manufactured and manipulated, says Maxine Tinnel, who has staged more than a half-dozen pageants for the highly addictive TLC series.
Tinnel — who expects to shoot a pilot for her own series with a rival production company this summer — gives The Post a glimpse of what we don’t see on TV.
* No one gets paid.
Producers don’t offer a penny to the featured children, their families or the pageant organizers.
“Honey, if anyone should have been paid, little Eden and I should have gotten paid,” says pageant mom Mickie Wood.
“Eden had been the poster child for the show since 2009. She was TLC’s poster child. But with us, it was just a ‘you scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours’ deal.”
TLC declined to comment about compensation.
According to Tinnel, the basic formula for each “Toddlers” episode is the same: “Find the crazy families first, then find a pageant near them.” (TLC denies the claim.)
That’s when she will get the call from the “Toddlers” producers to stage a competition — at her own expense — to be filmed for the show.
“We never call pageant directors to put on a pageant purely for us,” a producer tells The Post. “If they do it for us, it is on their own free will.”
* Pageant tapings can take more than seven hours.
Each child must compete in three different categories. In between performances, most head back to their hotel rooms to rest, change clothes or eat.
“We usually don’t have everyone together in the same room until the crowning,” Tinnel says.
Producers request the number of participants be limited to 45 — so taping is done within the allotted time — but often times, there are more.
* No strangers allowed at the taping.
Wonder why the hotel ballrooms where “Toddlers” is taped are so eerily empty of onlookers?
It’s because pageant organizers often restrict the audience to family, friends and invited guests only.
“We ask everybody for the name of the child they are coming to see when they arrive,” Tinnel says.
* Pageant moms capitalize on their TV fame by staging their own, rogue competitions.
“A lot of them will get cheap awards, find a smaller venue, get 15 or 20 kids and try to make a little bit of money so they can fund their daughter’s next pageant,” Tinnel says.
* The kids actually get along pretty well.
“It is truly not as competitive and crazy as what you see on TV,” Tinnel says. “When we have downtime, the kids are sitting on the floor coloring or playing together. A lot of times parents will get together, maybe take the kids out to the movies or to eat.
“I don’t know why they show on almost every episode that the kids don’t eat, because they do. I would love to have someone come in and film a pageant without a bunch of editing where a mom says, ‘Oh, my God, this is just horrible’ and she is actually talking about the weather, not the kids.”