Paramount+’s Paper Dolls tells the story of five women who found fame on a reality TV show and began an all girl band.

For millennials, the plot may sound like deja vu as it’s suspiciously similar to the history of Bardot, who were created on the reality star Popstars in 2000.

Interestingly, one of the executive producers on the show is Belinda Chapple, who was a member of Bardot.

Four of Paper Doll’s leads Emalia, Miah Madden, Courtney Clarke and Courtney Monsma sat down with Mediaweek and Chattr’s pocast Entertainment Hotline, to reveal how closely connected to Popstars the new series is.

Is Paper Dolls based on Bardot and Popstars?

Despite the glaring similarities between the two, the cast was adamant that Paper Dolls isn’t a recount of Bardot’s experience.

Instead, Madden said that it’s focused on exposing “the underbelly of the pop world.”

“It shows what life is like for pop stars when the smoke and mirrors have blown away,” she said.

She added that the narratives shown on Paper Dolls have “happened at least once if not multiple, multiple times in the industry for different kinds of popstars.”

“Behind the glitz and glamour is just a lot of hard work and self-discovery and also learning about the world not always being what you might hope it to be like,” she said.

The rehearsal process was intense

Most of the lead actresses have backgrounds in music and dancing, which Mia explained was detrimental at times because they struggled to look like the beginners they were cast as.

“In episode two, the beginning sequence is me trying to nail this dance. It looks really shamble-y and chaotic,” she explained.

“That was five sessions of one-on-one dance training to do it perfectly and figure out how to make it look like you’re messing up and how to do it in a way that makes it look like you’re more tired!”

Stream Paper Dolls on Paramount+.

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