During the glory days of Egypt's tourism business, prominent Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass worked heavily on promoting Egypt on an international scale while he headed the country's antiquities affairs.
As a result, the Egyptologist became an international celebrity, famous for his charismatic appeal, unforgiving nature and Indiana Jones hat.
In 2010, he starred in a documentary-styled reality TV series called "Chasing Mummies: The Amazing Adventures of Zahi Hawass" that aired 10 episodes on The History Channel.
The show followed Hawass as he embarked on his famous archaeological adventures hunting ancient Egyptian secrets along with a team of young archaeological fellows.
The show was not well-received by critics as many thought it was overly "artificial" and "staged." Five years after the show ended, the star revealed that the supposedly "reality" show was indeed artificial.
Hawass told The Washignton Post's Geoff Edgers last week at a Washington conference that the show's most infamous moment, in which the intern Zoe D'Amato pees inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, was actually fake.
In the scene in the second episode "Trapped," Hawass is lecturing his interns about the dangers of humidity on artifacts inside a chamber in the Great Pyramid.
He then suddenly notices that D'Amato has peed inside the pyramid's chamber because she just "lost it" and "couldn't hold it." His reaction is understandably less than pleasant.
"That was not true. Later, I found out when the show was shown and I talked to people, they told me the show was fake. I found out later it was water," revealed Hawass.
“I forgave the director and the History Channel because they were able to bring fans. Even if the show was s—-, it was great,” he added.
So perhaps the critics got it right when they criticized the fake nature of the reality show, but Hawass is not complaining, as he pointed out that it got people excited about ancient Egypt, which was the point of the show, after all.