They put the funk into dysfunctional, and now Ozzy Osbourne’s former reality TV crew is looking back on “The Osbournes” after the Black Sabbath legend’s death.
“It was absolutely chaos,” Cameron Glendenning, who worked on the hit MTV series for almost its entire four-season run, exclusively told The Post. “[The family] gave zero warning. There was no, ‘Hey, director, heads up, I’m gonna go into the living room and do X, Y, Z.’ That s–t did not happen.”
“We monitored them with surveillance cameras in the house,” the Hollywood cinematographer continued. “And when we would see them doing something insane, we would run in with cameras, but that was it. That was the only heads up that we had.”
Filming Ozzy and the “Crazy Train” singer’s family was so chaotic that the TV crew was often left scrambling to follow the Osbournes when they suddenly decided to leave the house.
“They wouldn’t tell us where they were going for dinner. They’d just hop in the car and be like, ‘Follow us,’” Glendenning recalled. “We’d just get in the car, and we would be like, what the f–k is happening?”
“We would all jump in the van in a panic,” he added. “So we were always ready to go. I swear, it was funny, almost a quick response team.”
Despite the insanity of it all, Glendenning said that those outrageous moments were often the most standout parts of “The Osbournes.”
“That was a really exhilarating part of that show because it was challenging, like super challenging, for the producers,” he shared.
Glendenning worked as a camera operator and technical supervisor on “The Osbournes” from the end of its first season in 2002 to its fourth and final in 2005.
He later reunited with the Black Sabbath frontman in 2020 when he served as the cinematographer for “Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne.”
But 20 years after “The Osbournes” ended in 2005, and in the wake of Ozzy’s shocking death, Glendenning clarified one major misconception about the famous family’s hit reality show.
“I would make the argument still to this day that the show was not reality television. That show was a documentary,” he said.
“There was no setups, there was no bulls–t. There is no, ‘Hey, we’re gonna put the family in this situation,’” he explained. “The idea, if we were even to suggest something like that, that person wouldn’t be at work the next day.”
Glendenning called “The Osbournes” a unique “fly-on-the-wall documentary” unlike any project he has “worked on or known about since.”
“I think that show having the reputation as one of the first reality shows in the way it was kind of categorized, was misleading because it wasn’t produced like a reality show,” he said. “That show was shot like a documentary.”
“It was a real documentary, and it was edited like a reality show, but there’s a great distinction there,” he added. “And I feel like that should be more known about that show. Because there’s an integrity to the way that we produced it.”
Glendenning gives Ozzy’s wife and co-star, Sharon Osbourne, credit for how it was filmed.
“That was 100% from Sharon Osbourne,” he concluded. “She would never have tolerated anything that was bulls–t.”
Glendenning revealed that Ozzy’s former reality TV crew is “mourning” the late legend. He also emphasized the late star’s commitment and “total devotion” to his family.
Sue Kolinsky, a producer on the popular show, also reminisced about working with the Prince of Darkness and his family back in the day.
“We realized early on that anything Ozzy did was going to be funny,” Kolinsky told The Post. “Like making a milkshake – we were gonna have [that be] three minutes of an episode. He was so funny, and he had no idea how funny he was.”
“No one ever said to Ozzy, ‘Hey, can you say that again?’ Whatever you shot, that’s what we had to use,” she added. “And that’s what made the show so brilliant, because it really was real.”
Ozzy’s family announced his death on Tuesday following a battle with Parkinson’s disease and other health issues.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” they said in a statement to The Post. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”
The statement was signed by Sharon, as well as Ozzy’s children Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.
Louis and Jessica Osbourne, who Ozzy had with his first wife, Thelma Riley, later honored their dad on social media.
