Viewers meet Matt Kennedy Gould, the unknowing mark on a phony reality program called Lap of Luxury. He meets the various other players of the show, who, unbeknownst to him, are all secretly actors and actresses working from a script. Things get started right away with the first "Pampering Competition," a game in which everyone dresses up in each other's undergarments. The game is rigged so that Matt will lose and he is forced wear Kip's for the rest of the day.

The Hutch perfectly plays his role as the asshole, irritating everyone, but winning "immunity" in a game called "Hands on a High-Priced Hooker." Matt forms an alliance with Gina, the schemer, but doesn't know what to do when he's caught in a setup in which the other players find her secret notebook where she's been writing mean things about them. In the first ridiculous "Riches to Rags" eviction ceremony, Gina is booted from the game and Matt ends up all too happy with it, after he deduces that she cast her vote for him.

Kip takes the opportunity to share some of the photos he's collected in his creature comfort item - his photo album. Molly is relieved when she learns that her suspicions that Matt has caught on to the fakeness of the show are misplaced. A "Pampering Competition" features the supposed dirty laundry of the various cast members and makes them dress up in funny outfits. The guys lose this competition, allowing Hutch to pull a prank in which he replaces the photos in Kip's album with ones of his own ass. At dinner, Ralph gives all the players autographed headshots of themselves. Later, everyone says nice things to each other in the hot-tub.

Ashleigh reveals to Matt that she has a secret crush on Ralph, the host and also that she thinks that Molly may not be as innocent as she seems. Matt is not impressed and begins scheming to try and vote her off the show. The Immunity Challenge showcases the various castmembers displaying special talents, such as Kip doing bad magic and Matt beatboxing. Hutch "wins" this competition, judged by Ralph and Survivor 2's Jerri Manthey, by performing a moving rendition of "America the Beautiful." Emotions run high at the "Riches to Rags" eviction ceremony. Matt's plan does not go as he had hoped and it is Earl who is evicted from the show. Matt takes his ejection hard, along with the rest of the cast and everyone involved with the project is left wondering if it's right to continue it.

The game continues, despite the tension caused by the previous week's evention of Earl. Matt is shocked to learn of an apparent one-night stand between Dr. Pat and Hutch. The immunity competition causes real trauma for Dr. Pat - she's knocked down and hurt by Matt in a sumo uniform and has to be taken to the hospital. Matt later gives her his prize for winning the sumo competition before the start of the immunity game, Master Debater, which Matt wins. The "Riches to Rags" ceremony features a special offer - a $25,000 reward if she will leave the game voluntarily.

The drama between Molly and Ashleigh continues when Ralph pulls aside Molly for a private conference. The Pampering Competition forces Ralph to dress up in a bee custome, something with which he is not at all happy about. Matt and Molly are paired up in the competition and lose and they face the penalty, being handcuffed to each other for the rest of the day. Molly's fake boyfriend comes by to play the guitar for and sing a song, but goes ballistic when he sees her chained to Matt and wearing a bikini. Ralph makes an "executive decision" to remove the handcuffs and then the two of them go off for a little private time, while Matt laments that the show is "starting to f'in drive him crazy." Ashleigh wins an immunity challenge that's Matt's worst nightmare - models covered with chocolate, which he finds gross. Her immunity turns out not to matter because at "Riches to Rags," the Hutch is tossed out of the game for making threats towards Kip, but not before grabbing his collector's plate out of Ralph's hands and thrusting it into the fireplace.

The Hutch returns to the show, along with a legal-sounding document aimed at Matt, who had spent some time at law-school. With his return, Ralph announces that it's "Double Trouble Day" - two people will win immunity, but two will be sent packing. Matt balks at a gross food challenge that would supposedly require him to eat dog feces - leading to a meeting with a Spike TV executive. The over-the-top executive convinces Matt to get Molly and Ashleigh to kiss, so that they can all win the prize for the competition - a 42 inch television. Later, both Matt and Hutch win immunity in a rigged Lord of the Manor Immunity Showdown which didn't go quite as planned. At the "Riches to Rags" ceremony, Molly and Kip are ejected and Ashleigh gets another opportunity to whine about Molly's supposed flirting, when Ralph lets her keep her ceremonial collector's plate and then the two of them kiss.

At the top of the episode, host Ralph reveals a surprise Sudden Death eviction. Matt goes through the motions of plotting to vote out his friend Brian, but in the Sudden Death ceremony, with Ralph wearing the immunity robe, Matt, Brian and Hutch all vote out Ashleigh. After an appropriately snotty speech, she leaves and then the entire cast returns, as the final ceremony will be coming shortly, to determine the winner of $100,000. A final dinner causes a minor panic in Brian and Hutch when Matt reveals that he thought that maybe the fake network executive from the previous episode could be an actor. At the final ceremony, Brian, Hutch and Matt answer questions posed to them by the evicted cast and then a vote is held to determine the "winner of $100,000." Five out of six votes are revaled, but the sixth is left a mystery, to be shown in the season finale.

In The Joe Schmo Show: The Aftermath, we learn such tidbits as the most tense moment for the cast and crew, how much Matt really suspected about what was happening on a scale of 1 to 10 and which of the girls Matt really lusted after the most. Matt also learns many things that he never knew before about the show. Shocks and surprises abound in this very candid interview session with Matt.