The show “Doomsday Preppers” did much to damage the reputation of prepping, making it seem as if we preppers are so immersed in preparing for the worst, that these preparations consume our whole lives. And the version of prepping presented by that show was often the extreme case: persons who are preparing for only one particular rare disaster, or who have based every aspect of daily life on that preparation.
To my mind, prepping is more of a hobby than a way of life. It is a part time avocation; 
something that I enjoy being involved in. I am not prepping with trepidation, nor do I assume that the worst of the worst is always just around the corner. I prep for a variety of fairly common scenarios, such as a power outage or severe storm, as well as for less likely but more severe disasters.
Preppers who have made prepping a way of life are, in my view, more in the realm of survivalists than preppers. They are living with a high degree of self-sufficiency, trying to survive as much as possible on their own. Of course, self-sufficiency is useful to prepping. But the survivalist and the prepper are two different kinds of animals. Prepping is more of a hobby, whereas survivalism is a way of life.
For those who are interested in prepping, I suggest taking the point of view that prepping is a pleasant hobby. Don’t prepare as if we were all in constant danger of perishing. Spend only a modest amount of time, effort, and money on prepping. And take account of a wide range of possible disaster scenarios. Enjoy prepping.
- Thoreau
The pepper shows required people to pick an emergency and claim that was what they were prepping for. Any assumptions about these people on the show that you have made are based on bad information.
I some cases these people are businessmen who used their appearance on TV to promote their business under the theory that all advertising is good for business.
Let me second that thought, Caribou, and add to it with a specific example: one of the first people on Doomsday Preppers was Christopher Nyerges. I can say definitively that he is following a way of life. I know this because I took my first course in survival from him. He runs the School for Self-Reliance in Pasadena. But he is about so much more than just preparing for a major earthquake, which is all Doomsday Preppers made him appear to be interested in.