I think it's real, or modelled on realistic situations.
The stories presented seem to me to be more about relationships and autonomy than about money. In the first two cases, frugality was imposed upon one partner in a relationship by the other and they had a sense of disempowerment; it's not surprising that they kicked out. In the third case, which, from a Mustachian point of view, has the most positive outcome (a little controlled squander on a worthwhile shared experience, then back to saving), the subject chose to adopt a frugal lifestyle. His girlfriend set the example, but he took it upon himself to follow that example.
I'm sure that with saving, as with any lifestyle change, it's easier to continue if you can see the results in front of your eyes. If you have a gigantic debt to pay down, you're not going to be seeing much in the way of short term results in the early days and it will be harder to resist the temptation to say, "What the heck, I'm never going to get on top of this debt and going without stuff sucks, where's the number of the Porsche dealership?"
My husband and I each have some small "pampers" that we choose not to cut out, or to nag one another to cut out, for the sake of saving money, because tomorrow is important but today is important too.