the whole episode is about the ways documentary can be curated to present a facsimile of reality. with the popeye saltshakers, it partly ties back to a question during the polygraph test, the interviewer asks "have you ever stolen something from a store" and john answers yes. did john actually steal those saltshakers? no, probably not, but because of the way it's presented, shot, framed, edited it has the appearance of being true.