Reality shows are a genre of television programming that document purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often featuring ordinary people instead of professional actors. They emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s and became widely popular in the 2000s with shows like Survivor, Idol, and Big Brother. These shows often include confessionals, where cast members reflect on events, and competition-based reality shows usually involve gradual elimination of participants until a winner is declared. Subgenres include reality competitions, dating-based competitions, celebrity competitions, and job-related contests. Reality TV can range from talent searches to lifestyle transformations, sports-related reality shows, and documentary-style sports series. Critics of reality TV argue that it can be misleading, staged, or exploitative, but its popularity persists globally.
Popular reality shows range from survival challenges such as Survivor, to makeover and transformation shows like Queer Eye, to fashion competitions like Next in Fashion, and social/dating formats such as The Bachelor. Streaming platforms like Netflix offer a wide array of reality TV programs across various themes, including cooking, fashion, social experiments, and interpersonal drama.
If specific recommendations or a particular type of reality show information is desired, that can be provided as well.
