Ironically, the best escapism in existence is reality TV. Tuning out your own life, flopping on the couch, and mercilessly judging the lives of others might be a guilty pleasure, but you can’t deny that it’s a relaxing experience to indulge in from time to time.
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There are so many different genres of reality TV shows, so there’s a little something for every mood. Craving some drama? Dating show. Want to cry? Singing competition. While there are seemingly infinite options to choose from, this list ranks only the best of the best.
Here they are in all their glory — the 32 best reality TV shows:
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32. American Idol
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Any collection of reality shows wouldn’t be complete without the undeniable blueprint for singing competitions: American Idol. This classic show invites aspiring singers to audition and perform weekly songs in hopes that America will crown them “America’s favorite singer.” Idol has clearly stood the test of time (on since 2002!) and continues to amuse and inspire audiences every season.
31. Keeping Up with the Kardashians
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Hear me out! Keeping Up with the Kardashians is perfect escapism because watching this rich family from Calabasas, California go about the trivial problems of their day-to-day lives puts you into such a hypnotic, trance-like state while watching that it’s all the serenity of a lobotomy without the hassle of surgery.
30. Impractical Jokers
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No one is too good for an episode (or ten) of the only show that Tru TV has ever played: Impractical Jokers. It follows prankster pals Sal, Quinn, Joe, and Murr as they try to seriouslyyy embarrass one another in a series of challenges. One guy puts on an earpiece and goes out into normal society while the others are watching from afar, instructing him to say and do outrageous things. If he doesn’t, there’s an even more embarrassing “punishment” waiting for him at the end of the episode. It’s the most chaotic dumpster fire that reality TV has to offer, and I can’t look away.
29. What Would You Do?
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This show/social experiment exposes how people in everyday society react to seeing others in compromising situations to see if anyone will intervene or try to help. Ever since this show came out, I think everyone has felt at least a little afraid of John Quiñones popping out with a camera crew to judge them in public.
28. The Real World
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The Real World walked so basically every reality show after it could run. The premise is simple and summarized in the title sequence of each episode: “Seven strangers picked to live in a house. Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.” They don’t make ’em like this anymore.
27. The Challenge
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From the ashes of The Real Worldaose The Challenge. It brings together fan favorites and villains alike from previous Real World casts to compete in some seriously brutal, y’know, challenges — all while living under the same roof. It keeps the basis ofThe Real World where they all have to live together with the added thrill of brutal competition and a cash prize.
26. Chopped
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Chopped pushes the boundaries of scrappy and innovative thinking when it comes to cooking. Chefs are given a basket of the most random ingredients and told to make a dish incorporating all of them. At the beginning of the episode, you’re wondering how a chef can make something appetizing out of pickled onions, quail eggs, and pomegranates — but by the end of the episode, it has you seriously craving the dishes they whip up.
25. The Circle
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The Circle is a reality show that’s 100% of its time. This show is a battle of the influencers. People compete to be the “influencer” of the week — given the power to “block” other players. A little extra spice is added in when some catfishing players aren’t really who they say they are. Alliances are formed, people are sabotaged, and it goes to show how fleeting the success of an influencer can be. You’re popular one day, and cancelled the next.
24. Love Island
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Love Island is a dating show that is deliciously indulgent. Singles live in a luxurious villa and must “couple up” with others to remain in the house — all the while other singles come in to disrupt existing relationships. This show keeps you gasping in shock with how messy it is, and it doesn’t hurt that each season has at least 50 episodes it’s easy to get so immersed that you start speaking in a British accent. Good chat, yeah?
23. Next
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Next rolled onto our screens in 2005 with a bus and a dream. Five single people exit a bus one-by-one to go on a date with the “dater” of the episode. If the dater isn’t into it, they’ll simply say “Next!” and banish the person back to the bus to send out the next hopeful single. HARSH. Luckily, the singles are awarded cash for every minute they last on the date. If the dater does want to go on a second date, the power shifts to the single who can either keep dating them *or* take the money and run. Leave it up to MTV to craft the single most savage dating show ever to exist.
22. MasterChef
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MasterChef is a cooking competition for home chefs who want to elevate their status to a professional level. It’s intense, fast-paced, and leaves you hungry for more. Unlike cooking shows that bring in cooks for a single episode to compete, MasterChef is a cooking competition for home chefs that lasts several weeks, so you have time to get attached to and root for specific people to win.
21. Glow Up
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Glow Up is a unique competition style show that celebrates the creativity and talent of makeup artists. It’s a several week long competition in which artists pull off stunning makeup looks to prove they’re the best of the best and deserve to win the title of Britain’s next makeup star.
20. The Traitors
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Drama. Intrigue. Deception. Sabotage. The Traitors has it all. Contestants (familiar faces from other reality TV shows) work together to find out who the “traitors” are and attempt to eliminate them. False accusations are made as no one knows who to trust. If all of the traitors are eliminated, the prize money is split between the group — but if a traitor makes it to the end, then they win it all.
19. Love is Blind
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Love is Blind is one of those shows that you sit down to watch one episode of, and then suddenly it’s five hours later (and you only have to stop watching because there’s not another episode out until next week). This show begs the question, “Is love truly blind?” by putting hopeful singles in “pods” and having them get to know each other, fall in love, and get engaged — ~sight unseen~. Once they’re OUT of the pods is where the real drama happens, because the emotional connection isn’t always enough…
18. Married at First Sight
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Love is Blind is like Married at First Sight’s more put-together older sister. While Love is Blind leaves it to the couples to choose each other, Married at First Sight enlists licensed matchmakers to select a partner and set them up to marry the second they meet. It’s always interesting to see how compatible they are (or aren’t!) based on the science of matchmaking.
17. Big Brother
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Big Brother is your classic competition reality show where contestants live in a house together, compete in various puzzles and physical challenges, and vote each other out…but this show has a live 24-hour camera constantly recording every single thing that happens in the house. Get it? Big Brother is always watching. Shout out to George Orwell. Super fans can watch a live feed of the house apart from the normally aired episodes. It makes for perfect escapism because you can get so wrapped up in the drama that you lose track of your own reality.
16. Hell’s Kitchen
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Hell’s Kitchen has cemented itself into the reality TV hall of fame. The contestants of this show cook for their lives with dreams of becoming the head chef at one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants. After watching him scream at them about risotto all season, it’s well-deserved and satisfying to see your favorite chef win.
15. Undercover Boss
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Undercover Boss sends the CEO of a company in a (usually, pretty janky) disguise to see what really goes on at their businesses. It’s really exciting to see employees trash the company unknowingly to the CEO, and even more exciting to watch episodes of companies that you’ve worked for in the past. This show gave me a personal fear of training new hires because I’m afraid of being Undercover Boss-ed for real.
14. Shark Tank
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Shark Tank is a one-of-a-kind show in which people meet with “sharks,” aka super rich investors, and ask them for serious cash in exchange for equity in their business. It’s thrilling to see all of the creative inventions and wild valuations the business owners pitch. This show will have you sitting on your couch saying things you’d never say in your daily life. It has me regularly shouting things like, “$100,000 dollars for a 2% stake in the company?! You’ve got to be kidding me!” at my screen.
13. The Great British Baking Show
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Cooking shows can be SO intense and stressful — but The Great British Baking Show takes the classic cooking competition format and turns it into a wholesome show that truly warms your heart with each episode. They’re just so nice to each other!!
12. Rupaul’s Drag Race
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RuPaul’s Drag Race is pretty much a baby sensory video for the girls and the gays. Drag queens compete in a series of talent competitions, lip-sync for their lives, and slay the runway. You can’t help being mesmerized by the dizzying yet soothing chasm of bright colors, glitter, and pop music that bursts from the screen each episode.
11. Nailed It!
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Nailed It! has to be the most relatable cooking show of all time. Normal people are given complicated recipes that they try to recreate. It’s so real to see them botch a dish horrifically while trying their hardest not to (been there) and the chaos is just *chef’s kiss*.
10. Jersey Shore
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Jersey Shore and Jersey Shore: Family Vacation is my kind of ASMR. This show’s cultural significance has stood the test of time. What started as a Real World style premise where strangers live together in a house in the (you guessed it) Jersey Shore, turned into an actual family of entertaining, flawed, real people that you can’t help but root for. If Jersey Shore has no fans, I have left this earth.
9. The Bachelor/Bachelorette
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Now THIS is a void you can fall into and never come out! The dating show of all dating shows. On The Bachelor, 30 women date one man over a series of weeks and are eliminated one by one until someone is chosen — it’s messy, dramatic, and the ultimate reality TV equivalent of a guilty pleasure.
8. Bachelor in Paradise
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I’m not joking when I say fans of The Bachelor foam at the mouth waiting for Bachelor in Paradise to air every summer. This show brings the rejected singles from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette to the beaches of Mexico to date and hopefully find love. It’s like fantasy football for Bachelor fans because they can ship their favorite people from different seasons together, and then sit back to watch the love story (or drama) unfold.
7. Project Runway
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Project Runway is a battle of high fashion designers who work tirelessly to conceptualize, create, and craft looks that are judged on the runway by the biggest names in fashion. The goal is to stay “in” every week, and contestants are eliminated when Heidi Klum looks into their soul and says, “I’m sorry, but you’re out.”
6. The Voice
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The Voice invented the absolute thrill of the “four-chair turn.” This show brings aspiring singers to the stage, where they are met by four judges who have their chairs turnedaound so the contestants are judged solely on their voices. If the judges like what they hear, they hit a button that turns their chairs around so they can invite the singer to compete on the show. Its unique format has stood the test of time with 25 seasons and counting!
5. MasterChef Junior
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MasterChef Junior is just like MasterChef, but the chefs are children instead of adults. Chef Ramsay speaks to them *so* gently, and it’s such a comfy deviation from the usual red-hot rage that this man emanates from all of his other cooking shows. I have yet to get through an episode without crying at least once. Wholesome Gordon Ramsay content is so healing.
4. The Amazing Race
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The Amazing Race is one of the most exciting shows to judge from the jetlag free comfort of your couch. Contestants compete in pairs and literally race around the world, doing tons of puzzle and physical challenges in hopes of winning the cash prize.
3. Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives
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Food Network legend Guy Fieri travels in his sweet red convertible to visit the best diners, drive-ins, and dive restaurants the US has to offer. This show is full of high-resolution, mouth-watering shots of the wildest dishes you’ve ever seen — like, as I’m writing this I’m still thinking about/genuinely craving a barbeque lasagna I saw on an episode. Guy Fieri has a real talent for making you excitedaout food, and it makes for one of the most soothing and comfortingly escapist watching experiences there is.
2. Dancing with the Stars
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Dancing with the Stars is THE show. You get to see sides of celebrities that you never would have seen before, and watching them go on their ballroom dance journey is comfortingly wholesome while still being dramatic. It’s incredible to see hopeful dancers who couldn’t handle a simple kick-ball change in week one absolutely demolish an Argentine Tango in the finale. The growth! The passion! The glitz and glamor! I will watch this every season until the end of time.
1. Survivor
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The Alpha. The Omega. The best reality TV show of all time: Survivor. Jeff Probst’s glowing tan is reason enough for this to be the best show ever, but it goes way deeper than that. This show throws ordinary people onto the beaches and jungles of a remote island and has them compete in challenges for either rewards or immunity. The real drama happens at “tribal council” where alliances are tested and contestants vote each other out. Your tribe has spoken — Survivor is the winner.
CREDIT: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kelsiehammond1/best-reality-shows
