Some say that television shows are scripted and as such, they’re not worth the time, as everyone is acting what he or she has been asked to do. However, the trend shifts when it comes to reality TV shows — where actors do their thing without trying to be someone else.
If you’ve ever wanted to get value for your time and subscription, we recommend watching some of the all-time best reality TV shows centered on America.
What is a Reality TV Show?
It’s a television program that documents and portrays unscripted real-life experiences, where the actors engage in daily activities centered on completing specific competitions.
American reality TV shows take center stage, where normal people are used rather than professional actors. These shows also tend to involve elimination or disqualification rounds, until the last set of persons are left.
American Reality Shows Worth Watching
While we understand that some shows aren’t worth the hype, we also know that a good number of others out there are worth the time. You can rest assured that the ones we recommend below will have you glued to the screen watching how ordinary people endure and engage in everyday situations, under different circumstances.
American Idol
Many people can recall seeing one or more seasons of this show. First aired in 2002, it has remained one of the best TV reality shows originating from the United States of America.
As a reality TV series seeking to spotlight talented singers, “American Idol” allows viewers to vote for their favorites within the week. This continues until one of the contestants emerges as the “American Idol.”
Nicki Minaj was once quoted as saying, “I think one of the things I was shocked about was how interested the world is in ‘American Idol’ and how people, writers, they write about ‘Idol’ all the time, and I guess I didn’t expect that.”
It was the creation of Simon Fuller and was based on Idol, the British television singing competition format created by Simon Fuller and distributed by Fremantle.
American Idol originally aired on Fox but now airs on ABC.
Survivor
As the name suggests, the show aims to help contestants develop survival traits. It’s a globally-produced reality television show franchise that features stranded strangers in a remote location. They’re expected to compete in different competitions for rewards, as well as provide themselves with the basic amenities needed for survival.
It can easily rank as the world’s biggest reality show, owing to its relevance, even after 40 seasons have aired. It’s also prominent for the blend of social gameplay, the inclusion of the immunity challenge for protecting participants from elimination, and the reward challenge for rewarding them with both tools and food for completing the tasks.
Beast Games
The history of reality shows can be traced to the 1990s with the premier of The Real World. Over three decades later, this genre of television programming has cut across tides and cultures. With innovations come newer methods to it.
This is why in 2024, the genre welcomed Beast Games, an innovative reality television show hosted by Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. The YouTube content creator took the genre to the next heights with a $5 million cash prize. He has a unique philosophy, “All I do is wake up every day and obsess over how to make the best videos possible. It’s all I care about. It’s the only thing that’s ever really made me happy.”
The show aimed to reward the contestant who beats through the series of social and physical challenges to win the largest cash prize in reality TV show history.
One question people keep asking is Where was Beast Games filmed? It was filmed across different locations, but the first was Allegiant Stadium, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States. The rest of the show was filmed at:
- Downsview Park Studios in Toronto, Canada.
- Downsview Airport in Canada.
- La Vivienda Island in the Pearl Islands of Panama. This is an uninhabited island also known as the Beast Island in the competition.
Worst Cooks in America
This is a reality show airing on Food Network. It features home cooks who are put through a cooking boot camp. It qualifies to be one of the funny reality shows because of the terrible cooking outputs of the chefs, who make mistakes ranging from burning water levels badly and not cooking to the desired satisfaction.
I Wanna Marry “Harry”
This is a royal deception on live TV, where participants, usually American women, are lured to believe that the principal actor is Prince Harry, whereas he’s not.
The Swan
This will go down as one of the crazy reality shows, because it demands women, the major participants, to undergo full body transformations via surgery. They would go on to be adjudged based on their new looks.
It first aired on Fox in 2004 and has run two seasons so far.
Big Brother
We wrap up the list with Big Brother, a creation of John de Mol, a Dutch media tycoon. It first aired in 1999 in The Netherlands but has since gained a global presence, airing in over 60 countries, including the United States, Nigeria, Brazil, India, and Canada.
In Brazil, Big Brother Brazil (BBB) is very popular, with at least 6 out of 10 internet users in the country watching it, and about 51% of TV set owners in Greater São Paulo watching the show in 2021.
The show features housemates, who are meeting for the first time and made to live in a house, without access to the internet or the outside world. They live their lives on hidden cameras and are required to go through the different competitions and challenges to emerge winners.
Conclusion
Reality television shows have come to stay. As the years go by, more creators come in with new concepts to create a fun escape from daily life, offer suspense and excitement to the viewers, and help participants pursue their goals.
The ones covered in this article are some of the best and have millions of viewers around the world. Thankfully, some have become franchises, offering an opportunity for expansion into territories, other than the United States.
