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2024 has been quite the year for reality TV. Now, the genre has always had its share of loyal fans. Whether it’s ordinary people being thrown into unknown situations, or the world’s most famous celebrities being stripped of their fame and status to compete against each other — all bets are off when it comes to reality TV. Not to mention that there’s a reality show for practically everyone out there. The audience can choose from slightly scripted shows that follow a set format, such as Survivor or Big Brother, to the family drama on The Kardashians, or dating competitions like the Bachelor franchise.
This year in particular has been pretty experimental for reality TV. The year 2024 has seen a lot of new reality shows that have put a spin on the formats fans are used to seeing. But the year has also seen the return of some all-time fan favorites with modern twists. Several well-known franchises have expanded into other countries and cultures, and that just goes to show that the reality genre isn’t running out of steam anytime soon.
10 'Love is Blind UK'
Season 1
Image via Netflix The Love is Blind franchise kicked things off with Love is Blind USA back in February 2020. The show is designed to be a social experiment where the contestants try to meet their perfect match without seeing their faces. The contestants only get to meet each other once they have fallen in love and gotten engaged. The premise of Love is Blind is to prove that true love is about emotional connection more than anything else. Over the years, Love is Blind USA has become one of Netflix’s most famous dating reality shows. So, it was no surprise when the franchise expanded to the U.K.
Love is Blind UK premiered on August 7, 2024, and performed way better with the audience compared to its U.S. counterpart. For starters, Love is Blind UK featured contestants who seemed to come in with the intent of finding love. On the other hand, the casting for Love is Blind US has been a little questionable during the show’s more recent seasons. After Trevor Sova’s secret relationship outside the pods, the fans haven’t really been able to trust anyone on Love is Blind US anymore. But I have to admit that the UK version of the reality show has been a breath of fresh air. Contestants like Steven Smith and Sabrina Vittoria or even playboy Ollie Isaac come across as authentic, which only makes you want to keep watching more.
Release Date August 7, 2024
Cast Emma Willis , Matt Willis
Main Genre Reality
Seasons 1
9 'The Traitors USA'
Season 2
Image via Peacock The US edition of The Traitors might just have one-upped its British predecessor with its second season.The Traitors US Season 2 premiered in January 2024 and featured a pretty interesting cast. Even before the show had aired, it was making headlines for casting some pretty popular members of The Real Housewives franchise, including Phaedra Parks, Larsa Pippen, and Tamra Judge. Not to mention that the show also featured notable reality stars such as Peter Weber from The Bachelor and Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with the Stars. All in all, though, the show features both celebrities and ordinary people, which is what makes it so much fun to watch.
The show followed the same format where a small group of contestants were chosen to be the secret Traitors working together to eliminate the other contestants and win the grand prize. The remaining contestants are called the Faithfuls, whose goal is to identify and kick the traitors out of the game. As reported by Variety, The Traitors USA Season 2 became the most-watched reality series on Peacock.
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The Traitors (US)
Release Date January 12, 2023
Seasons 2
Creator(s) Stephen Lambert , Marc Pos
Writers Lee Grant , Christine Rose
Showrunner Stephen Lambert
8 'Survivor'
Season 47
Image via CBS Survivor is one of the longest-running reality competition shows of all time. With every new season, the show only gains more loyal followers. That goes to show the format of Survivor, where a group of contestants is sent to a remote location and left to fend for themselves in the wilderness. The contestant who outlasts everyone else is the winner of the show. Like a lot of other reality shows, Survivor features celebrities and ordinary people as they try to use the extent of their physical and mental strengths to survive without any basic utilities.
Survivor 47 featured some notable cast members, including Rob Has a Podcast star Aysha Welch and President Obama’s former speechwriter Jon Lovett. However, what I love about the show is that it really brings all of its contestants down to the same starting point, and they all need to prove that they have what it takes to be the winner.
Cast Jeff Probst
Release Date May 31, 2000
Rating
Seasons 45
Studio
Story By Jeff Probst
Writers Jeff Probst
Network CBS
Directors Jeff Probst
Showrunner Jeff Probst
7 'Sister Wives'
Seasons 18 & 19
Image via TLC 2024 has been a roller-coaster ride for Kody Brown and his plural family. After three of his four wives, namely Christine, Janelle, and Meri Brown decided to leave him in 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively, fans had no idea what the future held for their long-running TLC show Sister Wives. However, post Brown’s three splits, the show has continued to center around the lives of its contestants. The only difference is that they’re not a plural family anymore! Because Robyn Brown remains the last-standing sister wife, Sister Wives Season 18 and 19 have heavily focused on how she has dealt with the aftermath of Kody Brown’s splits.
On the other hand, Sister Wives Season 18 gave the fans a glimpse into Christine Brown’s relationship with David Woolley along with their fairytale wedding. Sister Wives Season 18 also follows the final breakdown of Kody and Janelle Brown’s marriage, along with Meri Brown dealing with her own complicated emotions. Sister Wives Season 19 begins with Kody Brown’s first three wives starting their own lives after leaving him, while he and his youngest wife deal with their own relationship issues. Not to mention the major family dispute over the plural family’s Coyote Pass property. Overall, the last two seasons of Sister Wives have broken away from the usual narrative of the show and focused more on what happens when polygamy fails. And for someone who has followed the Brown family since Sister Wives Season 1, it’s interesting to see how much their lives have changed.
Cast Kody Brown , madison Brown , Janelle Brown , Tamron Hall , Aspyn Brown , Robyn Brown , Andrea Canning , Gwendlyn Brown , meri brown , Logan Brown , Christine Brown , Sukanya Kirshnan
Release Date September 16, 2010
Main Genre Reality
Seasons 18
Cinematographer Doug Monroe, Callan Griffiths, Richard Alexander Walkling, Anthony Derosa, Matthew Thompson, Ray Farmer
Distributor TLC
Filming Locations Nevada, Utah, Arizona
Main Characters Timothy Gibbons, Kirk Streb, Deanie Wilcher, Christopher Poole, Bill Hayes
Producer Deanie Wilcher
Production Company Puddle Monkey Productions, Figure 8 Films
Number of Episodes 167
6 'Selling Sunset'
Season 8
Image via Netflix Selling Sunset Season 1 premiered on Netflix in 2019, and it kickstarted a wave of reality real estate shows. But you know what they say, imitation is a form of flattery! Because Selling Sunset, with all its drama, catfights, messy relationships, and, of course, million-dollar properties, is one of the most entertaining reality shows of all time. After Selling Sunset Season 7 ended on an extremely sour note, with tensions between Chrishell Stause and Nicole Young at an all-time high, the fans couldn’t wait for the show to be back with a bang. And let’s just say it did way more than that.
Right before the premiere of Selling Sunset Season 8 in September, Stause, Emma Hernan, and Chelsea Lazkani took to social media to call Young out for lying about something on the show. Whether this was a PR move, or a genuine reaction to Young implying that Hernan had been with a married man, it made everyone want to tune in to catch up with all the controversy. Not just that, months ahead of the premiere of Selling Sunset Season 8, the news about Chelsea Lazkani’s ex-husband cheating on her broke out. And the fact that her workplace rival Bre Tiesi had something to do with it was also a major plot point during the show’s latest season. At the end of the day, Selling Sunset Season 8 delivered everything that the show is known for: over-the-top outfits, never-ending office feuds, and some real estate here and there.
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Selling Sunset
Release Date March 21, 2019
Cast Mary Fitzgerald , Chrishell Stause , Jason Oppenheim , Christine Quinn , Heather Rae Young
Seasons 7
5 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey'
Season 14
Image via Bravo The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 14 premiered in May 2024. Among all the shows in the Real Housewives franchise, this one has to be my favorite. Not only does the show star some of the most iconic housewives of all time, such as Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, and Margaret Josephs, but it also brings in all the drama you can ever hope for! During the filming of RHONJ Season 14, Jennifer Aydin and Danielle Cabral actually got into a physical altercation and were suspended.
The latest season showed the cast being driven further apart. Of course, there were sweet moments, such as Giudice and Josephs sending their daughters off to college. However, things between the sisters-in-law remained as icy as ever. The finale alone ended with Jennifer Fessler walking out of a group dinner because of how toxic the ladies were with one another. During all of this, Jackie Goldschneider revealed that she contacted Luis Ruelas' ex-girlfriend while she was feuding with Teresa Giudice to get dirt on him. All of this forced the producers to replace the traditional reunion with a watch party where the ladies were divided into separate groups to prevent any more fights. Considering that the producers are currently planning a major RHONJ overhaul, Season 14 will definitely go down in pop culture history.
Release Date May 12, 2009
Cast Teresa Giudice , Jacqueline Laurita , Caroline Manzo , Dina Cantin , Danielle Staub , Melissa Gorga , Kathy Wakile , Teresa Aprea , Amber Marchese , Nicole Napolitano , Dolores Catania , Siggy Flicker , Margaret Josephs , Jennifer Aydin
Main Genre Reality
Seasons 13
Franchise The Real Housewives
Creator(s) Scott Dunlop
Producer Andy Cohen
Production Company Sirens Media
Writers Scott Dunlop
Number of Episodes 222
Franchise(s) The Real Housewives
4 'Big Brother'
Season 26
Image via Matthew Taplinger/CBS With all this talk about Artificial Intelligence taking over in 2024, Big Brother accepted the challenge and made AI a huge part of its gameplay. An AI character named Ainsley, which stands for Artificial Intelligence Network Self-Learning Entity, was integrated into the game and could control certain game elements and interact with the houseguests in ways they wouldn't expect. The A.I. Arena twist in Big Brother 26 introduced a third nominee each week, who competed alongside the other two nominees in a challenge to secure safety. Not to mention the introduction to the memorable JANKIE, who tortured the houseguests by making them attend a carnival straight from hell.
All of these unpredictable elements made Big Brother 26 a standout reality show in 2024. For the first time since Season 13, the show resulted in an all-female finale. Chelsie Baham emerged as the winner in a historic 7-0 jury vote and became the first woman in the show’s history to achieve a unanimous victory.
Release Date July 5, 2000
Creator
Cast Julie Chen Moonves
Rating
Seasons 25
Studio
Writers John de Mol
Network CBS
Directors Mark W. Roden , Quinn Saunders
Showrunner Allison Grodner
3 'Dancing with the Stars'
Season 33
Image via Disney Dancing with the Stars Season 33 premiered in September 2024 and instantly took over the world of reality TV. The show initially made waves by casting con artist Anna Delvey, who was the inspiration behind Netflix’s Inventing Anna. However, the show also featured some notable reality TV celebrities, including first-ever Asian Bachelorette Jenn Tran, The Bachelor star Joey Graziadei, and Phaedra Parks from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The show followed its traditional structure, with each week divided into a theme with the contestants performing different dance styles.
Graziadei emerged as the winner of Dancing with the Stars Season 33 along with his professional dance partner Jenna Johnson. This marks the first time in history that a Bachelor star has won a dance competition.DWTS Season 33, Episode 8 also marked the show’s 500th episode, which makes this season all the more special.
Release Date June 1, 2005
Cast Carrie Ann Inaba , Bruno Tonioli , Len Goodman , Tom Bergeron , Cheryl Burke , Tony Dovolani , Derek Hough , Mark Ballas , Karina Smirnoff , Maksim Chmerkovskiy , Kym Johnson , Sasha Farber , Val Chmerkovskiy , Emma Slater , Sharna Burgess
Main Genre Reality
Seasons
Studio
2 'The Golden Bachelorette'
Season 1
Image via Gilles Mingasson/Disney The Golden Bachelor premiered back in September 2023 and was an instant hit with fans who were looking for a fresh spin on The Bachelor Franchise. The idea of the show was to feature senior citizens who wanted to give love a second chance, and it became ABC’s most-watched premiere ever on streaming. The finale of the show aired in November 2023, and featured leading man Gerry Turner getting married to Theresa Nist. However, they decided to end their marriage three short months later. So, naturally, fans expected better from The Golden Bachelorette, which stars Joan Vassos as the leading lady.
Vassos initially appeared in Turner’s season but had to leave the show early due to a family emergency. While she wasn’t exactly a fan-favorite choice in the beginning, Vassos really came into her own as the first-ever Golden Bachelorette. She was vulnerable and authentic in her journey to finding love as she moved on from the death of her first husband. Vassos even changed the way the franchise’s iconic Fantasy Suites worked, because she wanted to move at her own pace. In the end, she finds her perfect soulmate in Chock Chapple, and the two of them are still going strong.
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The Golden Bachelorette
Release Date September 18, 2024
Cast Joan Vassos , Jesse Palmer , Gary Levingston , Pascal Ibgui , Jonathan Rone , Charles Chock Chapple , Charles Ling , Keith Gordon , Guy Gansert , Jordan Heller , Mark Anderson , Daniel Roemer , Gil Ramirez , Charles King , Kim Buike , Gregg Lassen , Michael Stevens
Main Genre Reality
Seasons 1
Character(s) The Golden Bachelorette
Network ABC
Streaming Service(s) Hulu
Franchise(s) The Bachelor
Showrunner Bennett Graebner
1 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives'
Season 1
Image via Hulu I have to admit, Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has to be the breakthrough reality show of 2024 for me. No one saw this one coming. With an already interesting premise, thanks to Taylor Frankie Paul’s swinging scandal in June 2022, the entire world wanted to know what the world of MomTok was all about. And the show delivered beyond expectations! Starring a group of MomTok influencers, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives gives the fans a glimpse into what life is like for these women as they live in Utah, live life according to their Mormon faith, and sip on dirty sodas. Trust me when I say that the first episode where Paul deals with the aftermath of her scandal, along with her 2023 domestic violence arrest, is enough to hook you right in.
The show has already been picked up for a second season because the fans just can’t get enough after Season 1. From Paul’s on-and-off relationship with Dakota Mortensen to Whitney Leavitt’s feud with the rest of the group and Jenn and Zac Affleck packing up to leave Utah during the Season 1 finale — there is so much the show has left unanswered. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has all the elements of a successful reality show that you can watch for mindless entertainment — and I say we can never have enough of that.
Release Date September 6, 2024
Main Genre Reality
Seasons 1
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