Reality shows are addictive. We all know they’re not reality, just tasks set up for people to do and situations people have to try to get through. I admit I watched them with curiosity about human nature. More often than not, they showed a side of human nature that we’d normally like to forget about. They become vindictive, backstabbing, and incredibly selfish.
Survivor is probably the most famous. Put a group of people in a remote location, give them tasks to do and watch the relationships form, grow, and break. It’s fascinating at times. I was interested in this show because we did a similar activity in junior high school, but without actually going to a deserted island. And we later read Lord of the Flies, which I found quite interesting. But would I be on Survivor? No way!
Big Brother is Survivor, but like everyone is under house arrest. It’s pure drama. No thanks.
Fear Factor is more like a game show. Three tasks related to common fears are set up and you have to pass one to go to the next. There were disgusting tasks, like sitting in a tub of cockroaches, tasks related to the fear of heights, and one forced the contestants to walk on a catwalk fully nude. I would not do this show.
The Amazing Race is a race with tasks you have to pass before going on to the next one. It’s a race around the world. Now this is something I really enjoyed watching. I love fantasy stories, and these often involve traveling and exploring. That’s what this is like. Would I do it? Maybe, if I had an adventurous partner.
Would you go on a reality show? Which would you choose? Let me know in the comments below.
I Read Encyclopedias for Fun 
The only reality show I would be tempted to go on would be one they’re never gonna make. Take 12 people, put them together in a remote location and watch how they get on each other’s nerves. I’d probably win as I annoy everyone but the prize would have to allow me to retire after it.
Haha. That would be an interesting show to some people, I’m sure.
Thank you.
I would do Amazing Race (there’s a Canada version where they only travel through all the provinces). That would be fun. The others? Not so much.
I knew about the Canadian one, but that started after I came to Japan.
I used to watch Real World and Road Rules on MTV. I thought those would be cool to appear on one day… before I realized it was all basically manufactured drama. I like more game show-type reality shows like the American Ninja Show or even Family Feud. I love Family Feud.
Family Feud is fun. American Ninja Show is based on Sasuke, a yearly challenge that’s on TV here in Japan. Plenty of famous people join, including athletes and comedians. But mostly athletes. Sasuke was the name of a famous ninja, by the way.
I can’t imagine being on any of those shows. I also don’t watch those particular ones. I do watch “Project Runway” which is a fashion design competition show. The most interesting reality shows I ever watched were 1900 House and Frontier House (on PBS in the US), with modern families attempting to replicate living in a 1900 house in Great Britain and in the USA frontier in 1883. Fascinating, but I wouldn’t try to participate.
The historic ones seem interesting. I think I saw part of one several years ago. I didn’t get to watch all of it, though.
I would never be on a reality show. I can’t even stand to watch them. The thought of being surrounded by other people for so long, with NO WAY TO AVOID THEM… *shudder*
Now, if someone were to make a reality show like the one mentioned in an episode of Doctor Who (“Bear With Me” — the name of the fictional reality show, not the DW episode), I’d possibly be tempted to watch it once or twice BECAUSE it came from something in a Doctor Who episode, and because unlike most actual reality shows, the concept sounds funny: a bunch of celebrities sharing a house with a bear.
Now that would be quite the show. Is it a tame bear? Or is it a wild one?