The last time I wrote, it was for the Players Championship, a golf tournament I was extremely excited for. Sam and I did a very long preview for the Players and after Day 1, our predictions actually weren’t looking too bad with Hideki Matsuyama firing an impressive -9 and Patrick Cantlay in 5th at -5. Unfortunately, that was the only day we got of the tournament – and sports as a whole. It was cancelled and Rounds 2, 3 and 4 were never played. Since then, the weekend of the Masters has come and gone and the world is completely different than it was a month ago. No one has been able to see many of their friends and family and millions of people have had CoVid-19. But this article isn’t to remind us all what we’ve lost due to coronavirus, it’s to appreciate what’s brought me so much joy on a day by day basis: Reality Television.
If you’ve read OFD before, you know I love Reality TV – whether it’s the Kardashians, the Circle or really anything else. There were several TV shows I was already watching, but quarantine inspired me to add a few more. I’m going to take this time to pitch you on what reality TV shows you should pick up now that we all have a little more free time than we’re used to…
1. Survivor: Winners at War
About mid-way through February, I noticed that my Twitter feed was flooded with people obsessing about the newest season of Survivor. I had just finished my umpteenth rewatch of Greys Anatomy and was looking for a new show and there’s nothing more fun than being a part of the zeitgeist conversation. So I watched the two Winners at War episodes that had already aired; I was immediately hooked by the magnetism of so many of the players but I didn’t know their Survivor history, since I had never watched the show before. I decided to start rewatching old seasons featuring some of my favorite players to catch up. I don’t think it’s necessary to watch all the old seasons to appreciate this season, but since I’m a bit obsessive, I found it an enjoyable way to spend (a lot) of my time.
Winners at War is Survivor’s 40th season and, as the name suggests, is contested only by previous winners. Some players had won as far back as 2001, when the show had barely started, and some had won as recently as 2018. Many of these players had played the game of Survivor multiple times, and understood the type of gameplay necessary to win. However, many had their reputations precede them and were immediate targets. This season of Survivor is a great one to start with because the sophistication of game play, and whether competitions are leveraging their physical abilities in Challenges, their likability through social manipulation, or their cunning through back-channel strategy, this show is different than most Reality TV because Survivor gives these people a chance to show off how smart they can be in extremely difficult scenarios. It’s like playing chess, and if you aren’t thinking 3 steps ahead, you’re already behind.
9 episodes have aired so far so you have a good runway of episodes to binge to catch up to the live shows so you can watch with the rest of the country. The episodes air on CBS on Wednesday at 8pm EST, but you can watch them now on Hulu.
**Side bar: if you happen to start Survivor: Winners at War and become obsessed with the show like I was, here’s the order in which I watched seasons to catch up on the history of the players: I started with some original seasons of players I immediately knew I liked from watching two episodes of Winners at War: 1. Tocantins (Season 18, Tyson’s original season); 2. Pearl Islands (Season 7, Sandra’s original season); 3. Cook Islands (Season 13, Parvati and Yul’s original season); 4. Cagayan (Season 28, Tony and Sarah’s original season). Then I moved on to all-star seasons where famous wins / moves happened: 5. All Stars (Season 8, Boston Rob and Amber fall in love), 6. Cambodia (Season 31, Jeremy’s unanimous win), 7. Micronesia (Season 16, Parvati’s iconic manipulation… you have to watch to know), 8. Blood vs. Water (Season 27, Tyson’s win); 9. Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20, considered the best season of all time… I agree); 10. Game Changers (Season 34, Sarah’s win).
2. Top Chef: All-Stars L.A.
Another All-Star season of Reality TV for you. This is the second All-Star season of Top Chef, however I think it’s definitely less reliant on understanding previous show history than say Survivor because where Survivor is a social game, and past relationships matter, Top Chef is more of an individual sport where your food is the thing that determines whether you advance.. The contestants this season are some of the best of the best that have been on Top Chef (as the all-star name implies, but none have won, leaving them hungry to add the title to their resume), many having been nominated for, or even won, James Beard awards, the most prestigious award a chef can receive.
A great part about watching Top Chef is that it makes you want to go experience many of the contestants restaurants. I’ve been to multiple myself, my favorite being Kwame’s (season 13) restaurant Kith/Kin in Washington D.C. It’s definitely odd watching this season as going to restaurants and enjoying delicious food with our friends is something we can’t really do right now, but it almost makes the show fun to remind us how much that matters to us and that soon enough we’ll be able to return to that. But in the meantime, it’s just incredible to watch people who are the best at what they do work and figure out what flavors and styles inspire them. The Jonathan Gold episode, honoring the late, great Los Angeles food critic, was truly touching and felt extremely relevant to remind us what’s important.
4 episodes have aired already so you don’t have to watch much to catch up to the current episodes. Top Chef airs on Bravo at 10pm on Thursday nights, but you can also watch on either Hulu or the Bravo app.
3. The Challenge: Total Madness
I am brand new to The Challenge. I’ve never watched the show before this season and therefore don’t know a lot of the people competing. The Challenge apparently is known for bringing back famous people who have played before, as well as people from other reality shows, so other contestants who aren’t Challenge “vets” are called “prospects” but they’ve been on reality-tv before (like Big Brother or Survivor, as well as a number of British shows). While Survivor and Top Chef are relatively family-friendly, The Challenge airs on MTV, which means you know it’s anything but. These people are raunchy, inappropriate, not always the brightest and are actively all trying to hook up with each other… which makes it great television. Only two episodes have aired so far but from what I can tell, the challenges are actually very very difficult. Where on Survivor, there are challenges that you can win without being the strongest person there, The Challenge really tests people athletically – it’s honestly very impressive how some of these people are ripped. There is some strategy involved, but really this show is Jersey Shore meets Survivor and if that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.
Like I said before, only two episodes have aired so it’s an easy catch-up. The Challenge airs on Wednesdays at 10pm and you can watch it on MTV.
4. Vanderpump Rules
Pump Rules is obviously one of the best reality tv shows out there, still featuring a cast of people who seem to be growing up despite their best efforts. While we see the same cast in million dollar houses instead of their gross West Hollywood apartments, they still have same issues. Jax is still a hypocrite (so is Lala to be honest) and everyone else still overreacts to literally everything. I’m really looking forward to Beau proposing to Stassi after Jax and Brittany’s wedding was kind of a let-down. I’ve really enjoyed the new girls (Dayna, Charli and Danica). Dayna especially has been contributing some great drama, poking the bear (the bear being a desperate-as-ever Scheana who is still trying to hook up with every hot guy at Sur). What else can I say – Pump Rules is an evergreen drama-filled show that never fails to entertain. If you’re looking for a show to binge, Pump Rules has 7 incredible seasons.
14 episodes have already aired so there’s a big chunk to binge if you’re trying to catch up with this season. The show airs on Bravo at 9pm on Wednesdays; you can watch on Bravo or Hulu.
5. The Real Housewives of New York City
Anyone who says another version of Housewives is better than NYC is more out of their minds than Ramona. The NYC housewives are the definition of messy, which is derived mostly from just their personalities, but also because many of them have drinking problems. Pretty much every episode you can count on one of them (cough cough, Dorinda or Ramona) getting shitf-aced and screaming at someone. Honestly, it’s devastating not to have Bethenny Frankel on the show anymore, but Leah, the new woman, appears to be a little ratchet and ready to stir up trouble. Leah has tattoos and the other snooty NYC housewives think that’s the trashiest, most unacceptable thing, claiming they’ve “never been friends with someone with a tattoo.” Meanwhile, LuAnn was just let off parole for drunkenly attacking a police officer… but to each their own. Sorry if that was extremely specific, but I feel like the only way to understand how absolutely crazy these women are is to start watching. If you like the show, I’d suggest going back and rewatching starting at season 4 (before that is frankly too old to be relevant).
Only two episodes of this season have aired so it would be very quick to catch up. The Real Housewives of New York City airs on Thursdays at 9pm on Bravo. You can watch on Bravo or Hulu.
6. Keeping Up With The Kardashians
Obviously I have to suggest KUWTK. This season started off with a literal bang! If you’re on social media, I’m sure you might have seen reference to the physical fight between Kim and Kourtney. This ended up being the boiling point for both sisters and made them both realize that it really was time for Kourtney to take a step back from the show. The last episode (episode 3) was the first episode that Kourtney really wasn’t in it at all… which meant we got more Scott, Kendall, Kris, Kim and Khloe. It was kind of great because now I think the show will be less serious and more classic-shenanigans Kardashians. I’m extremely excited and think this will be a more light-hearted season than we’ve had in a long time since we’re now mostly past the Tristan-Khloe and Kim-Kourtney drama. Give me all the Scott scenes.
Only 3 episodes have aired this season, so it wouldn’t take much to catch up, but obviously there have been many past seasons. KUWTK airs at 9pm on Thursdays on E!
7. Songland
This is my favorite singing show at the moment. I’ve also been watching The Voice because it’s my mom’s favorite singing show but I’m not as dedicated to that. Songland came back last night with Lady Antebellum as the first guest and it was awesome – these people are so incredibly talented – the songwriters who come on the show, to the famous producers, to the artists themselves who all flow off of each other. It’s incredible to watch, and more often than not, I actually download the songs afterwards (Greenlight by the Jonas Brothers was one of my most played songs last year). This season we can look forward to the following artists coming on the show to find their next big hit: Usher, Luis Fonsi, H.E.R., Florida Georgia Line, Ben Platt, Bebe Rexha, Boyz II Men and more.
Only 1 episode has aired so far. You can watch Songland on NBC at 10pm on Mondays or on the NBC website at any point after.
8. The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart
This show just aired on Monday night. It’s a brand new concept from The Bachelor franchise that combines the two people most desperate for fame: relationship reality-tv contestants and singers. I have a good feeling this is going to feed great drama. After only watching the first episode, I’m surprised that most of these people actually seem to be good singers. A lot of the contestants are very attractive and appear to love drama and attention. I think this will be a fun show to keep up with.
Only one episode has aired so far. It airs on Mondays at 8pm on ABC and is also available on Hulu.
Full Current TV Schedule
That’s it for the Reality TV folks! I highly suggest picking up one of these if you don’t already watch all of them. They’re extremely fun shows that I find are very easy to watch and don’t stress me out. I know a lot of people have been taking this time to binge more shows or watch more things, and while I want to start shows like Devs or The Wire, I’m finding I somehow don’t have either the attention span or desire to watch these potentially draining shows. Reality TV has been an incredible escape and we’re so lucky that many of them happen to be All-Star seasons so we’re getting the best of the best! Plus, many of these shows are on their 20+ seasons so there’s a huge catalog to go back and watch if you find yourself engrossed with either a show or a specific contestant.
If you want some MORE inspiration, this is my current TV schedule (although I watch every single show the day after because commercials are the devil, so if a show is on Sunday, it’s basically my Monday show)
Sunday: Westworld (HBO @ 9pm); Insecure (HBO @ 10pm)
Monday: The Voice (NBC @ 8pm); Songland (NBC @ 10pm); The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart (ABC @ 8pm)
Tuesday: Vanderpump Rules (Bravo @ 9pm)
Wednesday: Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu @ Midnight); Survivor (CBS @ 8pm), The Challenge (MTV @ 10pm)
Thursday: The Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo @ 9pm); Top Chef (Bravo @ 10pm); Keeping Up With the Kardashians (E! @ 9pm)
