Top 10 Addictive Reality TV Shows

It’s the greatest singing competition show of all-time and has given us talent such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson. While not all of the shows winners have gone on to become superstars, it’s still one of the most aspirational shows on TV, where even someone William Hung, a notoriously bad contestant, can have a moment in the spotlight. The show was at its best with its trio of original judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul giving their honest, sometimes brutal, opinion. Over the years, the judges have come and gone, but Ryan Seacrest has remained a faithful host.

This show about young singles partying on the New Jersey beaches was an unexpected breakout hit for MTV. The show premiered in 2009 and made household names out of The Situation, JWoww, Snooki, and co. There was something captivating about the earlier seasons, which felt largely unscripted as the cast would drink too much, hook up, and fist pump their hearts out night after night. It wasn’t without its controversy with many New Jersey natives, including Governor Chris Christie, speaking harshly about the show and its portrayal of New Jersey. They managed to pump out six seasons in three short years, and ingrain the lifestyle motto “GTL—gym, tan, laundry,” in us all.

“You wanna be on top?” is the question this show poses from the theme song and one host/supermodel Tyra repeatedly asks aspiring models on each cycle. Each week, Tyra and her judges put the contestants through challenges - from the expected like walking in high heels to the bizarre, like walking in a bubble – all meant to prove they have what it takes to be a top model. The challenges were a backdrop to the star studded power of Tyra, who created words like “Smize” and the drama that came from the models living together. The show was canceled in 2015 after its 22nd cycle, but it was recently announced that VH1 will revive it without Tyra as a judge. Alas, it won’t be the same without her.

It’s easy to get addicted to this show where eleven teams of two race around the world completing challenges and navigating through unknown cultures for a shot at winning $1 million dollars. Watching the series will give you serious wanderlust as the players get to visit some of the world’s most stunning locations. It’s fun to see how the duos stay cool under pressure, deal with language barriers, and get lost. The show has been on for a whopping 28 seasons and has won 10 Primetime Emmys as the “Outstanding Reality-Competition Program.”

Created as a spin-off from (xref) “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” this show followed the life of Lauren “LC” Conrad, as she tried to pursue a career in fashion, find love, and maintain friendships in Los Angeles. The series felt like a how-to guide for Hollywood, at a time when we were all obsessed with young starlets like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. It also gave us some of the best reality TV villains with Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, the duo known as “Speidi.” We now know that most of the show was scripted, but who cares when it gave us all the drama we could handle!

Following the success of scripted shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “The O.C.” this series began in 2006 with Orange County, which gave viewers access to the lives of the rich and famous women of O.C. The series is a treasure trove of catfights, backstabbing, and women drinking too much pinot grigio. It’s provided us with the ridiculous catchphrases of the opening credits and a chance to see how the one percent lives. Furthermore, it’s made household names of some of the cast members like NeNe Leakes, Bethenny Frankel, Teresa Giudice, and Lisa Vanderpump. In total, nine US cities have been locales for the show including Atlanta, New Jersey, New York, and Beverly Hills.

Taking its name from the George Orwell novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” the premise of the show is simple: the contestants, known as “HouseGuests” or “HouseMates” must live in a house with 24 hour-surveillance while competing in challenges and using their social skills to not get evicted. The set-up makes for a fascinating look at human behavior since many of the people go a bit stir-crazy under the constant scrutiny and lack of communication with the outside world. The drama is often times over-the-top, silly, and yet strangely addictive with the show eventually growing into 54 franchises worldwide!

Say what you want about the Kardashians, but it’s pretty hard to deny that they are one of the most influential and famous families of the 21st century. Their pop culture takeover is in large part due to their show, which became an unbridled success for E! Network. Produced by Ryan Seacrest among others, the show follows the day-to-day lives of the Kardashian Klan, namely, Kim, Khloé, Kourtney and co, all of whom are famous for...well being Kardashians. Now on its eleventh season, the show has no intentions of slowing down as they air various spin-offs such as “Khloé and Kourtney Take the Hamptons,” and “Khloé & Lamar.”

Where would reality TV be without this show? Since 2000, Survivor has dominated American reality television and proved to be one of the most fascinating social experiments as players are forced to make alliances while surviving in a harsh environment/ Host Jeff Probst pushes contestants to “outwit, outplay and outlast” each other, which is hard to do when they’re working with little food and water. After 32 seasons, they’re still finding new ways to push the players to use their social and mental skills while pushing their physical endurance.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

“The Voice” (2011- )

“So You Think You Can Dance” (2005- )

“Naked and Afraid” (2013- )

“MasterChef” (2010- )

“Project Runway” (2004- )

“The Great British Bake Off” (2010- )

Beginning in 2002, this dating show set up one lucky Bachelor with the chance of a lifetime to date multiple women in the hopes of finding a wife. This lead to an equally successful spin-off with the genders reversed. Even though most of the seasons don’t end in a successful marriage, between these two shows there has been an astonishing 31 seasons combined. No one really cares about the search for true love, but instead we’re watching for the backstabbing contestants, the fantasy suites, the overuse of the word “amazing,” and host Chris Harrison who promises audiences every season “the most shocking rose ceremony ever.”

Do you agree with our list? Which reality show is on your must-watch TV list? For more additive Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to MsMojo.