Living Together

A guaranteed good time is sitting around with your friends and watching a reality TV show that is based on the premise of complete strangers living together in a single home.  Cohabitation can be a difficult process and best friends can often find out that living together at a place is a horrible idea.  We all have our personal horror stories about roommates and there’s nothing better than laughing with (or at) people having to go through this difficult process while being filmed on television.

Reality TV shows that revolve around people living together have been a staple of the reality TV world for many years.  MTV’s The Real World has been cited as the forefather of reality TV and has been on the air for fifteen seasons!  Revolving around the exploits of seven strangers that live together in a house, The Real World has produced many memorable reality TV moments.  Who can forget Season 12 of The Real World when good southern girl Trishelle gets caught up in the excitement of Las Vegas life and makes out with roommate, party girl Brynn!  Moments like this are never rare when you watch reality TV shows based on strangers living together.

Of course, The Real World and other reality TV shows based on this blueprint are not just cheap thrills.  The audience genuinely begins to care with the crazy cast of strangers that have allowed unprecedented access to their lives.  Watching these people grow and experience genuine moments of change can be inspiring and although there are often moments where you can’t help but groan at these people’s actions, for the most part you can’t help but enjoy watching these types of reality TV shows.

As reality TV has grown into a large industry, other reality TV shows showing the exploits of strangers living together have popped up.  One of the most popular reality TV franchises throughout the world, Big Brother combines Survivor-like competitions between contestants with showing how life is like between strangers living together in a house.  Inspired by the feel-good book 1984 by George Orwell, Big Brother pits contestants against each other that live together in a house.  Tasks must be performed by contestants and, get this, the home audience even gets a say, as they have the power to vote contestants off.  The winner of these crazy shenanigans is rewarded with the house that the show has been taking place in!  Big Brother is a huge hit internationally and has shows in Argentina, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and USA.

The popularity of reality TV shows revolving around the trials and tribulations of people living together is also a huge hit in France.  Loft Story is a program revolving around roommates trying to survive together in a loft.  This internationally acclaimed hit has been praised as fun and touching.  With reality TV shows about living together becoming bigger and bigger successes, you can expect more reality TV programming based around this premise to pop up on your TV screens!