Traitors (UK & USA)

I'd agree with hk on this. I enjoyed both UK series 1& 2 (especially 2) and Australia S1. Australia s2 was frustrating to watch. US S1 is just a rehash of the challenges from UK S1 and the contestants are annoying.

I'll give it a try, watchlisted.

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Great, thank you!

I like a very specific subgenre of reality TV, which is that I really like watching people work together OR work on their own doing a skill that is their specialty. I strongly dislike watching people antagonize each other and/or watching people be put down by their peers or experts. I also do not care for obviously manufactured drama/editing.

So, for example, I have really enjoyed the different seasons of Glow Up (makeup artists), Blown Away (glass blowers/sculptors), Siren: Survive the Island (teams of athletic women from different fields of expertise), and School of Chocolate (chocolate sculpting).

I'm not really interested in dating shows (though I've heard really interesting things about Love on the Spectrum) or shows that boil down to rich people yelling at each other, or shows where Gordon Ramsey is either screaming that something is "incredible" or "humiliating!" and the editing is to choppy that you as a viewer have no sense of how well people are doing.

Traitors UK is probably my favorite reality show I've watched since Siren: Survive the Island, and I agree with you that it's all down to the cast. They just seemed like really nice people, and at the same time they understood that it was a game and so there was this nice mix of being philosophical about it and then the real emotion of people you like voting you out of the game. It's really rare that I watch a reality show where I would have cheered for anyone winning (well, anyone except one specific person in this case), and I loved that. I also liked that they devoted so much of the run time to positive interactions and the missions were really fun. Taking the time, for example, to show Aaron talking to Andrea about her life in the 1960s while they tried to figure out how to play bocce ball or something was really nice.

And I agree that Winkleman was a fantastic host. She was this perfect blend of firm, empathetic, and funny.

As a teen, I really loved the original run, and the first season in particular. The challenges were really rigorous and the gameplay was very complex. I quite enjoyed the first season of the Netflix reboot, but I am so turned off by the way that they have cast this second season. Young, blandly attractive wealthy people who want to be "reality famous" are the worst kind of people. And in The Mole, people get kicked off because of their score on the quiz, so you can't even hope that the other contestants would give them the boot! Frustrating!

Ooh, thank you for this recommendation! It's not currently streaming where I am, but I put it on my watchlist and I'll keep and eye out.

You might like a show called The Bridge... I seem to remember there were two series, one on a tropical island, the other somewhere cold and damp in the UK. The tropical island one was better! It had people working together in competing teams to build a bridge out of little rafts.

OH my gosh! I do know this show!!! I think I watched like half of the first episode! I should revisit it, as I remember enjoying what I saw.

@Takoma11

For nice, friendly people in competition with each other you really have to go a long way to beat The Great British Bake Off. It's not really what I think of as reality tv, but as you mentioned some similar sounding things, I thought I'd mention it. The Great British Throwdown is another which is very similar.

Masterchef and Masterchef: Professionals do similar stuff and have been on for years.

I don't watch it, but The Great British Sewinig Bee is also popular. My mum really likes that and she watches Glow up, which is one of the reasons I mention it.

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Thank you! In my friend group, we call this "gentle TV". I've watched plenty of Bake-Off and I think two seasons of Throwdown (I do have one major qualm with Throwdown, but I like it for the most part).

Masterchef, to me, does fall into the reality drama/bad editing trap.

I would love to watch the Great British Sewing Bee, but as of yet it's not available on any of my services. One day!

You might also like Three/Four In A Bed (B&B/small hotels owners/managers spend a day/night at each others establishments) or Come Dine With Me (amateur cooks take turns throwing a dinner party.) I'd certainly recommend the early series of both (all of Three In A Bed and the maybe the first 5 or 6 years of CDWM) and fairly consistantly good.

Handmade: Best British Woodworker may also appeal if you liked Bake Off and Throwdown. There's also something called A Cut Above which is Candian (I think) chainsaw carvinig which I liked enough to finish.

Ooh, thanks! People making stuff is my favorite reality genre after team-work challenges.

I was a big fan of the series Making It, which was an American series hosted by Amy Pohler and Nick Offerman.

Why?
The reason UK's version is the best, because we get people that are so relatable and real.

Unless they pick comedians, cause I have high regards for UK comics & I'm someone who watches a lot of Cat does countdown, taskmaster, would I lie to you etc.
Imagine having someone like Lee Mack or Bob Mortimor in there.

On a side note, @Takoma11 I would also add Norway's Traitors to the list. @John-Connor has watched the Dutch versions so he might know if they are worth it.
Do not watch Australia second season, unless you want to lose your hair & raise your blood pressure in frustration. The first Aussie season is quite good.


On a side note, I am thinking of watching New Zealand's second season because a lot of folks online have said it's quite good.

Also, I am still interested in hosting a Mafia Game here, which is similar to Traitors, if enough folks are interested.

Because celebs make everything better. Like I said, I'm hoping this means we get two versions (normal one in Jan and the celeb one later in the year (maybe Easter or Summer) but I fear it won't be the case. I do wonder if there's any concern that a 3rd straight series will lead to people being 'more prepared' and that impacting the show so, rather than doing that and then a celeb version if it goes 'wrong' that a celeb version now means it'll either be a big success or people will be more welcoming/kind to a following 'normal' version.

Honestly, it's more likely to get higher ratings simply because it is celebs. That's the land in which we now abide.

They are likely to be such Z list 'celebs' it will be no different to having regular people.

I doubt they will, actually. It's such a big show that I'd expect them to get some proper people. Although, it depends on what you call Z list? I mean, it's entirely possible that they'll have a great line up which I won't know many of because they'll be from soaps or Social Media/Youtube and, while they're probably a lot more famous than the people I would know, much like Vienna, it means nothing to me.

Although, if they are, then it'll be worse as they'll 'think' they're someone and act like it, which will be like watching the US version.