The 40 most popular 2000s reality TV shows, ranked. Click any show for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Pelotón
2007
country: Chile
Pelotón is a Chilean reality show on National Television of Chile in which the participants undergo an intense regime of military training. The winner receives 50 million pesos. The first season aired January 2 — May 5, 2007, and the second season ran from October 2, 2007 to March 11, 2008. The third season were premiere in July 2009 and the contestants were Chilean celebrities. The third and 4th season were shooting back to back, and like last season the majority of participants were celebrities.


Infinite Challenge
2005
country: South Korea
Infinite Challenge has been reported as the first "Real-Variety" show in Korean television history. The program is largely unscripted, and follows a similar format of challenge-based Reality Television programs, familiar to the audiences in the West, but the challenges are often silly, absurd, or impossible to achieve, so the program takes on the aspect of a satirical comedy variety show, rather than a more standard reality or contest program. In order to achieve its comedic purposes its 6 hosts and staff continuously proclaim, the elements of this show are the 3-Ds, Dirty, Dangerous, and Difficult.


El conquistador
2005
country: Spain
No overview available


2 Days and 1 Night
2007
country: South Korea
2 Days & 1 Night is a South Korean reality-variety show with the motto "real wild road variety." Its main concept is to recommend various places of interest that viewers can visit in South Korea.


Operación triunfo
2001
country: Spain
Reality-show talent contest aimed to find the country's next solo singing sensation, putting a selection of hopefuls through their paces by getting them to sing a variety of cover versions of popular songs, with tutoring from various professionals.


Survivor
2003
country: Greece
No overview available


TV Animal Farm
2001
country: South Korea
No overview available


Big Brother
2000
country: United States
American version of the reality game show which follows a group of HouseGuests living together 24 hours a day in the "Big Brother" house, isolated from the outside world but under constant surveillance with no privacy for three months.


Dancing with the Stars
2005
country: United States
The competition sees celebrities perform choreographed dance routines which are judged by a panel of renowned ballroom experts and voted on by viewers. Enjoy sizzling salsas, sambas and spray-tans as they vie for the coveted Mirrorball Trophy.


Lenßen & Partner
2003
country: Germany
Attorney Ingo Lenssen and his team of investigators who specialize in sensitive cases involving clients who prefer private investigations to legal advice.


Project Runway
2004
country: United States
Aspiring fashion designers compete for a chance to break into the industry. Each week, a designer is eliminated from the competition after exhibiting their work in front of a judges' panel.


WWE Superstars
2009
country: United States
WWE Superstars is a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that originally aired on WGN America in the United States. It debuted on April 16, 2009 and ended its domestic broadcasting on April 7, 2011. After the final domestic TV broadcast the show moved to an internet broadcast format while maintaining a traditional television broadcast in international markets. The show features mid-to-low card WWE superstars and divas, in a format similar to the former show WWE Heat which served the same purpose. Big names such as John Cena and Randy Orton previously appeared on the show at its beginning. The show also previously featured talent from the now-defunct ECW brand.


Top Gear
2002
country: United Kingdom
This fast-paced and stunt-filled motor show tests whether cars, both mundane and extraordinary, live up to their manufacturers' claims. The long-running show travels to locations around the world, performing extreme stunts and challenges to see what the featured cars are capable of doing. The current hosts are Paddy Mcguinness, Chris Harris and Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff.


RuPaul's Drag Race
2009
country: United States
Join RuPaul, the world's most famous drag queen, as the host, mentor and judge for the ultimate in drag queen competitions. The top drag queens in the U.S. will vie for drag stardom as RuPaul, in full glamazon drag, will reign supreme in all judging and eliminations while helping guide the contestants as they prepare for each challenge.


Show! Music Core
2005
country: South Korea
Show! Music Core is a music show that has been aired since 2005. Not like any other music shows, this show doesn't include any charts or awards. There are a few segments such as This Week's Hot 3, Chart Up Core and Core of Rising Stars.


Big Brother
2000
country: United Kingdom
A British reality television game show in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house for several weeks, trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run.


Survivor
2000
country: United States
A reality show contest where sixteen or more castaways split between two or more “Tribes” are taken to a remote isolated location and are forced to live off the land with meager supplies for roughly 39 days. Frequent physical challenges are used to pit the tribes against each other for rewards, such as food or luxuries, or for “Immunity”, forcing the other tribe to attend “Tribal Council”, where they must vote off one of their players.


Desafío
2004
country: Colombia
Desafío is a reality show in which a number of participants should survive, live together, and compete in 4 different stages, for a big price in money. These contestants are grouped into three teams according to the theme chosen in each season. Social classes, generations, regions of the country and the degree of popularity are the elements used to give identity to these groups. Another one of the characteristics of the Challenge and which encloses the success of this format is that the conditions of life in this competition are not fair. While a group spends its day in a beach house with servants, exquisite delicacies (High Beach), the other group suffers the complete lack of accommodation and food (Low Beach). In this reality, as in real life, the teams would be able to exceed or fall on their comfort levels, depending on the performance in the territorial Challenges.


Deadliest Catch
2005
country: United States
Forty-foot waves, 700 pound crab pots, freezing temperatures and your mortality staring you in the face…it's all in a day's work for these modern day prospectors. During each episode we will watch crews race to meet their quota and make it home safely.


America's Got Talent
2006
country: United States
A weekly talent competition where an array of performers – from singers and dancers, to comedians and novelty acts – vie for a $1 million cash prize.


Hell's Kitchen
2005
country: United States
Aspiring restaurateurs brave Ramsay and his fiery command of the kitchen as he puts the competitors through an intense culinary academy to prove they possess the right combination of ingredients to win a life-changing grand prize.


Paradise Hotel
2005
country: Denmark
Danish version of the reality series "Paradise Hotel".


Keeping Up with the Kardashians
2007
country: United States
A peek inside the exploits and privileged private lives of the blended Kardashian-Jenner family, including sisters Kim, Kourtney and Khloé.


Kangxi Coming
2004
country: Taiwan
Kang Xi Lai Le is a Taiwanese variety-comedy talk show hosted by variety show veterans Dee Hsu and Kevin Tsai. It was produced by Chungta Production from 2004 to 2009, and currently produced by Gold Star Production along with the writing and production staff of GUESS. It was first broadcast on 5 January 2004 and currently airs Monday to Friday at 22:00-23:00 on cable TV CTi Variety. In most episodes, the hosts interview a panel of celebrities in various and controversial topics while employing their signature comedic bantering. It is broadcast in Hong Kong on ATV Home under the name of Variety Show of Mr Con and Ms Csi. Although it is broadcast in Taiwan, the show is very successful and popular among Chinese speaking audiences across the world who watch uploaded re-runs over the internet or through bootleg DVDs. The show has been mentioned in other Taiwanese variety and talk shows, mainly from presenters who appeared on the show.


Hammerslag
2007
country: Denmark
Realestate agents competite against each other, guessing 3 recently sold house prices per show.


American Idol
2002
country: United States
Each year, hopeful singers from all over the country audition to be part of one of the biggest shows in American television history. Who will become the new American Idol?


A Fazenda
2009
country: Brazil
A Fazenda is the current Brazilian version of the The Farm reality television show based on the Swedish television series of the same name that was originally created in 2001 by Strix and produced in association with Sony Entertainment and Endemol. The show is based on a group of celebrities living together twenty-four hours a day in a Farm, isolated from the outside world while having all their steps followed by cameras around-the-clock, with no privacy for three months. The contestants compete for the chance to win the grand prize by avoiding weekly eviction, until the last celebrity remains at the end of the season that can claim the grand prize. The show is presented by news reporter Britto Junior alongside actress Chris Couto and directed by Rodrigo Carelli. Record's website and a Record-owned pay-per-view channel offer round-the-clock coverage.


L'épicerie
2002
country: Canada
No overview available


Das perfekte Dinner
2005
country: Germany
No overview available


Chopped
2009
country: United States
A high energy, fast paced cooking competition that challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets “chopped” by our panel of esteemed culinary luminaries until the last man or woman left standing claims victory.


Kelime Oyunu
2009
country: Turkey
Kelime Oyunu (Word Game) is a Turkish game show that was awarded by the Turkish Language Association for "the correct use of Turkish and its contributions to Turkish" and broadcasted every weekday on Kanal 1, Bloomberg HT, Show TV, FOX and continues to be broadcast on teve2.


Top Chef
2006
country: United States
An American reality competition show in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges and are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants eliminated in each episode.


Die Küchenschlacht
2008
country: Germany
No overview available


X Factor
2008
country: Italy
X Factor is the Italian version of the British musical talent show The X Factor. The first four seasons aired on Rai 2, but since 2011 it has been broadcast on Sky Uno, with reruns on TV8, after Rai dropped the show due to high costs. Sky Italia acquired the format, extending its broadcast until 2024. Starting from the eleventh season, RTL 102.5 became the official radio station, replacing Radio Deejay and Radio 105. The show was hosted by Francesco Facchinetti (2008-2010), Alessandro Cattelan (2011-2020), Ludovico Tersigni (2021), and Francesca Michielin (2022-2023). From 2024 onwards, Giorgia will take over as host. Since the seventh season, the show has been produced by Fremantle Italia without the collaboration of Magnolia, which had produced the selection episodes in the early seasons.


Pawn Stars
2009
country: United States
Go inside the colorful world of the pawn business. At the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas, generations of the Harrison family run the family business, and there’s clashing and camaraderie every step of the way.


Big Brother
2000
country: Germany
100 days, 24-hour surveillance, a container and no contact with the outside world: the residents live together in their new shared flat in a container for 100 days and are under 24-hour camera surveillance. Big Brother sees everything. Big Brother sets the rules. Big Brother is unpredictable.


The Real Housewives of Atlanta
2008
country: United States
Bravo's cameras turn to the Southern states as the network presents this inside look at the Real Housewives of Atlanta. These women handle the personal dramas that affect their affluent lifestyles with a signature Southern brand of “style” and “grace.”


Idol
2004
country: Sweden
The first season of Sweden's Idol premiered in August 2004 and continued until its grand finale on 26 November. It is a spin off of Britain's Pop Idol.


America's Next Top Model
2003
country: United States
Aspiring models compete for a chance to break into the business with a panel of judges critiquing their progress throughout the competition.


The Real Housewives of Orange County
2006
country: United States
A view into the lives of several women and their families who live in one of the wealthiest communities in the country with the viewer taken "inside the gates" to show their lives aren't always perfect.
The 2000s were cable television's breakthrough — HBO and its imitators proved that serialized, morally complicated drama could be the most ambitious storytelling around.
Reality television spans competition formats, documentary-style follow shows, and dating series. It's the most-watched and least-written-about corner of TV, and its formats travel internationally better than almost anything else.