Beyond Reality

In 2018, reality TV continued to dominate our screens…which is great if you’re a fan of reality TV and even better if you’re one of the many TV freelancers out there who were able to stay busy this year (thank you TV Gods!!!)

This year in TV, we watched as new bunch of everyday Aussies cooked, dated, danced, sung and renovated their ways into our consciousness, inevitably creating a new batch of Insta-famers dominating our social media feeds. We saw the introduction of hot Aussie singles yelling “I got a text!”, Joel Creasey explaining “No likey; No lighty” and Dannii Minogue putting people on notice for their lack of “PPE”???, while we continued to demand that people “beat the wall!”; wondered who would receive a rose and held our breath until we heard “the tribe has spoken”. 

As the final day of 2018, I decided to take a look back on the year in TV that was and put together a list of my top eight shows I was watching…and the two that I probably should have been. In no particular order…

I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!

In the fourth series of the Australian version of the show, Bernard Tomic became the first ever celebrity to utter the words “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here” and leave the jungle for good…just days after entering. The unprecedented move was followed up by Anthony Mundine’s quit later in the series. But no TV fan could go past the fact that we got to see history repeat itself with Australia’s most iconic runner up Shannon “What About Me?” Noll, who was famously “robbed” of an Australian Idol win by Guy Sebastian, way back in 2003, once again fall just short of victory – this time, losing to comedian Fiona O’Loughlin, in the jungle. What a ride!

Bachelor In Paradise

Bachelor In Paradise was just so addictive! It was new content for Australian TV with lots of familiar faces and SO MUCH DRAMA! I have to admit that part of the fun for me personally was playing “spot the crew member” trying to identify crew members I knew in the background of shot. Very UNREALesque. 

Australian Survivor: Champions Vs Contenders

While I definitely have a bias towards Australian Survivor having worked on it…I’m just going to say it. Australian Survivor is one of the best shows Australia has ever produced. It was a season that saw one of the most notorious players from the US format take on the game, three of the arguably most strategic players go home with idols in their pockets, an unprecedented move to coerce someone into playing a idol incorrectly after already having played it and, ultimately, where an Australian olympic hero was once again in the record books…this time as the oldest winner in Survivor history. 

Survivor: David vs Goliath

While on the topic of Survivor (you can probably tell it’s a personal favourite of mine), I can’t go past the latest series of the US version of Survivor. Survivor’s David vs Goliath was one of the best seasons of the show I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty amazing that a 37 series of a show, still has the ability to grip an audience and offer something new. The casting and storytelling of David Vs Goliath went to a whole new level and it’s no surprise that it’s now considered by many fans amongst the top five of all time. 

Australian Ninja Warrior

It’s a show that I never thought I would be into BUT from the very first episodes last year, I was 100 per cent on board! It’s such a positive show and I love it when you see these everyday people achieve incredible physical feats on a course that for someone like me with zero physical prowess, seems completely impossible. Plus this year, we got to see a whole bunch of chicks dominate the Warped Wall in the heats and Olivia Vivian go one better by backflipping up the wall. What even is that???

Real Housewives of Melbourne

I don’t watch any of the other incarnations of the Real Housewives but there is something that hooks me with RHOM…from the outfits to the arguments, I just can’t seem to look away.

The Badgelor Bachelor

Tuning in to see just what Nick Cummins would do or say next was reason in itself to watch the show. Sometimes it felt like you needed subtitles and translations to keep up with the Honey Badger’s ockerisms. And then there was the ending that no one saw coming…

Gogglebox

If you work in the television industry, Gogglebox is actually the best way to keep up to date with the week in TV when you don’t have time to watch everything. Whether I’m working on the show or not, I’ll always make time to watch Gogglebox. It’s such easy watching, so relateable and is just SERIOUSLY funny.

Now here’s the part where I admit to the shows that I didn’t watch. To be fair, I did spend half of my year overseas for work, so here’s a special mention to the shows that I missed and think, if I had been watching, would definitely have made the list:

Married At First Sight

It was probably the most talked about reality show of the year and while I was able to catch the final few episodes after being out of Australia for a few months, I could tell that I’d spend the rest of the year pretending that I understood the MAFS references as they would constantly come up. Even my boyfriend, who generally is able to use me as a valid excuse for watching most reality tv shows, was watching it each week while I was away! 

Love Island Australia

As Australia’s first digitally-streamed show, you would think that being overseas during its run would not be an excuse to not watch BUT I did happen to be on an island myself, where the WIFI was not exactly designed to cope with streaming in mind. This definitely falls on the list of would have watched if I could have…

So that’s what I’ve been watching this year (or wish I had been) as we close out another year of reality TV. Notable mentions should also go to Bride & Prejudice for having some of the BEST promo lines of the year, All Together Now for making me sing like an idiot at home, Take Me Out for giving me my dating show fix and Dance Boss because, well I just found it really bloody entertaining.

What else do you think should have made the list?

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Wondering what new TV shows you’ve got to look forward to? Check out TV To Watch Out For In 2019.

Interested in a career in TV? Check out my post 5 Awesome Entry-Level Jobs You Never New Existed In TV