Article updated on August 28, 2024 at 9:04 AM PDT
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Kourtnee Jackson
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Kourtnee Jackson Senior Editor
Kourtnee covers TV streaming services and home entertainment news and reviews at CNET. She previously worked as an entertainment reporter at Showbiz Cheat Sheet where she wrote about film, television, music, celebrities, and streaming platforms.
Expertise Cord-cutting | TV and music streaming services | Netflix | Disney Plus | Max | Anime | Interviews | Entertainment Credentials
- Though Kourtnee hasn't won any journalism awards yet, she's been a Netflix streaming subscriber since 2012 and knows the magic of its hidden codes.
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What's the best streaming service overall for reality TV?
It’s hard to choose one service because it boils down to what type of reality content you like. Peacock and Paramount Plus carry some of the most popular titles for fans. They're where to find shows like The Voice, Survivor, RuPaul's Drag Race and The Real Housewives franchise.
If you've watched at least one reality show in the past 20 years, it's likely to have been a dating series like The Bachelor, a competition show like Shark Tank or something food-related on Food Network. You can stream most of these without access to cable or traditional TV. If you're a fan of reality programming, you may regularly turn to specific networks to catch the latest season of your favorite series. Although Apple TV Plus and Max -- two brands known for prestige television -- aren't necessarily our first choices for getting your reality fix, plenty of other streaming services deliver and are home to network favorites. Sometimes, it's a challenge to keep up with all the shows and reality stars you're interested in seeing.
Whether you watch reality shows for entertainment, design inspiration or educational purposes, these services offer enough to cover your tastes. Just be aware that not every season of your favorite show may be available to stream.
Read more: How to Get Peacock Premium for Free
Paramount Plus houses a wide variety of reality shows from CBS, VH1 and more. You can stream older and newer seasons of MTV shows such as Jersey Shore and The Challenge. VH1 mainstays such as RuPaul's Drag Race and Love & Hip Hop are streaming on the platform, along with the popular CBS hits Survivor and Big Brother.
Paramount Plus also has a few reality originals, including The Family Stallone and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Fans will also find titles from CMT (The Last Cowboy) and Paramount Network releases such as Ink Master and Bar Rescue. Because there's a designated "Reality" tab on Paramount Plus, it's easy to find each title in one central location.
The service costs $8 per month for the ad-supported version and $13 a month for the ad-free plan that includes Showtime.
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Peacock offers NBC's reality slate, including prime-time favorites The Voice and America's Got Talent, but that isn't all. Bravo's conveyor belt of unscripted series lives on Peacock too, with hits like The Real Housewives franchise, Top Chef, Married to Medicine, Below Deck and Project Runway. The service also has a suite of live channels that air reality TV 24/7 and originals like Love Island USA.
A few of Fox's reality picks are also on the platform, including Hell's Kitchen. Shows from entertainment channel E! such as Botched can be streamed here too. What about originals? The Real Housewives of Miami and Below Deck Down Under may attract fans of Bravo-lebrities, but Snoop Dogg and Maya Rudolph are just a couple of well-known celebs hosting their own original Peacock reality series.
There's a catch with this streaming service. Peacock users with free accounts can access only a limited number of episodes. You must have one of the service's paid subscriptions, which start at $8 a month, to watch full seasons.
A giant in the realm of unscripted programming, Discovery Plus is home to some of the genre's most recognized brands. HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TLC, Travel Channel, Magnolia Network, Animal Planet, ID, Lifetime and several others are part of the service. In total, there are 14 networks with content on Discovery Plus, which we laid out in a list here. Some Discovery favorites are now on Max, the rebranded streaming service.
Multiple subgenres of reality TV available on the platform will have you bouncing from paranormal investigations to fishing expeditions to foodie competitions. If you're into celebrities like the Kardashians, Tony Hawk or Martha Stewart, they show up as guests, clients and contestants on various networks.
90 Day Fiancé fans can stay up to date with every episode of all the franchise's spinoffs. Viewers can also stream every iteration of House Hunters and Flip or Flop, as well as follow Chip and Joanna Gaines' offerings from HGTV to Magnolia Network. Discovery Plus also has originals like 90 Day Journey and Trixie Motel.
There may be some seasons missing for certain shows. For example, Married at First Sight has 16 seasons, but only six are available on Discovery Plus. Searching is easy, and you can click on a network or type in a title or cast member's name to find a series.
At $5 a month, Discovery Plus is a bargain for those who love to skip around the reality TV landscape.
Hulu harvests much of its catalog from traditional networks like ABC, Fox, E!, VH1, BET, A&E and more. But this has disadvantages. One of them is that full seasons aren't available for every series. It has past seasons of Lifetime shows like Married at First Sight, current seasons don't air on Hulu, so you can't watch episodes the next day. Since NBC moved its content to Peacock, Hulu users can no longer stream shows from Bravo and other NBCUniversal-owned networks unless you have a live TV subscription.
For Fox shows such as The Masked Singer or MasterChef Junior, current episodes and full seasons are both available. You can still find popular titles in Hulu's catalog such as Shark Tank, American Idol, Hoarders and Storage Wars, as well as Hulu originals like The Kardashians.
Hulu keeps its reality lineup well-organized with a dedicated tab on the app. For the basic $8 subscription, you can take your pick from an assortment of channels.
During the past five years, Netflix has been gradually building its platter of reality fare. Ultimate Beastmaster was its first release, but the streamers made an imprint in dating and cooking entertainment. The Great British Baking Show and Is It Cake? have become hits with viewers, and series such as Love Is Blind, The Circle and Selling Sunset often become hot topics on the internet. Food, real estate and romance aren't the only areas that Netflix covers in the reality world. Home improvement, mindfulness, travel and international releases are among the categories you'll find on the service.
Originals Selling Sunset and Bling Empire give viewers a look inside luxurious lifestyles and real estate while Floor is Lava and Bullsh*t the Game Show put a different spin on… game shows. There's also a row of titles described as "rugged" that features jail-themed docuseries, a peek into the custom vehicle industry, or unique jobs like funeral directors. Netflix's monthly cost -- which runs from $7 up to $23 -- is significantly higher than other services.
The majority of Netflix's reality slate is made up of originals like Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and Nailed It, but a sprinkling of licensed series such as Old Enough and Tiny House Nation are also on the platform. Whatever you do, do yourself a favor and skip the dating-in-a-creature-mask weirdness of Sexy Beasts.
- Does the service carry all your favorite shows or networks? If you love everything on HGTV, you'll want a subscription to either Discovery Plus or the pricier Max. If novel dating shows are your thing, Netflix may have most of what you want.
- Does the interface make it easy to browse for shows?
- Are there enough simultaneous streams for you and your family?
- Would a live TV streaming service better fit your needs for reality TV? See CNET's best live TV streaming services roundup.
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Other streaming services, such as Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus and Prime, offer high-quality entertainment, but when it comes to reality TV, scope and preference are key. We looked at their reality rosters, the platforms on this list have large catalogs on offer for established franchises, new releases and originals. This list is based on content (number of titles and quality of originals and catalogs); app features and design (accessibility, layout); and price.
Netflix may not be top of mind for this genre, but according to Nielsen, the streamer has found huge popularity with some of its unscripted titles. Specifically, Selling Sunset, Love Is Blind and The Great British Baking Show have performed very well. For that reason, Netflix edged out rivals like Prime and Disney Plus. I also examined Parrot Analytics statistics between 2020 and 2023 and found that shows such as RuPaul's Drag Race, The Voice and Survivor are consistently in the top rankings in terms of audience demand.
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Max: After rebranding, Max carries a slate of reality programming from Discovery Plus. If you already have the service, then it doesn’t make sense to subscribe to both or to switch. Keep Max. If you’re only subscribing to watch HGTV, TLC, Food Network and related brands, Discovery Plus is less expensive and has what you want.
Tubi: Tubi is a great choice for free streaming and if you want to watch older shows or episodes. It has Flavor of Love, Storage Wars, Fear Factor, Gordon Ramsay series and other fan favorites. The platform doesn’t always have full series (it has seasons 6-10 of Wife Swap UK, for example), and new episodes are not readily available for current shows you’ll find on air.
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How do I sift through the subgenres of reality TV?
It's a matter of preference. Do you prefer cooking tutorials and competitions? Are you into rich people's lifestyles or everyday families? What about doing deep dives into paranormal research or tough jobs? Want to root for an underdog to win? Each service on this list offers a variety of unscripted content that doesn't just stick to one format.
Get to know each channel where mainstream staples and fan favorites like The Voice, RuPaul's Drag Race and Food Network shows can be found. But also look up niche series related to your interests. There's usually something for everyone, including veterinarians who specialize in dermatology and experts in urban legends and curses.
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Are there any free services with reality shows?
Yes. Free streaming services Tubi, Pluto TV and Crackle have a selection of reality TV series if you're in the mood for older or newer releases. Tubi carries Lego Masters and Bad Girls Club, along with Fear Factor, Beat Shazam, Joe Millionaire and Gordon Ramsay's series. Scroll through Tubi's reality tab to see its entire catalog.
Pluto also has a dedicated reality section where you can stream shows like Operation Repo, Jersey Shore, Storage Wars or Rescue 911. Crackle has a string of recognizable and obscure titles such as Kitchen Nightmares, The Mediator (2021) and Celebrity Sweat.
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What about streaming on network sites and apps?
If you're not watching reality TV on cable or broadcast networks, then you may wonder about streaming your shows on an app or website. ABC, Bravo, VH1, Fox and other networks require you to sign in with a paid TV provider to access content on their sites and apps. ABC urges viewers to sign up for Hulu to stream anything under the brand's umbrella. Therefore, we encourage cord-cutters to roll with one of these streaming services instead.
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