94-456: Top Chef is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants 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. The show is produced by Magical Elves Productions,
188-522: A Mormon splinter group), Breaking Amish and Amish Mafia (the Amish ), and Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and its spinoffs ( Romani people ). The Real Housewives franchise offers a window into the lives of social-striving urban and suburban housewives. Many shows focus on wealth and conspicuous consumption , including Platinum Weddings , and My Super Sweet 16 , which documented huge coming of age celebrations thrown by wealthy parents. Conversely,
282-492: A Top Chef line of Healthy Choice entrées. The series was hosted by Curtis Stone ; Ryan was declared the winner of the competition. Life After Top Chef is a spin-off featuring former Top Chef contestants Richard Blais , Jennifer Carroll, Spike Mendelsohn , and Fabio Viviani , which focuses on various aspects of their lives, from managing and opening a restaurant to dealing with family dynamics and personal issues. The series premiered on October 3, 2012. Top Chef Estrellas
376-406: A dish that meets certain requirements (for example, using specific ingredients or inspiring a particular taste) or participate in a culinary-related challenge (for example, a mise en place relay race or a taste testing contest). They are usually given an hour or less to complete these tasks. The Quickfire Challenge traditionally begins with the host saying, "Your time starts now," and ends with
470-580: A nuclear family (filmed in 1971) going through a divorce; unlike many later reality shows, it was more or less documentary in purpose and style. In 1974 a counterpart program, The Family , was made in the UK, following the working-class Wilkins family of Reading . Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions of Chuck Barris : The Dating Game , The Newlywed Game , and The Gong Show , all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in
564-477: A 2003 paper, theorists Elisabeth Klaus and Stephanie Lücke referred to the former category as "docusoaps", which consist of "narrative reality", and the latter category as "reality soaps", which consist of "performative reality". Since 2014, the Primetime Emmy Awards have used a similar classification, with separate awards for " unstructured reality " and " structured reality " programs, as well as
658-454: A Reality or Reality-Competition Program , was added. In 2007, the web series The Next Internet Millionaire appeared; it was a competition show based in part on The Apprentice , and was billed as the world's first Internet reality show. In 2010 the Dutch singing competition show The Voice of Holland , created by John de Mol Jr. , premiered; it added to the singing competition template
752-443: A camera crew on an outdoor adventure , such as hunting , fishing , hiking, scuba diving , rock climbing, wildlife photography, horseback riding, race car driving, and the like, with most of the resulting action and dialogue being unscripted, except for the narration. In the 1966 Direct Cinema film Chelsea Girls , Andy Warhol filmed various acquaintances with no direction given. The Radio Times Guide to Film 2007 said that
846-584: A celebrity going about their everyday life: notable examples include The Anna Nicole Show , The Osbournes , Gene Simmons Family Jewels , Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica , Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Hogan Knows Best . VH1 in the mid-2000s had an entire block of such shows, known as "Celebreality". Shows such as these are often created with the idea of promoting a celebrity product or upcoming project. Some documentary-style shows shed light on rarely seen cultures and lifestyles. One example
940-473: A foreword by Tom Colicchio . On September 30, 2009, Chronicle Books released Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook , with a foreword by Padma Lakshmi . On July 14, 2010, Chronicle Books released How to Cook Like a Top Chef , with a foreword by Rick Bayless . Top Chef was nominated at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007 for Outstanding Cinematography for Reality Programming and Outstanding Reality-Competition Program for its second season. Top Chef won
1034-606: A monthly membership and $ 200 for an annual membership. Top Chef: The Game is a computer game released by Brighter Minds for PCs . It challenges players to create the best dish from items in a virtual pantry. Games magazine gave the game an unfavorable review, calling it a "quick cash-in... for an undiscriminating audience." To make certain dishes available to viewers who watch Top Chef but do not have time to prepare them, Schwan's Home Service started offering Top Chef —branded frozen meals in late 2009. On March 20, 2008, Chronicle Books released Top Chef: The Cookbook , with
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#17327972678401128-511: A new phenomenon. Pop-up restaurants have existed in the United States and Cuba. Diners typically make use of social media , such as the blogosphere and Twitter , to follow the movement of these restaurants and make online reservations. Pop-up restaurants, like food trucks , are an effective way for young professionals to gain exposure of their skills in the field of hospitality as they seek investors and attention pursuant to opening
1222-420: A prize (such as chef's knives, wine, or cash). To emphasize the culture and environment of Season 6 's Las Vegas setting, the show introduced "High-stakes Quickfire Challenges," which feature extravagant rewards, usually a large cash prize upwards of US$ 10,000 . High-stakes Quickfire Challenges continued onward in further seasons. Season 12 of Top Chef introduced the "Sudden Death Quickfire Challenge," where
1316-616: A restaurant or another culinary concept. Pop-up restaurants have been seen as useful for younger chefs, allowing them to utilize underused kitchen facilities and "experiment without the risk of bankruptcy". By 2013, this restaurant style had gained steam and prevalence in larger cities thanks in part to crowd-funding efforts that offered the short-term capital needed to fund start-up costs. Notable entrepreneurs, chefs, and restaurateurs have opened pop-up restaurants: Differently from traditional pop-up restaurants, which tend to financially support their restaurateurs as means of profit or living,
1410-440: A televised competition. The 1976–1980 BBC series The Big Time featured a different amateur in some field (cooking, comedy, football, etc.) trying to succeed professionally in that field, with help from notable experts. The 15-episode series is credited with starting the career of Sheena Easton , who was selected to appear in the episode showing an aspiring pop singer trying to enter the music business. In 1978, Living in
1504-466: A third award for " reality-competition " programs. In many reality television programs, camera shooting and footage editing give the viewer the impression that they are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is sometimes referred to as fly on the wall , observational documentary or factual television . Story "plots" are often constructed via editing or planned situations, with
1598-687: A top athlete and celebrity, the brutal nature of the murders, and issues of race and class in Los Angeles celebrity culture, the sensational case dominated ratings and the public conversation. Many reality television stars of the 2000s and 2010s have direct or indirect connections to people involved in the case, most notably Kim Kardashian , daughter of defense attorney Robert Kardashian , and several of her relatives and associates. The series Expedition Robinson , created by television producer Charlie Parsons, which first aired in 1997 in Sweden (and
1692-466: A twenty-second season, which will be filmed in Canada. Top Chef is a cooking show that uses a progressive elimination format. The beginning of each season starts with twelve to nineteen professional chefs selected through auditions. The chefs are brought to the season's host city or state, which typically inspires themes throughout the season. The chefs live in a provided apartment, house, or hotel during
1786-623: Is a Spanish-language spin-off featuring Hispanic celebrities competing to win $ 100,000 for their charity of choice. It was hosted by actress Aylín Mújica and judged by chefs Lorena Garcia , Jaime Martín Del Campo, and Ramiro Arvizu. As part of the adaptation, eliminated celebrities were not sent home, but rather became sous-chefs for the remaining contestants. The series premiered on Telemundo on February 16, 2014. Top Chef Duels brings back contestants from past seasons of Top Chef and Top Chef Masters , pitting them against each other in head-to-head challenges. The winner of each match-up advanced to
1880-425: Is a comprehensive online culinary school involving 12 courses and over 200 in-depth video lessons. The program takes participants through a structured program of the basics (knife skills, kitchen set-up, ingredients) to advanced culinary techniques ( sous-vide , molecular gastronomy ). The instructors at Top Chef University consist of the series' most successful and popular former contestants. Enrollment costs $ 25 for
1974-504: Is a temporary restaurant . These restaurants often operate from a private home, former factory, existing restaurants or similar space, and during festivals . Various other names have been used to describe the concept of setting up a restaurant without the typical level of up-front costs, such as guerrilla diners and underground supper clubs . Pop-up restaurants have been popular since the 2000s in Britain and Australia, but they are not
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#17327972678402068-542: Is meant to resemble scripted soap operas – in this case, the television series Desperate Housewives and Peyton Place . A notable subset of such series focus on a group of women who are romantically connected to male celebrities; these include Basketball Wives (2010), Love & Hip Hop (2011), Hollywood Exes (2012), Ex-Wives of Rock (2012) and WAGS (2015). Most of these shows have had spin-offs in multiple locations. There are also fly-on-the-wall-style shows directly involving celebrities. Often these show
2162-653: Is shows about people with disabilities or people who have unusual physical circumstances, such as the American series Push Girls and Little People, Big World , and the British programmes Beyond Boundaries , Britain's Missing Top Model , The Undateables and Seven Dwarves . Another example is shows that portray the lives of ethnic or religious minorities. Examples include All-American Muslim ( Lebanese-American Muslims ), Shahs of Sunset (affluent Persian-Americans ), Sister Wives (polygamists from
2256-462: Is still ongoing. The program was structured as a series of interviews with no element of the plot. By virtue of the attention paid to the participants, it effectively turned ordinary people into a type of celebrity, especially after they became adults. The series The American Sportsman , which ran from 1965 to 1986 on ABC in the United States, would typically feature one or more celebrities, and sometimes their family members, being accompanied by
2350-594: The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series . Top Chef Masters features established, award-winning chefs, in contrast to Top Chef , which typically features younger, up-and-coming chefs. The series debuted on June 10, 2009, with contestants including Rick Bayless , John Besh , Michael Chiarello , Wylie Dufresne , Jonathan Waxman and Hubert Keller . As of 2013, five seasons have been produced and aired. During its first two seasons, food journalist Kelly Choi hosted
2444-618: The United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television documentary Seven Up! broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, the filmmaker created a new film documenting the lives of the same individuals during the intervening period. Titled the Up Series , episodes included "7 Plus Seven", "21 Up", etc.; it
2538-435: The seventh season finale of Top Chef . The series was cancelled after two seasons. Top Chef Healthy Showdown is a special webisode series aired in 2011 sponsored by Healthy Choice . It featured former Top Chef contestants Sara Nguyen ( Season 3 ), Ryan Scott ( Season 4 ), Casey Thompson (Season 3, Season 8 ), and Tre Wilcox (Season 3, Season 8) competing in a series of Quickfire Challenges to win $ 25,000 and inspire
2632-418: The 100 greatest TV shows of all time. Notes Bibliography Reality competition Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such as The Real World , then achieved prominence in
2726-650: The 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock and Truth or Consequences involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. Confession was a crime and police show that aired from June 1958 to January 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds. The radio series Nightwatch (1951–1955) tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California police officers. The series You Asked for It (1950–1959) incorporated audience involvement by basing episodes around requests sent in by postcard from viewers. First broadcast in
2820-662: The 2018–19 and 2019–20 television seasons. The success of the two franchises has led to other globally-syndicated franchises of reality competitions based around guesswork, such as Game of Talents (which began in Spain in 2019) and The Masked Dancer (which began in the United States in 2020). Specialist skill-based TV competitions became popular during this decade with such programs like The Great British Bake-Off , Lego Masters , The Great British Sewing Bee and Forged in Fire shown. Television development across all genres
2914-469: The 21st century, the series is often considered a prototype of reality television programming. In the early 1940s the young German television station, named after Paul Nipkow had staged a show in which a young couple acted as model Aryans and presented their everyday lives without a script to the camera ( Familienchroniken - Ein Abend mit Hans und Gelli ). Even though it was clearly Nazi propaganda and
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3008-481: The Bounty Hunter , Police Stop! , Traffic Cops , Border Security and Motorway Patrol . Shows set at a specific place of business include American Chopper , Miami Ink and its spinoffs, Bikini Barbershop and Lizard Lick Towing . Shows that show people working in the same non-business location include Airport and Bondi Rescue . Pop-up restaurant A pop-up restaurant
3102-635: The Dutch production company Endemol . Although Dragons' Den originated in Japan , most of its adaptations are based on the British version.) In India, the competition show Indian Idol was the most popular television program for its first six seasons. During the 2000s, several cable networks, including Bravo , A&E , E! , TLC , History , VH1 , and MTV , changed their programming to feature mostly reality television series. In addition, three cable channels were started around that time that were devoted exclusively to reality television: Fox Reality in
3196-475: The Past had amateurs participating in a re-enactment of life in an Iron Age English village. Producer George Schlatter capitalized on the advent of videotape to create Real People , a surprise hit for NBC, and it ran from 1979 to 1984. The success of Real People was quickly copied by ABC with That's Incredible , a stunt show produced by Alan Landsburg and co-hosted by Fran Tarkenton ; CBS's entry into
3290-476: The Stars , and the investment franchise Dragons' Den . Several " reality game shows " from the same period have had even greater success, including Deal or No Deal , Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? , and Weakest Link , with over 50 international adaptions each. (All but four of these franchises, Top Model , Project Runway , The Biggest Loser and Dragons' Den , were created by either British producers or
3384-533: The U.S. and is syndicated in over 100 countries worldwide. In 2001, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences added the reality genre to the Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Reality Program . In 2003, to better differentiate between competition and informational reality programs, a second category, Outstanding Reality-Competition Program , was added. In 2008, a third category, Outstanding Host for
3478-473: The U.S. networks used reality series and other unscripted content (including those delayed from their summer lineups) to fill gaps in their schedules while the production of scripted programming resumed. There have been various attempts to classify reality television shows into different subgenres: Another categorization divides reality television into two types: shows that purport to document real life, and shows that place participants in new circumstances. In
3572-491: The U.S. states of Alaska , Louisiana and Texas , shows about cakes, weddings and pawnbrokers , and shows, usually competition-based, whose title includes the word "Wars". Duck Dynasty (2012–2017), which focused on the Robertson family that founded Duck Commander , in 2013 became the most popular reality series in U.S. cable television history. Its fourth-season premiere was viewed by nearly 12 million viewers in
3666-459: The U.S., which they attributed to "The diminishing returns of cable TV's sea of reality sameness". They noted that a number of networks that featured reality programming, including Bravo and E!, were launching their first scripted shows, and others, including AMC , were abandoning plans to launch further reality programs; though they clarified that the genre as a whole "isn't going anywhere." Ratings and profits from reality TV continued to decline in
3760-545: The United States, most of which were in rural markets. Its rural audience share ranked in the 30s, an extremely high number for any series, broadcast or cable. Following from the 1900 House format, the BBC produced a series called Back in Time for Tea in which a family would experience tea time for various decades. In 2014, Entertainment Weekly and Variety again noted a stagnation in reality television programs' ratings in
3854-420: The United States, reality television programs suffered a temporary decline in viewership in 2001, leading some entertainment industry columnists to speculate that the genre was a temporary fad that had run its course. Reality shows that suffered from low ratings included The Amazing Race (although the show has since recovered and is in its 32nd edition), Lost (unrelated to the better-known serial drama of
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3948-791: The United States, which operated from 2005 to 2010; Global Reality Channel in Canada , which lasted two years from 2010 to 2012; and CBS Reality (formerly known as Reality TV and then Zone Reality) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which has run from 1999 to the present. During the early part of the 2000s, network executives expressed concern that reality-television programming was limited in its appeal for DVD reissue and syndication . But DVDs for reality shows sold briskly; Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County , The Amazing Race , Project Runway , and America's Next Top Model all ranked in
4042-420: The ages of 9–14. It was hosted by actress Vanessa Lachey , with Top Chef Masters and Top Chef Duels host Curtis Stone serving as its head judge. The first season of Top Chef Junior premiered on October 13, 2017, and its second season premiered on September 8, 2018. Top Chef Amateurs is a spin-off featuring home cooks competing in head-to-head challenges drawn from past seasons of Top Chef . Production of
4136-471: The appearance and structure of soap operas. Such shows often focus on a close-knit group of people and their shifting friendships and romantic relationships. One highly influential such series was the American 2004–2006 series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County , which attempted to specifically mimic the primetime soap opera The O.C. , which had begun airing in 2003. Laguna Beach had a more drama-like feel than any previous reality television show, through
4230-560: The award for Outstanding Picture Editing For Reality Programming at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008. Top Chef won the award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards , defeating The Amazing Race , which had won the award every year since the category's inception in 2003. Time magazine's James Poniewozik named Top Chef one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at #10. In December 2023, Variety ranked Top Chef #97 on its list of
4324-532: The chef with the least successful dish faces immediate elimination unless they win a cook-off against another competitor. In the Elimination Challenge , the chefs prepare one or more dishes to meet the challenge requirements, which often include a specific theme and are usually more complex and require more time to execute than a Quickfire Challenge. Elimination Challenges may be individual challenges or require chefs to work in teams; some may require
4418-423: The chefs must transform an empty space into a functioning pop-up restaurant within a set time limit and budget, selecting and creating the name, theme, décor, and menu. Typically, one team member is designated the role of executive chef, who is responsible for managing the kitchen and expediting food, while another team member is designated as front of house, who is responsible for training the waitstaff and managing
4512-516: The company that created Project Runway . The success of the show has resulted in multiple spin-offs, such as Top Chef Masters , Top Chef: Just Desserts , Top Chef Junior , Top Chef Amateurs , and Top Chef Family Style , as well as Spanish-language spin-offs, including Top Chef: Estrellas and Top Chef VIP . Numerous international adaptations of the show have also been produced. The twenty-first season, Top Chef: Wisconsin , aired March–June 2024. The series has been renewed for
4606-486: The competition. This format continues until two or three chefs remain. Each finalist is then challenged to create a full-course meal; the chef with the best meal, as determined by the judges, is declared the "Top Chef" of the season. Towards the end of the season, when only four or five chefs remain, the show moves to another location to finish out the competition. In the Quickfire Challenge , chefs must cook
4700-449: The concept of putting strangers together in a limited environment for an extended period of time and recording the drama that ensued. Nummer 28 also pioneered many of the stylistic conventions that have since become standard in reality television shows, including extensive use of soundtrack music and the interspersing of events on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members, which serve as narration. Nummer 28 became
4794-574: The contestants also cook for a group of guest diners. After the Elimination Challenge, the chefs report to the Judges' Table , where the judges will deliberate on their choices for the best and worst dishes. The judges may also consider guests' comments, if available. The top individuals or teams are called in and may be asked questions about their dishes or preparation before they are notified of their placement. One or more chefs are named
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#17327972678404888-475: The contestants to produce several courses . Teams may be selected by the remaining chefs, but are more often determined by a random process such as "drawing knives" from a knife block. The time limit for an Elimination Challenge may range from a few hours to a few days, typically including preparation and planning time. Ingredients for Elimination Challenges generally allow chefs access to the Top Chef pantry and
4982-434: The dining room. Various seasons have introduced twists to the standard Restaurant Wars formula. For example, Season 4 featured not only Restaurant Wars, but a "Wedding Wars" challenge as well. Season 16 introduced the challenge much earlier in the season, during its fourth episode, and utilized three teams instead of the usual two. Season 6 and Season 20 allowed chefs to work in an existing restaurant infrastructure, with
5076-431: The early 2000s with the success of the series Survivor , Idol , and Big Brother , all of which became global franchises. Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen; this is most commonly seen in American reality television. Competition-based reality shows typically feature
5170-470: The eliminated chef(s), with a voice-over of their final thoughts about their performance, at the close of the episode. According to the credits, some elimination decisions are made in consultation with the show's producers. The prize money awarded to the Top Chef was $ 100,000 for Seasons 1 - 5 . It was increased to $ 125,000 for Seasons 6 - 7 and 9 - 16 , with a temporary $ 200,000 prize for Season 8 . It
5264-809: The episodes were certainly affected by censorship , in recent years the show has been presented more frequently as the oldest reality TV show in the world. Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s. Queen for a Day (1945–1964) was an early example of reality-based television. The 1946 television game show Cash and Carry sometimes featured contestants performing stunts. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt 's hidden camera show Candid Camera (based on his previous 1947 radio show, The Candid Microphone ) broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. In 1948, talent search shows, such as Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts , featured amateur competitors and audience voting. In
5358-576: The favorite or underdog to win. Other criticisms of reality television shows include that they are intended to humiliate or exploit participants; that they make stars out of untalented people unworthy of fame, infamous figures, or both; and that they glamorize vulgarity. Television formats portraying ordinary people in unscripted situations are almost as old as the television medium itself. Producer-host Allen Funt 's Candid Camera , in which unsuspecting people were confronted with funny, unusual situations and filmed with hidden cameras, first aired in 1948. In
5452-493: The film was "to blame for reality television". In 1969, the British rock group the Beatles were filmed for a month during the recording sessions which would become their album Let It Be and released the homonymous film the following year. In 2021, director Peter Jackson created an eight-hour, three-episode television series entitled The Beatles: Get Back . The 12-part 1973 PBS series An American Family showed
5546-490: The genre was That's My Line , a series hosted by Bob Barker . The Canadian series Thrill of a Lifetime , a fantasies-fulfilled reality show, originally ran from 1982 to 1988. It was revived from 2001 to 2003. In 1985, underwater cinematographer Al Giddings teamed with former Miss Universe Shawn Weatherly on the NBC series Oceanquest , which chronicled Weatherly's adventures scuba diving in various exotic locales. Weatherly
5640-1039: The gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges, by the viewership of the show, or by the contestants themselves. Documentaries , television news , sports television , talk shows , and traditional game shows are generally not classified as reality television. Some genres of television programming that predate the reality television boom have been retroactively classified as reality television, including hidden camera shows, talent-search shows, documentary series about ordinary people, high-concept game shows, home improvement shows, and court shows featuring real-life cases and issues. Reality television has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. Critics argue that reality television shows do not accurately reflect reality, in ways both implicit (participants being placed in artificial situations), and deceptive (misleading editing, participants being coached on behavior, storylines generated ahead of time, scenes being staged). Some shows have been accused of rigging
5734-558: The highly successful Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty are set in poorer rural areas of the Southern United States . Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business or performing an entire project over the course of a series. One early example (and the longest running reality show of any genre) is Cops , which debuted in 1989. Other such shows specifically relating to law enforcement include The First 48 , Dog
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#17327972678405828-424: The host saying, "Hands up, utensils down." A guest judge selects one or more chefs as the best in the challenge. Early in the season, the winning chef(s) are granted immunity from the episode's Elimination Challenge. As the number of contestants dwindles, immunity is withdrawn, and instead, the winner receives an advantage (such as being the team leader for a team challenge or getting the first pick of ingredients) or
5922-465: The ingredients they previously purchased at a grocery store within a specified budget and shopping time limit. However, certain challenges may provide specific ingredients or limit the type or number of ingredients used, while others require non-traditional methods for obtaining ingredients (such as asking people door-to-door or fishing). After shopping, the contestants will cook for up to four judges, usually including at least one guest judge. In most cases,
6016-430: The late 2010s. The South Korean competition show I Can See Your Voice , which premiered in 2015, showed guest judges attempting to guess which of a group of contestants could sing, and which could not, without hearing them sing. The show was successful, and spawned several imitators, most notably King of Mask Singer several months later. King of Mask Singer was a more traditional singing competition show, but with
6110-417: The latter removing the front of house position in favor of multiple trained servers and a professional maître d' . In the final Elimination Challenge, the two or three remaining chefs must prepare a multiple-course dinner with the assistance of sous chefs . These sous chefs could be previously eliminated contestants, members of the contestants' families, or celebrity chefs . The winner is selected based on
6204-470: The long-running reality television show franchises in the United States, such as American Idol , Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor , had begun to see declining ratings. However, reality television as a whole remained durable in the U.S., with hundreds of shows across many channels. In 2012, New York Magazine's Vulture blog published a humorous Venn diagram showing popular themes across American reality shows then running, including shows set in
6298-507: The model for many later series of Big Brother and its clones, and Peter Weir's full-length film The Truman Show . One year later, the same concept was used by MTV in its new series The Real World . Nummer 28 creator Erik Latour has long claimed that The Real World was directly inspired by his show. But the producers of The Real World have said that their direct inspiration was An American Family . According to television commentator Charlie Brooker , this type of reality television
6392-402: The necessary viewers to make it worthwhile. (Even in these cases, it is not always successful: the first ten seasons of Dancing with the Stars were picked up by GSN in 2012 and was run in marathon format, but attracted low viewership and had very poor ratings). Another option is to create documentaries around series, including extended interviews with the participants and outtakes not seen in
6486-536: The next eliminated Top Chef contestant(s), while the loser is eliminated from the competition for good. Initially, only the winner of the final episode of Last Chance Kitchen returned to compete. However, beginning with Season 15 , the format was changed to allow two chances to re-enter. The series won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media — Multiplatform Storytelling in 2013, and has been nominated five times for
6580-406: The original airings; the syndicated series American Idol Rewind is an example of this strategy. COPS has had huge success in syndication, direct response sales, and DVD. A Fox staple since 1989, COPS has, as of 2013 (when it moved to cable channel Spike ), outlasted all competing scripted police shows. Another series that had wide success is Cheaters , which has been running since 2000 in
6674-533: The overall quality of their meal. There is typically no Quickfire Challenge during this episode. The Last Chance Kitchen is a web series , first introduced in Season 9 , featuring challenges in which the contestants compete for a chance to re-enter the main competition. Each week, two or more previously eliminated chefs compete against each other in the Top Chef kitchen, with the results typically judged alone by Tom Colicchio . Each week's winner(s) moves on to face
6768-408: The overall viewership tallies for eight consecutive years, from the 2003–2004 to the 2010–2011 television seasons. Another trend was to combine reality TV with a social history angle usually by having contestants taken back to various time periods primarily to see how millennials would cope without modern technology. Examples included The 1900 House , and Bad Lad's Army . In addition to those
6862-416: The results resembling soap operas – hence the terms docusoap and docudrama . Documentary-style programs give viewers a private look into the lives of the subjects. Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variants: Although the term "docusoap" has been used for many documentary-style reality television shows, there have been shows that have deliberately tried to mimic
6956-499: The revamped MasterChef , among others. The 1980s and 1990s were also a time when tabloid talk shows became more popular. Many of these featured the same types of unusual or dysfunctional guests who would later become popular as cast members of reality shows. Reality television became globally popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the successes of the Big Brother and Survivor / Expedition Robinson franchises. In
7050-528: The same name ) and The Mole (which was successful in other countries). But stronghold shows Survivor and American Idol continued to thrive: both topped the U.S. season-average television ratings in the 2000s. Survivor led the ratings in 2001–02 , and Idol has the longest hold on the No. 1 rank in the American television ratings , dominating over all other primetime programs and other television series in
7144-508: The season finale, where one chef received $ 100,000. The series premiered on August 6, 2014. Top Chef Junior is a spin-off series originally ordered in 2008 for an eight-episode run on Bravo . The show had never aired, nor is it known if any episodes were produced at that time. However, nine years later, Top Chef Junior was mentioned as part of the initial lineup for Universal Kids , an NBCUniversal -owned children's channel launched on September 9, 2017. The series features young chefs between
7238-475: The season, with limited access to outside communication. In each episode, the chefs participate in a Quickfire Challenge and an Elimination Challenge (described below). The winner of the Quickfire Challenge is typically granted immunity from elimination, a prize, or another benefit for the following Elimination Challenge. As the name suggests, the loser of the Elimination Challenge is eliminated from
7332-401: The series made their linear premiere on Bravo in 2022. Similar to Top Chef Estrellas , Top Chef VIP is a Spanish-language spin-off featuring Hispanic celebrities competing for $ 100,000. It is hosted by actress Carmen Villalobos and judged by chefs Antonio de Livier, Adria Marina Montaño and Juan Manuel Barrientos. The series premiered on Telemundo on August 9, 2022. Top Chef University
7426-710: The show began in October 2020 in Portland, Oregon, following the filming of Top Chef: Portland . The series was hosted by Gail Simmons and premiered on July 1, 2021. Top Chef Family Style is a spin-off featuring young chefs teaming up with adult family members to compete for $ 100,000. The series was ordered in May 2021 by streaming service Peacock . It is hosted by singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor with Top Chef Masters winner Marcus Samuelsson serving as head judge. The series premiered on September 9, 2021, and episodes from
7520-659: The show, while restaurant critic Gael Greene , culinary expert and Saveur editor-in-chief James Oseland , and food critic Jay Rayner served as judges. Beginning with the third season, celebrity chef Curtis Stone replaced Choi as host. Top Chef: Just Desserts is a spin-off of the Top Chef format featuring pastry chefs. Bravo announced the series on October 25, 2009. The show was hosted by Top Chef regular Gail Simmons . The judging panel included pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini , Top Chef Masters finalist Hubert Keller , and DailyCandy's "editor-at-large" Dannielle Kyrillos. The show debuted on Bravo on September 15, 2010, following
7614-634: The top DVDs sold on Amazon.com . In the mid-2000s, DVDs of The Simple Life outranked scripted shows such as The O.C. and Desperate Housewives . Syndication, however, has been problematic; shows such as Fear Factor , COPS , and Wife Swap , in which each episode is self-contained, can be rerun fairly easily, but usually only on cable television or during the daytime ( COPS and America's Funniest Home Videos being exceptions). Season-long competitions, such as The Amazing Race , Survivor , and America's Next Top Model generally perform more poorly and usually must be rerun in marathons to draw
7708-401: The twist that judges could not see contestants during the initial audition round, and could judge them only by their voice. The show was an instant success, and spawned an entire franchise, The Voice , which has been highly successful, with almost 50 international adaptations. The Tester (2010–2012) was the first reality television show aired over a video game console. By 2012, many of
7802-504: The underlying stories are real. Another highly successful group of soap-opera-style shows is the Real Housewives franchise, which began with The Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006 and has since spawned nearly twenty other series, in the U.S. and internationally. The franchise has an older cast and different personal dynamics than that of Laguna Beach and its imitators, as well as lower production values, but similarly
7896-852: The use of higher-quality lighting and cameras, voice-over narration instead of on-screen "confessionals", and slower pacing. Laguna Beach led to several spinoff series, most notably the 2006–2010 series The Hills . It also inspired various other series, including the highly successful British series The Only Way Is Essex and Made in Chelsea , and the Australian series Freshwater Blue . Due to their dramatized feel, many of these shows have been accused of being pre-scripted, more so than other reality television shows have. The producers of The Only Way Is Essex and Made in Chelsea have admitted to coaching cast members on what to say in order to draw more emotion from each scene, although they insist that
7990-409: The winner of the challenge and may be awarded an additional prize by the guest judge. The same procedure is repeated with the poorest performing chefs or teams, after which a similar discussion occurs. From this group, one or more chefs are chosen for elimination, with the host asking the chef(s) to leave by saying, "Please pack your knives and go." This is usually followed by a knife-packing sequence for
8084-440: The wrinkle that the contestants were celebrities who remained masked until they were removed from the show, adding an element of guesswork to the competition. The two shows both spawned successful international franchises, I Can See Your Voice and Masked Singer , respectively. Masked Singer has been especially popular, with over 50 local adaptations; its American adaptation was the third highest-rated series overall of both
8178-659: Was a series consisting of archeologists and historians running a farm though various historical periods, most notably Victorian Farm . Internationally, a number of shows created in the late 1990s and 2000s have had massive global success. Reality-television franchises created during that time that have had more than 30 international adaptations each include the singing competition franchises Idols , Star Academy and The X Factor , other competition franchises Survivor/Expedition Robinson , Big Brother , The Biggest Loser , Come Dine with Me , Got Talent , Top Model , MasterChef , Project Runway and Dancing with
8272-442: Was an Australian show that depicted a family, similar in concept to An American Family . The 1994–95 O. J. Simpson murder case , during which live network television followed suspect Simpson for 90 minutes being chased by police, has been described as a seminal moment in reality television. Networks interrupted their regular television programming for months for coverage of the trial and related events. Because of Simpson's status as
8366-401: Was enabled by the advent of computer-based non-linear editing systems for video (such as produced by Avid Technology ) in 1989. These systems made it easy to quickly edit hours of video footage into a usable form, something that had been very difficult to do before (film, which was easy to edit, was too expensive to use in shooting enough hours on a regular basis). Sylvania Waters (1992)
8460-464: Was impacted in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic , which forced many reality competition series to suspend production (and in some cases curtail a competition already in progress, such as Canadian and Malayalam versions of Big Brother ), until such time that production could recommence with appropriate health and safety protocols approved by local authorities. Due to their quicker turnaround times,
8554-501: Was later produced in a large number of other countries as Survivor ), added to the Nummer 28 / Real World template the idea of competition and elimination. Cast members or contestants battled against each other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained (these shows are now sometimes called elimination shows). Changing Rooms , a program that began in the UK in 1996, showed couples redecorating each other's houses, and
8648-756: Was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in informational programming. COPS , which first aired in the spring of 1989 on Fox and was developed due to the need for new programming during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike , showed police officers on duty apprehending criminals. It introduced the camcorder look and cinéma vérité feel of much of later reality television. The 1991 television documentary on "typical American high schoolers", Yearbook , focused on seniors attending Glenbard West High School, in Glen Ellyn , Illinois and broadcast prime-time on Fox . The series Nummer 28 , which aired on Dutch television in 1991, originated
8742-471: Was the first reality show with a self-improvement or makeover theme. The dating reality show Streetmate premiered in the UK in 1998. Originally created by Gabe Sachs as Street Match , it was a flop in the United States. But the show was revamped in the UK by Tiger Aspect Productions and became a cult hit. The production team from the original series later created the popular reality shows Strictly Come Dancing , Location, Location, Location , and
8836-503: Was then permanently increased again to $ 250,000, beginning with Season 17 . Furthermore, a fan vote is held each season to determine the Fan Favorite, which features an additional $ 10,000 reward. Midway through each season, the contestants participate in a "Restaurant Wars" (or similarly named) Elimination Challenge. They are split into two teams, created by the previous Quickfire Challenge winner or by drawing knives. In these teams,
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