The 12 Best Reality TV Shows for Grownups

From ‘Survivor,’ which is back for its 50th season, to ‘The Traitors,’ ‘The Voice,’ ‘Top Chef’ and ‘The Real Housewives,’ we’ve got your ultimate must-see TV watchlist

Tracey Minkin,

Updated February 13, 2026

AARP

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Published February 21, 2024

/ Updated February 13, 2026

A collage of stars from reality TV shows such as "The Voice," "The Great British Baking Show," "Survivor" and "American Idol."

Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Left to Right: Netflix; Art Streiber/NBC; CBS; Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Welcome to reality TV, where the viewing is compulsive, the memes viral and the escapism total. While some series, from Keeping Up With the Kardashians to The Bachelor, have dominated conversations for years but not aged particularly well, some shows have innovated, dominated, endured and are still worth a pleasure-watch. Need a lift to get you through the winter (or just through the weekend)? Meet the 12 best reality TV shows for grownups, all available to stream now. And don’t miss the premiere of Season 50 (!) of Survivor on Feb. 25.

Celebrity & Influencer Reality TV Shows

The Real Housewives franchise, Bravo (2006-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Guilty pleasure

Number of seasons: Varies by program

To call The Real Housewives a franchise is like calling the Roman Empire a franchise. It all began with the juicy promise, inspired by soap operas like Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives, of real suburban women in Orange County, California, on the verge of constant drama. The Real Housewives was programming genius, minting Bravo as TV’s forever home of high-stakes reality storylines and spawning 12 iterations from Rhode Island (the newest franchise) and Dubai to Beverly Hills and Salt Lake City. Each has its own passionate following, spin-offs and queens who start high-octane businesses, go to prison and even end up quoted in the Congressional Record. And yes, it’s absolutely fabulous.

Watch it: The Real Housewives

Sports & Adventure Reality Series

The Amazing Race, CBS (2001-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of seasons: 38

Combining problem solving, travelogue and relationship psychology, CBS’s Emmy-winning reality juggernaut hurtles 13 teams with limited budgets around the world for $1 million in prize money. What makes The Amazing Race so watchable is the Swiss Army knife set of skills that winning requires: mental acumen to solve clues, physical stamina and flexibility to navigate different languages and cultures. Plus, the show is about working together, not knocking someone else down, and that’s an action-packed breath of fresh air. Catch up with the latest season streaming, and get ready for Season 39, coming in fall 2026.

Watch it: The Amazing Race

Challenge & Survival Reality Series

Alone, The History Channel (2015-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of seasons: 12

This under-the-radar reality series pares away the backstabbing politics of Survivor to yield a more truthful, occasionally grim, deeply instructive look at 10 seasonal contestants who must survive completely alone in deep wilderness with scant supplies, plus a camera to capture the experience (except for Season 4, which featured seven teams of pairs). Whoever lasts the longest wins a grand prize of now $1 million; contestants can tap out by choice or be pulled if they fail required medical check-in visits. The psychology is intense, the strategies fascinating. Look for Season 13 this summer.

Watch it: Alone

Survivor, CBS (2000-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Guilty pleasure

Number of seasons: 50

Was there even a time before Survivor? It’s hard to imagine not describing someone as being “voted off the island,” thanks to this long-lived elimination competition that pits strangers against each other in picturesquely threatening tropical locations for a $1 million prize. With its Lord of the Flies meets Swiss Family Robinson vibe, Survivor seasons roil with physical and mental challenges, alliances and betrayals, and the daunting challenge of picking one outfit to last 39 days. The show is credited for inspiring the genre of high-stakes reality TV competitions, and it’s still going strong. The greatest act of survival? Jeff Probst, 64, hosting without missing a beat for 26 years.

Watch it: Survivor

Competition Reality Series

American Idol, ABC (2002-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of seasons: 24

Lauded as one of the most influential TV shows in history while launching stars like winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, runners-up Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken, plus finalist Jennifer Hudson, this big-voice, hit-every-high-note singing contest where the judges critique but America votes remains relevant even after spawning decades of imitations. Season 24 premiered on Jan. 26, 2026, so get in on the action now.

Watch it: American Idol

The Great British Baking Show, Netflix (2010-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of collections: 13

It’s remarkable for any competition show to be equally popular and wholesome, but that is the secret recipe of this English import that makes Ted Lasso look downright cynical. Genuinely sweet — never saccharine — each season features 12 amateur bakers (10 in Season 1) who do their best to rise to weekly challenges while cheering each other on in the true spirit of camaraderie. A balm for the spirit and an inspiration for how to be civil while striving for excellence, The Great British Baking Show should be required watching for every American.

Watch it: The Great British Baking Show

Project Runway, Bravo (2004-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of seasons: 22

“Make it work!” The urbane and compassionate Tim Gunn, 72, speaks for 22 years’ worth of fashion-loving viewers who sweat each challenge along with aspiring fashion designers who sketch, shop, pin, drape, sew and hit the runway every week of this Peabody Award-winning elimination competition. A bit of interpersonal drama fuels every season, but it’s really each challenge’s race against the clock that gets the juices flowing. And there’s nothing like host Heidi Klum, 52, uttering “You’re out” with crisp, Teutonic finality. Look for Season 22 later in 2026.

Watch it: Project Runway

RuPaul’s Drag Race, MTV (2009-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of seasons: 18

RuPaul’s Emmy-studded, iconic competition show is America’s most entertaining reality TV year after year. Every season as the show has bounced from under-the-radar Logo network to VH1 and to MTV in 2023, competing queens bring it on everything: photography, modeling, acting, singing, dancing and managing their elaborate makeup and costumes. The judges are spicy and hilarious, the competitors’ backstories heartwarming and inspiring, and Ru, 65, a monarch for the ages. Because who needs a mic drop when you have the Death Drop?

Watch it: RuPaul’s Drag Race

Top Chef, Bravo (2006-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of seasons: 23

With multiple Emmys and Critics Choice awards, plus a James Beard award, Top Chef stands out in the crowded field of food reality TV. The production team that whipped up fashion elimination competition on Project Runway took the same high-road recipe here. As on the runway, the clock ticks and there’s some intramural drama, but mostly Top Chef stays true to rewarding the merits of creativity and grace under pressure. The roster of class acts remains as host Kristen Kish (winner of Season 10) and judges Tom Colicchio, 63, and Gail Simmons continue to model how to do reality TV right. Season 23, with the Carolinas as its culinary home, premieres March 9, 2026.

Watch it: Top Chef

The Traitors, Peacock (2023-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Guilty pleasure

Number of seasons: 4

There’s an easy familiarity with the rules of this hit competition show — it’s essentially the game of “Mafia” or “Murder in the Dark” most of us have played as kids. But the fun is that this version of the game is stocked with mostly reality TV veterans who know how to play to the camera (and form alliances). And it’s hosted by the always-delightful Alan Cumming, 61, who also hosts AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards. Held in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, there are kilts. Lots of kilts. Season 4 wraps up late in February and Season 5 is scheduled for 2027.

Watch it: The Traitors

The Voice, NBC (2011-)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Feel-good

Number of seasons: 29

Seizing upon the OG appeal of American Idol and paving the way for creative newcomers like The Masked Singer, The Voice made the chair spin a peak TV moment. Here, a “blind” audition features superstar coaches who pick promising singers to mentor without seeing what they look like. From there it’s a series of knockout rounds to a final, with rules changing over the years. But that’s not the beauty of The Voice: It’s those chair spins where talent speaks — or rather, sings — for itself. Season 29 premieres on Feb. 23 with a Battle of the Champions format featuring judges Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and John Legend.

Watch it: The Voice

Pioneering Reality TV Shows

The Real World, MTV (1992-2017, 2019)

Feel-good or guilty pleasure: Guilty pleasure

Number of seasons: 33

Credited as the launchpad of every TV reality series to follow it, this unscripted, raw look at what happens to a group of strangers when you put them together in a house for several months (in a different city every season) was based on PBS’s groundbreaking 1973 reality series, An American Family. The messiness of real life — relationships, prejudice, politics and religion — is on real display here, and while it doesn’t have the zip and zing of latter-day, highly produced reality TV shows, it’s worth a revisit.

Watch it: The Real World

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