Isn't even the most bingeable, popcorn, saccharine-sweet reality TV just a little bit sinister? The uncertainty about what's real and what's for show messes with our solid footing in the most addictive way. And this is great fodder for fiction: Each of these works knock at the door of something darker, even the romances that promise a happily-ever-after. This collection of immersive and unpausable listens takes a little tour of some of my favourite reality TV tropes, from the shocking and outlandish to the heartwarming and romantic, through the lens of commercial fiction.
Below Deck meets The Bachelor, meets The Traitors, meets Promising Young Woman, meets...Big Brother? It's quite a mashup, but author Naima Brown's career is an amazing mashup in and of itself. As a documentarian, journalist, filmmaker and novelist, Brown has the chops to deliver the perfect edge-of-your-seat revenge plot set in the glamorous world of reality TV. And the huge, talented multicast immerses the listener squarely in the drama.
Okay, American confession here: I'm a little ashamed to admit that when I studied abroad in London in the spring of 2001, I spent an outsized amount of my time glued to the goings on inside the second Big Brother House (Helen and Paul 4eva!), and I've been a little fascinated by these custom-built home reality shows ever since. The Compound scratches that itch—and is easily as bingeable as the best of those shows. It lifts the veil of eyelash extensions and tanning oil to reveal the inner motivations of the housemates, while also delivering a subtle dystopian twist that kept me completely on the edge of my seat.
I got sucked into this one—both as an Xennial in '90s withdrawal and as a huge fan of The Truman Show. But it's also a timeless tale for any young listener: What kid doesn't, at some point, feel like the whole world is just one big conspiracy trying to make them miserable?
This list couldn’t exist without an ode to The Great British Bake Off could it? Alexis Hall is always a must listen for me for their LGBTQIA+ representation and heartwarming story arcs. While technically a romance, what makes this one really sing are the sweet friendships and charming banter among the contestants; It’s clear that Hall is a Bake Off enthusiast because they’re channeling exactly what makes that show so utterly addictive.
Speaking of Bake Off, I had to include this one because: ALISON HAMMOND! The story itself is reality show-adjacent—the heroine is ditched by her TV heartthrob handyman husband, and all I can think about is my childhood crush on Ty Pennington—but the wit and charm she brings to hosting is on full wattage here, only enhanced by the remarkable performance from Seroca Davis. Affirming and feel-good, this one will make you smile-cry all the way until the end.
Maybe we've spent too long as apex predators, but thriller writers have long been fascinated with the idea of humans as prey. Existing somewhere between the colonial fever dream of The Most Dangerous Game and the futuristic stylishness of The Hunger Games, The Running Man is dystopian horror about the ultimate reality survival show. As an '80s kid, I was enthralled by the 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I'm definitely here for the Glenn Powell remake!
This Love Island-esque Audible Original—which subverts everything we think we know about reality TV—is the perfect companion listen for the real-time reality obsessed. One reviewer noted that it "seeks a difficult audience: One that has simultaneously spent the requisite hundreds of hours it takes to slavishly obsess over Love Island, and enjoys the slightly experimental aspects of this literary-dramatic crossover." It turns out that's me. As someone who bounces between literary works and extremely popcorn genre fiction—without a lot in between—I fall squarely into this non-overlapping Venn diagram. The first-person plural narrative voice is simultaneously off-putting and immersive and makes you momentarily one of the castaways in this island paradise.
Calling all Bachelor fans! I adored this swoony, funny, and surprisingly "science-y" romance that follows on the heels of The Soulmate Equation. Fizzy Chen is a romance author out of love with love, but when she's asked to star on a new dating show that will utilize technology from GeneticAlly (the new DNA-based matchmaking company from the previous book), she's going to be more than a little surprised by who her true match is.
My team debated whether this LitRPG wild card pick could technically make the list, and ultimately, yes, yes it does. No matter that Earth as we know it is destroyed, reduced to a labyrinthine dungeon, and the last surviving humans are playing for their lives on a game show rabidly viewed by aliens on the other side of the galaxy. The same rules that apply to the Big Brother House apply here: You gotta have verve; you gotta have spark; and you have to win the hearts of the audience if you want to survive. (Pro tip: This might be the most fun listen you pick up this year!)
