Reality TV in India is turning voyeurism into a social experiment

When Udit Bhaskar, a 32-year-old Delhi-based business consultant, tuned into the Indian version of The Traitors (2025-), he expected the usual voyeuristic chaos that has defined reality TV in India, from  Bigg Boss (2006-) to MTV Roadies(2003- ). Instead, he found himself hooked to a game of deception and strategy. It felt closer to  a crime thriller than a typical reality TV show that kept viewers guessing. 

This is a rare shift for Indian reality television, which has long thrived on pure voyeurism. 

The evolution of reality TV in India: From talent shows to Bigg Boss and OTT hits

Reality TV in India began with talent-focused competitions: Boogie Woogie (1996-2010) made dancers household names and Bournvita Quiz Contest (1994-2014) made trivia aspirational. By the 2000s, shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati (2000-), Indian Idol (2004-), Coke [V] Popstars (2002) imitated their American and British counterparts. 

In the mid-2000s, MTV Roadies (2003-) brought tasks, drama, and abuses galore, followed by dating shows like MTV Splitsvilla (2008-) and Emotional Atyachaar (2009-2015), which let viewers voyeuristically watch contestants’ mistakes, missteps, and messy relationships play out on screen.

While most Indian viewers skipped shows like The Bachelor (2002-) because it felt too close to arranged marriage though Rakhi Sawant tried to replicate it in 2009 with Rakhi Ka Swayamwar),  global dating shows like Love Island (2005-), Love is Blind (2020), and Too Hot To Handle (2020-) are all the rage in the era of situationships. These OTT reality shows are easily accessible on streaming platforms in India. 

“Earlier, contestants needed to have some skills, even if it was overdramatised—like eating bugs in Fear Factor (2001-2006, 2011-2012). It wasn’t just about a person just being their obnoxious selves on TV, like it is today,” says film critic Abhimanyu Mathur. It was a shift introduced by The Simple Life (2003-2007) featuring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, which set the benchmark for shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians (2007-2021). 

How social media changed reality TV in India, turning  contestants into influencers 

In 2025, talent-only Indian reality TV shows struggle to hold attention. Relatibility is now a bigger currency in the age of social media. 

A decade ago, contestants were only popular as long as their show aired. Today, they amass followers online and sustain careers because social media has become a source of income. “People consume everything on social media, whether it’s about celebrities or close friends. Earlier, viewers would get invested in the life of the protagonist of a fictional show, but today they are more interested in whether a couple on Love Island lasted or if a Bigg Boss contestant assaulted someone new,” explains Mathur. 

This engagement doesn’t end with the show. Fans deep-dive into contestants’ Instagram profiles and Reddit threads—a layered voyeurism that keeps them emotionally and digitally invested long after. 

“The distribution reality TV [in India] has gotten is incredible,” says 23-year-old Apoorva Mukhija a.k.a Rebel Kid, content creator and contestant in The Traitors. She admits she rooted for Bigg Boss contestant Kashish Kapoor in 2024 purely through Instagram Reels, without watching the show. 

It shaped how she played the game. “I was anxious about getting eliminated till a friend told me I should instead focus on making sure that every time I speak to the camera, it’s something iconic that can’t be edited out. Because, the whole ‘Pooja, what is this behaviour?’ meme was a result of one moment in Season 5 of Bigg Boss in 2011, and is still popular,” she says. 

Makers now edit episodes to be more meme-friendly, ensuring 90-second Reels and Whatsapp clips go viral. “That’s how people get hooked to content today–because social media works as running ads,” says Mathur. 

How reality TV in India is driving pop culture and meme trends in 2025

Meme culture has made reality TV culture impossible to ignore. The phrase “the ick” entered  Urban Dictionary in 2017, after Love Island UK contestant Olivia Attwood used it, and it resurfaced in 2024 series Nobody Wants This, which then gave rise to the dating concept of StICK-ing. 

On Netflix’s 2025 live dating show, Pop the Balloon—a spin-off of the YouTube and Facebook series—women rejected a male contestant for age-shaming another female contestant, a red flag viewers immediately related to. “Reality shows shouldn’t, but today they do help people learn things. Sometimes, people in relationships only realise things when they see it happening to someone else, even if it’s on a reality show,” says Bhaskar, who found the deception on The Traitors eerily similar to his own life. 

Mukhija agrees, “People can learn human behaviour via reality shows because it’s like people’s patterns on steroids–what would usually take six to eight months, happens within days. It helps you understand your triggers, what makes you happy and what you’re looking for in a relationship.”

Delhi-based bassist Amar Pandey started watching dating shows after a breakup during the lockdown. Too Hot To Handle made him rethink what he wanted in a partner. “Watching people on dating shows be direct and superficial about it, helps,” says Pandey.  Shows like The Mole (2001-2008; 2022-), The Circle (2020-), and The Trust: A Game of Greed (2024-), even helped him  navigate social cues and job negotiations. 

“Five years ago, if a show asked me to participate, I would have laughed it off. Today, my answer wouldn’t be a straight-up no,” says Pandey, who grew up watching American Idol and MasterChef Australia.

Cooking shows, too, are evolving into platforms for emotional storytelling. 

“MasterChef Australia depicts kindness, discipline, and celebration, humanising food and culture beautifully. It’s about resilience, creativity, and human stories. Shows like Chef’s Table (2015-2024) or Street Food (2019-2022) can also move you to tears, besides teaching you about ingredients or inspire you to cook,” says Delhi-based chef, restaurateur, and culinary activist Radhika Khandelwal. “Dating shows are oddly comforting. People just want to see versions of their own drama, but with better lighting.” 

One of the most streamed Indian reality shows, Indian Matchmaking (2020-) earned two Emmy nominations because it reflected the dating crisis among millennials. “The show reinforces that commitment in today’s time is extremely flaky. One could question why people who have the world on their fingertips would need a matchmaker, but today, it’s just another avenue to meet people. Ultimately, everyone is looking for companionship because people are lonely,” says Mansi Sharma, producer of Indian Matchmaking. 

Cringe content works as an easy distraction. “People like watching rich people doing nothing, which combines cringe and aspiration. That is also why Kaun Banega Crorepati now thrives on sob stories. It sells, but robs the show of its genuineness,” opines Mathur. “But India has always consumed cringe content even if it was in Khichdi (2008-) and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (2008-),” he adds. 

Beyond fame: How reality TV in India turned contestants into long-term stars 

The people who succeed on reality TV in India are usually obnoxious or impossible to ignore. Casting is crucial, then, as reality shows take one aspect of a contestant’s personality and play it up. So, the pool of participants in India is no longer that of budding models and actors. “Instead, it’s actors who are vying for a career reboot, like Sidharth Shukla and Karan Mehra,” says Mathur. 

But reality TV can only be a career changer if the contestant can leverage their visibility for the long term. “Which works when you have another skill like singing or acting, like Ayushmann Khurrana, who began his career by winning season 2 of Roadies in 2004. Or, Banji J. was the runner-up on season 4 of Roadies in 2006, who leveraged her fitness on Instagram and participated in Fear Factor, Khatron Ke Khiladi, and Bigg Boss, before starring in Four More Shots Please! (2019-),” Mathur adds. 

Social media virality has made fame sustainable. For instance, Aparna Shewakramani from Indian Matchmakingmoved from a career in law to full-time content creation.  

“People say Uorfi Javed’s is just 30 seconds of fame. But we’ve been saying it for the last four years. She has figured out how to sustain her popularity. There’s only one person in India who has stayed relevant for 20 years despite not doing anything–Rakhi Sawant,” says Mathur. 

Yet reality TV still carries the stigma of being scripted and considered to be a low form of media consumption among cinephiles.  When Sharma worked on Dare 2 Date, she saw producers telling contestants about the outcomes they wanted or triggering them into it. “Just like how the conversations in The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives weren’t scripted, but the situations were,” says Sharma. The Traitors, too, did a psych test of contestants, and so, knew how they would behave. 

Does reality TV mirror Indian society or fuel pop culture cravings? 

“Reality TV shows are social experiments where makers put unrelated people in uncomfortable environments and see how they react,” says Bhaskar. The trend grew in the West with Naked and Afraid (2013-), where contestants survived in the wilderness for 21 days but(t) naked. This makes for entertaining television. This voyeurism is also tied to reality TV and mental health. “[It is] ideal for people to switch off their brains by watching someone else’s drama and issues unravel. Especially since depression and loneliness is hitting people earlier,” Bhaskar adds. 

“People love seeing others fight, and in misery. Reality TV culture becomes an escape from real life—it’s an extension of people’s parasocial relationships,” says Mukhija. 

Reality shows do mirror society, notes Khandelwal. “It’s a reflection of where we are as a culture—inspiring and concerning. It shows that we’re lonely, curious and looking for connection—even if it’s through someone else’s chaos. We’re consuming human behavior at scale, maybe because our own lives feel too routine or filtered–in some ways it’s modern-day anthropology with a splash of glitter,” says Khandelwal. .

Even so, Indian reality shows can’t really change society. They can only initiate uncomfortable conversations,” says Sharma. But following through is up to viewers.