Category Archives: Reality TV

‘If you survive this, you’ll survive anything’: new UK reality show that strands ‘newlyweds’ on honeymoon

Posted on by

BBC’s Stranded on Honeymoon Island tests whether love can flourish ‘in toughest of conditions’, says Davina McCall

The new BBC series Stranded on Honeymoon Island is a “social experiment” about the reality of marriage that will teach audiences about “moving forward with your life”, its host, Davina McCall, has said.

Made by the producers of Married at First Sight UK, the show features 12 singles looking for lifelong love who are matched with someone on a speed date and “married”. They are then stranded on a tropical island dressed only in their wedding outfit for a three-week honeymoon without phones, luxuries, family or friends.

Continue reading...

Trump to pardon reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley

Posted on by

Couple was found guilty in 2022 of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30m and tax evasion

The White House said on Tuesday that Donald Trump plans to pardon reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, the couple famous for Chrisley Knows Best, which followed their tightly knit family and extravagant lifestyle.

A jury in 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30m in fraudulent loans. The Chrisleys were also found guilty of tax evasion.

Continue reading...

Kardashian jewel heist: ‘Grandpa robber’ partly driven by taste for easy money, court hears

Posted on by

Aomar Aït Khedache, 68, has admitted involvement in armed robbery of reality TV star but denies being ringleader

A retired restaurant owner alleged to have been the ringleader of an armed robbery of American reality TV star Kim Kardashian in Paris, has told a court he was in part driven by a taste for easy money.

Aomar Aït Khedache, 68, known as “Old Omar”, has admitted to police that he took part in the robbery in which Kardashian was tied up and held hostage at gunpoint in her Paris hotel bedroom during Paris fashion week in 2016. But he has denied the prosecution’s accusation that he was the organiser or ringleader of the jewel heist in the early hours of 3 October 2016, which was the biggest robbery of an individual in France in 20 years.

Continue reading...

Married at First Sight Australia groom applies for restraining order against on-screen bride

Posted on by

Ryan Donnelly alleges that Jacqui Burfoot has made ‘vicious’ and ‘malicious’ claims about him online

A Married At First Sight groom claims he was left fearful after his estranged on-screen bride tried to destroy his life by posting about him online.

Ryan Donnelly and Jacqui Burfoot were paired together in this year’s season of the hit Australian reality TV series but chose to separate during an insult-laden final vows ceremony.

Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter

Continue reading...

UK creative industries set behaviour standards after Strictly and MasterChef rows

Posted on by

An independent standards authority says the industry must learn from recent scandals and create safer working environments

New guidelines will be issued this week for the UK’s creative industries after a series of scandals including reports of inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace and Gino d’Acampo, and bullying allegations on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The Creative Industries Indep­endent Standards Authority (CIISA) will set new standards with the aim of stamping out bullying, harassment and discrimination, and address “power imbalances”.

Continue reading...

The Traitors nail-biting finale brings latest series to an end

Posted on by

After 12 episodes, eight ‘murders’ and 14 banishments, winner or winners revealed on BBC One show

Warning: this article contains spoilers

After 12 episodes, eight “murders” and 14 banishments, the winners of The Traitors were revealed after a nail-biting finale.

Project manager Jake Brown and former soldier Leanne Quigley will share a prize pot of £94,600.

Continue reading...

Blockbuster: will Victoria’s tough housing market push The Block into the red?

Posted on by

Some predict the TV show will lose money this season as investors exit property and contestants face ‘a buyer’s market’ at auction

Channel Nine’s hit series The Block could be caught in the firing line of Victoria’s flat housing market and investor woes, with one expert predicting the show will make a loss this year.

The properties in the seaside township of Cowes, on Phillip Island, are set to go under the hammer on Saturday.

Continue reading...

‘Octomom’ Natalie Suleman, mother of 14, welcomes her first grandchild

Posted on by

Suleman, who made headlines for giving birth to the first surviving octuplets, announces granddaughter’s birth

Natalie (formerly Nadya) Suleman – the so-called “Octomom” – has added yet another young addition to her already impressively large family. The mom of 14 announced Sunday on her Instagram that she is now a grandmother to a baby girl.

Suleman, 49, accompanied the announcement with a photo of an infant’s tiny foot behind a pink baby blanket.

Continue reading...

Fresh crisis at ‘toxic’ Strictly as ex-staff claim they faced sexualised comments and cruelty

Posted on by

Production workers at Strictly Come Dancing allege BBC refused to take their complaints seriously

Production staff who formerly worked on Strictly Come Dancing have complained of a toxic work culture and accused the BBC of failing to take their complaints seriously, in a fresh blow to the corporation’s primetime show, the Observer can reveal.

One former staff member alleged they had been subjected to sexist and sexualised comments, including intrusive questions about their sex life, while another claimed they witnessed “talented co-workers treated with cruelty”.

Continue reading...

Craig Revel Horwood says Strictly Come Dancing allegations are ‘shock’

Posted on by

Accusations of abusive behaviour in rehearsal rooms ‘complete news’ to judge of the dance show

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has said allegations of abusive behaviour to past participants on the show have come as a “shock” to him.

Last weekend professional dancer Graziano Di Prima said he was leaving the BBC show after claims about his treatment of reality star Zara McDermott when they competed together last year.

Continue reading...

Alec and Hilaria Baldwin to share family life in reality show

Posted on by

The actor and his wife will be the focus of a TLC docuseries, announced just weeks before his manslaughter trial begins

Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria have announced a new TLC reality show following their family life.

The 66-year-old actor, whose films include Beetlejuice and Glengarry Glen Ross, shared a video on Instagram with his seven children.

Continue reading...

‘Funny and kind of sad’: how Clarkson’s Farm has captured Chinese viewers

Posted on by

Jeremy Clarkson’s reality TV show has particular appeal for young people with no experience of farming

To one Chinese reviewer, Jeremy Clarkson is “a stupid old British man with too much money who farmed for a year without harvesting anything”. To another, he is “the British version of Li Ziqi”, a 33-year-old woman who is one of China’s biggest internet celebrities thanks to videos of herself farming and cooking in the idyllic Sichuanese countryside.

Clarkson’s Farm, the former Top Gear presenter’s beguilingly popular reality television show about his pivot from petrolhead to farmer, has been hugely successful on his home turf, becoming the most watched show on Amazon Prime in the UK. It is also a hit in China.

Continue reading...

Two Come Dine With Me winners convicted for importing cannabis

Posted on by

Nicholas Panayiotou and Eleanar Attard among gang who planned to smuggle 58kg of the drug into the UK

Members of a gang, including two former winners of a Channel 4 cooking programme, have been convicted after their plan to import large amounts of cannabis was uncovered.

Nicholas Panayiotou, Eleanar Attard, Constantinos Zavros, Luke Wileman and Koby Haik planned to smuggle 58kg of cannabis into the UK from the US, but were foiled after a theft at a London airport, the Metropolitan police said.

Continue reading...

Nigel Harman withdraws from Strictly Come Dancing

Posted on by

Actor, 50, sustains injury hours before the quarter-finals, leaving just four celebrities in competition

Nigel Harman has withdrawn from Strictly Come Dancing after sustaining a rib injury just hours before the quarter-finals of the competition.

The Casualty actor, 50, had been due to compete with a Charleston to Step in Time from Disney’s Mary Poppins with his partner, Katya Jones, on Saturday night.

Continue reading...

‘Appalling abuse of animals’: Chris Packham tells Ant and Dec I’m a Celebrity is like dog fighting

Posted on by

The conservationist compares ITV reality show to pursuits that are ‘the sad preserve of psychopathic criminals’

Chris Packham has written a letter to Ant and Dec, accusing I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! of exploiting animals.

In the missive, released on X (formerly Twitter), he states that this is not the first time he has tried to engage with the show’s presenters about animal welfare standards on the reality show, but that his previous “polite, reasonable and constructive” attempts were ignored so “this time I’ll be a little more frank and forthright”.

Continue reading...

Nigel Farage to be dumped in middle of Australian outback for I’m a Celebrity

Posted on by

Divisive Brexiter will be tasked with helping fellow contestants 2,000 miles away on Gold Coast

Nigel Farage will be stranded in the middle of the Australian outback when I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! gets under way.

He will be one of three unsuspecting stars who will be dropped in the red desert in the scorching heat and tasked with helping his campmates thousands of miles away.

Continue reading...

Nigel Farage spotted in Brisbane just before start of I’m a Celebrity

Posted on by

Former Ukip leader has reportedly been offered large sum to appear on ITV show, which begins this month

Nigel Farage has been seen at Brisbane airport in Australia, adding to speculation that he will be joining the lineup in this year’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!.

The former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party did not confirm when asked whether he was entering the jungle as part of the ITV show, but did tell a reporter that he “might be going in”.

Continue reading...

Nigel Farage ‘giving very serious consideration’ to I’m a Celebrity … offer

Posted on by

Former Ukip leader said he was offered ‘substantial sums of money’ and would decide ‘within next 48 hours’

Nigel Farage is giving “very serious consideration” to an offer to join the lineup of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

The former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party has been courted by the ITV show several times in the past, but previously ruled out an appearance, saying the reality show was “humiliating”.

Continue reading...

More diverse Big Brother returns to UK after five-year absence

Posted on by

Exclusive: reality TV show will reflect societal changes but keep ‘social experiment’ format

A more “aspirational” house and housemates who represent different sections of society and will engage in the debates of modern Britain are among the changes as Big Brother goes “back to basics” when it returns to British TV on Sunday.

At a time when division is exacerbated by culture wars and social media echo chambers, the producers have taken the format back to its social experiment roots by narrowing down 30,000 applications to just 16 housemates who reflect the “changes in society” since the reality show was axed five years ago by Channel 5.

Continue reading...

Former speaker John Bercow ‘to star in The Traitors US’

Posted on by

British ex-politician, a cult figure in the US, will reportedly appear alongside Love Island’s Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu

Former House of Commons speaker John Bercow is reportedly starring in the upcoming series of TV show The Traitors US, alongside Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu.

The former MP will feature alongside reality TV stars from Big Brother, Dancing With The Stars and RuPaul’s Drag Race, according to media reports.

Continue reading...