Best Streaming Services for Reality TV

Peacock offers NBC’s reality slate, including prime-time favorites The Voice and America’s Got Talent, but that isn’t all. Bravo’s conveyor belt of unscripted series lives on Peacock too, with hits like The Real Housewives franchise, Top Chef, Married to Medicine, Below Deck and Project Runway. The service also has a suite of live channels that air reality TV 24/7 and originals like Love Island USA.

A few of Fox’s reality picks are also on the platform, including Hell’s Kitchen. Shows from entertainment channel E! such as Botched can be streamed here too. What about originals? The Real Housewives of Miami and Below Deck Down Under may attract fans of Bravo-lebrities, but Snoop Dogg and Maya Rudolph are just a couple of well-knowns hosting their own original Peacock reality series.

There’s a catch with this streaming service, however. Peacock users with free accounts can access only a limited number of episodes. You must have one of the service’s paid subscriptions, which start at $6 a month, to watch full seasons.

A giant in the realm of unscripted programming, Discovery Plus is home to some of the genre’s most recognized brands. HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TLC, Travel Channel, Magnolia Network, Animal Planet, ID, Lifetime and several others are part of the service. In total, there are 14 networks with content on Discovery Plus, which we laid out in a list here. And some Discovery favorites are now on Max, the rebranded streaming service.

Multiple subgenres of reality TV available on the platform will have you bouncing from paranormal investigations to fishing expeditions to foodie competitions. And if you’re into celebrities like the Kardashians, Tony Hawk or Martha Stewart, they show up as guests, clients and contestants on various networks.

90 Day Fiancé fans can stay up to date with every episode of all the franchise’s spinoffs. Viewers can also stream every iteration of House Hunters and Flip or Flop, as well as follow Chip and Joanna Gaines’ offerings from HGTV to Magnolia Network. Discovery Plus also has exclusive originals like 90 Day: The Single Life and Ghost Adventures: House Calls. 

There may be some seasons missing for certain shows. For example, Married at First Sight has 16 seasons, but only six are available on Discovery Plus. Searching is easy, and you can click on a network or type in a title or cast member’s name to find a series.

At $5 a month, Discovery Plus is a bargain for those who love to skip around the reality TV landscape. 

Hulu harvests much of its catalog from traditional networks like ABC, Fox, E!, VH1, BET, A&E and more. But this has disadvantages. One of them is that full seasons aren’t available for every series. While it has older seasons of Lifetime shows like Married at First Sight, current seasons don’t air on Hulu, so you can’t watch episodes the next day. Since NBC moved its content to Peacock, Hulu users can no longer stream shows from Bravo and other NBCUniversal-owned networks unless you have a live TV subscription.

For Fox shows such as The Masked Singer or MasterChef Junior, however, current episodes and full seasons are both available. And you can still find popular titles in Hulu’s catalog such as Shark Tank, American Idol, Hoarders and Storage Wars, as well as Hulu originals like The Kardashians.

Hulu keeps its reality lineup well-organized with a dedicated tab on the app. For the basic $8 subscription, you can take your pick from an assortment of channels. 

During the past five years, Netflix has been gradually building its platter of reality fare. Ultimate Beastmaster was its first release, but the streamer’s made an imprint in dating and cooking entertainment. The Great British Baking Show and Is It Cake? have become hits with viewers, and series such as Love Is Blind, The Circle and Selling Sunset often become hot topics on the internet. However, food, real estate and romance aren’t the only areas that Netflix covers in the reality world. Home improvement, mindfulness, travel and international releases are among the categories you’ll find on the service. 

Originals Selling Sunset and Bling Empire give viewers a look inside luxurious lifestyles and real estate while Floor is Lava and Bullsh*t the Game Show put a different spin on… game shows. There’s also a row of titles described as “rugged” that features jail-themed docuseries, a peek into the custom vehicle industry, or unique jobs like funeral directors. Netflix’s monthly cost — which runs from $7 up to $20 — is significantly higher than other services.

The majority of Netflix’s reality slate is made up of originals like Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and Nailed It, but a sprinkling of licensed series such as Old Enough and Tiny House Nation are also on the platform. Whatever you do, do yourself a favor and skip the dating-in-a-creature-mask weirdness of Sexy Beasts.