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99 free Reality TV trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
12 free reality TV trivia questions with answers. Think you're a reality TV expert? Test your knowledge of the biggest reality shows, memorable moments, and unforgettable contestants with our 99-question trivia quiz. From competition shows to docuseries, this quiz covers all the reality television you love. See how well you know the reality TV world!
30 of 99 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who hosted the American reality competition Survivor from its 2000 debut?
Jeff Probst
Jeff Probst has been there since the CBS premiere on 31 May 2000, and he is also an executive producer. The format descends from Sweden's Expedition Robinson, created in 1997.
Q 02In what year did the reality series "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" first premiere?
2007
"Keeping Up With The Kardashians" debuted on October 14, 2007, on the E! cable network. The show focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian-Jenner blended family.
Q 03Which dating show ends with one eligible single proposing to the last contestant standing?
The Bachelor
The Bachelor debuted on ABC in March 2002; it eliminates candidates week by week until the final choice receives a proposal. The Bachelorette spin-off followed in 2003.
Q 04Which Gordon Ramsay cooking competition has chefs competing for a head chef position?
Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen premiered on Fox on 30 May 2005; each season Gordon Ramsay whittles a field of chefs down to one winner who is offered a head chef job, cooking in a restaurant built inside the studio.
Q 05Who was the first person to win the reality singing competition "American Idol"?
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson won the first season in September 2002; her debut single 'A Moment Like This' became the best-selling US single of that year. Season one was the only one co-hosted by Brian Dunkleman alongside Ryan Seacrest.
Q 06Which judge stayed with The Great British Bake Off when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4, having judged since 2010?
Paul Hollywood
Paul Hollywood was added after an audition; Mary Berry was actually the first judge chosen in 2010. She left when the show went to Channel 4 in 2017 and Prue Leith took her seat.
Q 07Which UK dating show puts contestants in a Mallorca villa, where anyone left uncoupled risks being dumped?
Love Island
Love Island's winning couple splits £50,000, and Islanders may couple up for love, friendship or simply money. The format has spawned versions from the US to Australia.
Q 08Which investor joined 'Shark Tank' as a season-two guest in 2011, turned permanent a year later, and left after season 16?
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban, former principal owner of the Dallas Mavericks, stayed through the season 16 finale in May 2025. The six-shark panel with O'Leary, John, Corcoran, Greiner and Herjavec held from season four to 16.
Q 09Which coach sat in a red chair on The Voice (US) from its 2011 debut to season 23, winning nine times?
Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton's nine wins are the most of any coach. He was one of the original four alongside Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green and Adam Levine.
Q 10The first Real Housewives series was set in which US state?
California
California's Orange County launched the whole franchise: The Real Housewives of Orange County premiered on Bravo on March 21, 2006, set in the gated community of Coto de Caza.
Q 11Which A&E series follows buyers bidding on abandoned lockers after a brief look from the doorway?
Storage Wars
Storage Wars premiered on A&E in December 2010; bidders get only a glance from the doorway before bidding on a locker's entire contents, gambling on what is buried inside.
Q 12The reality series 'Deadliest Catch' follows Bering Sea boats hunting what?
Crab
The series covers two seasons a year: king crab in October and opilio (snow) crab in January, when Alaskan weather is at its most brutal.
Q 13Allen Funt's hidden-camera show Candid Camera first aired in which year?
1948
Candid Camera first aired on ABC in August 1948, growing out of Allen Funt's 1947 radio show The Candid Microphone.
Q 21The Big Brother name is taken from which novel?
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The name comes from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, whose slogan 'Big Brother is watching you' fits a house where housemates are watched around the clock by cameras and microphones.
Q 22Whose idea was Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which he also executive-produced?
Ryan Seacrest
It ran on E! for 20 seasons and was universally panned from day one.
Q 23The Fox singing contest that launched in 2002 was based on which British format created by Simon Fuller?
Pop Idol
American Idol adapted Simon Fuller's Pop Idol, which ITV launched in 2001; the US version aired on Fox from 2002 to 2016 and was revived by ABC in 2018.
Q 14The 1973 PBS series widely called the first American reality show followed which family?
The Louds
Craig Gilbert interviewed about 24 families before choosing the Santa Barbara clan.
Q 15The 1973 PBS series about the Louds was edited down from how many hours of 16mm footage?
300
An American Family was cut from about 300 hours of 16mm footage, shot over seven months in 1971, into 12 weekly one-hour episodes that showed a marriage falling apart on camera.
Q 16MTV's The Real World, first broadcast in 1992, was inspired by which earlier programme?
An American Family
The Real World was inspired by An American Family, the 1973 PBS documentary series; creators Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray's show went on to spawn Road Rules and The Challenge.
Q 17The 2019 revival of The Real World, filmed in Atlanta, was sold to which platform?
Facebook Watch
The Real World: Atlanta premiered on Facebook Watch in June 2019, alongside localised Mexican and Thai editions launched on the same platform.
Q 18The first American Survivor season divided its castaways into which two tribes?
Tagi and Pagong
Survivor: Borneo split its 16 castaways into the Tagi and Pagong tribes; after the merge, the four-person Tagi alliance voted out every former Pagong member.
Q 19How many days did Survivor castaways spend on the island in most seasons before 2021?
39
Most pre-2021 seasons ran 39 days; The Australian Outback stretched it to 42, and from season 41 in 2021 the game was shortened to 26 days.
Q 20Big Brother was created by John de Mol Jr. and first broadcast in which country in 1999?
The Netherlands
Big Brother first aired in the Netherlands on the Veronica channel in September 1999, created by John de Mol's Endemol; the format has since been licensed in dozens of countries.
Q 24Which trio judged the first eight seasons of American Idol?
Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell
Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell were the founding panel: a record producer, a singer-choreographer and a music executive. Carrie Underwood replaced Katy Perry from season 23.
Q 25How many Outstanding Reality-Competition Program Emmys did The Amazing Race win between 2003 and 2014?
Ten
The Amazing Race won the category ten times: seven straight from 2003 to 2009, then 2011, 2012 and 2014. New Zealander Phil Keoghan hosted from the 2001 premiere.
Q 26Original Amazing Race rules required teammates to have known each other for how long?
More than three years
They also had to have no previous acquaintance with other racers in the same cycle.
Q 27RuPaul won how many consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program?
Eight
The run stretched from 2016 to 2023, and the show took Outstanding Reality-Competition four years straight.
Q 28RuPaul's Drag Race first aired on which cable channel, where it became the highest-rated show?
Logo TV
RuPaul's Drag Race premiered on Logo TV in February 2009 and became the channel's highest-rated show before moving to VH1 in 2017; Michelle Visage joined RuPaul's judging panel in season three.
Q 29The Great British Bake Off's first episode aired on 17 August 2010 on which channel?
BBC Two
The Great British Bake Off began on BBC Two on 17 August 2010; growing popularity moved it to BBC One from series five in 2014 and then, after series seven, to Channel 4.
Q 30Why does the GBBO air in the US and Canada as The Great British Baking Show?
'Bake-Off' is a Pillsbury trademark
Pillsbury holds the US trademark on 'Bake-Off' for its baking contest, held since 1949, so the series is sold in the US and Canada as The Great British Baking Show.