Reality TV
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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 was there from the premiere on 31 May 2000 and made a catchphrase of his send-off to each voted-out player: 'The tribe has spoken.'
Q 02After 20 seasons on cable, the Kardashian family took its reality show to which streaming service in 2022?
Hulu
Hulu signed the family in December 2020, before the last season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians had even begun on the E! network; The Kardashians followed in April 2022.
Q 03Which dating show is designed to end with one eligible single proposing to the last contestant standing?
The Bachelor
The Bachelor debuted on ABC in March 2002, yet its first lead, Alex Michel, stopped short of proposing, telling CNN that an engagement to his pick Amanda Marsh felt premature.
Q 04Which Gordon Ramsay cooking competition has chefs competing for a head chef position?
Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen has aired on Fox since 2005, with its dining room built inside a TV studio; in practice many winners were offered a lesser post than the head chef job billed as the prize.
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; weeks later her single 'A Moment Like This' leapt from No. 52 to No. 1, then the biggest jump to the top in Hot 100 history.
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 the only one of the show's four stars to follow the tent to Channel 4 in 2017: Mary Berry and hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins all chose to stay behind.
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 announced his exit well before the May 2025 season 16 finale, saying he wanted a couple of summers with his teenage children before they left home.
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 left after season 23 with nine wins, and the show changed his private life too: it paired him with fellow coach Gwen Stefani, whom he married in 2021.
Q 10The first Real Housewives series was set in which US state?
California
California's Orange County launched the franchise in March 2006; the show was first announced simply as The Real Housewives, a documentary about life inside one gated community.
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 five minutes at the doorway and may not step inside, and star buyer Dave Hester was fired in 2012 and sued the producers.
Q 12The reality series 'Deadliest Catch' follows Bering Sea boats hunting what?
Crab
Crab is the catch, and the title is the reason to watch: Alaskan crab fishing carries a high risk of injury or death, in an October king crab season and a January snow crab season.
Q 13Which prank show did Allen Funt create?
Candid Camera
Candid Camera began on radio in 1947 as The Candid Microphone; on TV each stunt ended by letting the victim in on the joke with the line 'Smile, you're on Candid Camera.'
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 22Which TV host's production company developed Keeping Up with the Kardashians, with him as executive producer?
Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest sent a cameraman to film the family's weekend barbecue, heard the tape was 'absolutely golden' and used it to sell the series.
Q 23The Fox singing contest that launched in 2002 was based on which British format created by Simon Fuller?
Pop Idol
Q 14The 1973 PBS series widely called the first American reality show followed which family?
The Louds
The Louds of Santa Barbara opened their home to PBS cameras in 1971; viewers watched the parents' marriage break up on screen, and eldest son Lance became a gay icon.
Q 15Which friend joined Paris Hilton to swap Beverly Hills for an Arkansas farm on Fox's The Simple Life?
Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton gave up their phones and credit cards to live with the Leding family in Altus, Arkansas, for a month in the 2003 first season.
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 MTV's The Real World was made for which platform?
Facebook Watch
Facebook Watch let its own users help cast the revival: before the 2019 premiere they voted for the seventh and final housemate from finalists on the show's page.
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
39 days was the standard until season 41 in 2021 cut the game to 26, because two weeks of COVID quarantine ate into the filming schedule.
Q 20On the UK and US versions of Big Brother, where do housemates go to talk privately to the producers?
The Diary Room
The Diary Room is the one place housemates can escape their rivals and speak freely; in the American game it is also where they cast their eviction votes in private.
Pop Idol launched on ITV in 2001 but lasted only two series at home: it was shelved after one of its own judges unveiled a rival talent format in 2004.
Q 24Which trio first judged American Idol?
Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell
Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell sat together for eight seasons, joined by a fourth judge in the last; Cowell quit in 2010 to bring The X Factor to American TV.
Q 25Which show won the first seven Emmys for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program?
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race held the award from 2003 until Top Chef broke the streak in 2010; American Idol, nominated in every one of those years, never won it.
Q 26Jersey Shore's Nicole Polizzi is far better known by which nickname?
Snooki
Snooki and her housemates were unknowns when the show began, yet by the time they signed for a second season it had become an accidental cultural phenomenon.
Q 27Who won the Emmy for outstanding reality host eight years running from 2016?
RuPaul
RuPaul was not even nominated until Drag Race's eighth season in 2016; he won that year and then took the host Emmy every year through 2023.
Q 28RuPaul's Drag Race first aired in 2009 on which cable channel?
Logo TV
Logo TV premiered RuPaul's Drag Race in February 2009; the show became the channel's biggest hit, outgrew it and moved to VH1 in 2017.
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 is GBBO called The Great British Baking Show in the US and Canada?
'Bake-Off' is a Pillsbury trademark
'Bake-Off' is a Pillsbury trademark in the US, where the firm has run its baking contest since 1949, so the series is sold there and in Canada as The Great British Baking Show.