Reality Television and the LGBTQ Community

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Reality television is a genre of television show that presents its characters and story line in an unscripted format, intending the show to represent real life with real people. Over the past twenty five years, it has become one of the largest segments of programming on television networks, specialty channels, and streaming services.

The vast majority of reality television shows are competitive in nature with a focus on a specific profession or skill. These include singing, cooking, modelling, dancing, slam poetry, and more. Others set up their characters in programmed elimination bouts, with the final character standing declared the winner. A good number of the shows are focused on documenting the daily lives of the characters in the show.

To appreciate the size of the industry, we have identified a total of 82 global reality television shows that have had prominent LGBTQ representation. In many cases, the original show has been so popular that it has become an international franchise that is replicated in numerous countries.

LGBTQ representation can be by way of producers or directors of the show, hosts, or characters. Many have become household names around the world as a result of their profile on reality television.

The ranking of the top twelve shows in terms of the greatest number of LGBTQ participants is: Big Brother; the RuPaul Drag Race franchise and American Idol (tied); X Factor and Project Runway (tied); Eurovision; the Next Top Model franchise; Top Chef; The Amazing Race; and So You Think You Can Dance, the Got Talent franchise, and the Queer Eye franchise (tied).

Australia

Austria

Brazil

Bulgaria

Cameroon

Canada

Denmark

Finland

Great Britain

Iceland

India

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Mexico

New Zealand

  • Tamati Coffey, Dancing With the Stars, New Zealand's Got Talent

Norway

Pakistan

Philippines

Romania

Serbia

Singapore

South Korea

Sweden

Taiwan

Thailand

The Netherlands

United States

See Also

Further Reading/Research


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