10 Reality TV Competition Series With The Most Rewatch Value

When viewers first watch a reality competition series, the main appeal for watching is the tension of waiting to see who will emerge victorious. However, for a reality show to be worth watching a second or third time, the show must offer something more than just the element of competition, since the viewer already knows how it will turn out.

Some shows feature such creative and entertaining challenges that they are still captivating upon a second viewing like Fear Factor and Face Off. Some shows, such as Nailed It! and The Circle, have personalities that are funny enough to justify a rewatch. And other series are just so pleasant that they can be viewed over and over again without losing their charm like The Great British Baking Show.

Fear Factor

In Fear Factor, contestants were forced to face their fears in a series of challenges that often involved harrowing stunts, typically incorporating either heights or water, and gross-out tasks that included eating a blended rat and bobbing for rings in a tub of cow blood.

With these wild stunts and disgusting challenges, Fear Factor has cemented its status as one of the craziest game shows of all time. Even if the viewer already knows who wins, the challenges are still incredibly entertaining to watch and rewatch.

Four Weddings

Four Weddings is one of TLC’s more underrated reality series. The show follows four brides as they compete for the prize of a honeymoon by attending each other’s weddings and then scoring each wedding based on a number of different categories.

The show does a great job representing drastically different types of weddings within each group, making each episode a hodgepodge of various ceremonies and receptions from traditional religious services to weddings that incorporate pirates, circus acts, and animals. For those who are planning a wedding or just love weddings in general, the show is immensely entertaining and rewatchable.

The Great British Baking Show

While The Great British Baking Show follows a fairly standard cooking competition show format, with bakers competing in a series of challenges and getting eliminated one by one, the show has gained a large following thanks to its soothing tone and warm judges.

In stark contrast with most American cooking competition shows, which are typically chaotic and feature unnecessarily harsh judges, The Great British Baking Show is a calm and peaceful show that fans love revisiting. For many viewers, the show is less about who wins and who gets eliminated and more about the pleasant experience of watching the show.

Ink Master

Perhaps no reality competition show has stakes or permanency like Ink Master does. While the show follows a familiar format with flash challenges followed by themed elimination challenges, the novelty of people having to wear the final tattoo forever adds a layer of pressure and tension that does not exist in other shows.

Whether the tattoo artists are creating remarkable works of art or struggling with the worst tattoos on the show, it is always entertaining to see their decisions permanently affect someone’s body even on a rewatch.

Wipeout

In Wipeout, competitors race against the clock to try to complete giant obstacle courses as fast as possible. Unlike other obstacle course shows like American Ninja Warrior, Wipeout uses a more comedic tone.

This tone is precisely what makes the show so rewatchable. Wipeout is more of a comedy than it is a competition show and so as long as the viewer continues to find people getting taken out by the obstacle course to be funny, the show will continue to remain rewatchable.

BattleBots

Mixing comedy, science, and violence, BattleBots is a competition show that sees teams of engineers create robot warriors who square off against one another in matches with the goal of disabling the other robot, competing in elimination tournaments and free-for-all rumble matches.

There is inherent entertainment value in watching two robots try to tear each other apart. Even if viewers have seen the episode before and know which robot comes out on top, it is still fun to watch all of the carnage unfold.

Face Off

Set in the world of cinematic prosthetic makeup design, Face Off is a reality competition show that pits aspiring makeup artists against one another as they compete in a series of themed elimination challenges in which they must design and create camera-ready original characters.

Given the time and logistical constraints that the contestants face, they are able to create some incredible designs that deserve to be viewed multiple times. Additionally, the themes and guest judges are also fun to revisit during a rewatch.

Nailed It!

Capitalizing on the popularity of amateur bakers trying to copy dessert recipes off of the internet, Nailed It! is a baking competition show that challenges amateur bakers to try to replicate elaborate cakes and confectionaries, often to hilariously disappointing results.

The main reason to watch Nailed It! is for the hilarious baking fails on the show and the disastrous cakes are still funny even upon a second viewing. Nicole Byer and Jacques Torres’ jokes and commentary also hold up well during a rewatch.

Penn & Teller: Fool Us

As one of the more unique reality competition shows, the contestants on Penn & Teller: Fool Us do not compete against each other but rather magicians perform tricks in front of the famous duo in the hopes of pulling off a trick that Penn and Teller cannot explain.

Because the show does not reveal how the tricks are done, with Penn and Teller dropping hints that indicate they know how it is done, viewers will want to rewatch the acts and try to use these hints to figure out how the tricks are done.

The Circle

The social media-themed reality competition show The Circle sees players isolated from each other in an apartment building. Communicating only through a social media platform, the players must compete in challenges and form relationships in order to be voted as the most popular members of The Circle.

While the premise and execution are interesting enough, the real draw of The Circle is the personalities of the contestants. Because of this, fans can rewatch the show to enjoy the entertaining character moments, even if they already know how the challenges and eliminations will play out.

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