The Best Reality Shows on Netflix Canada

Reality shows are best when they’re almost indistinguishable from a documentary series—or, when they are so trashy that they transcend intelligence in all of us. And besides, we all need a series to put on in the background while we go about our lives sometimes, don’t we?

So, if you enjoy having your mind numbed or simply want to take a break from your reality and tune into someone else’s for a bit, we put together this handy list of which ones we think are currently worth watching on Canadian Netflix.

Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City

This is kinda like the MTV series Real World—except Japanese, which makes it very, very different. It takes place in Tokyo, where six strangers share a perfectly designed and decorated house together for a summer and do wholesome activities like have family-style dinners, go on cute dates, and pursue their careers (modelling, hat-designing, ballet, etc.). Unlike American reality shows of this variety, there are very rarely hookups and drunken disasters. The special twist Terrace House possesses though, is this: Every so often throughout each episode, a cast of hosts reacts to the behaviour of the housemates, as if an aftershow has been woven throughout. The result is a soothing, comforting reality show that, in the end, is different from any you’ve seen before. Watch it, and you won’t be disappointed—unless you really don’t like subtitles.

Queer Eye

In a time when the original Queer Eye feels dated and cringey, Netflix managed to revive a classic in a way that defrosted even the coldest of hearts this year. You may cry while watching this (and you still might cringe a few times). The new Fab Five are hard not to love as they give makeovers to everyone from a Trump supporter to a gay man who is about to come out to his family.

Chrisley Knows Best

If you enjoy watching really ridiculous rich people live their lives, this series is for you. It centers on a Southern multimillionaire family who got rich off of real estate and live in a sprawling mansion outside Atlanta. The name of the show comes from the strange-yet-entertaining antics of Todd Chrisley, an eccentric and loving father of five, who has a distinct penchant for micromanaging his family as if it were a business.

Cheer Squad

This show follows a two-time world champion-winning competitive cheerleading squad from an unlikely place—Ontario. If you’ve ever doubted that cheerleading is a sport, this is a good place to start. You’ll probably be pretty down for this one if you were secretly into Dance Moms.

RuPaul’s Drag Race

This legendary drag queen competition doesn’t really need much of an introduction. But, yes, seasons eight and nine are on Canadian Netflix if you somehow haven’t noticed yet.

The Big Family Cooking Showdown

Even if you’re not usually into cooking shows, this is one that you might end up marathoning. In each episode, two families consisting of three members each compete against one another by cooking their traditional homemade recipes and taking on challenges. Not an episode goes by without touching moments about how a family’s culture can be so interwoven with their home-cooked traditions.

Age Gap Love

Way more cute than it sounds and definitely not just about sugar daddy-type relationships. This British reality show manages to delve into the taboo topic of people of drastically different generations falling in love in a heartwarming-at-times way by following a number of couples per episode: You find out about how they fell in love, how they've coped with disapproval from their families, and what it’s like for them to live in a society that has not yet accepted intergenerational love. By the end of it, you might feel somewhat guilty that you dismissed these kind of relationships as wholly “creepy.”

The Push

You might gasp audibly and almost throw up just watching the pilot of this twisted, sadistic experimental show. It’s hosted by a mentalist and illusionist, Derren Brown (of Derren Brown: Mind Control), who presents a scheme to find out if people can be coerced into killing another human being. Spoiler alert: It’s a good reminder that no one should be trusted.

Chasing Cameron

Critics were harsh on Netflix original Chasing Cameron because it feels at once too polished and too promo-y—one even called it “propaganda.” Pretty understandable when you figure out that the executive producer was also the main character of the show. That main character is Cameron Dallas, a 20-something YouTube and Vine star from California who has garnered millions of adoring fans. So, what’s the reason you should watch Chasing Cameron anyway? Well, first of all, it has great hate-watch potential. More importantly, though, It gives a glimpse (a sanitized one, that is) into a part of our world we should be turning our attention to before we reach certain apocalypse: the rapidly growing power of social media influencers. If you weren’t already freaked out about how people like Dallas are taking over the world, then watching even just part of this show will certainly escort you to that brink.

Terrace House: Aloha State

A Hawaiian spin on what is surely the best reality show on this list, this time with more surfing, poke bowls, and English-speaking than the original with all the same comforting and soothing qualities.