Extreme reality TV shows: from making pottery to topiary face-offs, creativity goes into overdrive for added escapism
- Glass blowing, jewellery making, building Lego sculptures – reality TV shows are getting ever more creative and extreme
- These contests are moving away from hobbies and getting more niche, and bringing in industry professionals
Throw a fully functional teapot in under a minute. Craft a giant bathroom object by melting and sculpting glass. Build a bridge entirely out of Lego that can hold up to 500 kilograms (1,100lbs).
These are the challenges contestants may face in HBO Max’s The Great Pottery Throw Down, Netflix’s Blown Away and Fox’s Lego Masters, respectively – three titles that are part of a burgeoning reality TV subgenre that shines a spotlight on the most specialised of design skills. These shows take the episodic elimination structure of long-established competition series and fill it with people seasoned in the most niche creative fields.
Are you into arts and crafts? Put on NBC’s Making It. Want to watch jewellers at work? Tune into BBC Two’s All That Glitters. No delineation is too detailed: HBO Max’s Full Bloom focuses more on flower arranging than Netflix’s The Big Flower Fight, which is more about floral installations, and Discovery+’s Clipped, which is all about topiary. Even kids and teens are worthy competitors, thanks to Disney+’s Shop Class and HBO Max’s Craftopia.
Why is this kind of show so appealing?
They offer a sense of escapism – often an important factor in successful entertainment, never more so than 14 months into a pandemic.
