Reality television is a genre of programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors and frequently featuring "confessional" interviews where participants reflect on events. While precursors like Allen Funt's 1948 hidden-camera show Candid Camera existed, the genre emerged distinctly in the early 1990s with The Real World before achieving global prominence in the early 2000s through massive franchises such as Survivor, Idol, and Big Brother. Many popular formats involve competition and gradual participant elimination, with various shows from the 1940s and 1950s, including talent searches and high-concept game shows, now retroactively classified as early reality TV prototypes.
However, reality television has faced significant criticism, with detractors arguing that shows often manipulate situations, coach participants, stage scenes, and use misleading editing, thereby failing to accurately reflect reality. Further concerns include accusations of rigging outcomes, exploiting or humiliating participants, promoting untalented figures, and glamorizing vulgarity.