10 Reality Shows That Are Hard to Follow With Subtitles
A real reality TV enthusiast knows that the genre requires full attention. Some might argue that reality shows are nothing more than passive entertainment, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Reality TV is all about the small details.
From secret glances to hushed conversations, context is king here. You have to read between the lines, follow heated exchanges, and understand the complex and constantly changing dynamics that unfold on screen. Considering all of this, subtitles are an important part of the reality TV experience because they have the power to make or break a show.
10
Big Brother
2000
Big Brother pretty much changed the landscape of reality TV when it premiered on CBS back in 2000. Taking a group of strangers and forcing them to live together in a house under constant surveillance makes for a premise like no other. The contestants navigate shifting alliances while participating in tasks designed to test their teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. In its essence, Big Brother is a show that pushes the contestants’ psychological and emotional limits, and that’s why it’s so unpredictable. Alliances form and break in minutes, and you never know when the next betrayal is coming. Contestants are constantly strategizing in secret, executing schemes, and planting seeds of doubt in each other’s minds.
While all of that sounds fairly simple for a reality show, it’s actually quite hard to follow. The Big Brother house is always full of loud personalities, and this makes it hard to keep track of all the conversations that are constantly taking place in every corner of the place. As multiple conflicts unfold all at once, you need subtitles to make sure that you’re hearing things correctly, keeping up with the almost rapid-fire pace of the show.
- Release Date
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July 5, 2000
- Network
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CBS
- Showrunner
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Allison Grodner
- Directors
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Mark W. Roden, Quinn Saunders
9
MasterChef USA
2010
Food really is a universal language, but cooking is a completely different ball game. The premise of MasterChef USA is simple enough to follow. But honestly, sometimes I find myself wondering what a roux is and what it means to emulsify oil and vinegar. The truth is that the technicalities of cooking can leave even the biggest food enthusiasts scratching their heads. Because MasterChef USA and all its international renditions feature professional chefs who have spent years working in the business, the show does come with its fair share of jargon and lingo. That, combined with the show’s timed challenges, makes it super hard for regular people to follow without subtitles.
Not to mention that the judges on the show, including Gordon Ramsay, love to throw around words like “al dente” and “mise en place,” like everyone in the audience is going to immediately catch on. In the heat of the kitchen, the pressure is on, and there’s constant back-and-forth between the judges and all the contestants. Alongside the cooking, the show also dives into the contestants’ personal stories as they take part in the challenges. With all of this going on in one episode, you need subtitles to fill in contextual gaps. There’s no two ways about it!
- Release Date
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July 27, 2010
- Network
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FOX
-
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Jennie Garth
Self – Guest Judge
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Nigella Lawson
Self – Judge
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Oscar de la Hoya
Self – Guest Chef / Judge
8
The Amazing Race
2001
The Amazing Race is one of my favorite reality TV shows of all time. But I’ll be the first person to admit that it isn’t the easiest to watch. The show’s format follows teams of two around the world as the participants compete in all kinds of challenges to test their strengths in different ways. The teams travel to different countries where they deal with language barriers, cultural shocks, and unfamiliar environments while rushing to complete their assigned tasks in time. The objective is simple; the journey, though, is anything but.
The Amazing Race is one of those shows where you can’t afford to look away for a second, because things happen so fast. The show is as high-stakes as it gets, with contestants shifting gears without warning. Because they’re racing against time, they’re always in a rush as they speak to each other, and sometimes, you don’t even hear full sentences before a decision is already made and executed. The show barely has any room for pauses, and the language difference makes it all the more difficult to keep up with everything that’s going on. When you bring in the foreign accents, unfamiliar local dialects, and the unique nuances of different cultures, subtitles are pretty much a necessity.
- Release Date
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September 5, 2001
- Network
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CBS
- Showrunner
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Elise Doganieri, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman
7
90 Day Fiancé
2014
90 Day Fiancé is one of TLC’s biggest successes. The show has a pretty unique premise where it follows long-distance couples who are engaged to be married. The only catch is that one of them is from the U.S. while the other is from a foreign country. 90 Day Fiancé shows these couples navigating the process of obtaining a K-1 visa, after which they have 90 days to marry each other. The drama is never-ending as couples not only face the usual challenges of a relationship, but also have to deal with the added pressure of cultural differences and, of course, their visa situation.
As popular as the show is, 90 Day Fiancé is practically impossible to follow without dialogue. The show features couples from all parts of the world, and, of course, they all have their own language, accent, and cultural background. Now, keeping up with so many ways of speaking and contexts is always a huge challenge. Whether it’s a Ukrainian contestant’s thick accent or a Nigerian speaking Pidgin English, you miss out on key details if you don’t read along. To make sense of the show’s heated confrontations, cultural misunderstandings, and family drama, subtitles are the solution.
6
RuPaul’s Drag Race
2009
Since its premiere in 2009, RuPaul’s Drag Race has been monumental for LGBTQ+ representation on reality TV. The show puts the spotlight on drag queens as they compete in all kinds of challenges ranging from acting to comedy and even lip-syncing. The show is hosted by RuPaul, who also serves as a mentor and judge for the participating drag queens. The show features over-the-top fashion, humor, and intense competition, which is why it’s such a treat to watch. In fact, the Drag Race franchise has expanded and given rise to several spinoffs after the massive success of the original.
But despite the show’s universal popularity, it is notoriously hard to follow without subtitles. For starters, the show is full of insider drag references and lingo. So, if you’re not part of the community, you might catch yourself Googling every other sentence to keep up with everything that’s going on. Without a basic understanding of drag culture, audiences might find it hard to pick up on the subtle nuances that often make up some of the most important moments of the show.
5
Below Deck
2013
Below Deck is yet another reality show with a unique premise. The show and its multiple spinoffs follow a crew of highly-trained professionals as they serve wealthy clients on some of the most extravagant yachts in the world. Every season features a new set of guests with brand-new challenges. Safe to say that Below Deck gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of charter season and all the drama that goes down when crew members live and work together in close quarters as they set sail. Obviously, this means that Below Deck features a mix of guests and crew members who contribute to the chaos that one experiences on a superyacht. The crew, who come from all over the world, have to juggle the demands of their guests while dealing with their own personal conflicts.
The show is already complex as it is, and if you dare to watch it without subtitles, you’re just asking for trouble. Without subtitles, things can easily get lost in translation, especially if people are talking in regional dialects or using industry-specific terms. Of course, rich people have their own lingo, so the guests are basically speaking a language of their own. To make sure that you’re doing justice to the show and engrossing yourself in all the arguments, snark, and sarcastic exchanges, you need subtitles. Because without all of that important context, the show just isn’t fun to watch.
4
Shark Tank
2009
Don’t get me wrong, I love Shark Tank. It’s one of the very few reality shows that is as educational as it is entertaining. But then again, if you go into the show blind, you don’t know the wild ride you’re in for as judges throw one business-related question at the presenting entrepreneurs after the other. The most complicated part of Shark Tank is that every business is unique. This means that the Sharks have different things to consider before they invest. For example, revenue might be important for one business, but market potential might be the deciding factor for another.
The fast pace of the pitches, combined with the jargon used by the sharks and entrepreneurs, can leave viewers scrambling to keep up. Business terms like “valuation,” “equity,” “royalties,” and “gross margin” sometimes go right over my head, and it’s easy to get lost in the technicalities before you realize that a deal has already been made. And I’ll be honest, the Sharks aren’t exactly polite. They often interrupt each other and chime in with unexpected questions, which can make the discussion hard to follow, especially if you aren’t familiar with the world of business. At the same time, understanding each deal and knowing how the entrepreneurs are crunching their numbers is what makes the show entertaining. And if you want to understand all of that, subtitles are your best friend, along with a calculator.
3
Love Is Blind
2020
Love Is Blind might just be one of the most popular dating shows in the world right now, especially with all the international spinoffs it has spawned. But the heart of the show is the conversations the contestants have with each other in the pods. The idea of Love Is Blind is for people to form emotional connections without the influence of physical attraction. With a physical wall dividing the contestants, conversations tend to get extremely raw and vulnerable. With a premise like this, the viewers need to have a deep understanding of what two potential partners are talking about in the pods.
With the camera constantly shifting from one couple to the next, it’s hard to follow who’s talking about what, and subtitles practically take away that entire problem. The point is that these conversations inside the pods include a lot of slang, quick exchanges, and overlaps where it’s hard to pick up who’s saying what. Since the show also has a diverse participant pool, the mix of language differences and varying cultural backgrounds can also make it hard to follow. At the end of the day, Love is Blind thrives on the complex dynamics of how the contestants open up to each other, and what happens when they finally meet face-to-face after falling in love in the pods. So, being able to follow those conversations closely is the entire point. Without subtitles, you’re definitely losing out on some important moments.
2
My 600-lb Life
2012
TLC’s My 600-lb Life stars Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, also known as Dr. Now, a well-known bariatric surgeon, he tries to help patients over 600 pounds lose weight and take control of their lives. These patients follow the Doctor’s 12-month program to get back on track. While some manage to succeed, Dr. Now is forced to give up on many simply because they’re too stubborn to know what’s good for them. You’d imagine that the show might need subtitles because of all the medical terminology and the patients’ emotional outbursts. While that is true, the reason why you can’t watch My 600-lb Life without subtitles is Dr. Now’s extremely thick accent.
The Doctor is notorious for his long-running sentences where he’s giving the patients blunt reality checks and expressing sympathy with them at the same time. His medical advice often comes at a rapid pace, with no time for the audience to process what he’s saying. Without subtitles, catching Doctor Now is an impossible task, especially when his sentences are loaded with medical information. I love the man, but understanding him is a struggle sometimes.
My 600-lb Life
- Release Date
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February 1, 2012
- Directors
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Tatjana Andric, Jonathan Nowzaradan
Cast
1
Love on the Spectrum
2022
Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum features people living with autism as they embark on journeys to find love. The show is a heartwarming look at the struggles and triumphs of neurodivergent individuals and what falling in love looks like for them. As someone who doesn’t personally live with autism, the show taught me how different contestants experience the condition differently. Every contestant on the show has their own communication style and speech pattern. The participants might also speak in ways that may differ from what the general audience is used to. Some may have difficulty with eye contact, others may struggle with tone, or express themselves in ways that can be difficult to understand without the right context.
Understanding and appreciating the show for what it truly is requires subtitles that provide clarity to the people watching at home. For a show as diverse as Love on the Spectrum, the participants need to be perceived as they are, without any preconceived notions. So, subtitles are a way for the audience to understand the full depth of the participants’ emotions and educate themselves at the same time.
