The 10 Most Dangerous Reality TV Shows, Ranked (2024)

Reality television is one of the most popular forms of entertainment out there. It’s mindless, there’s nothing to follow, and there’s often so much drama going on that it’s hard to peel your eyes away from the screen. But sometimes, reality shows can get dark, and even scary, with some bordering on dangerous.

Whether that be because these are survival reality shows, or because they are putting contestants in knowingly dangerous positions, there seems to be more risk than the actual entertainment is worth, which can be unnerving, at times, to viewers looking for pure entertainment. So, let's rank the reality TV shows that straddle (and, sometimes, cross) the line between entertainment and downright dangerous.

10 ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’

Created by Richard Cowels, Natalka Zank, Stewart Morris, Mark Busk-Cowley, Alexander Gardiner, Jim Allen, and Brent Baker

There’s something about seeing people thrown out of their element that makes for good television, but there’s something even better about it when it’s celebrities. That’s the entire premise of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here. The show puts a bunch of celebrities in the jungle, void of all the luxuries they’ve grown so accustomed to. They have the basics, of course, but must compete in challenges to acquire extra food and treats for the group. Each week they also must vote someone out, so that only one person is crowned “King” or “Queen” by the end of the season.

Dropping anyone who doesn’t have survival skills in the jungle is a pretty dangerous idea, so it’s no surprise that I’m a Celebrity makes the list. Also, some of the trials they participate in get pretty gnarly. From being submerged in water, locked in vaults with snakes, and having glass bowls put on their heads that are slowly being filled with bugs. It’s certainly not ideal. Luckily, these are still celebrities, so a little extra care is put into their well-being during the show.

I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

Not Rated

Reality

Release Date

February 1, 2015

Cast

Declan Donnelly , Anthony McPartlin

Main Genre

Reality

Seasons

23

I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! is currently not available for streaming or purchase.

9 ‘Fear Factor’

Hosted by Joe Rogan (NBC) and Ludacris (MTV)

Fear Factor is a special kind of show. It encourages its contestants to face their fears, but does so in the most traumatizing ways. As the name suggests, contestants are brought on to the show and forced to face some common fears, or participate in very extreme, terrifying challenges.

But some challenges are just plain gross, and only there for the gross-out factor. Watching even one singular episode will prove just how dangerous the show can get though, as contestants are submerged in water for extended periods of time, covered in bees, put in rooms filled with tear gas, and even put into an electric chair. The contestants could say no, but they rarely did with prize money on the line, leaving them to participate in these potentially fatal challenges.

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Fear Factor

TV-PG

Reality

Release Date

June 11, 2001

Cast

Joe Rogan

Main Genre

Reality

Seasons

7

Watch On Hulu

8 ‘Dancing On Ice’

Hosted by Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Christine Bleakley, and Stephen Mulhern

Some reality shows have a premise so baffling you can’t help but wonder how anyone approved it. This is the case with a few shows on this list, but first up is Dancing On Ice. It sounds like a sweet reality show about ice dancers, but really it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Similar to Dancing With the Stars, celebrities are paired up with ice skating professionals and are taught an ice dance routine which they will perform live every week for the judges, until one couple is crowned the winner. This sounds fine and dandy until you remember just how dangerous ice dancing can be if you don’t have proper training. Yes, the celebrities are paired up with professionals, but they’re not just becoming pros overnight, there is still a lot of risk involved, and the show has seen a lot of injuries in its time, leaving one to wonder how it’s still going.

Dancing On Ice is currently not available for streaming or purchase.

7 ‘Survivor’

Created by Charlie Parsons and Hosted by Jeff Probst

Survivor is arguably the most popular survival reality show there is, and for good reason. The show sends a group of people to a remote location, separates them into tribes, and has them provide food, shelter, and fire for themselves. Throughout the season, they compete in challenges such as reward challenges, which can get them perks such as tarps for their shelter, or even something as simple as salt and pepper.

There are also immunity challenges which protect a tribe from going to tribal council and having to vote one of their own members out. But just because the show is well known and well-loved doesn’t mean it’s without its risks, because it can get quite scary on the island at times. From dehydration, to heat stroke, to bug bites, there’s so much that can go wrong on an island without access to basic amenities. Thankfully, Survivor has an incredible medical team that is always on standby, but it isn’t without its frightening moments.

Survivor

TV-PG

Adventure

Reality TV

Game Show

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Cast

Jeff Probst

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Main Genre

Reality-TV

Seasons

46

Studio

CBS

Creator(s)

Charlie Parsons

6 ‘Naked and Afraid’

Narrated by Michael Brown

“Afraid” is right there in the name of this one, because that’s what you should be going into it. Naked and Afraid sends two survivalists into the wilderness for 21 days, completely naked, and forces them to build shelter, find food, and make fire, while just generally surviving the elements.

Unlike Survivor, Naked and Afraid is a lot less controlled in its environment, meaning its incidents are a lot more unpredictable. They are allowed to bring one useful item with them, whether it be a machete or a firestarter, but other than that, they have no perks and are truly living off of the land. There’s also nothing to protect them from the elements as they are completely naked, and therefore extremely vulnerable to everything around them. It’s a scary situation to watch unfold, and surely an even scarier one to be a part of.

Naked and Afraid

TV-14

Adventure

Reality

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

June 23, 2013

Cast

Michael Brown

Main Genre

Reality

Seasons

17

Studio

Renegade 83

Franchise

Naked and Afraid

Distributor

Discovery

Sequel

Naked and Afraid XL

5 ‘Alone’

Executive Produced by Russ McCarroll, Zachaery Behr, and Gretchen Palek among others

As far as survival shows go, Alone may be the most brutal. The show sends its participants into the wilderness and tasks them with surviving for as long as they can. They are given minimal survival equipment and are cut off from any other human contact aside from medical check-ins. Like other shows, they are tasked with making shelter, finding food, and surviving the elements, so you may be wondering why it’s considered so brutal in comparison to the others.

Well, the schtick of the show is that it begins filming at the end of fall, meaning winter is just on the horizon, the weather is getting colder, and food supply is about to get extremely scarce. Starvation becomes a very real thing for these contestants, as there is nothing around for them to eat or scavenge, which is terrifying just to think about. They are able to tap out at any point, but they rarely do. The resilience is impressive, but the entire premise seems so dangerous. Especially considering they’re cut off from other people and in remote locations, meaning they’re really and truly, as the name suggests, alone.

Alone

TV-14

Reality

Documentary

Game Show

Release Date

June 18, 2015

Cast

Nicole Apelian , Sam Larson , Brooke Whipple , Brad Richardson , Jesse Bosdell , Dave Nessia , Carleigh Fairchild , Britt Ahart

Main Genre

Reality

Seasons

10

Watch On Hulu

4 ‘Tumble’

Created by Jimmy Baker, J Bidmead, Aniello DeSanti, Leon Wilde, and Hosted by Alex Jones

Tumble brought celebrities in and taught them gymnastics, and then forced them to compete against one another until there was a winner. That’s really all you need to know for warning bells to go off about how dangerous this show is.

If you’ve ever seen a gymnast in action, you know their job is not an easy one. To think that you can just teach someone the sport so simply and without any error or issue is wishful thinking at best. The show was cancelled after only one season thankfully, but the fact that someone decided to greenlight the show in the first place is baffling, because there was so much room for disaster to strike during it.

Tumble is currently not available for streaming or purchase.

3 ‘Splash!’

Hosted by Joet Lawrence and Charissa Thompson

Like Tumble, Splash! took celebrities and tried to turn them into Olympians, this time going the diving route. If gymnastics is a dangerous sport, putting a bunch of inexperienced celebrities with no prior experience on a super high diving board probably isn’t the greatest idea, and is probably why the show only got one season.

The show saw celebrities trying their hand at different dives each week, with someone getting voted out every week, and the dives getting progressively harder. The injuries that came out of the show were extensive, with almost every contestant having some sort of injury to show for their time on the series.

Splash! is currently not available for streaming or purchase.

2 ‘The Jump’

Hosted by Davina McCall (Series 1-4) and Alex Brooker (Series 1)

While in the same “turning celebrities into Olympians” genre as Tumble and Splash! The Jump actually went on to run for 4 seasons. Surprising, considering the premise, it is incredibly dangerous. This time, the celebrities chosen are trying their hand at winter sports.

These include the likes of skeleton, bobsleigh, snowskates, ski cross, and giant slalom. They are given some training beforehand, of course, they’re not just thrown to the wolves, but still, these aren’t just sports you jump into and immediately master, nor are they sports that should be taken lightly as they can go wrong very quickly. I know we all love the Olympics, but let’s not try and recreate them at home – and let’s not let the celebrities try it on television either. It’s just a disastrous idea all around.

The Jump is currently not available for streaming or purchase.

1 ‘Jackass’

Created by Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, and Johnny Knoxville

If you’re talking about the most dangerous reality television shows, is there any other show that can be at the top of the list other than Jackass? Those guys practically invented doing dangerous activities for entertainment. If you don’t know what Jackass is, it features a group of nine friends who play elaborate pranks on one another, pull off ridiculous stunts, and generally do stupid things for the sake of “entertainment”.

They practically ruled MTV at the time, as viewers just couldn’t believe their eyes. They’ve truly done it all, if you can think it, they’ve done it. From walking a tightrope over a pit of alligators, playing dodgeball with medicine balls, tasered themselves, and even lit themselves on fire. All for the sake of entertainment. The fact that they lived through these stunts is nothing short of amazing, but there will never be a more dangerous reality series than Jackass, because really, how can there be?

Jackass

Created by

Jeff Tremaine , Spike Jonze , Johnny Knoxville

First Film

Jackass: The Movie

Latest Film

Jackass Forever

First TV Show

jackass

First Episode Air Date

October 1, 2000

Cast

Johnny Knoxville , Steve-O , Bam Margera , Chris Pontius , Dave England , Ryan Dunn

Watch On Paramount+

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