Episode Details

Dylan Reeve dives into the fuzzy origins of reality TV in Aotearoa to try and figure out what we even mean when we say ‘Reality’. He looks at our local shows, ranging from fly-on-the-wall docuseries like Motorway Patrol into heavily constructed social strategy games like Treasure Island and The Traitors, exploring how a format with almost no fixed rules managed to grow into one of our biggest pop-cultural touchstones.

Greenstone’s Rachel Antony and The Spinoff founder Duncan Grieve help us unpack where documentary ends and unscripted entertainment begins, framing the broader story of how local broadcasters developed a taste for turning everyday life into primetime drama.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details