Reality shows first came on the scene in the early 1990s and since then, this genre has accumulated a huge fan base. With over thirty years of history and tons of shows from around the world, there’s a never-ending supply of reality TV. Ordinary people are filmed in unscripted real life situations geared towards entertaining viewers. Producers of these shows have become increasingly creative and some may say a little too creative. Here are some of the most bizarre reality shows.

1. Kid Nation

Kid Nation was aired for one season in 2007. Forty children between the ages of eight and fifteen were sent to a former New Mexico ghost town for forty days. The children had to undertake all house chores, form a government and run businesses. Towards the end of every episode, they conducted town-hall meetings to discuss any issues and determine who would be awarded the Gold Star worth $20,000. With children governing themselves, it’s a given that things got chaotic. There were incidents of child abuse and endangerment and several children got injured. It is no wonder that this show was short-lived.

2. Space Cadets

Space Cadets was a 2005 British reality show. Eleven individuals became contestants with the hope of traveling to space on a five day journey. They went through training for two weeks. When the day they were eagerly awaiting came, they boarded the shuttle and were launched into space. They had no idea that this was all fake. The show was a hoax at the expense of the contestants. The truth was revealed five days later when they landed on Earth before a live TV audience who were amused by them. The entire show was filmed in Suffolk and the contestant never left the planet.

3. Who’s Your Daddy?

Every child deserves to know his or her father. Well this was a belief that the producers of this Fox TV agreed with but it seemed that they got a little too creative with this one. An adopted woman meets eight men, one of whom is her biological father. Each man tries to convince her that he is her biological father and she had to decide who she thinks is her father. After three elimination rounds, if the woman chooses the right man she gets $100,000; however, if she fails, one of the other seven men will receive the money. This is what you call emotional torture. 

4. Dadagiri

An Indian reality program called Dadagiri debuted on Bindass in 2008 and aired for four seasons. The three dadas of the show bullied and humiliated the candidates as they completed physical and mental challenges to win monetary prizes. Why would anyone intentionally put themselves in a position where they can be bullied and treated badly? In a 2008 episode, Esha Bhaskar, one of the bullies, slapped Ravi Bhatia, a contestant. This was an unscripted physical attack. Bhatia slapped her back before the host and some of the crew assaulted Bhatia.

5. Man vs. Beast

In 2003, the Fox television network ran a series of sensationalistic television programs titled Man vs. Beast. This show aired in the United States and involved a range of competitions in which both humans and animals took part. Yes, you read correctly, humans competed against animals. For instance, a man and a bear competed in a hot dog eating contest and a group of dwarfs raced against an elephant. Take a wild guess as to who won in each of these cases. Yes, the animals were victorious.