How to watch Vice’s The Dark Side of Reality TV

The Vice documentary series The Dark Side of Reality TV has been diving into pop culture-defining topics of late, from America’s Next Top Model to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. 

Earlier this year, ID pulled back the curtain on kids’ TV in its explosive true crime docu-series Quiet on Set, which focused on Nickelodeon and the dark side of children’s television from the ‘90s to the ‘00s. 

While these shows shaped the childhoods of millions, reality TV left an equally indelible mark on viewers at this time, as well as the people who lived it. Now, Vice is taking a hard look at the genre’s most iconic hits, revealing unsettling truths as part of its Dark Side franchise.

With its signature investigative style, The Dark Side of Reality TV is well worth adding to the watchlist – here’s everything you need to know about the new documentary series.

Where to watch The Dark Side of Reality TV

The Dark Side of Reality TV airs on Vice TV, which is available on cable. But this is far from the only way to watch it. All episodes can be viewed via streaming services such as Philo, DirecTV Stream, Sling TV, and Hulu + Live TV.

Many of these offer free trials if you want to give them a go. Alternatively, if you don’t fancy any more subscriptions, you can purchase single episodes or the entire season via various on-demand platforms including Amazon Prime Video. 

How many episodes are there?

The Dark Side of Reality TV Season 1 will consist of 10 episodes, nine of which have aired since its premiere. The upcoming Season 1 Episode 10 is set to focus on America’s Next Top Model. 

Here are the reality TV shows the docu-series has covered so far:

• The Swan
• Kid Nation
• Joe Millionaire
• The Surreal Life
• Hell’s Kitchen
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Survivor
• Real Housewives
• Toddlers & Tiaras
• America’s Next Top Model

Release schedule

New episodes of The Dark Side of Reality TV air at 9pm ET/PT on Vice TV on Tuesdays, with the first installment dropping on September 3, 2024. 

There have been a couple of week-long gaps, so to make sure you know when to tune into the finale, check out the release schedule below: 

• Episode 1: The Swan – September 3
• Episode 2: Kid Nation – September 17
• Episode 3: Joe Millionaire – September 24
• Episode 4: The Surreal Life – October 1
• Episode 5: Hell’s Kitchen – October 8
• Episode 6: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – October 15
• Episode 7: Survivor, Season 1 – October 22
• Episode 8: The Real Housewives – October 29
• Episode 9: Toddlers & Tiaras – November 12
• Episode 10: America’s Next Top Model – November 17

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s hidden fallout

Vice TV/ABC

One of the most talked-about episodes of The Dark Side of Reality TV has been Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which uncovers what happened to the recipients once the cameras stopped rolling. 

Although the show aimed to help families in need by renovating their homes, the docu-series unveils the trail of destruction caused by these costly do-overs, from crippling debt to family fallouts. 

The episode focuses on the original Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which ran from 2003 to 2012 on ABC with Ty Pennington as the host. 

Former participants whose homes were renovated in the series appear in The Dark Side of Reality TV to share their side of the story. For some of them, the bills simply became too much. 

And before you start blaming those involved, the Okvath family, who appeared in Season 2, didn’t even know what was happening. 

They ended up being roped into the series after their eight-year-old daughter Kassandra asked to have the walls painted at the children’s hospital where she received treatment for cancer. 

When the family was sent away, the Extreme Makeover team knocked down their home to make way for a far more luxurious mansion – one that left them in massive debt. 

Mom Nichol Okvath explains, “It was an expensive house. Our first electric bill was like $2,200, which was way more than our mortgage ever was. And I about died.”

What’s more, the family was just one of many that faced repeated intruders. “There was a time that we were locking the doors and as I go up to one of the doors, there’s a man and there was a hammer and I just start screaming like this isn’t real life,” she adds.

“Is this serious? I cannot tell you how many times the police were called for break-ins and people trying to get in. It was traumatic for me.”

Then there was the Higgins family, consisting of five siblings whose parents had died less than a year before they appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in 2005. 

Jeremiah Higgins explains in the documentary series that they felt exploited by the show, and the Leomiti family who took them in.

Not long after their episode aired, hinging on the “goodwill” story of a family taking in the orphaned siblings, the Higgins all moved out of the renovated property. 

They later took out a lawsuit against the Leomitis, alleging that they stole the home and cars that were given to them by the producers, but they were unsuccessful. 

As said by Jeremiah, “It’s the same people that we laughed with, that cared about telling our story, didn’t care about what happened to us.

“We don’t have a place to stay, and we’re kids. The story is still running that we’re happy, that we’re living there. People are seeing us jumping around, but yet we have nothing.”

America’s Next Top Model is in the firing line next

In a teaser for the upcoming episode, former America’s Next Top Model contestant Lisa D’Amato describes how her experience on the show “squashed my dreams. It made everybody around the globe hate me.”

America’s Next Top Model has been the focus of many YouTube videos over the years thanks to its endless stream of problematic moments. Changing contestant’s races for photoshoots, victim-blaming, fat-shaming, homophobic rants… the list goes on and on. 

So, it’s no surprise there’s plenty of anticipation for Vice TV’s deep dive into the show. Even Tana Mongeau got in on the action, sharing a TikTok video in which she says she’s been “waiting for this one for over a decade.”

Followers have been sharing the worst ANTM moments, with one writing in the comments section, “I remember being horrified for the girl whose friend has just died and she made her pose in a GRAVE.”

“I was BAFFLED back in the day watching that show,” said another, while a third added, “I used to have nightmares when they would cry and they would cut their hair super short.”

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