Thursday Movie Picks #307: TMP Television Edition - Competitive Reality Shows

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Competitive Reality Shows

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I'm not much for reality shows, but I do watch a couple of the competitive ones. Here are 5 of my favourites.

Survivor (2000 - )

I think I've seen every season except for the first one. The game has really evolved, many new things have been introduced to make the game more challenging. The way the players play the game and the attitude they have, have also evolved greatly. In the first few seasons the contestants are often very bitter when they are voted out and especially if they were blindsided and their bitterness came through during the final tribal council when the jury (the losers) get to question the the remaining survivors about how they played the game. It is the nature of the game that the people who got voted out are the very ones who in the end have to vote who between the remaining survivors should win and be the ultimate "Survivor"...this was a very hard pill for the contestants of the earlier seasons to swallow. However in the more recent seasons, the contestants that make the jury have a more sportsmanship spirit. They seem to have more of the attitude of if they had to be outwitted, outplayed and outlasted, it has to be by someone who is a better player than them...because who wants to lose to a loser right? They are more likely to respect people who have agency and really played the game, in terms of socializing, strategizing or winning the physical challenges, even if that meant they were voted out in the process. The ability to organize successful blindsides just means the remaining survivors are good social players and strategists...and therefore are deserving "Survivors".

The Amazing Race  (2001 - )
I love this show, it's basically an around the world treasure hunt. We follow teams as they complete challenges and puzzles and of course drama and bickering often ensues especially when the contestants are exhausted. They've also added a lot of obstacles in the newer seasons to make the race challenging. A great game often gets franchised and have international versions and The Amazing Race too has a couple. I've seen almost all the seasons of the original American version of course. The other ones I've seen are the Asian version and either the Canadian or Australian versions as well.

The Great British Bake Off (2010 - )
I'm not a fan competitive cooking shows...especially ones that have those studio commentary by the contestants as they are shown cooking during a challenge pretending to narrate the event as it happened when they so obviously already know if they won or lost a challenge by the time they record the commentary...these are just so annoying. But I do love The Great British Bake Off...which doesn't have a studio commentary, only a short on interview with the contestants after each challenge, which I suppose is one of the reasons why I like it. The Great British Bake Off is just very charming and the the tone of the competition is very relax. It seems the contestants are just spending a nice afternoon in a tent, in some nice garden, in some quaint country estate having fun baking. When one contestant is having trouble finishing something on time...other contestants who have finished their own baking often come along and ask what they can do to help...like I said super relax. I think it's because most of the contestants are just home bakers who enjoy baking for family and friends. That said the judges are still quite tough with their criticism, they would definitely point what was wrong with what was made but they are just not mean about it. The challenges are also very fun especially the showstopper challenge of the day where the contestants get to flex their creativity in terms of presentation.

Bake Off: The Professionals [previously known as Bake Off: Crème de la Crème] (2016 - ) 
The contestants are as the title goes, professionals. They are teams of chefs from hotels, restaurants, shops and even the armed forces. And because the contestants are professionals, they are very serious and thus the show has much less banter. It definitely cannot be described as charming like The Great British Bake Off. The judges criticism here are very tough since they are professionals and it often gets very technical which I think is another reason why this is not as popular as The Great British Bake Off. But I still enjoy the show.

The Great British Sewing Bee  (2013 - )
This is very much like The Great British Bake Off in terms of it being very charming and contestants who are amateurs, no one here is betting on becoming a professional and talent scouted to work for a fashion atelier at the end of it. The competition is just like a pleasant way to spend an afternoon for the contestants, spending time doing a hobby they all enjoy. The tone is very relax and challenges are fun especially ones like making costumes for children and pets which were adorable.

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