These days, there are too many television shows out there that can be compared to car accidents. You know it’s gruesome, but you just can’t look away. This has become America’s guilty pleasure: reality housewives, dating shows, dancing and singing competitions (some may argue the presidential election), and other shows you know you shouldn’t be watching but can’t help gravitate towards. So grab some ice cream, a glass of wine or a bag of chips and get comfortable. Don’t worry, no one is looking; it’s safe to turn on these guilty pleasures.
Bachelor in Paradise (ABC)
ABC is closing in on yet another season of The Bachelorette, and while the show and it’s male counterpart, The Bachelor, are guilty enough of pleasure, there’s one more that takes the cake: Bachelor in Paradise. Coming up on its third season. The reality show reunites past Bachelor and Bachelorette cast members, puts them in a house and causes unnecessary drama and canoodling. You’ll pick favorites, frenemies and keep a tally of who is hooking up with who sooner that you think. Watch the drama in paradise unfold if anything to see the beautiful tropical location these people are stuck living in for the next several weeks.
Chopped (Food Network)
Everyone’s favorite chef show to watch is not so much a guilty pleasure content-wise as the time you spend watching it. One of the few shows you can plant yourself on the couch and watch for hours. If the chefs are local, it’s nice to keep a tally of where their restaurant is so you can visit it later. The commercial breaks are infuriating, but that will give you time to grab another snack, because chances are, whatever the chefs are pulling out of their baskets, you’ll soon have a craving for.
Naked and Afraid (Discovery Channel)
It doesn’t get more literal than this show. Naked and Afraid, which deems itself a survival show, takes men and women into the wild with nothing more than their instincts and bare bottoms. The show has actually garnered a few Emmy nominations, and if you’re sick of Survivor, give this show a shot. After all, what’s more of an icebreaker than being thrown into a jungle with a new naked roommate?
Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!)
Let’s be real, if you’re watching this show you should just feel plain guilty. If you honestly care about keeping up with yet another Kardashian business venture, what color Kylie dyed her hair or where Kim is posing nude next, you should probably reevaulate your life. The whiny, eye-rolling inducing and lack of any sense of reality may make some viewers angry. But perhaps if the show focused on the more charitable acts of the family, it would draw some viewers in.
