To think reality shows of the early 2000s have not aged well! Doing a rewatch

I was going to say. The stuff that’s reported from 2025 is publicly losing your virginity infront of cameras, getting your dick out for a dating showing, having orgies infront of the camera. What the hell?!!! It’s bizarre. I’d rather watch a fat person get weighed that look at a wrinkly, flaccid cock whilst eating dinner.

I started rewatching Georgie Shore from the beginning. Firstly I realised there is no way I could watch this in front of my teenagers.....way too explicit.
Secondly I can't believe there were 18 year olds on the show. I don't think that would be allowed these days. Essentially kids being exploited for TV. I saw a couple of the OG's got married recently and that's what took me down the rabbit hole.....that and the fact Charlotte is now the boss of the Oz version.

Seeing a PP mentioned X Factor reminds me there was an expose of it a few years ago which revealed that vulnerable and possibly mentally unwell people who were terrible at singing would audition for a producer, who'd send them onto a second group of producers, who'd all tell them how great they were and really build them up.

Then they'd go out in front of the judges with all this misplaced confidence and get torn to shreds.

So cruel and circus like. Glad it's not on anymore.

Yes those were good on Bbc2 ? My mum left school at 15 and was working full time.

I used to love Snog, Marry, Avoid but wouldn't watch it now with how times have moved on.

Oh I see someone else has posted about the new faking it.

There were a good few of these types of shows - there was one where they put families in a house and went through the decades with a focus on food or technology etc. Going back in time for Dinner or something like that? I really enjoyed them.

I remember there was one episode where they hit the 1960s and the 15 year old daughter moved out into a bedsit and got a job in a clothes shop, blew my mind!

What I do like about watching old shows, and seeing pics of celebs from the red carpet in the late 90s and early 00s is how different every woman looked.

They all looked individual and had their own styles - when you look at pictures of celebs and people on shows like Love Island, Love is Blind, Too Hot to Handle etc, they all look exactly the same. Whether it's the contour make up, the extensions, the styling - whatever it is, it's very difficult to tell people apart anymore.

I saw that ch5 is bringing Faking it back it's on soon because the trailers have been running a week or so.

I always see clips come up on TikTok and feel half nostalgic and half horrified.

The old-style 10 years younger was brutal! They must have had a huge budget for the amount of plastic surgeries some of them had. The narrator is always so rude about them too.

My favourite throw-backs are changing rooms, they destroyed so many rooms!

Oh God my housemate loved Supersize vs Superskinny. Absolutely batshit premise of a show. So you get one person who binges on junk daily and another that lives on energy drinks and a packet of crisps and swap their diets....why, exactly? What was the even vaguely plausible benefit? And that weird doctor, what a creep. He gave me a strong bad feeling, and I dont get that about many people.

I thought house of tiny tearaways was really good I know it was set up like a toddler big brother, but there was lots of good advice on it, Supernanny and her bloody naughty step though !

Yes early Big Brother and Apprentice were a world away from what they became. Remember Craig from BB releasing a Christmas single that didn't do too badly? None of the modern BB crowd could aspire to that.

I found Gok OK. At least he tried to improve the woman's self esteem and didn't push plastic surgery.

I do agree with that take, but I also think he had a pre-concieved idea of what women should be wearing (hence forcing women who preferred jeans to wear ridiculous dresses). However, I do think he was very much "love the skin you're in, and make you feel good about yourself" rather than T&S and the awful 10 years younger lady.

Oh that's absolutely brilliant, PI242 ... thanks so much for clueing me in and I must definitely catch it

I liked Faking It.

There was a good one too where they put a load of kids through a replica 1950s grammar school, and the next year through a 1960s secondary modern. They got to do dress making, brick laying and car mechanics!

I like the one where people lived as if they were in a Victorian / 1940s etc house.

Even the first series of Big Brother was interesting. I liked early seasons of The Apprentice too. I think all reality shows decline after one or two seasons.

I found Gok OK. At least he tried to improve the woman's self esteem and didn't push plastic surgery.

How about that one where they put ladettes through finishing school?!

I remember this exact episode @Puzzledandpissedoff It was really interesting to see what goes into being a dj - it's not just pressing buttons, she needed to have a really good sense of rhythm, tempo etc.

Meet the new boss same as the old boss.

Now we have social media families telling us raising 7 children is flowers and sunshine and holidays with labradoodles and knitting sourdough while everyone simply thrives in tastefully matching pastel tones, and if you aren’t achieving this then goodness me what a failure you are.

There was one where the mum was racist and matched with an asian family, it did however completely change her views which was nice to see.

I felt Gok's were very good and positive, he looked at proportion and raised women's self esteem and changed their perception of themselves, whereas What Not to Wear felt like two big girls from school ganging up, and involved ritual humiliation in a cupboard of mirrors to instil maximum self disgust. For those missing classic makeovers ( rather than surgery) nowadays, Trinny's Takeover on her YouTube channel is a really nice, positive ten minutes - like shopping with an encouraging friend and then a fantastic haircut.

I blame Supernanny and House of Tiny Tearaways for making me such an anxious first-time parent. Dr Tania was obviously 'better' than supernanny but both made me so paranoid that parenthood was going to be one long hell of terrible bedtimes and fussy eating.

Supernanny - exploiting children.

I was literally thinking about that the other day - when Gok would give some poor terrified woman a make over.

Typically it was someone who hated make up, didn't like having her hair or nails done, lived in jeans and a t-shirt, along with trainers. Yet without doubt, Gok would ALWAYS style her in full glam, pretty much a bloomin ball gown and three inch heels.

I always wondered what happened afterwards, and whether anyone genuinely changed their style?