5 Wild Reality Shows From The 2000s You Might Have Forgotten About!

In the early-2000s, Americans were obsessed with reality TV. Almost every week, networks would release some new and wild way to peer into our neighbors' lives. Some were more iconic than others, but quite a few were beyond strange. These 5 reality shows were some of the weirdest -- and most intrusive -- things you could watch on TV.

1. "Next" (2005-2007)
Recently, an internet series by Cut called "The Button" has been gaining a lot of attention for its unconventional look at speed-dating, where contestants both have a chance to buzz the other out with a simple button. Before "The Button", the world got its dramatic speed dating entertainment from a series called "Next" on MTV. "Next" had a slightly different take on the speed-dating concept. One single contestant would go on a date with up to 5 other singles. These "daters" would watch the others’ dates with the contestant from an RV. The twist was that, at any point, the main contestant could say a "Next!" and move on to the next date. This option often left the daters humiliated. Overall, it was a series about watching people humiliate themselves for superficial love. Superficiality was all the rage in the early-2000s, and TV producers knew it!

2. "Room Raiders" (2003-2009)

MTV didn’t just stop at "Next" when it came to reality shows about finding love through humiliation. "Room Raiders" was the ultimate in weird, and honestly, it was kind of gross. The idea was that 3 singles would be basically kidnapped from their homes in a Room Raider’s van. Then the main contestant would be allowed to decide which of the 3 they’d like to date. Sounds simple? Not quite -- the twist is that the main contestant gets to raid the rooms while the 3 all watch. The point of kidnapping the daters on a random day ensures that the rooms would be how they normally lived in them. Then, the main contestant could examine their room with their spy kit, discovering any disgusting secrets their potential date kept. The most notable contestant on the show was Zac Efron. That’s right! Before his High School Musical fame, he made an appearance on ="Room Raiders". Imagine having your room picked over by Zac Efron on national TV! One of the girls had even been embarrassed because she left hair in a hairbrush (the horror!), much to Efron’s disapproval. 

3. "Wife Swap" (2004-2020)
ABC's invasive look into people's lives only gets stranger when we step away from the world of romance and dive into lifestyles. "Wife Swap" would do just what it says on the box -- it took the wife from one family and inserted her into another, then vice-versa. The series caused all sorts of controversies by putting people into strange situations. This included a family that fed their children raw food (including meat), a family that chased UFOs, and a mother who was obsessed with plastic surgery. The show loved to play on stereotypes and opposing views, some of which were more socially consequential than others. The most iconic comes from an episode where a family obsessed with junk food swaps lives with a family obsessed with health and fitness. In the episode, the youngest of the group would voice his opinion loudly over the fitness instructor mother’s attempt at throwing out bacon in the household. Stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
 

4. "Kid Nation" (2007)

Kid Nation feels like someone started to read Lord of the Flies and never finished it before deciding it made a great TV show premise. The idea takes 40 children between the ages of 8-15 and puts them in a village together without adult supervision or modern technology. The children must figure out how to run a functioning society for the chance to win a Golden Stare worth $20,000. The CBS show was very controversial, and needless to say it only lasted one season. Many of the children were injured, lawsuits were filed, and the question of legality came into play long before the casting of Season 2 could even be thought of. 

5. "The Moment of Truth" (2008)
In the world of reality television, the crown jewel would be the game show, and while some were weirder than others, the one that takes the cake would be Fox's "The Moment of Truth". The series aired in the latter-half of the early-2000s and had real life-ruining consequences. In the show, contestants would give the producers some of their deepest darkest secrets, confirmed with lie detectors. For each secret revealed, the contestants would receive more money, but the secrets would hold more stakes in their lives. The other catch is they would have family members front and center stage. One of the most dramatic episodes starred Lauren Cleri, who revealed secrets such as stealing money from a former employer, cheating on her husband, and even claiming she wanted to marry her ex-boyfriend and not her husband! Even the host of the show, Mark L. Walberg, said they went too far and claimed it was the most uncomfortable he’s ever been on television. 

Reality TV has hardly changed over the years, but in the beginning, the ideas were far from normal. We craved -- and still crave -- a peek into the lives of others, but these shows weren't just about that. They were about dripping chaos into people’s lives just to see what would happen. What were some of your favorites?