I’m looking for recommendations for reality competition shows that are based purely (or at least mostly) on skill. I love watching people who are passionate about something complete against each other. But I loathe manufactured drama.
Some of my favorites for context:
Forged in Fire - knifesmiths completing against each other and the clock. Think Chopped for blacksmiths.
Alone - Just people trying to survive on their own in the wilderness. No camera crews, no backstabbing, no tribal councils, no voting, just people versus the elements and their own minds.
The Great British Bake Off - my comfort watch. I love how everyone supports each other.
I also enjoyed A Cut Above and Blown. I tried to watch the Pottery one on HBO, but couldn’t get into it.
Super brain, Chinese competitive game show where they do all sorts of mental competitions, some of the memory based ones are really impressive. There is some drama but they focus mostly on the actual competition.
Taskmaster, more of a comedy show but the show is a mostly unscripted competition between comedians trying to do different challenges that you could do at home pretty easily most of the time but have a time limit or rules to make it goofy or leave hidden clues nobody usually notices that make them easy to do