As a culture, we’re obsessed with reality TV. 

But, why is that?

Are we tuning into Love Island weekly for the tropical scenery? (yeah right!)

Are we watching Survivor so we know how to live on a remote deserted island? (you know, just in case our plane crashes?)

Do we binge Traitors for updates on our favorite celebrities and influencers (or their moms? Hi, Mrs. Kelce!)

Absolutely, NOT.

We watch because we are obsessed with decision-making under pressure.

We’re voyeuristic by nature. 

We want to know: 

• What will they do next? 
• How will they respond when the stakes are high? 
• Will they sabotage or break allegiances to get X result? 

We *quite literally* crave “reaction tension”. 

Even in The Compound (new book I am reading by by Aisling Rawle) you see similar thing at play:

The fascination isn’t just the premise. It’s: what happens when real people are placed inside pressure?

That’s the hook.

So, when it comes to your online presence and business – we want to dissect what works in reality television and apply these elements. 

We want to craft a world where even among a sea of creators and coaches with similar offers to you – they choose YOU. For your judgment, your worldview, and your interpretation of how to get to the end result they desire. 

Now, let’s talk about how we can help your leads crawl inside your brain and see how you “play the game.” 

The Reality TV Playbook 

Turn Your Business into a Bingeable Narrative

If you want to capture the attention of scrolling leads – you’ll want to pivot from announcement style content to content that calls out to them and hooks them along for the journey. Here are the ways to start folding this into your business….

1. Release Out “Seasons” (aka, your “Survivor Effect)

You want to think about how reality TV releasing things episodically. Specifically, Survivor (queen of reality TV seasons). This makes it easier to consume, binge, digest, and form opinions around.

Plus, when you gameify a drop of emails, reels, YouTube videos – for any one “season” in your business… you’ll likely see an influx of consumption and engagement. Because, we as humans love binge-able content.

Now, if you’re an all or nothing type guy/gal (I see you) – seasons can work in your favor. If you want to drop a podcast – don’t get overwhelmed at needing to record and produce an episode weekly indefinitely. Release in seasons – maybe once a quarter, etc!

Survivor has been around for 50 seasons (whew, that hurt)!!

We don’t tune into this show to watch people coexist and hangout on an island. We watch for the 26-day arc and the clear winner that begins to unfold (sometimes) alongside high pressure and stakes. 

You don’t want to drip out updates or release with no true thought. You want to map out the arc and plan content around that.

Example:

Instead of a simple “Here’s what I’m working on piece…”

Create an arc with pieces that build awareness:

• The “Road to $100K with one signature offer” 
• “Rebuilding my funnel from scratch in 30 days”
• “We’ere moving from 1:1 to a Group Format”

The core difference here is that one is a blunt announcement and doesn’t encourage conversation, follow up, or relationship building that involves your audience. 

The other pieces allow you to tune back in, check for updates, to see where you are in the process, etc.

2. Build in Public Decisions (Traitors does this so well)

The best part of Traitors? 

The confessionals. Let me riff for a moment on these bad boys. This is a time for a straight to camera share – often blunt, full of vulnerability/emotion, and laden with secrets.

It’s watching a player choose between loyalty and a lie. And we as consumers – LOVE watching that real time decision making under pressure.

Your audience is programmed the same way.

They don’t want to just see a new offer, webinar, deliverables drop – they want a front row seat to the reasoning and choices that led to it!

You can lean into sharing “confessional”-esque storytelling through your own straight to camera convos (think Instagram stories as if it was FaceTiming your bff), playing with a conspiratorial tone, or whispering to the camera. You want your audience to feel special, included, a first hand recipient of the news as it pertains to your business.

Here’s how you can implement this:

• Share more BTS to your audience
• Share certain levels of access to your thoughts in different arenas (close friends, email list, broadcast channel, etc)
• When implementing a price change – don’t announce the change directly, but lead from the value increase. Maybe it’s more 1:1 support, maybe it’s a new deliverable, etc. Show them the value.
• Maybe you have a new offer you’re releasing in 3-4 months time. Start teasing the pain points now. Start talking about the need, what people may be experiencing, how you’ve helped people with this. So when it comes to the announcement – they were primed already.

3. Create a Signature Series

Let’s use Love Island for reference – we all know the goals:

Find a partner, win the money, don’t get dumped. 

There is a clear target and a timeline.

Apply the same to a signature series. 

Take your audience along with you to achieve a set goal. When you do this? They binge the content and keep updated on your journey. 

If there is one thing we humans love – it’s to be along for the ride.

They’ll cheer you on, support you, wish you well, help you, celebrate you when you win.

The hivemind is POWERFUL. 

Give it a name. Give it a target. Let them watch the “Islander” (you) evolve to meet the challenge.

4. Create Micro-Cliffhangers 

You know where this comes into play…

You’re three episodes deep, a big reveal is coming, you are on the edge of your seat. 

*camera cuts to black screen*

“Voiceover: Up next on…”

You can do the same by creating content that gives them a tease of what’s to come. Don’t give it all. Make them wait for the conclusion.

How you can do this:

• Start folding in natural cliff-hangers to keep them tuned and tapped in:
  • Start with: “I almost didn’t launch this” 
  • & share a vulnerable story, but cut it short and say… 
  • “I’ll break this all down tomorrow for you all”
• Tell a secret on air: 
  • “I scrapped the entire backend of my business yesterday.”
  • Break down what happened
• Give a peek at something that feels like an inside glimpse deeper into your biz:
  • “Here is the one DM that changed everything.”
  • Show it
  • Talk about what it meant to you, etc
• Break down real-time data to show transparency and openness with audience
  • “The data told me to pivot and I listened…here’s why:”

You don’t need manufactured random updates.

But, you need to realize that your business is a series of “What happens next?” moments. 

Share this with them in a way that keeps them wanting more.

5. Run Public Experiments 

When we watch Love Island it feels like we’re almost watching a human zoo. We watch how everyone talks, engages, reacts to stimuli, etc. 

My next “reality TV” suggestion you can implement in your business is: taking people along for the ride in real-time.

Think of A/B tests that you share publicly so they can learn from or implement themselves…

• “I’m testing two different messaging angles this week. I’ll report back on Friday with which one closed more sales.”
• “I’m trying a new sales mechanism. Here’s what it looks like, I’m testing it this week and I’ll report back my findings for you”

The goal is that your transparency is the ultimate hook. 

When you say “Let’s see what happens,” you remove the “expert” mask and become a collaborator with your audience’s curiosity.

As humans, we eat. that. up.

6. Make the Audience Part of the Plot

Why do people stay up until 2:00 AM voting for their favorite contestant? Because the second they participate, they are invested in the outcome. They aren’t just viewers; they are part of the cast.

Bring your audience into the “writer’s room” of your business:

• Let them vote on the name of your new framework.
• Ask them to choose the topic of your next deep-dive training.
• Have them submit the exact objections they have, then address them publicly like a “Reunion Special.”

The moment they help you build it, they are ten times more likely to buy it. They want to see if the thing they helped create succeeds.

The Lesson Here… 

Tension = retention when it comes to an online business. 

This isn’t about being “dramatic” for the sake of views. It’s about visible evolution. When your brand becomes a living, breathing narrative with stakes and decisions, you stop being a “service provider” and you start being a “must-watch” friend/creator/ect.

It becomes less about watching you sell your expertise and offer (though they are still listening!) but, it becomes all about the front row of your journey.

We can not only take some queues from reality tv on human nature, and what intrigues the brain – but also because we are now “watching” social media like it’s television, they’re becoming interchangeable.

As shared from this recent FTC filing: “Today, only a fraction of time spent on Meta’s services -7% on Instagram, 17% on Facebook – involves consuming content from online “friends” (“friend sharing”). A majority of time spent on both apps is watching videos, increasingly short-form videos that are “unconnected” – i.e., not from a friend or followed account – and recommended by AI-powered algorithms Meta developed as a direct competitive response to TikTok’s rise, which stalled Meta’s growth.

*Source: Why Everything Became Television by Derek Thompson

My favorite best part? 

Your competitors can’t copy your narrative. They can copy your “tips,” but they can’t copy the way you handle the pressure of the “season.”

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If You Feel This…

You’re seeing the market as it actually is instead of how it used to be.

Most people are still trying to out-market a maturity problem. The advantage right now belongs to the business owner who understands buyer psychology and adapts to where leads are now.

That’s a big reason I recorded the newest season of WTF Is Happening in the Online Space?!, to unpack what’s shifting beneath the surface and how to respond without burning down what already works.

Because this era isn’t about starting over, it’s about adjusting your business model to sell to a smarter buyer.

Listen here!