Confession: I don’t like reality TV shows. Specifically, I don’t like reality TV shows like MAFS or The Bachelor. That’s not to diss those who do, but those heavily-staged shows filled with toxic masculinity and manufactured drama are simply not my cup of tea.
So what is there left for those who want to get into the genre yet every show is not quite to their taste and seemingly indistinguishable from one another? Luckily for me and everyone in the same boat, there exists a reality TV show that’s essentially the antithesis of MAFS: Netflix’s Terrace House.
Speaking of MAFS, the GOAT team talk about this season on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
While both MAFS and Terrace House can be categorised as reality TV, both shows couldn’t be more different to each other. MAFS involves pairing up couples and putting them through a series of contrived scenarios while “experts” watch, judge and provide “advice”. It all feels quite exploitative and gross most of the time.
By contrast, Terrace House has six strangers – three men and three women, all stupidly attractive – moving into a beautiful house and viewers (and a panel of commentators who watch along provide comedic yet helpful analyses of the footage) simply watch them live their daily lives in a fly-on-the-wall sort of way, not unlike a meditative nature documentary.
When compared side-to-side, MAFS has you squirming in anticipation for whatever messy exchange or conflict is about to explode whereas Terrace House feels more like hanging out with the show’s house members and very little is at stake.
Whereas the chemistry is forced and the drama is in MAFS, the relationships in Terrace House unfold organically as the show lets its six house members interact with each other however they want.
We get to see charming exchanges, meet-cute introductions, awkward pauses, and friendships slowly blossom as the six men and women slowly open up about their points of views and dreams. It’s actually quite pleasant to see people talk in muted, conversational tones compared to the usual in-your-faceness of other reality TV shows.
Terrace House is not strictly a “dating” show, but that’s inevitably going to happen when you put six gorgeous people in one house together and watching potential relationships form (or not form) in a naturalistic, slow-burn manner is far more compelling than MAFS‘ “you two are together, now off you go” approach.
Even the conflicts on Terrace House are ridiculously polite compared to the screaming, yelling, and passive-aggressive comments on MAFS. The only tensions you’ll ever see on Terrace House revolve around minor differences between each person’s personality and morals, with the occasional relationship conflict coming in.
At the end of any “argument”, everyone apologises to each other, the air is cleared and everyone is still respectful of one another. There is very little “drama” per se and that weirdly makes the show even more compelling.
Perhaps this wild contrast between MAFS and Terrace House is down to the cultural differences between Westerners, who are much more boisterous, and the Japanese, who are much more quiet and polite. Whatever the reason is, it’s helped Terrace House stand out from the reality TV pack.
That’s not to say that Terrace House doesn’t manufacture drama and tension for entertainment purposes, it just does it in an understated way that doesn’t break the suspension of disbelief quite like MAFS.
Put it this way, you’ll never see anything close to the MAFS “poop toothbrush” incident on Terrace House.
Everyone has different tastes at the end of the day but if I were to sum up the differences between MAFS and Terrace House, the former entertains you with drama and makes you feel better about yourself by showing a people far more deplorable than you, while the latter is a relaxing ride with people you could see yourself hanging out or relating deeply with.
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