Television series
Outside
Outside is a high-stakes survival competition where content creators battle in the forest for up to £1 million, with every comfort and indulgence chipping away at the prize pool. It's the Sidemen's latest spectacle: chaotic, mischievous, designed to watch creators make increasingly desperate choices under pressure. Perfect if you enjoy watching people squirm for money and drama.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like reality competitions where the fun comes from people bickering under pressure, and you enjoy the chaos of a prize shrinking every time someone wants a snack.
Skip it if you want a tightly plotted format with a clear arc, since this is built on loose challenges, creator banter and a prize pot that keeps being nibbled away.
What it asks of you: A brisk, light sitting built around bickering and banter rather than slow dread, with your attention best spent on the group dynamics as they shift.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Survivor2000
The template for everything that follows: genuine survival stakes, social strategy, and the primal appeal of watching people fracture under pressure and scarcity. Still the gold standard.
But Nearly 40 seasons in, and some find the formula exhausted. It can drag; not every episode earns its runtime.
The Circle2020
Social manipulation and paranoia in a confined space where isolation and information control become weapons. The prize hunger is real, the betrayals sting, and the psychological games feel genuinely tense.
But Relies heavily on likability of contestants. A dull cast can derail entire episodes, and the format can feel repetitive by season's end.
Physical: 1002023
Korean competition series that treats its challenges with brutal integrity: contestants genuinely risk injury and humiliation. Visceral, unpredictable, and free of manufactured drama—just people pushed to their limits.
But No narrative through-line between episodes, and the novelty of watching pure athletic competition can wear thin if you're invested in character arcs.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Outside
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Platform2019
Both pit people against each other through controlled scarcity, watching how quickly cooperation collapses when money or survival is on the line. Outside is the fun version; this is the warning.
A Spanish sci-fi film about a vertical prison where survival depends on hoarding and distribution of resources—a darker, allegorical version of what Outside's prize-pool mechanics explore. It shares the core tension: scarcity forces moral collapse.
But Bleak and grotesque, designed to make you uncomfortable. No fun or levity; it's a critique of the very format Outside celebrates.
More like this (6)
Love Island2019
Relationship sabotage and financial incentive collide: contestants must balance romance with self-interest in real time. The chaos is unscripted, the stakes feel immediate, and every decision has social consequences.
But Relies entirely on cast chemistry and drama. A boring cohort makes it unbearable, and the premise grows thin over multiple seasons.
Squid Game: The Challenge2023
A competition that deliberately creates ethical dilemmas: players must choose between individual gain and group survival. High production values, genuinely difficult challenges, and real desperation.
But Feels overstuffed and sometimes exploitative of genuine human distress. Some challenges are gimmicky filler between the compelling ones.
The Traitors2022
Deception and alliance under constant threat. Contestants earn money collectively but vote to eliminate each other, turning strategy and trust into the entire game. Tense, smart, genuinely unpredictable.
But Heavy on talking-head analysis and strategy discussion. If you want action over psychology, stretches can feel slow.
Robinson1997
The ancestor of Survivor, where the original format still feels fresher: fewer tricks, more genuine survival, and clearer social drama. Worth watching to see where the template came from and why it works.
But Slower pacing and lower production values than modern equivalents. Dated editing and some cultural awkwardness depending on the version.
The Gentlemen2020
Like Outside, it's about smart people in competition, where deception and alliance-building matter as much as raw capability. Both find humor in watching people scheme under pressure.
Guy Ritchie's crime caper where everyone is scheming against everyone else, information is weaponized, and the real game is watching people outsmart each other for profit. Rapid-fire dialogue, constant reversals, pure entertainment.
But Style over substance, and if you find Ritchie's quippy dialogue exhausting, it's relentless. The plot is deliberately convoluted, which some find clever and others find exhausting.
Jackass Forever2022
Like Outside, it's content creator spectacle built on watching people push limits for the camera. But where Outside adds rules and stakes, Jackass strips them away—the same engine, completely different fuel.
Pure chaos: a group of people making increasingly terrible decisions on camera for entertainment and a laugh. No structure, no prize pool, no higher purpose—just the joy of watching capable people humiliate themselves spectacularly.
But Cruel and physically brutal. If you find pleasure in watching injury and humiliation uncomfortable, this is the opposite direction from what you want.
People
Cast
Stephen TriesNarrator