If, like so many of us, you are a Love Island superfan who's still following the contestants on Instagram, tracking their latest career moves and listening to Chris and Kem on repeat, Terrace House might not be for you – but we reckon you should give it a chance anyway.
The Japanese reality TV show, available on Netflix, is taking the world by storm – precisely because nothing happens in it, unlike our favourite ITV2 show. Don't expect any under-the-cover sexy time, striptease challenges or blazing rows, but prepare for some mental relaxation and a decent opportunity to flex your concentration muscles (thanks to the subtitles).
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Terrace House consists of six good-looking men and women living in an impeccably designed house in Japan that could double up as a Muji showroom, rather than the bog-standard British-style terrace you might have imagined, given its name. Hidden cameras are planted around the place to capture the wild goings-on – from who's scrubbing the pool to who's having a kip on the sofa. Truly riveting stuff.
The contestants can spend months in the friend zone, never getting beyond discussions of what they ate for dinner, who's at work and, on rare occasions, "who they fancy". Their interactions are so genteel and refined that it's easy to forget you're watching a reality show at all, given what we've come to expect from British reality TV. There are no attention-seeking showoffs or loudmouths gunning for a slanging match – and thank god. This is a dating show for anyone who enjoys watching others navigate the nuances of budding romance at a more realistic slug's pace.
“You're almost like, what am I watching? There's nothing here. I just watched 30 minutes of Japanese people being awkward — how do they make this into a show?” Elliot Gay, a professional video game translator and Japanese pop culture blogger, told Buzzfeed. However, most people seem to agree that the fact that nothing happens only makes the show more endearing.
“Terrace House isn’t the first mundane show on TV, but it’s most likely the first to be mundane on purpose," quipped The New York Times. Elsewhere it's been described as "an antidote to toxic reality TV". The show's loyal viewers seem even more enamoured.
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I’ve started watching terrace house on netflix and I like it because it doesn’t stress me out like most other reality tv
— Briana Williams (@everybriana) October 10, 2017
I’m kinda obsessed with a reality show on Netflix called Terrace House- 6 Asians in Hawaii. Sweet and drama free. Any fans out there?
— Tony B Kim ? LACC (@Crazy4ComicCon) October 14, 2017
Blaming Terrace House on Netflix if I fail uni. Also indirectly blaming @TommyMason_ thanks m8 ?
— Lauren (@fozzyjr95) October 17, 2017
Another #TERRACEHOUSE season done. It's my guilty pleasure and I'm going to need @netflix to never stop producing it. Ever. pic.twitter.com/owe1vMvWnp
— Adam (@LAGTVNovaWar) October 12, 2017
Terrace House had been going for eight seasons on Japan's Fuji Television before Netflix noticed its potential and collaborated with the channel to make more episodes in 2015. There's Boys x Girls in the City, set in Tokyo, in which "all [the cast] get is a fabulous home and a car", and the more recent Aloha State, which sees a new group of strangers jetting off to Hawaii.
We know laptop time before bed isn't healthy, but why not download a blue-light filter and pop on some Terrace House the next time your anxious, busy or otherwise agitated brain is stopping you from nodding off?
At 4am this morning when I was wide awake & couldn't sleep, I found this show on Netflix called Terrace House. I'm in love, y'all ??
— chan da panda ??? (@kinotochan) October 4, 2017
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