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In the world of voiceover, there’s one unsung hero who reigns supreme – reality TV’s snarky narrator.
The narrator says what the audience is thinking three seconds before they think it, and they make fun of the cast with reckless abandon. Narrating a reality TV show is one of those jobs people would love to get, if only they knew how to get it.
Enter me, the writer behind MTV’s Ex on the Beach. I never set out to work in reality TV, but when my job at the Comedy Central show @Midnight abruptly ended, I had to strategise my next move. After meeting with my agent over coffee, he told me there was an incredible demand for comedy writers in reality TV.
I remember thinking, Is this rock bottom?
Reality TV was never my thing. I could name maybe one Housewife, and had to Google “What’s a Snookie?” Nevertheless, I told my agent that I loved money, and I loved working, and if there was a way to combine both of those things, then I would be open to the world of reality television.
Within no time, I was hashtag-booked and hashtag-busy. Most of my jobs were gigs, a few weeks here, a month there. I wrote on Shaquille O’Neal’s Facebook show, a few specials for Mama June and Honey BooBoo, an MLM pitch for the cast of Pawn Stars, and I was offered a job writing for the host of Ex On the Beach, but there was a catch – I’d also have to write for the narrator in post-production.
Post-production is not glamorous. I was born to sparkle and shine (photo available upon request), not shrivel away inside a dark edit bay like a hot goblin, where the blinds are drawn to block out the glare from the Los Angeles sun.
After about 10 seconds of soul-searching, I decided to take the voiceover job because the show’s host was Lil’ Romeo, whose real name is Percy, the same name as my Golden Retriever. I took it as a sign that this show was meant to be in my life, post-production and all.
When I started my job, I was already familiar with the many ways voiceover narration was used in television. Take Dexter, for example. We would never know Dexter was a serial killer if we didn’t have access to his twisted inner dialogue. Okay, maybe we would have caught on after a few episodes. But imagine how different the show would be without it. Or David Attenborough – I can’t even look at a penguin without hearing, “The penguins marched in unison towards the edge of the iceberg, unaware of the leopard seal’s presence and insatiable appetite, below.” And when it comes to reality TV, the narrator needs to be snarky, gossipy, and have incredible comedic timing – my specialties!
Reality shows capture thousands of hours of footage during production, but that doesn’t mean it’s usable. Even with cameras planted in every corner of every room and hidden in the fake house plants (we would never trust the cast with real plants), a scene can still fall flat. And that’s when the narrator swoops in with a perfectly timed line that can turn a scene from boring to iconic.
It turns out, I was born to roast reality TV stars.
People have asked me how they can break into reality TV, and the honest answer is there’s no clear path. I manifested this role out of nowhere. I asked the Universe to find a job that paid me to be stupid, and the next thing I knew, Ex On the Beach fell on top of my head. As for obtaining the coveted role of snarky reality TV narrator, it can happen in any number of ways, such as auditions, word-of-mouth, knowing a friend-of-a-friend, being a B-list nepo-baby, or, by pure accident. The narrator for Ex On the Beach was one of our show’s editors. In the first season of post-production, he would record the scratch voice-over on each cut. The network liked his delivery so much that they offered him the official narrator role.
Stories like his might be rare, but there are other ways to break into the business. I’d suggest creating a TikTok presence where you write and voice your own narration over reality TV clips and nature documentaries. Make your voice your brand. Have a strong sense of humour and never punch down. Write your own voiceover from shows that don’t have narrators, like The Bachelor. Then, share your clips with the world, post that content on the internet. Also, remember that the key is consistency. Put out TikToks regularly, and don’t let your audience down. They need this. Work quickly, as if you have a deadline, which you will have if you’re hired on a show.
If you want to work in reality TV, you need to immerse yourself in it. I give the same advice to people who want to be writers. If you want to write, you need to read. Read all the time, read everything you can get your nasty little hands on- books, brochures, maps of Western Australia- if it has words, read them. The same rule applies to reality TV. Watch it like it’s your job, because someday, it might be. Notice the pacing, the tone, and the delivery. Become a student of shows with snarky narrators, like Love Island, Too Hot to Handle, Ex On the Beach, and Fboy Island.
Work on your timing, your breath, and your sarcasm.
The narrator needs to have range, whether it’s whispering “sweet dreams” after a reality star gets knocked out by a piece of falling scaffolding, or, delivering a line absolutely deadpan when a contestant is caught in a lie: “Wow, if only there were a way to rewind the tape… OH WAIT.”
Narrators add flavour and zest to reality TV shows. They set the tone, shape the emotion, and call out the absurd. The narrator is typically known as the voice of God, but in reality, it’s more like a little devil sitting on your shoulder, making you laugh so hard you’ll wind up in Hell.
My work is living proof that voiceover narration in reality TV can make a salient impact. It’s cultural commentary disguised as comedy. A single line can go viral, become a meme, and light up the group chat for months. That’s the power of the voiceover; it shapes how millions of viewers laugh, share, and talk about what they watched.
So, the next time you’re binging your favourite reality show and find yourself snort-laughing at a one-line zinger, remember that somewhere, in a dark edit bay, a writer is sitting with an editor thinking, I have the most important job in the world.
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