Hate Watching: TV shows the UK ‘hates to love’

We all have our guilty pleasures and watching certain shows on TV is certainly one of those.

Sometimes we can be embarrassed by what we watch, and the team at Wagering Advisers wanted to test this theory by surveying 1,051 UK residents about their television viewing habits.

Participants were asked a series of questions including what shows they regularly tuned in for, the shows they watched despite disliking certain people or characters, and whether or not they grow to love shows their partners force them to watch.

After analysing the data, we can reveal that Love Island is the show that Brits hate to love the most. A third (31%) of respondents admitted they’re embarrassed by liking the reality dating show.

Interestingly, almost one in five women (17%) are more uncomfortable with enjoying Love Island compared to just 14% of men.

Top five shows that the UK hates to love

Naked Attraction was second in the ranking, with 17% of UK residents confessing their love for the show, despite being too shy to admit it.

When it comes to the city most intrigued by Naked Attraction, London came out on top, with one in 20 residents (5%) admitting to a secret fondness for the controversial Channel 4 programme.

Married at First Sight (16%), Keeping Up With the Kardashians (10%), and The Only Way Is Essex & Friends (9%) made up the top five of shameful TV viewing.

Survey Results

Participants in the survey were asked a series of questions about their TV watching habits and the data provided some compelling results.

Within the survey, all respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with statements put forward to them.

The results can be viewed below:

When looking at male and female comparisons in greater depth, the data shows that women are more likely to continue watching shows that they may find uncomfortable to view.

Based on the responses, 369 women (71%) admitted that they would carry on watching shows they may enjoy but still feel embarrassed by, which is 15% higher than their male counterparts.

In TV shows, there are always characters or contestants that you generally have an opinion on, good or bad.

Over half of respondents admitted that they would continue to watch a programme despite not liking all the people in the respective show (53%).

Men are also more likely to grow to love certain shows when being forced to watch something by their partner.

Three in five (59%) men admitted they secretly enjoy watching shows if their partner has control of the remote, television they usually wouldn’t entertain otherwise.

Interestingly, when it comes to sharing your TV streaming history, one in five women admitted they would be embarrassed to share that information with their friends, families or partners.

Most watched shows

Overall, the participants within the survey said that Friends was the most regularly watched show out of the options presented to them with almost half viewing the evergreen sitcom (49%).

A quarter of the respondents were avid watchers of both Bridgerton and Love Island, whereas one in five viewed Married at First Sight and The Masked Singer regularly.

Despite being the most viewed show by UK residents, only 9% were embarrassed by the fact they still viewed the much loved 90s show.