The relationship between viewer personality and reality show watching has been a point
of discussion among media researchers but has been rarely tested. The authors in the
present study explore: (i) Reality Show Watching Motives (RSWM) of viewers, (ii) further
investigates the impact of viewer personality on RSWM in a developing nation context. The
authors followed mixed method approach to this end. A qualitative approach was applied
to investigate consumer perceptions about reality shows and generate RSWM items. This
was followed by a large scale survey to relate viewer personality to RSWM. Structural
equation modelling was applied to generate findings in the quantitative phase. Five
RSWM dimensions emerged from the qualitative and quantitative analysis. Consumer
personality was found to have a significant impact on RSWM dimensions. However, there
was variation on the effect of individual personality dimensions on individual RSWM
dimensions. The study has theoretical and managerial implications.