Just as I thought I’d escaped the “Hype House” by avoiding their merch at Target and videos on my TikTok ‘For You’ page, they have now come to Netflix to haunt me. 

“Hype House,” a reality show featuring the TikTok creators who live together in a content house, was released on Netflix on Jan. 7. While I was appalled when Netflix recommended this show, I even surprised myself when I decided to give the show a chance. 

Starting off, I was confused as to who all of the house members were. I was familiar with some of the content creators including Vinnie Hacker, Thomas Petrou, Larray Merritt, Chase Hudson, Nikita Dragun, Kouvr Annon and Alex Warren before the show, but there seemed to be a handful of people I had never heard of who were featured. The show began with short introductions of some of the members and explained their inspiration for starting the Hype House. These introductions were unorganized, and I wish they had introduced every member before getting started with the drama. 

As the show progressed I was still confused as to who some of these people were, but decided to focus on the drama instead. I noticed three main conflicts the show seemed to focus on in almost every episode: Thomas and Chase, Larray and Nikita and the lack of effort from the house members. 

What irritated me the most is the lack of effort from the TikTok stars. This seemed to be a recurring issue in each episode. The Hype House has a brand deal with Bang Energy, requiring the influencers to make a certain number of TikToks for the company each month. Thomas, the lead of the house, was constantly getting onto the house members about how they were not helping out with these videos that pay their rent. 

The responses from the house members made me anything but sympathetic. The requirements for living in the Hype House seem to be no parties, make three TikToks a day and contribute to the Hype House brand deals. Considering these creators do not have any of the Hype House founders taking a percentage of their profits, I think these rules would be easy to follow. However, these people complain about having to make three 30 second thirst traps or hold up a Bang energy drink in a TikTok with another member. My friends and I spend seven hours a day at school, take time to complete our homework afterward and hold minimum wage jobs. I envy these kids — some of whom are only a year older than me — who have much less on their plate and yet still have an absurd amount of money.

While the drama that filled this show may not have been my favorite, I did appreciate when they focused on the backgrounds a few of these creators came from. In the beginning, the show vaguely mentioned that everyone in the house came from difficult households and that is why they all got along. Later on, they went into more depth on Alex’s life and his relationship with his mom after his dad passed. They showed Alex visiting his father’s grave with his girlfriend Kouvr. I think showing a more vulnerable side of these creators makes them seem more relatable to their fanbases. Showing this side of the creators more often would have made me a little more sympathetic, but I understand how this could have taken away from the reality show aspect.

I do not have regrets about watching this show, but I would not watch another season. The repetitive drama was humorous at times, and some moments were honestly emotional.