Time For A New Era In Real Estate Reality Television?

Forbes

18-04-2025

Remember Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, the syndicated reality show that ran from 1984-1995? Robin Leach, the series' waistcoat-wearing British-American host, brought audiences a glimpse of what lay beyond the gilded gates of celebrity homeowners, ending each episode with his signature catchphrase wishing viewers 'champagne wishes and caviar dreams.'
It was all a bit bling before bling was a thing. But it was a cultural moment that would prove the public's apparently insatiable appetite for the reality format—and for real estate. The show's popularity reached its zenith after inspiring countless parodies, from sketches on Saturday Night Live to a 1991 track by rapper Ice-T.
While the even more bling-tastic, soap-opera era of property programming (Selling Sunset, the Million Dollar Listing franchise and the 'horrendously tasteless' and canceled-after-one-season Selling London) appears to be nearing its nadir, our obsession with property apparently remains buoyant. And viewers seem to be turning away from some of the manufactured drama, ostentatious lifestyles and surgically enhanced faces.
Series like Tiny House Nation—which put the emphasis on properties and their down-to-earth owners—continue to air on streaming platforms years after production ended.
The hit Netflix series The Parisian Agency: Exclusive Properties (Season 5 hit the platform on April 2, 2025; Season 6 is in production) ushered in a gentler, more human, less scripted, '99% real' take on the genre. Engaging episodes from the camera-friendly Kretz family's life and luxury property business have been streaming into homes in 18 countries in 35 languages since going international in 2021. At the opposite end of the budget scale, Tiny House Nation's five seasons continue to draw viewers on Netflix, even though production ended in 2019. And on the horizon for New York mega broker Ryan Serhant, star of Owning Manhattan? A $45 million funding round to develop 'the brokerage of the future' via an AI-driven app that integrates 'e-commerce features, real estate services, and media content.'
In a property media landscape so vast and varied, is there room and appetite for more? Billy Nash, a former Wall Street banker turned realtor, says yes. 'People are obsessed with property, no matter what the genre is,' says Nash over coffee at The Savoy in London. 'Over the years, these programs have become more and more drama-based, but the core of the shows is really the real estate, no matter how much drama gets laid over top.'
Billy Nash started his real estate career after many years on Wall Street. "Real-estate reality TV isn't real," he says. Passport Properties is set to change that.
Despite his status as a top property deal-maker in his patch of South Florida—the Palm Beaches—Nash dislikes being called a salesman. He's a connector. A trusted advisor. A traBut mostly he identifies as a storyteller. Which qualifies him to be the face of Passport Properties, the new real-estate reality series that brought him to London to scout locations, people and stories for a return trip this spring, film crew in tow.
Two minutes into our conversation, Nash has already recounted the threads of three stories: the evolution of a hip East London fashion brand, how nine nights in an Airbnb costs the same as two in a five-star hotel and… something about the world's largest cork manufacturer. Stories come easily.
But we're here to talk about why Nash, alongside running his eponymous luxury property agency, is literally turning to camera and hitting the road. And why Passport Properties isn't just another real estate reality series full of big commissions, enormous egos and iridescent supercars. It's about bringing authenticity back to the format through storytelling.
Property TV series of recent times have been missing this point entirely, Nash says. 'I don't think it's ever necessary to show two people talking about how much money they've made and then pull up in a rented purple Lamborghini. It's not real. I think we've lost what so-called reality television is, because so much of it is the opposite—it's scripted, it's dramatized, it really isn't reality.'
The great estates of Tuscany were one of Passport Properties' first stops.
The idea behind Passport Properties is to present real-life storylines that, says Nash, allow viewers 'to travel with you and really dig into a community.' Taking a leaf from the Anthony Bourdain playbook (not just stylistically—the series shares the same musical supervisor as Bourdain's Parts Unknown), Nash and his crew intend to not just peer through the keyholes of some of the world's most exceptional properties, but to delve deep into location, history and culture, residents past and present, and the materials and craftsmanship woven into the fabric of each home. The stuff that stories are made from.
Anybody can take you on a video tour of a five-bedroom mansion. But our show is really about the soul of that home, and portraying that to viewers in an incredibly beautiful, cinematic way.
'Passport Properties gets out there and shows the real stories beyond the façades, beyond the walls. Anybody can take you on a video tour of a five-bedroom mansion. But our show is really about the soul of that home, and portraying that to viewers in an incredibly beautiful, cinematic way. I want them to feel as though they're traveling alongside me when I visit these places. I think that's what makes this show unique.'
Beyond the maze of streets in Marrakech, the Passport Properties team dives into the stories of the ancient city's opulent riads.
And entertaining. Nash is a charismatic figure with a magnetic presence and a voice that conveys genuine excitement about the stories he uncovers. He's interesting because he's interested—in everything. What's beyond the walls, what's around the walls, what the walls are made of.
'When I was in Villa Peduzzi [a rare Liberty-style villa on Lake Como], I knew a bit about the property, but what I didn't know was that the original owner, Rocco Peduzzi, was basically the Henry Flagler of Italy. He was a railroad tycoon and he used railway materials for the rebar and the walls of the house—the walls are railroad tracks! It's these kinds of cool nuggets that you discover when you're actually on a property and that's what makes it fun.'
Season One of Passport Properties takes the production to eight countries across three continents.
That unfiltered curiosity makes Nash a natural presenter and an affable virtual traveling companion around the atlas of luxury real estate. After the Passport team wraps Season One (eight episodes across eight countries and three continents), Nash wants to pack his kimono and head to Japan. 'There's so much beautiful real estate in Japan. And you could buy a home that's close to the Nakasendo Samurai Trail, where the Samurai warriors walked thousands of years ago. You could hike that trail, walk through all these historic villages from a home that looks out onto Mount Fuji. Just think of all the stories…'
Passport Properties will premiere at this year's MIPCOM Cannes, the annual entertainment industry content festival (Oct 13-16, 2025). Season One's eight episodes will feature locations and properties in Croatia, France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.
Billy Nash is a top-performing agent with The Keyes Company, a member of Forbes Global Properties, the invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.