Stream It Or Skip It: ‘New World’ On Netflix, A Korean Reality Show Where Celebrities Vie For Cash On A Dreamy Island

South Korea and Netflix have been making some serious magic as of late; from hits like Squid Game and Hellbound to the slew of K-Dramas and reality shows like Busted!, we only seem to be at the beginning of a truly great era of content from across the world. The latest collaboration between the streamer and South Korea, New World, sees a group of Korean celebrities head to a magical island for a reality competition where their dreams might come true. 

NEW WORLD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Text flashes over a screen as we hear contestants discuss their experience on the island: “I feel like I had a long dream…”.

The Gist: Six Korean celebrities – Park Na-rae, Jo Bo-ah, Eun Ji-won, Lee Seung-gi, Kai, and Kim Hee-chul – all have dreams about their ideal homes. Environmentally-friendly, technologically-advanced, secluded, secretive, dark, clean. They all disclose these fantasies to us early on, and when they arrive at New World – the beautiful island they’ll be spending the next 6 days on – they discover that their dreams have been made real. Each contestant is placed in their respective dream home, much to their shock and awe. They indulge in a gorgeous feast at the Oasis Bistro, a place that features cuisine from all over the world, but this will be their only free meal.

The group is informed by an AI device named “Holo” that they have each been given a special phone for the island and it will also keep track of the money in their name, an island-specific currency called “nyang”. The exciting part? When they leave the island, whatever they have left will be converted into real-world cash. Over the next 6 days, they’ll compete in various games and activities in the hopes of walking away with the highest amount of this virtual currency. This utopian island is full of surprises and secrets that will reveal themselves over the course of the competition. Alliances will be made and broken and drama will come and go, but there’s more fun to be had on New World than most other reality shows these days.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? New World might remind you a little bit of other reality series like The Circle, Terrace House, Big Brother, and even Survivor at times.

Our Take: New World is a wacky one. From the very beginning, I found myself questioning if this was a reality show at all, or if it was a reality show within some kind of bizarre drama series. It starts off feeling something like Nine Perfect Strangers, with all these glamorous people arriving somewhere mysterious and not quite knowing what’s in store for them. From there, though, things start go off the rails. It’s a zany little series, veering away from classic reality show tendencies and leaning into its own sense of joy and silliness (even when it doesn’t really make sense as a whole).

To New World‘s credit, it is bizarrely delightful. There are no forced relationships or cheesy fights (though there’s no shortage of interesting interpersonal drama down the line), and most of the pilot is destination and house porn. Perhaps it would be a little more exciting if I’d gone into the series knowing who these people were, but they’re engaging characters all the same. I just wonder where New World fits into the reality television landscape; it feels aimless and goofy, and each reveal doesn’t land quite as effectively as one might hope when it comes to competition series of this nature. New World is cute! It’s just hard to get invested in something that doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing (or what to do with its 6 stars).

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As we get a glimpse of what’s ahead for these contestants, Kai wonders if he can get a refund for the wolf figurine he just purchased.

Most Pilot-y Line: The opening voiceover from the contestants is pretty pilot-y, including lines like “what happened there was like a fairytale” and “this is what we experienced at this place.”

Our Call: SKIP IT. While the premise of New World is intriguing, the show itself feels like an aimless fever dream, never managing to raise the stakes in a way that feels dramatically effective.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream New World on Netflix