Iceland’s hottest new reality TV show is a livestream of cats
There’s a new show in Iceland that offers all the intrigue, drama and suspense of your favorite reality series. And by that, we mean it’s an online livestream of four kittens living in an oversized custom-made dollhouse. It’s a simple recipe for a show, but “Keeping Up With The Kattarshians” has taken Iceland by storm.
“Keeping Up With The Kattarshians” follows four kittens, Guðni, Briet, Stubbur and Ronja, as they sleep, play, sleep, eat and sleep. It’s a real rags-to-riches story for the four kittens. They were found abandoned in a factory by a local animal shelter, which nursed them back to health and cooperated with Icelandic broadcaster Nutiminn to create the show and provide the stars.
Though it’s only been out for a few weeks, it’s already become Nutiminn’s most popular web show.
“There’s about 1,000 people watching at any given moment,” Nutiminn editor Atli Fannar Bjarkason told Foreign Policy. “And we are getting more viewers by the day.”
While it’s widely popular in Iceland, the show’s garnered a lot of international fans, too. Bjarkason said people from across the world post regularly on the show’s Facebook page about what the kittens are up to, which one is their favorite, and just what might happen next (probably sleep).
The show’s title is, of course, an homage to “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” a much less eventful and emotionally fulfilling show than one where kittens sleep for eight hours on end.
There’s no shortage of emotionally raw and visceral drama in “Keeping Up with the Kattarshians” either. Guðni is the rebellious socialite, Briet the aloof dreamer, Ronja the gentle soul, while Stubbur is large and in charge.
Bjarkason said the show’s purpose is to find the abandoned kittens permanent homes and raise awareness for stray animals. It’s worked. All four have been adopted and should be moving in with their new families by the end of this week.