Contestants come in and think they can beat the game, but it's truly an unbeatable game ... You're ritually manipulated and charmed and edited beyond your control. Viewers think the contestants knew what they had signed up for. But they couldn't have. There's no way.
On July 30, 2013, Lifetime placed a pilot order on Unreal, inspired by Sarah Gertrude Shapiro's award-winning independent short film Sequin Raze. Shapiro had previously worked at the American reality dating series The Bachelor. The pilot was written by Marti Noxon and Shapiro, and directed by Peter O'Fallon. On February 6, 2014, Lifetime officially green-lit Un-Real with a 10-episode series order. In March 2015, the premiere date was announced as June 1, 2015. On July 6, 2015, the series was renewed for a second season of 10 episodes, to premiere in 2016. The second season continued to feature the fictional show, Everlasting, with Quinn and Rachel returning as main characters.
Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called Quinn and Rachel "architects of destruction—ostensibly of the people on camera, but really of themselves." Moore noted that, despite the contestants' expectations, "the game is fixed and the matchmaking premise is only a pretext ... [the contestants] are pawns in the Everlasting chess game, with Quinn, in her video-paneled master control, pronouncing which contestant is the designated villainess, which is the hot one, which ones are boring and should be bounced." Appreciating Rachel's "killer instincts" and manipulative skills, Quinn also "plays on Rachel's many weaknesses to keep her in line". Caramanica commented:
In May 2015, Unreal was one of five honorees in the Most Exciting New Series category at the 5th Critics' Choice Television Awards.
On January 21, 2016, it was announced that Lifetime was developing a Faith-centred spin-off web series, with Breeda Wool reprising her role from the TV series. The 10-webisode series The Faith Diaries premiered on April 13, 2016.
Season one of Unreal has received critical acclaim. Merrill Barr of Forbes called it "one of the best new shows of the summer because it embraces the insanity it presents on screen". Dalene Rovenstine of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "If you love The Bachelor, you’re going to like UnREAL. If you hate The Bachelor, you’re going to like UnREAL." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called Unreal "acerbic and unrelentingly sad" and "a close and sometimes frustrating study of women tearing other women down". In December 2015, Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly named Unreal as one of his "10 Best New Shows of 2015".
