Can young adults learn from watching reality TV? In this article I consider the role of information within young viewers’ experiences of popular factual television in the U.K. In its early incarnation, reality programming was often categorised as infotainment precisely because programmes such as Police, Camera, Action! or 999, blurred boundaries between information and entertainment. Contemporary reality formats such as Pop Idol or Big Brother are closely associated with light entertainment genres such as talent shows or game shows, and therefore retain few links with traditional infotainment series. What follows in the rest of this article is an exploration of the way young viewers (aged 11-18) make sense of information in popular factual programmes.