Netflix’s ‘Hype House’ Is Filled With TikTok Stars Who Seem Absolutely Miserable
At first glance, Netflix’s new reality show Hype House–about a group of young, rich TikTok influencers who live together under one roof–may simply seem like The Real World with a ring light. And in a lot of ways, it is, as Hype House founder Thomas Petrou notes in an early episode of the series, out Jan. 7, “We have ten 20-year-olds living in a $5 million house together, filming content all day. It just doesn’t sound real.”
But over the course of Season 1’s eight mind-numbing episodes, it becomes increasingly clear that it’s not real–because the last thing any of these bona fide social media stars want to do is film any content at all. Hype House is a show about a bunch of famous kids who hate what they do.
The bitterest of them all is Petrou, the most stressed-out 22-year-old with a Rolls-Royce. He calls himself the dad of the house, and he’s perpetually weathered, exhausted, and has had it up to here with his lazy friends who aren’t doing their part to keep Hype House afloat. As Petrou helpfully explains, the rent on the Moorpark, California, mansion–made notorious in a 2020 New York Times profile– is paid for by the brand deals they do on Hype House’s social media channels, and everyone in the house is expected to help out by contributing viral-worthy content.