Seven Swedish celebrities have traded red carpets for monk robes. SVT’s newest reality series, Shaolin Heroes, premiered today, inviting a handful of familiar faces to swap luxury living for long meditations and martial arts discipline at a Shaolin temple in South Korea.
If typical celebrity shows are about beaches, villas, and champagne-fueled drama, Shaolin Heroes goes in the exact opposite direction. Based on a hit Danish concept, the series sends seven well-known Swedes to the historic Yongmunsa Temple, where they’ll live as Shaolin disciples for nearly two weeks.
That means 12 days of silence, early mornings, rigid routines, and physical training designed to test their patience as much as their strength. Gone are the personal assistants and Instagram filters—here, the only thing they can rely on is themselves.
The cast is a fascinating mix of personalities you wouldn’t expect to see side by side on a meditation mat:
It’s a group built for both reflection and friction. Will they find peace, or will personality clashes echo louder than the temple bells?
At its heart, Shaolin Heroes feels like an antidote to the kind of celebrity TV that thrives on chaos. Instead of catfights and cocktails, we get meditation mats and introspection. The show balances philosophy with physical challenge—think push-ups mixed with mantras, sweat mingled with self-discovery.
The twist? Viewers get to see public figures used to being in control finally surrender to something bigger than their egos. Whether that leads to enlightenment or just very sore muscles is part of the fun.
SVT is betting that audiences are ready for a new kind of reality entertainment—one that trades the pursuit of fame for the pursuit of mindfulness (or at least tries to).
The first episode of Shaolin Heroes is streaming on SVT Play, with new episodes released every week.
So what’s your take—spiritual awakening or cleverly packaged celebrity endurance test? Watch and decide for yourself.