A new reality show featuring the children of Brazilian celebrities has sparked backlash before its first episode even airs.
Academia dos Nepo Babies, an upcoming Globoplay series, promises to test famous families’ heirs with challenges based on professions and everyday tasks. However, its first public demonstration left many viewers unimpressed.
Highlights
- Academia dos Nepo Babies, an upcoming Brazilian reality show, will challenge celebrity children to take on professional tasks.
- The show sparked backlash after Rafaella Justus chipped a nail while attempting to wash dishes.
- Viewers criticized the concept, with some calling it out of touch.
The controversy began after a celebrity daughter was asked to wash dishes during the show’s launch event.
The moment quickly became a talking point online, with one viewer writing, “I think I've never felt so much anger in my entire life.”
Brazilian show Academia Dos Nepo Babies will feature celebrities’ heirs
Brazilian broadcaster Globo announced Academia Dos Nepo Babies at its 2027 upfront event in São Paulo on October 14.
The upcoming reality show will stream on Globoplay, the broadcaster’s streaming platform, and is produced by Estúdios Globo.
The series will bring together the children of celebrities and influential personalities, often called “nepo babies”, for a competition involving jobs and activities outside their usual routine.
Instead of competing in traditional reality-show eliminations, participants will take on professional challenges, with experts evaluating their performances and awarding points. Their scores will build throughout the season, and the contestant with the highest total will win.
The idea is to see how these celebrity children handle unfamiliar situations, develop new skills, and perform outside their comfort zones.
However, the format has already raised questions about whether simple household chores should be presented as major challenges for people who may have grown up with considerable privilege.
The show will be hosted alongside a family that knows celebrity life
Ticiane Pinheiro, a Brazilian television presenter, will host the show after years at the viral broadcaster Record.
Pinheiro introduced the project on stage alongside her mother, Helô Pinheiro, and her daughter, Rafaella Justus. Their appearance also highlighted the multigenerational celebrity connections that inspired the show’s title.
Ticiane openly joked about her family’s association with the term.
“It's a new Globo program that I'll be presenting. And you know: my family represents a long line of nepo babies. That's why I'll be presenting it,” she said.
Her mother also joined the conversation, joking that she would keep a close eye on the competition to see how the participants treated her granddaughters.
“I'll have to tune in to the show regularly to see how they're treating my little princesses,” Helô said.
Ticiane said she was curious to watch celebrity children deal with situations they might not usually encounter.
“Although I've clearly never been spoiled, I thought it would be interesting to watch those born with a silver spoon in their mouths going through adverse situations. I want to see the children of celebrities facing difficulties. They'll do things that nobody imagined seeing a celebrity's child doing,” she joked.
Rafaella Justus’ dishwashing challenge became the center of the nepo babies show controversy
The backlash began during the show’s presentation, when Rafaella Justus was given a small preview of what viewers could expect from the competition.
Rafaella was challenged to wash a pile of dishes. However, the task did not go as smoothly as expected.
“I chipped my nail. Mom, I'm going to break everything!” she exclaimed.
The moment drew laughter from the audience, but it also gave online detractors a reason to question the program’s premise.
One viewer summed up the criticism: “Wow, what a cool show of millionaires doing poor people's stuff.”
Another commented, “You wake up at six in the morning to go to work, take advantage of your break to distract yourself for a few minutes, open Twitter and see that they've created a NEPOBABY REALITY SHOW WHERE THE CHALLENGES ARE DOING THE DISHES.”
The reaction on social media was harsh, with many users expressing frustration over the concept before the series had even premiered
One person wrote, “What nonsense and futility,” while another questioned the timing of the announcement, commenting, “In the middle of 2026???? They really thought this was a good idea???”
Others predicted that the show would struggle to attract viewers.
“I hate this whole family, it's gonna flop so hard,” one user wrote.
Another aimed the broadcaster itself, saying, “Globo is really suffering from a horrible lack of creativity; it's been a long time since I've seen anything from that network.”
Some comments went further, questioning why celebrity children were being given airtime for activities that many people handle as part of their everyday responsibilities.
“Folks, why do we give airtime to this kind of thing? It should be shameful...”, one viewer asked.
Another comment read, “It's time for folks to turn off the TV and run to school!”
Despite the early criticism, Academia dos Nepo Babies remains part of Globoplay’s planned 2027 lineup.
"What a ridiculous thing," wrote one netizen
