Go toe to toe with 10 battle shows

If it’s about being the best by beating the best, we’re here for it this September and October. We’re looking for the toughest comers in our grittiest, wittiest survival series including Alone: South Africa Season 12, Celebrity Race Across The World Season 2, Naked And Afraid: Apocalypse Season 1, and Survivor: Australia V the World Season 12. Endurance and grit are also on show in National Geographic’s Top Guns: The Next Generation Season 1. But if you’d prefer a little magic and talent in your competition shows, stay tuned for America’s Got Talent Season 20, Bake Off: The Professionals Season 7, and more!

We’ve picked out just 10 series to compete for your attention in September and October. Now it’s your turn to win the battle for the remote!

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10 top competitive series on DStv this October

1. Coming soon: Alone: South Africa

The 12th season of Alone takes 10 tough survivors into the Great Karoo desert, where they’ll need to live off the land and survive by their wits – last competitor standing wins! This is the first time that Alone has shot in a semi-desert region, but the survivalists, including an Australian and a New Zealander, are being dropped off on the shores of a lake, where there’s abundant game … including baboons. Uh oh. Better get those shelters and fires built.

Watch Alone: South Africa Season 12 from Thursday, 30 October at 7:25PM on History Channel 186.

2. Coming soon: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire With Jeremy Clarkson

Could you handle Jeremy’s disdain if you fumbled an obvious answer? The intimidation game is at play and the toughest challenge might not be on the board, but the quiz master himself. There’s £1 million at stake, and get ready for one contestant who surprises Jeremy so often that he quips, "It's like sitting next to the internet in a pink shirt." Questions include “In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?”

Watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire With Jeremy Clarkson Season 5 from Wednesday, 8 October at 8PM on BBC Brit Channel.

3. Coming soon: Bake Off: The Professionals

Choux, it’s hot in the kitchen! Twelve teams from top hotels, restaurants and small businesses are competing to be crowned best patisserie team in Britain over the next five weeks. Stacey Solomon replaces Tom Allen as co-host to Liam Charles this season, with challenges set by pâtissier experts Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden. Look out for ancient mythology showstoppers, towering trifles, edible Mont Blanc mountains, the dreaded chocolate week, a pastry Les Misérables, and a Jurassic World edible tale scene. 

Watch Bake Off: The Professionals Season 7 from  Monday, 6 October at 8PM on BBC Lifestyle Channel 174.

4. Celebrity Race Across The World

Four celebrities and their loved ones set off on a 12 500-km race across the world, from the Amazon jungle to the Andes mountains. No phones, flights or bank cards. No VIP treatment! The contestants are broadcaster Jeff Brazier (I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here) and his son, Freddy; actor Kola Bokinni (Ted Lasso) and his cousin, Mary Ellen; broadcaster Kelly Brook (Loose Women) and her husband, Jeremy; and Radio 2 host Scott Mills and his husband (then fiancé), Sam.

Watch Celebrity Race Across The World Season 2 on Sundays at 7PM on BBC Earth Channel 184

5. Top Guns: The Next Generation

This six-part National Geographic docuseries follows a real-life class of US Navy and Marine Corps student pilots through the final phase of their elite strike fighter training. Climb into the cockpit, and go inside their lives as they tackle aerial drills, dogfights, and carrier landings. The series explores what is at stake for each pilot, what they have had to sacrifice to get into the programme, and how they’ll hold up under pressure to earn their "wings of gold".

Watch Top Guns: The Next Generation Season 1 on Wednesdays at 8:30PM on National Geographic Channel 181.

6. Naked And Afraid: Apocalypse

Twelve Naked and Afraid All-Stars are on a mission to survive up to 60 days after they’re dropped off without food, water, clothes or shelter, and have to make their way to an extraction point. They aren’t dropped off in a remote wilderness location this season, but must make their way through post-apocalyptic seeming wastelands and ghost towns in South Africa. And they’ll have to scavenge junk to create weapons and shelter from dangerous wildlife, including crocodiles, elephants, and lions.

Watch Naked And Afraid: Apocalypse Season 1 on Wednesdays at 8:05PM on Discovery Channel 121.

7. America’s Got Talent

Terry Crews is back as host and Mel B returns to join the judging panel with Howie Mandel, Sofía Vergara, and Simon Cowell for AGT’s epic 20th season. To celebrate the anniversary, the judges are each getting two Golden Buzzers, and so is Terry! Some of the most exciting acts this season include magicians (including Mastermind the AI magician), a crossbow shooter, a robot act from Boston Dynamics, a rollerskating duo, a laser act, a pair of aerialists, and jugglers.

America’s Got Talent Season 20 on Mondays-Fridays at 6PM on M-Net Channel 101.

8. Survivor: Australia V the World

Fifteen days. Fourteen all-star contestants. Five countries. Two teams. Australian Survivor champions face off against international contenders from the USA, New Zealand, Finland and South Africa – including SA: Island of Secrets winner Rob Bentele, and USA Survivor legends Cirie Fields, Tony Vlachos, and Parvati Shallow. Survivor: Australia host Jonathan LaPaglia will rule the challenges and Tribal Councils in Samoa. PS: If you’re not familiar with Rob’s game, binge Survivor SA Season 7 on Showmax.

Watch Survivor: Australia V the World Season 12 on Sundays at 5:30PM on M-Net Channel 101. All previous episodes on DStv Stream.

9. Destination X

Travel reality competition series hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Ten strangers (although we know some of them, like Love Island US star JaNa Craig, from other reality shows), are split into teams and transported around Europe in a bus with blacked-out windows. Once they stop at a location and get off the bus, they have to figure out where they are. The one whose guess is the furthest from their location is sent home as a disgrace to the American education system. 

Watch Destination X Season 1 on Saturdays at 7PM on M-Net Channel 101. All previous episodes on DStv Stream.

10. The Great Pottery Throw Down Season 8

Host Siobhan McSweeney and judges Keith Brymer Jones and Richard Miller welcome 12 home potters to the 2025 season of this creative British reality competition series. This season’s challenges include a blindfold build, a raku trial by fire, crafting storefront displays, making a Noah’s Ark child’s toy, and building a Hellmouth fireplace in the style of 1500s Italy. Mess up, and your creation goes into the bucket of doom while you’re asked to leave. 

Watch The Great Pottery Throw Down Season 8 on DStv Stream.

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