Why The Ultimate Fighter is the most significant reality series ever

"You're gonna get hit!/You're gonna get knocked
out!/You're gonna feel it/This is the ultimate!"
- actual lyrics to the theme song

There are a few things you should know about me if we were going to hang out and be friends, or even if you were going to enter into a business relationship with me. One of those things is that I'll really enjoy being your friend or working with you. Another one of those things is that I HATE REALITY TELEVISION AND WANT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH IT WHATSO-FUCKING-EVER.

That is not to say that there aren't some reality shows I've watched in the past. I watched the first season of Survivor (Gervis got robbed!) back when the entire genre was still a novelty. I watched the first season of Jersey Shore to see what all the fuss was about, only to find the fuss as actually about other peoples' fuss in New Jersey. And as the title of the post indicates, I watch The Ultimate Fighter (hereafter referred to as TUF). As a genre, though, I think Reality is slightly below the average youtube video in terms of artistic merit.

Despite this, I was watching a rerun of TUF and was thinking "man, I actually still watch this show, dozens of seasons in (they do two a year, like Survivor)." Does that make it the greatest reality show in TV history by default? Absolutely, yes. But here are some other reasons it's the best and/or most significant reality show ever.