Another way to look at the question is along the lines of how do you capture coding in an entertaining and engaging way. If you look at popular depictions, you get things like solving some kind of 3D puzzle while spouting some technical jargon. Or being embodied and racing around doing things in a digitally rendered environment. These things get used because they give some physicality to something that is essentially abstract brain work. Its similar to trying to capture a math proof, and harder imo than talking about other kinds of engineering design, because even in something like circuit design there are physical parts that you can say what they are for in a way that doesn't require deep theoretical understanding.

All that to say, making an entertaining show would require an entertaining framing of programming, and there doesn't seem to be an accurate one that people have thought of yet. So if you can find a way to answer your question, it unlocks a lot more than just reality shows.