The article explores affective economy in a humanitarian reality television. It shows the ways in which reality television is increasingly occupied with ‘doing good’ by investigating Australian originated series Go Back to Where You Came From. The international format has been sold to nine countries and produced in co-operation with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. By bringing together theorizations of affective economy and post-humanitarianism, the article examines the emotional register and moral claims attached to the imagery of asylum seekers and refugees, and the conditions of television production for gearing audience participation towards humanitarian action. In the heart of this investigation lies the question of media change and marketization of the humanitarian field that proposes new forms of solidarities and moralities in public. The article identifies not only the potential but also the critical challenges of the combination of reality format and humanitarian message.