13 Reality TV Shows Killed Off By Scandals

Okay, let's face it - one of the most popular parts of reality television is all the scandal and drama. After all, if we wanted to watch a show with great dialogue, fantastic and suspenseful storylines, and more, we'd watch some of the great shows on television today. However, when it comes to reality television, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. No matter how well-written and fantastic something like Game of Thrones is, every now and then, you just want to watch some bleached-blonde housewives have a squabble over wine. Sure, it's not the most intellectually stimulating. Sure, the cast of characters who choose to participate can make you cringe sometimes. But viewers come back time and time again because after a hard day of work and facing the real world, it can ironically be relaxing to watch all the drama and stress unfold on screen in a reality television show.

However, even in the world of reality television where the shock factor reigns supreme, things can go too far. There are scandals and shocking moments designed to bring more viewers in and keep fans glued to the edges of their seats, and then there are scandals that are so terrible they shut the whole show down. The following are examples of the latter. Here are 13 reality shows that experienced a scandal so awful that the show was subsequently cancelled.

12 Buckwild

We're pretty sure that even the studio execs at MTV figured Jersey Shore would be just another one-season reality show focused on a group of young, party-loving individuals. After all, the concept of filming a group of strangers as they live together and party every night is hardly innovative. However, whether it was because of the orange tans, the accents, or the overall Jersey vibe, everyone absolutely adored Jersey Shore. So, it only makes sense that MTV would try to replicate it in another distinct location of the US - the south - with Buckwild. Buckwild was marketed as a redneck version of the popular show, but it was quickly shut down when cast member Shain Gandee (who was only 21 at the time) passed away from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

11 Kid Nation

Reality television shows are constantly trying to one up one another, but this show made us question how on earth the studios ever thought it would be a good idea. Back in 2007, someone at the networks suggested that a great idea for a reality television show would be to strand a bunch of kids in the middle of nowhere and see if they could put together a town and survive with no adult help. However, a huge scandal started brewing when CBS, the network responsible for the show, was getting accused of exploiting the children's welfare just to create entertaining television, and it soon got the axe.

10 Pretty Wild

Thanks to shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, it seems like any family with a modicum of fame or fortune feels like they would make the next great royal family of reality television - just take a look at Pretty Wild. Alexis Neiers, Tess Taylor, and Gabby Neiers, three young, beautiful and privileged women teamed up with their momager Andrea Arlington for the show, and they were all set to become the next Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Kris. However, after the pilot was shot, one of the daughters (Alexis) was arrested as a member of the Bling Ring, the notorious group of privileged teenaged thieves who stole from celebrity homes. The show even tried to capitalize on the scandal by including some of the trial in the first season, but people just didn't care about watching a spoiled criminal.

9 Here Comes Honey Boo Boo

Way back when, TLC debuted a new reality television series centered on pint-sized pageant competitors, Toddlers & Tiaras. And from that show, one particular child stood out with her larger than life personality - Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson. Thompson, her mother, and her sisters soon received their very own show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, set in their southern hometown. However, when a scandal broke claiming that June Shannon (Mama June) was resuming her relationship with a man who had been convicted of molesting one of her very own daughters? Fans were totally disgusted, and the network quickly cancelled the show.

8 Eve and Ocho

While many professional athletes are fairly private, appearing in the public eye for interviews only when required, Chad Johnson (aka Ochocinco) has absolutely no issue with being the center of attention. And, neither did his then-wife Evelyn Lozada. Lozada was already a reality television show regular, appearing on Basketball Wives, and the networks figured the popular athlete newlywed reality show genre that worked with people like Kendra Wilkinson/Hank Baskett and Jessie James/Eric Decker would be perfect for Ochocinco and his new bride. However, when Ochocinco was arrested on a domestic violence charge for head-butting his wife, VH1 quickly shut down the show.

7 Flip It Forward

When it comes to reality television shows that get cancelled due to scandal, an interior decorating/renovation show is the last thing you'd expect. After all, they're just creating new homes - what kind of drama could arise? Turns out a lot. Twin brothers Jason and David Benham snagged their own HGTV series, Flip It Forward. However, the world soon found out that the two had made homophobic, anti-Muslin, and anti-abortion statements in the past. With so many talented interior designers and contractors out there, HGTV doesn't need to hitch their wagon to anyone controversial - so they simply shut down the show.

6 19 Kids and Counting

This is perhaps the most recent controversy, and one of the ones that received the most attention from the press. The Duggar family became quick reality television stars once TLC gave them their own show, 19 Kids and Counting, and it's easy to see why - the simplest day-to-day tasks with such a huge family were so insane that it made for good television. However, after the show had been on the air for awhile, it was revealed that one of the Duggar children, Josh, had inappropriately touched five underage girls when he was a teenager - including his own sisters. TLC immediately pulled all episodes of the show off the air, and after they realized the enormity of the scandal, they eventually made the decision to cancel the show altogether.

5 The Good Life

As any fans of The Voice know, Cee Lo Green has a bit of a larger than life personality, and his fair share of quirks, so it makes sense that a network would want to give him his own show. Green signed with TBS to create and host a comedy show entitled The Good Life. However, in September of 2014, Cee Lo got entangled in a rape scandal where he was accused of slipping a woman at a downtown Los Angeles restaurant ecstasy and then raping her. To make matters worse, he made some very questionable comments that only added fuel to the fire. Safe to say, the network cancelled the show ASAP.

4 Armed and Famous

Since reality television began to increase in popularity thanks to early pioneering shows like Survivor, networks have been scrambling to put out as many reality shows as possible in an attempt to score the next big reality hit. However, that also means that there are countless shows that aired for perhaps a season or two and were quickly forgotten about - including Armed and Famous. The show followed five celebrities - La Toya Jackson, Jack Osbourne, Erik Estrada, Jason Acuna and Trish Stratus - as they enrolled in a police academy in small town Muncie, Indiana. However, the show was cancelled after only four episodes because Estrada got into a public shouting match with a suspect, and a woman sued the show for illegal search and wrongful entry. Oh, and ratings were terrible.

3 Megan Wants a Millionaire

Any scandal that prompts a network to cancel a show is likely pretty terrible, but the one on this initially silly dating show was particularly shocking. Megan Hauserman, a recurring reality show contestant, got her own show, Megan Wants a Millionaire, where she auditioned a series of wealthy men so that she could become a trophy wife. However, it soon came out that one of the contestants vying for Megan's affections was wanted as a murder suspect. VH1 immediately stopped airing the show when the news broke, and the man in question soon ended up passing away of an apparent suicide, after which the network cancelled the show officially.

2 Jon & Kate Plus 8

The premise of most family-centric reality television shows means that when the family isn't quite a happy, functioning family anymore, it becomes difficult to keep them at the center of a show - just ask Jon and Kate Gosselin. After their super-sized family earned them a spot on TLC, they kept their show going for several seasons, and in season five announced that they would be divorced. There was plenty of gossip flying around about cheating and speculation about why exactly they were divorcing, but whatever the cause, Jon was asked to leave the show. Jon & Kate Plus 8 was cancelled, and Kate managed to hang on to fame by scoring her own show, Kate Plus 8.

1 The Two Coreys

The idea of featuring two former child stars who have both had their fair share of problems over the years on a reality show together seems like a bad idea to the average person, but to a reality television show producer, the scandal and drama practically writes itself - until things get a bit too scandalous, that is. Corey Haim and Corey Feldman starred together on A&E's The Two Coreys, but in the second season, Haim, a former drug addict, relapsed. Feldman didn't want to be around his friend in that state and have to deal with his addiction, and the show wrapped, with Haim unfortunately passing away.

Paula's Home Cooking

While shows on HGTV and The Food Network aren't exactly the first ones that pop into your head when you think about reality television, they're essentially unscripted shows focused on someone's real-life adventures - so technically, that's the genre they're classified as. And, one of the biggest scandals came from a seemingly harmless southern belle by the name of Paula Deen. Deen created an empire for herself that led to Paula's Home Cooking, her very own show on the Food Network. However, when documents surfaced that revealed Deen had used racial slurs in the past, the scandal became too much for the network to deal with and they cancelled the show.