The 15 Best Reality TV Moments Ever
What's one of the best guilty pleasures? While you might be tempted to say chocolate, late night McDonald's, or trashy romance novels, it's something much more simple than that. The world is fascinated with human behavior. No matter what we do we can't seem to shake our love for studying other people. The human condition is one that we can all connect to on some level, through some experience. This is why we all seem to have our secret guilty pleasure of Reality TV. There's nothing better than sitting down with a big bowl of popcorn and diving into other people's lives. There's something deliciously naughty about seeing a sneak peek into others' experiences in the world. Reality TV has been around for ages, and it just keeps getting better as the world changes and shows get whackier. Read on to read 15 of the wildest moments on reality tv-- the moments we remember, and the moments we don't want to remember.
15 Snooki getting punched
We all know about Jersey Shore. One of the most infamous reality tv shows, this has been on for several seasons. Snookie is a bit of a backbone character, showing off the ideal “guidette” the show supports. A guidette is the female version of a guido, which is something the show pushes as a selling point for itself. While it's unclear what a guido and guidette are, we hear they're stereotypical Italian-American folks who don't accurately represent the entire Italian-American population. They're loud, have poor impulse control, and have outrageous style that screams “trying too hard”. One of the best moments in reality tv was when Snooki, the drama queen extreme of Jersey Shore glory, was punched at a club. The jerk that punched her received a strict reprimand because of it, and ultimately lost his job! Talk about real world impact. This definitely made for a fantastic reality tv moment, though we're glad Snooki ended up okay.
14 Tyra Banks losing it
Tyra Banks is a hugely powerful woman. She has influence in all aspects of culture, from her modeling show fame to her influence on philanthropic work, to her talk show success. She cares about the people she takes on her show, and she doesn't take anything for granted. Her work ethic is strong, which means she won't put up with lazy or ungrateful people, which is what sparked this moment. One of her contestants was cut from America's Next Top Model but didn't react. And when we say she didn't react… She didn't react. She didn't cry, she didn't say anything, she just accepted it and moved on. While this might be seen as a positive in some lines of work, when it's a highly competitive reality tv show, this laissez-faire response is not ideal. Tyra was so upset she went off on the young model, telling her to get the energy up and to not take the defeat lying down. Tyra is normally calm, cool, and collected, which is why this moment was so outstanding. The model later says she was thankful for the kick in the pants, which is great to hear. It's always nice when there's a happy ending.
13 Toddlers in Tiaras Madonna Bra
Toddlers in Tiaras has received a lot of backlash, and rightfully so. There's something just a little gross about making up 3-year-olds to look like adult pageant girls. While some of the kids might be happy with playing dress up, there hasn't been an episode in which one of them hasn't cried. Inevitably a little girl starts to get frustrated, or upset, and their stage mom has to deal with it. Some of those mothers are real terrors too: pushy, and with too much emphasis on making their kids stars. One of the worst moments we've seen was in a talent portion of a pageant, where one little girl came on stage to do a small performance. She started dancing, got halfway through the song, and WOOSH! Dropped her dress. This was all part of the plan, though what a weird plan it was. Underneath she revealed a body suit, complete with a cone bra. Naturally, the song was a Madonna song… An accurate performance, but a little strange coming from a 4-year-old.
12 The Hills… In General
The whole point of reality tv shows is that they're just that; reality. We sit down for a few hours each week and watch other people's lives get thrown upside down, or see how they unfold over the course of a regular day, week, month, etc. We watch celebrities get in trouble, and we see the real-world repercussions appearing in the news and tabloids later on. There's just something special about real reality tv. When the Hills was popular, everyone took it as MTV's big reality tv hit. It was a treat to see all these extraordinary discussions, experiences, and adventures air every week. Can you imagine the shock and backlash that happened when it was discovered that the Hills was actually scripted? Yes, one of the most popular reality tv shows had writers working on the plot. Needless to say, that was the end of that unreal reality series.
11 Gone With the Wind Fabulous
Kenya Moore is a unique person. She has got a spitfire personality which comes out especially clear on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Due to getting into altercations with other members on the show, and even just her general discussions with people, Kenya Moore has given us plenty of notable quotables. She can't seem to get enough of the limelight in regards to her outspokenness. One of our favorite overall reality tv moments is when she coined the term “Gone With the Wind fabulous”. During an argument with one of her Real Housewives of Atlanta counterparts, Kenya Moore decided to tailspin into the higher ground. She spent the last half of the argument switching from screaming into singing about how she is too Gone With the Wind fabulous for any of this business. She then literally spun away off screen, giving us something to talk about for months after. You can't make this stuff up!
10 Khloe Kardashian's jail time
Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Khloe never actually went to jail, but she did get arrested. She was driving under the influence and got caught on tape by the film crew of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. What a wild episode. Everyone had some car troubles in that show, though Khloe was the one who got caught. It's a typical story, but that doesn't make it any less shocking. Due to overcrowding of the jail, she was never given any time even though her sentence called for 30 days and a rehab program. Maybe this is for the best. It's likely that Khloe would have been eaten alive in jail, and we would have missed out on 30 days of real Kardashian madness. We hear about stars getting caught driving under any sort of influence all the time, but we can't believe that this was caught on tape. That made it an outrageous moment in reality tv history.
9 Adam Levine
Not everyone wants to make America great again, as Adam Levine proved in his comments. One of the most unforgettable moments on The Voice was when Adam Levine admitted he hates America. Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely true. He admitted that he only said that because he was angry at the fact that two of his team's contestants were voted off one week. He didn't admit that without prompting, though. It wasn't until an interview was set up with NBC that the world got to know that he didn't actually mean it. He compensated for the comment by talking about how much he loves America, though that didn't quite make it better. He still lost a few fans because of this, and we bet it didn't quite help his team's chances to win. The Voice is still one of our favorite shows, though, despite Adam Levine's temper. We'd also like to encourage him to come on up to Canada if he really hates America. We'll embrace him any day!
8 Steve Harvey's 2 Beauty Queens
Not a regular reality tv show, but one that people look for every year. Sometimes we wonder how these women got involved in the pageant cycle, but mainly we watch eagerly as beautiful, intelligent women battle it out through their poise and grace. From the talent round to the swimsuit round, the whole world holds its breath until Steve Harvey tells us which woman gets the coveted title of Miss Universe. We know exactly what to expect year after year… Until something like this happens. Steve Harvey made the worst mistake possible when the world's representative is on the line. He read out the wrong name! Imagine the embarrassment when the falsely crowned Miss Universe had to decrown herself and give it over to the rightfully won Miss. That's one that Steve Harvey will never be able to live down. At least there were no hard feelings between the three of them.
7 Big Brother's Racism
This show is basically pure trashy pleasure, but that does not give it an excuse to be rude and hurtful. For those that do not know, Celebrity Big Brother is set up so a bunch of C- and B-List celebrities move into a house that has surveillance set up around every turn. It's the same premise as regular Big Brother: people live in the house, complete challenges, and cause mayhem towards their housemates. However, because this is Celebrity Big Brother, the mayhem is much more over-the-top. Most celebrities like to make themselves seen; especially the ones that choose to go on this show. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in dramatic and despicable behavior. The racist comments and actions made by Danielle Lloyd, Jade Goody, and Jo O'Meara are unforgivable, even though Shilpa Shetty did eventually forgive them after they recognized and apologized for the racism and pain of their actions.
6 Olly and Monica
The host of the X Factor, Olly is allowed to have one or two slip ups. He's so charming, and so funny that we forgive him for a lot of silly comments and bad jokes he makes in the heat of the moment. The one thing we can't forgive him for though is breaking our illusions. It's a delicate suspension of disbelief that helps us to get so sucked into these reality shows. We know that somewhere along the way in filming someone was told they should say this instead of that or make this choice instead of that choice. But it's still almost all real… Right? Unfortunately, that idea breaks down pretty quick when the beloved host announces the loser before the final round has even happened! This results in a world of audience members shocked and disgusted with the lack of reality taking place right under their noses. While Olly was forgiven, it's safe to say that the show hasn't felt the same since.
5 Britain's Got… Dogs?
This one is ridiculous. In Canada and America, we might have some pretty weird shows, but there's nothing that compares to Britain's TV preferences. From Bake Offs with wicked grandmas to children's survivor-style shows, England has some weird television. One of the ones that's not that out of the ordinary is the X Factor. Similar to the X Factor across the pond, this show is a variety show cabaret style in which the country votes on who they want to keep around week-to-week. Similar to the acts we see in our variety shows, they have everything from mimes to singers to sideshow acts. One of the most iconic acts was the time a dog came on the show. While there have been dogs around before, this act was significantly more ruff. The dog didn't do anything like walk on a tightrope or play dead, it just popped balloons. Can you believe that? A dog popped balloons and it was voted in through multiple rounds of the show… ridiculous. Truly one of the best moments in tv history.
4 The Surreal Life
Based on a Big Brother style of reality tv, The Surreal Life is a show that cashed in on both our love of celebrities and our love of being flies-on-the-wall. We get to watch a group of past prime celebrities live together in an old mansion for two weeks. You can imagine how ridiculous that household gets! Because the mix of celebrities is different every time, we can't really speak to the consistency of entertainment of this show. Sometimes you get to see a really wild episode, though, like when Verne Troyer spread it all out… literally. After a night of wild drinking, he took his scooter out and smashed the house around. He then peed in the corner, fully naked, while on camera. The camera then followed him into the bedroom and watched as he fell asleep groaning and drunk. While we don't want to harp on it (he's probably still embarrassed-- we know we would be), it was too good to not include!
3 Bear Grylls and the urine
Wilderness survival shows are one of our favorite things to watch because we don't like to participate. Watching wild reality tv is as close as we'll get to roughing it out in the woods. The tension is always high as we don't know exactly what will happen. Maybe Bear Grylls will turn into a real bear! The element of surprise is what we enjoy the most with these nature shows. We also get to see some horrific scenes that we'd never want to put ourselves through. Case in point: drinking urine. YUCK! The episode that this was on is burned into our memories like a bad UTI. The celebrities involved reacted with a mix of vomiting, crying, screaming, and enjoyment. Don't worry, the pee was boiled. Supposedly this is a way to ensure no dehydration and to teach them how to preserve themselves. We think it was just an unforgettable moment in the world of reality television.
2 Kelly Clarkson (in general)
We all remember American Idol, right? This show was an extremely long-running singing competition that bred numerous stars and semi-stars. While it started to deteriorate in its later seasons, the early American Idol was full of seemingly impossible notes and outrageous performances. One of the biggest moments in tv history, not just reality tv moments, was when Kelly Clarkson was crowned the first ever winner of American Idol. This win launched her career to sky high heights, which then propelled her to success for the rest of her music making career. While it was maybe not the biggest moment in tv history, it certainly was one of the most iconic. It's hard to forget the first of anything, especially such a culturally groundbreaking one. We decided Kelly Clarkson deserved a place on this list since she's shown what it's like to win over the world from one reality tv show.
1 The Backstabbing Bachelor
He's not as bad as the title might seem, but he was very, very confused. The poor guy… Everyone gives the Bachelors flack because it's kind of an awkward situation. There are 25 equally gorgeous, intelligent, kind women waiting to be picked by one man for a lifelong commitment; or at least the engagement part of it. We all want love in our lives, which is why we're so drawn to shows like this. We love the happiness and love that imbues episodes week to week, and the tension of the Bachelor making his choices. It's also really interesting to watch his thought process as he chooses between the women. It was particularly interesting when he chose one woman during the final scene, and then went back on his choice six weeks later! He broke up with her, live, on TV, and then became engaged to who had been the runner-up. At least this dramatic moment ends on a happy note. The Bachelor and his new bride have been married ever since, and have two kids!
