40+ Unforgettable Reality TV Moments

Let’s be clear — America’s Next Top Model was a sadistic show. Every year, they reduced women to tears by forcefully restyling their hair! They did blackface multiple times! In fact, judge Tyra Banks has recently apologized for some of the antics that went down.

Back in season four, Tyra lost it with eliminated contestant Tiffany Richardson. Famously she yelled, “When my mother yells like this, it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you. How dare you. Learn something from this.”

More than once we’ve seen a reality star commit an actual crime. It’s part of the thrill of the genre, but it can also be difficult to watch. For example, Teen Mom’s Amber Portwood was arrested based on footage of her attacking her boyfriend, Gary Shirley. At the time, MTV didn’t step in or report the crimes.

However, viewers reported the incident to the police who later arrested Portwood for domestic violence. Amber Portwood was charged with multiple felonies, and later attacked another partner.

The Real Housewives universe is stuffed full of amazing reality TV moments. One of the most iconic comes from a short-lived RHONY cast member. Aviva Drescher was on the show for two seasons, but she definitely made an impression.

When things got to a head and Aviva had no one left by her side, she decided to pull an incredible reality TV stunt. Mid-argument she removed and slammed her prosthetic leg on the table yelling, “The only thing that is artificial or fake about me is this!”

The latest installment to the Housewives franchise is set in Salt Lake City, Utah. You might expect some unusual Mormon families in the cast, but you could never have predicted Mary Cosby.

You see, when Mary Cosby’s pastor grandmother died, she inherited her churches, homes, money, and husband. Yes, her husband. So, Mary Cosby is married to her step-grandfather. She explained, “Before she passed, she made it very clear that she wanted me to be the one to take her place in the church and inherit everything.”

Viewers have spent over a decade watching the Kardashian-Jenner family go from barely known to globally known. What started as a leaked tape and a reality show has led to Kim studying the law, Kylie becoming the most followed person on Instagram, and Kourtney dating Travis Barker. What?!

Right before the family announced they were ending their flagship reality show, viewers caught a glimpse of tensions in the family. In season 18 Kim and Kourt get into a physical fight. Naturally!

It was pretty big news in the reality TV world when actress Denise Richards signed up for RHOBH. In her first season, she let slip some private details about her marriage. In her second, she was accused of having an affair with former cast member Brandi Glanville.

Denise Richards got so annoyed with the world of reality TV that she kept trying to make the footage useless. Despite shouting “Bravo Bravo Bravo!” the footage of Richards still made it to air.

Now, here’s a real classic. If there was a museum of reality TV moments, this one would have its own exhibition. Back in 2003, we were all enjoying the marriage of airheads Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. The union only lasted three years, but it gave us some excellent early reality TV.

In the show’s first-ever episode, Jessica is eating tuna when she asks, “Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish?” She continues, I know it’s tuna, but it says ‘Chicken… by the Sea.’”

When the world went into lockdown, we were briefly saved by Netflix reality series Love Is Blind. In the show, singles met each other via pods without seeing their date. Eventually, the series worked its way up to actual weddings, forcing new couples to actually tie the knot or not.

When it came to the nuptials of Gigi and Damian, things went awry. Gigi proclaimed her love, while Damian turned her down. In response, Gigi hot-footed it out of there, and ended up falling on the grass outside.

We’re back to the Kardashians for another iconic reality TV moment. In a 2011 episode, a pre-Kanye Kim Kardashian is still dating Kris Humphries. The family goes for a luxurious trip to Bora Bora, and Kimmie loses her diamond earring when Kris throws her in the ocean.

Kim starts bawling because she can’t find the $75,000 earring. In response, an unamused Kourtney yells, “Kim, there’s people that are dying.” In the end, Kylie retrieves the earring, and all is well.

Truly there are so many Real Housewives moments that deserve to be in the reality TV hall of fame. Way back in the first season of RHOBH, we were still trying to figure out the dynamic between famous sisters Kyle and Kim Richards. However, their limo fight made things a little clearer.

In a huge bust-up, Kim accused Kyle of stealing her house. In response, Kyle screamed that Kim was “sick” and “a liar.” Suddenly, it all made sense.

Welcome to the world of 90 Day Fiancé — a place where people from different countries and cultures come together to create new varieties of drama. Take Avery and Omar, for example. She was a partying cheerleader until she converted to Islam and started chatting to Syrian dental student Omar.

Naturally, Avery didn’t think it was that big a deal to move to a war-torn country. She also didn’t tell her mom at first. Plus, their last-minute wedding (pictured) was hilarious.

When Snooki first appeared on Jersey Shore, her castmates thought she came on a little too strong. However, when she gets punched in the face in a club, they rally around her. Absurdly, the reality star was hit because she shouted at a guy for stealing their drinks.

This is an important moment for the show, and for Snooki. The punch means everyone gets together like a family, and the audience can also rally behind the crew. Don’t make our Snooki cry!

Tiger King: Murder Mayhem and Madness took the world by storm. With millions of people locked down, Netflix found the best time to dangle a truly wild story in front of us. We can’t really pick a moment in this show that stands out, because all of it does.

Joe Exotic is an incredibly compelling character, and the series has tons of reality-TV-type footage. Add in wild animals, and an eclectic group of criminals, and you’ve got yourself a hit.

Survivor is considered a leader of reality TV because of its huge rating figures. In its first-ever season in 2000, truck driver Sue Hawk gave an extremely savage speech.

The savage Sue Hawk declared of finalist Kelly, “If I were ever to pass you along in life again, and you were laying there, dying of thirst, I would not give you a drink of water. I would let the vultures take you and do whatever they want with you, with no ill regrets.”

To people that didn’t watch The Simple Life, this is going to seem particularly odd. In the series, socialites Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie take on low-paying, manual jobs and live with ordinary families. The series has lots of absurd moments, but the chemistry between the pair is definitely its greatest quality.

In season 1, Paris and Nicole are riding a bus when they decide to sing the “sanasa” song. This is basically just the nonsense word “sanasa” chanted in tune.

The world first met Mama June through TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras. As the mom of child pageant contestant Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, June was a great character. She later got her own show, Mama June: From Hot to Not, which followed her undergoing weight loss and plastic surgery.

Sadly, Mama June suffers from serious addiction issues. In season 3 of the show, her family attempted to hold an intervention. Unfortunately, it didn’t stick, and she was arrested along with her boyfriend a few weeks later.

Real Housewives of New Jersey is a particularly dramatic part of the Housewives world. This moment is right up there on the medal’s podium for best reality TV moments. In season one, the ladies got upset by a book that claimed their castmate Danielle Staub was a criminal who had changed her name.

Things kept intensifying, until Teresa Giudice completely loses it. In a hilarious and infamous rant, Giudice screams that Danielle has been “engaged 19 times” before flipping the entire table upside down.

We’re jumping across the pond now to an incredible moment from the UK’s Celebrity Big Brother. In 2016, legendary musician David Bowie passed away. At the time, his ex-wife Angie Bowie was in the Big Brother house along with Tiffany Pollard of I Love New York fame.

When CBB producers told Angie that her ex-husband had passed away, she told Tiffany “David is dead.” Hilariously, she thought Angie was talking about David Guest, another housemate. As you would expect, plenty of chaos ensued.

Since we’re already in the UK, let’s discuss the amazing Come Dine With Me. On the show, ordinary people compete to be crowned the best dinner party host. In 2016, contestant Peter Marsh made a now-famous speech.

He said, “What a sad little life, Jane. Enjoy the money. I hope now you will spend it on getting some lessons in grace and decorum, because you have all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tires on.” It has been meme-d many times.

Speaking of memes, RHOBH cast member Taylor Armstrong’s meltdown went on to inspire the beloved Woman Yelling at Cat meme. In her second season, Taylor struggled with the drama and tragedy she experienced in season one. At a belly dancing party hosted by Brandi Glanville, Taylor completely and totally lost it.

Eventually, this picture was merged with a viral photo of Smudge the cat, creating Woman Yelling at Cat. For her contributions to pop culture, Taylor definitely deserves to be on this list.

If you watch Susan Boyle’s very first audition for Britain’s Got Talent, you can quite clearly see that everyone is laughing at her. In fact, in his comments after the audition, judge Piers Morgan literally says, “everyone was laughing at you.”

This audition is particularly wonderful because the unemployed, never-been-kissed Glaswegian Susan Boyle doesn’t look like a polished performer. When she starts singing “I dreamed a dream,” a sort of rapture takes over the entire auditorium. She showed them!

Before Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced the wrong winner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, the same thing happened two years earlier! At the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, host Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner, leading to a very painful viewing experience.

Appallingly, Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez was crowned and celebrated before anyone noticed the error. Steve Harvey had to come back onto the stage, de-crown Miss Colombia, and then crown Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. Awkward!

In all the drama across all of the Real Housewives franchise, we still can’t get over Brooks Ayers. This man pretended to have cancer on television in front of millions of people, and basically got away with it.

Brooks Ayers appeared as the creepy other-half of OG of the OC Vicki Gunvalson. She paid to get his teeth fixed and fought with her family over her suspicious hanger-on. In 2015, Brooks finally admitted that he fabricated documents to prove he had cancer.

90 Day Fiancé sees all sorts of people crossing the world to be together, or at least give it a go. 60-year-old Jenny Slatten fell for 30-year-old telemarketer Sumit, even though he initially catfished her as model Michael Jones. Despite that, she packed up and moved to India for her happily ever after.

As it turns out, Sumit was already married to someone else. At one stage, his in-laws arrived at Jenny’s Indian apartment to wreak havoc and break up the relationship.

Look, Teresa Giudice appears various times on this list because she deserves to. Bravo has created several monsters in the Housewives franchise, and Teresa is definitely one of them (see also Nene Leaks and Vicki Gunvalson). When the RHONJ cast member jumped up to fight Danielle Staub at the reunion, host Andy Cohen had to step in.

Unfortunately for him, the incensed Teresa simply tossed him away like a ragdoll. The “daddy” of Bravo should get some security to deal with these ladies!

In the 2020 series of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, Ed Brown traveled to the Philippines to meet Rosemarie Vega. Despite an age gap and language barrier, Ed seemed to think this relationship had promise. However, he wasn’t prepared for the serious poverty that Rose and her family lived in.

In one particularly excellent scene, Ed is forced to shower with Rosemarie’s father, and a pretty dodgy-looking rat. It serves him right for saying her breath is “um not pretty.”

We really recommend watching the Scary Island trip on the early seasons of RHONY. We’ve seen it various times and still don’t totally understand what happened. Basically, it seems that cast member Kelly Bensimon was having a breakdown. She accused Bethenny Frankel of wanting to kill her, which sounds accurate, but just wasn’t.

Kelly is a rambling, squinting mess in these scenes, and never admits that anything was going on. Later on the same trip, more chaos arrives along with surprise guest Jill Zarin.

On MTV reality series Catfish, the hosts help people get to the bottom of their online relationships. More often than not, the person on the other end of the phone isn’t who they think. In a memorable 2016 episode, Spencer genuinely believes he’s been chatting with Katy Perry for six years.

Incredibly, as the evidence piles up, Spencer is still not willing to believe he’s being catfished. Instead, he guesses that Katy Perry is using a secret cellphone. It’s a tough but shocking watch.

How could we talk reality TV moments without mentioning Darcey Silva? She first appeared on 90 Day Fiancé and its spin-offs before landing her own show with her twin sister Stacey. Darcey has had plenty of car crash moments on reality TV, but we want to celebrate her pure Darcey-ness.

When she arrived in the UK to meet long-distance lover Tom on Before the 90 Days, Darce got ready in the airport bathroom. She took 45 minutes and used the most perfume any human has ever applied. A queen!

Compared with some of the other Real Housewives franchises, RHONJ features a lot of the husbands. With these large Italian families, the men are regularly involved in petty issues or full-on wars. This is particularly true of brothers in law, Joe Gorga and Joe Giudice.

The men had known each other their entire lives, but reality TV brought new layers of conflict. On one shocking occasion, things got to a head and the Joes charged at each other across a hotel.

On Before the 90 Days, Lisa Hamme travels from Pennsylvania to meet her Nigerian boyfriend, Usman. To make things a little more interesting, Usman claims he is a famous musician in his country, named SojaBoy (no relation to rapper Soulja Boy).

SojaBoy has some particularly excellent songs, including “Baby Girl Lisa.” As you might expect, Lisa is pretty uptight about Usman’s female fans. He explained, “Lisa usually attacks anybody, any lady, who puts an emoji of either symbol of love or anything like that love anything.”

Yeah, yeah, we’re back with the Giudices. But guys, they went to jail! Not just one of them, but both of them! After years of watching the OTT family and their extravagant lifestyle, Joe and Teresa’s crimes caught up with them. After trying to keep it quiet for years, the couple couldn’t hide their situation anymore.

Viewers of RHONJ watched as Joe and Teresa Giudice were sentenced to prison time. While some thought they should be kicked off the show, others enjoyed learning about the experience.

We haven’t even mentioned the ladies of Atlanta yet! They have had their fair share of huge arguments, excellent reads, and tons of tea. Where to even begin? Well, we particularly enjoyed the huge reunion drama between reality TV pros Porsha Williams and Kenya Moore.

At this reunion, Kenya loudly insulted Porsha through a bullhorn. Eventually, Porsha leaped up and attacked her. Because of all the drama, Porsha got sent home from this reunion and demoted for the following season.

We could laugh for a very long time at the thought of 90 Day Fiancée’s Paul and Karine. But we could also get very upset, because this man is not good enough for this woman. In general, when things go wrong for American Paul, he literally flees the scene.

On one occasion, he told his fiancé that he was a convicted felon before running off. When he was gone, poor Karine was mugged by someone with a machete. Do better, Paul!

Come on, we’re not going to finish this list without mentioning former Countess Luann De Lesseps. The RHONY OG has been great television from the start, initially as The Countess, and then as Lu.

Luann’s life went haywire when she rushed into a marriage with Tom D’Agostino Jr. in 2016. Her castmates had already told her that he’d been spotted with other women, but she married him anyway. Shortly after their divorce, she was arrested and charged with a felony.