The 15 Worst Reality TV Shows Ever Made

May 14th, 2008 · 27 Comments · Tagged as Reality TV

Love them or hate ‘em, reality shows are here to stay – and growing in number each year, it seems. With the good come some downright terrible ideas, where it’s tough to understand how the idea ever got greenlit. I’m guessing alcohol was involved with most of these, our list of the 15 worst reality TV shows ever made.

15. Temptation Island (2001-2003)

Here’s one horrible reality show that actually got three seasons on TV. Four unmarried couples travel to an island where various temptations lure them from their relationships. Can the couples’ love for one another stand up to the distractions of hot guys and girls? It’s hard to remember in today’s climate where an abortion like “The Moment of Truth” can be presented without anyone blinking an eye, but Temptation Island was actually pretty controversial in its time. Pretty quaint, right?

14. The Real Housewives of Orange County (2006-present)

For some reason, people can’t get enough of this one? Super rich vapid housewives… who would think anyone would care?

13. Farmer Wants A Wife (2008)

This is one of those, “can’t believe someone got this on television” kind of shows. In Farmer Wants a Wife, a Missouri farmer is looking for love among 10 city girls – looking to see which lady will fall in love with both the farmer and the country livin’.

12. My Super Sweet 16 (2005 – present)

Here’s one of the worst reality show offenders, that literally everyone seems to hate, and yet it apparently manages to pull enough viewers to stay on the air. Do overprivileged teenagers really have such blown up birthday parties? And why do their parents shell out all that cash? This is the sort of thing you want to watch if you’re looking to get annoyed enough to pop a blood vessel.

11. Britney & Kevin: Chaotic (2005)

Bad, bad, bad. All around bad. This is basically where Britney finally got all the way over that shark she’d been jumping for a couple of years. Who would have guessed these two would break up?

10. Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire (2000)

Oh wow, remember this one? Who doesn’t want to get paired up with skeevy multi-millionaire Rick Rockwell and be married on the show? Maybe Darva Conger, who was the unlucky winner of this reality flop. The marriage was later annulled. And once again, its hard to remember but this was seriously huge news at the time it was aired.

9. The Littlest Groom (2004)

The Littlest Groom was a weak attempt at a stand out among dating shows — think The Bachelor – on a smaller scale. The wannabe groom had to look for his love match among fellow little people and women of average size.

8. My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé (2003)

This one was a doozy, with school teacher Randi Coy agreeing to play along with a fake wedding to slobbish fiancé Steve for a cash prize. Randi’s unsuspecting family bit their tongues and ended up with $100,000 each. Randi was awarded $500,000 for pulling it off and learning that her fiancé was actually an actor.

7. Who Wants To Marry My Dad (2003-2004)

What if you played matchmaker for your single dad? Would it be a successful reality show? Nope, not so much in this case either. The dad’s four grown children had to shop for a step-mommy among 12 ladies in one of the creepiest things to ever hit TV.

6. Boot Camp (2001)

Boot camp is rough, as this reality show proved. Rougher still was the lawsuit Mark Burnett slapped on the series for having a format similar to “Survivor.”

5. Forever Eden (2004)

Uh, yeah. A reality show without an ending. How dumb is that? Contestants who could stay longer, would earn more money – whether a few weeks or a few years. And how about that giant apple for the eviction ceremony?

4. Mr. Personality (2003)

The fact that this show was hosted by Monica Lewinsky should have been a huge red flag. One woman chooses her perfect mate – sight unseen, courtesy of dorky masks — by personality alone.

3. The Swan (2004)

Both morally reprehensible and downright awful, contestants on The Swan underwent life changing alterations to live up to the beauty standards set by society - which meant plenty of plastic surgery and medical improvements until they became beautiful – and unrecognizable.

2. Married by America (2003)

Who wouldn’t want to call in American Idol-style and vote for their favorite love match to be married on live television? This one’s as stupid as they come.

1. Armed & Famous (2007)

One of the worst reality shows just for the sheer ridiculousness of it, Armed and Famous put semi-famous celebrities on the streets as cops in Muncie, Indiana. This show actually resulted in a lawsuit being filed after a woman claimed her home was wrongfully entered as she was questioned about people she did not know. LaToya Jackson and Jack Osbourne were named in the suit. Sadly, one of the highlights of Armed and Famous was watching LaToya Jackson get tasered. Check the video below:

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27 responses so far ↓

KATHYJOLLY // May 14, 2008 at 8:15 pm

I AM NOISEY I KNOW YOU ARE HERE IS SOME DIRT
junior // May 14, 2008 at 8:39 pm

i thought my big fat obnoxious fiance was funny.
Valerie // May 14, 2008 at 8:46 pm

No Paradise Hotel? WEAK.
Mike // May 14, 2008 at 8:56 pm

I actually got to do a pre-screen for Armed in Famous at MTV in Vegas…. the show looked terrible then, and I didn’t even know it ever made it to air!!
CelebrityCatch.tv // May 14, 2008 at 9:02 pm

I’m glad you put Swan in the list. I think it could have been in number 2 spot. The show is just unacceptable and pushes people to rather become unrecognizable than accept who they are.
Paul Horne // May 14, 2008 at 9:16 pm

Littlest Groom was great, and Big Fat Obnoxious was one of the all time best reality shows - sounds like the author never ever watched these shows.
Suko // May 14, 2008 at 9:25 pm

I’m kind of surprised that Boot Camp made your list. I actually it stood out as one of the best and was hoping for a second season.

Compare to, say “Who Wants to be a Superhero”.

Oh well.
jbelkin // May 14, 2008 at 9:57 pm

Think you forgot a bunch - the lie detector show is idiotic as was the one where they chained people together … there are at least 6 others you forgot.
Ethan // May 14, 2008 at 10:22 pm

Come on, no Are You HOT?

That had train wreck all over it. I don’t know how multiple people actually signed off on it without getting fired.
Michael // May 15, 2008 at 1:15 am

“Farmer Wants A Wife” is a very famous show in Germany. Here it’s named “Bauer sucht Frau” … it’s stupid, but the people love the show
Darren // May 15, 2008 at 2:11 am

What about “Who’s Your Daddy?” even though only the pilot episode was broadcast… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who’s_Your_Daddy?_(TV_series)
Kevin Farley // May 15, 2008 at 5:52 am

My wife and I loved Boot Camp! “Save the drama for your mama and PUSH”! We quote it to each other all the time. I thought it inspiring, fresh, and fun.
Torris // May 15, 2008 at 7:49 am

The best thing about these shows was making up new names for them.

Paradise Island = Slut Whore Island
The Littlest Groom = Midgets in Love
Swan = Who Wants to Look Like a Tranny?
Steve Grenuts // May 15, 2008 at 7:55 am

I don’t understand how a dating show with multiple Dr. Doom clones could be on this list. How is that not a great idea? All they had to do was change the name form Mr. Personality to ‘Who Wants to Marry a Megavillian?’. And apparently that’s where they went wrong *cough* *cough*
Cliff // May 15, 2008 at 7:56 am

How did “Shot of Love” “Rock of Love” “Flavor of Love” “I Love New York” not make it onto that list? Cmon, these shows are awful to begin with, doubly awful when you find out theyre actually doing a sequel, isn’t the whole point of the show NOT to have a sequel?!
William Hudgens // May 15, 2008 at 9:26 am

What about the “My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss”. It was on Fox back in 2004?
CJ // May 15, 2008 at 10:27 am

Bachelorettes in Alaska? Hey Paula? Victoria Beckham: Coming to America? Charm School? Boy Meets Boy? (hey I’m all for a gay dating show, but not this one, the walking talking gay stereotype that it was), and most importantly, Laguna Beach and it’s spin offs? Those were/are terrible terrible reality shows.
b1ck // May 15, 2008 at 11:20 am

These were all pretty retarded, cannot forget about Flavor of love, Tila tequila - shot at love, thats amore….like do people seriously watch this shit?
Randy // May 15, 2008 at 11:34 am

What about I Want to be a Hilton?
Jimbo Jones // May 15, 2008 at 11:41 am

my supersweet 16 is an excuse to show 15/16 year old pussy (BOOYAH!)without having a show called “16 year old pussy”
tony // May 15, 2008 at 12:18 pm

no Amish in the City???!!!!
Ben // May 15, 2008 at 12:44 pm

I thought MBFO Fiance was was extremely funny and enjoyable to watch and should be on a ‘15 BEST Reality Tv Shows’ list. Did the author even watch it?

The follow-up MBFO Boss was not as good but it was still a must-tune-in kind of show for me. Very enjoyable.
Mark // May 15, 2008 at 11:19 pm

I liked Britney & Kevin … scratch Kevin. It was quite interesting.
Matt // May 17, 2008 at 10:46 am

“There’s something about Miriam”? Creepiest one ever.
Vince // May 20, 2008 at 2:02 pm

I agree with this list, all of these shows were pretty ridiculous. They are just put out to make a few dollars. Some may be worth watching but they need to stop making so many of these shows.

Most of these shows are not reality just real people. I remember the days when the only reality shows were MTV’s Real World now theres so much out there I don’t know how people have the time to watch them all. Tivo I guess.

They need to focus on making decent sitcoms and television shows and get rid of all this reality madness.
leggylove // Jun 13, 2008 at 4:49 pm

YES! Armed & Famous!!!

Haha, has anyone seen WeeMan on Celebrity Circus? Between him and Christopher Knight (who also happens to be on Celebrity Circus) they have to win the award for being on the most reality shows.

but I love it
Joey Scott // Jun 15, 2008 at 12:01 am

CELEBRITY CIRCUS - Watch it!! You have to experience the Wee Man - NBC Weds at 9:30 PM - you will not be disappointed. Truly an experience…not to be included on this list…