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- Netflix
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- ABC
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20 Controversial On-Screen Reality Show Moments That Caused A Stir Off-Screen
Everyone loves drama, but it's even better when it's someone else's mess. Then, there's no one around at brunch to get their feelings hurt by the gossip!
No wonder reality television is so popular - with stranger than fiction storylines, bizarre, and sometimes controversial, concepts, and over-the-top characters, it's the perfect escape from everyday life. And thanks to social media and tabloids, we can get close to the stars of each show without really knowing them.
But unlike actors, reality show stars have to answer for their behavior after the cameras stop rolling. Sometimes, their on-screen shenanigans can have major impacts on their relationships, friendships, and careers. Plus, producers and editors are egging on sticky situations to transform into viral, “OMG” moments.
Still, it's those wild on-camera scenes - from the first ever “slap heard ‘round the world,” to backstabbing strategies on high stakes competition series, to a dating show contestant using eye drops to seem more emotional, to the devastation in The Bachelor, Season 22 - that keep us coming back for more, debating the latest he-said, she-said over eggs and mimosas and sharing hilarious memes.
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- Peacock
Show/Season: Below Deck Down Under, Season 2
The On-screen Drama: After a night of heavy drinking, Luke Jones was kicked out of castmate Margot Sisson’s bedroom after he tried to crawl into her bed while she slept. He was fired the next morning. Another castmate, Laura Bileskalne, was also fired after a similar incident that same night with Adam Kodra. She was removed from his bedroom by producers after he repeatedly set boundaries and told her he wasn’t interested.
The Off-screen Fallout: Margot spoke out on Instagram after the incident, expressing her gratitude for the castmates and producers who stepped in to help.
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Show/Season: Survivor: Game Changers, Season 34
The On-screen Drama: Jeff Varner went after castmate Zeke Smith at Tribe Council, asking, “Why haven’t you told anyone you’re transgender? What I’m showing is a deception.” The rest of the tribe was quick to come to Zeke’s defense, and host Jeff Probst swiftly eliminated Varner, responding, “We don’t need to vote, just grab your torch.”
The Off-screen Fallout: Varner was fired from his North Carolina real estate job after the episode aired, according to Greensboro News & Record. Meanwhile, Probst commented to Entertainment Weekly, “You just don’t do that to someone… It was one of the most raw and painful studies of human behavior that has ever happened on Survivor.”
Varner, who realized his mistake pretty immediately, said 10 months later, “I have spent 10 months stewing in this awful, horrible mistake I made… But I don't want to spend two minutes talking about my experience because this isn't about me. This is about Zeke. And I can only profusely apologize.” Varner also said that he'd apologized to Zeke several times, and Zeke “continually forgives [him].”
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Show/Season: Perfect Match, Season 2
The On-screen Drama: Notorious reality TV player Harry Jowsey claimed (once again) that he'd turned over a new leaf when he got together with single mom Jess Vestal (originally from Love Is Blind Season 6). Despite his declarations of love, he got cozy with another contestant, Melinda, at a mixer. Afterwards, the rest of the house was suspicious that the relationship had developed into something more. But when Melinda admitted they had kissed, Harry said she was “making sh*t up” and called the accusation “fake news.” “I did not kiss her. That was a deepfake,” Harry claimed in a confessional, while spouting that Melinda was only after her “15 minutes."
The Off-screen Fallout: A few episodes later, Netflix came in with the receipts, sharing audio from the fated mixer day that proved Harry was lying. Fans were not forgiving. They called Harry a “nasty nasty man” with “clinically insane behavior,” a “trash bag,” and a “30 year old man with the emotional maturity of a child.”
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Show/Season: The Real World: Seattle, Season 7
The On-screen Drama: Irene McGee had just quit the season and was on her way out of the house, when she decided to leave a parting gift for housemate Stephen Williams - by outing him as gay. Stephen responded by following Irene to her friend’s car, which was waiting outside the apartment, wrenching open the door, and landing a hefty slap on Irene’s face as she drove away.
The Off-screen Fallout: “People still recognize me every single day,” Irene wrote in a retrospective for Vulture. “It’s one of the meanest things I have ever done to another person in my life,” she admitted, while adding that MTV “never stopped finding excuses to re-air [the slap]... I had terrible nightmares for weeks, seeing a huge hand coming at my face and then staring at the camera crew who did nothing more than film while a female got assaulted in front of them.”
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- The CW
Show/Season: America’s Next Top Model, Cycles 4 and 13
The On-screen Drama: On two different seasons, the models were tasked with switching races and some of them were even put into blackface. “The challenge here really is taking on the persona of that other ethnicity while in the photography and owning it,” Jay Manuel, who delivered the challenge on Cycle 4, told the models.
The Off-screen Fallout: “My jaw dropped so hard it’s no longer attached to my body,” one viewer wrote on TikTok in 2020, after clips of the show started going viral years later. Jay also expressed his discomfort with the photo shoot and said he was scared of speaking up and “just told to execute.” Host Tyra Banks had apologized to viewers back in 2009, but in response to the more recent backlash, she posted to X, “I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices.”
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Show/Season: The Challenge: Rivals III, Season 28
The On-screen Drama: After a grueling finale with $275,000 on the line, Johnny Bananas and his partner, Sarah Rice, climbed to the top of the literal mountain and finished first. But when Johnny had the opportunity to keep the entire pot for himself - leaving Sarah with nothing - he took it. “There is no way that I could have made it to a final, and won a final, without Sarah as my partner,” Johnny admitted on camera. “But I need to look after myself and invest in my future so I’m going to go ahead and take the money and run.”
The Off-screen Fallout: Despite getting “cremated” on social media, Johnny reflected years later that he would do it all over again. “That was retribution and I’m a vindictive b*stard,” he said, referring to an even earlier season when Sarah had stabbed him in the back. “The reason that twist was put in place was because of me and Sarah… [The producers] knew either I was going to take [the money] from her, or she was going to take it from me.”
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