Top 10 Reality TV Shows DESTROYED by Scandal
Admit it... we all love a good scandal! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most infamous reality shows that faced intense controversies, but unlike many others, couldn’t handle the unscripted drama and were eventually canceled.
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00:00Marcia, tell me, how are you feeling right at this moment in time?
00:03I'm feeling good.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most infamous reality shows
00:10that faced intense controversies, but unlike many others, couldn't handle the unscripted drama
00:14and were eventually cancelled.
00:16This is an issue that's happening right now.
00:22As a child, I had the desire to be a cop.
00:24I've had some preparation from my days of chips, but that was make-believe.
00:29This is the real deal.
00:30For six seasons, Eric Estrada played a highway patrol officer on the NBC series, Chips.
00:36Years later, TV producers sought to leverage his popularity with the reality show, Armed and Famous,
00:41where Estrada and several C-list celebrities train to become real police officers in Indiana.
00:46The show was, however, axed after just four episodes,
00:50officially because it couldn't compete with the ratings juggernaut that was American Idol.
00:53Which one will complete the final ten, tonight on American Idol?
00:58Who will it be?
01:00Tad to its troubles.
01:01During filming, police officers, alongside the cast and crew,
01:05mistakenly raided the apartment of a woman named Lindsay Clemens and handcuffed her.
01:09They later came to realize that they had the wrong address.
01:11As a result, Clemens filed a lawsuit against CBS and other defendants,
01:16seeking $1 million in compensatory damages.
01:19It'll wake you up.
01:21And I'm thinking, I better suck it up real good.
01:25Number nine, CeeLo Green's The Good Life.
01:28This reality-based series followed musician CeeLo Green and his hip-hop group, Goodie Mob,
01:32as they navigated life in Atlanta.
01:34No, of course you guys get it. You guys are smart. You guys went to co-ollege.
01:40Okay.
01:40This needs to be on TV later on today. Let's do it.
01:43But just one month after the show's first season aired in 2014,
01:46Green pleaded no contest to a charge of furnishing a narcotic
01:50and was sentenced to three of probation.
01:52This case stemmed from a 2012 incident
01:54in which a woman accused the singer of drugging and sexually assaulting her.
01:58All right, the matter is here for an arraignment and plea.
02:00Are we ready to proceed?
02:02Yes, Your Honor, we are.
02:04Shortly after his sentencing,
02:05Green made matters worse by posting controversial tweets
02:08questioning the definition of sexual assault.
02:11As criticism for the tweets mounted,
02:12TBS, which aired Green's reality show, decided they had had enough.
02:16They refused to renew The Good Life for a second season.
02:19Larry Mustel, please help me. I'm having a heart attack.
02:24Number eight, Toddlers and Tiaras.
02:26It's not hard to see why this TLC reality series sparked so much controversy.
02:31Shake your butt a little bit.
02:33Why would you even say that?
02:34Toddlers and Tiaras offered a behind-the-scenes look
02:37into the world of child beauty pageants.
02:39Much like its subject matter,
02:40the series itself was heavily criticized for what many saw
02:43as the commodification and sexualization of its young participants.
02:47Let's be honest, it's a little unnerving.
02:50Young girls, their faces painted like grown women,
02:53desperate to be told they're the prettiest in the room.
02:56This backlash started to trickle in almost as soon as the show premiered,
02:59but it still managed to run for six seasons
03:01before producers bowed to public pressure
03:03and put the show on hold in 2013.
03:05I think it's been a long trip and everybody's real grumpy.
03:10After three years off the air,
03:11Toddlers and Tiaras was brought back for one more season,
03:14after which TLC decided to cancel it for good.
03:17Number seven, Buck Wild.
03:19In the late 2000s, MTV struck gold with Jersey Shore,
03:23a show that, despite sparking controversy
03:25for its stereotypical portrayal of Italian-Americans,
03:28became wildly successful.
03:29Vinny's mom being around definitely gives you that home feeling.
03:32She brings like one piece of clothing for herself for a week,
03:34meanwhile she's bringing Vinny t-shirts, water, saucy.
03:38After it ended in 2012, MTV scrambled to find a replacement
03:42and came up with Buck Wild.
03:43Following a young group of friends in West Virginia,
03:45Buck Wild immediately generated its own wave of backlash
03:49for promoting negative stereotypes.
03:50I'm understanding they took four, five, six different takes
03:54to get him to act as outrageously as they wanted to
03:56to get it really sensational.
03:58He is steaming.
04:00What I saw is not what I see in everyday life in West Virginia.
04:03But that wasn't even what led to the show's cancellation.
04:06About two months after the first season ended,
04:08one of the stars, Shane Gandhi, went missing
04:11and was later found dead in his car
04:12due to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.
04:14You know, the West Virginia State Police Aviation Unit
04:17was prepared to actually take a helicopter over the area
04:20to assist in searching for the vehicle when they found it.
04:23Is MTV saying anything about this loss, about what happened?
04:27This tragedy initially halted production on the second season,
04:30but the show was later cancelled altogether.
04:32Number six, Paula's Home Cooking.
04:34The name Paula Deen was once synonymous with the Food Network.
04:38Welcome back, y'all.
04:39For those of you that have just tuned in,
04:42today we're having a first Saturday.
04:45The celebrity chef popularized Southern recipes
04:47and comfort food on her show, Paula's Home Cooking.
04:50But just like many ingredients that came across her table,
04:53Deen found herself in hot water in 2013
04:55after a former employee sued her for racial and sexual discrimination.
04:59During a deposition for the case,
05:01Deen admitted to having used racial slurs in the past.
05:03She later said she may have also used the word
05:06when repeating something that was said to her,
05:08adding, quote,
05:09but that's just not a word that we, as time has gone on.
05:14Although the suit was eventually dismissed,
05:15this deposition became public and brought with it heavy backlash.
05:19As a result, Deen lost several business partnerships,
05:22including her longstanding relationship with the Food Network,
05:25which essentially turned off the heat on Paula's Home Cooking.
05:27New trouble for celebrity chef Paula Deen.
05:29She lost her TV show on Friday.
05:31Now, key sponsors are looking at their options.
05:34Number five, Black White.
05:36The reality TV boom of the 2000s gave us some truly bizarre shows,
05:40and one of the most unusual was FX's Black White.
05:43My name is Bruno, and I became a black person.
05:45Co-produced by rapper Ice Cube,
05:47this short-lived series focused on one white family
05:50and one black family who,
05:51and you probably wouldn't believe it,
05:53swapped races.
05:54How, you ask?
05:55Well, each family member was put in extensive makeup
05:58to experience life from the other's perspective.
06:01I've never experienced what it's like to be treated black.
06:04I don't know what that means or entails.
06:06A transformation is definitely underway.
06:09If this sounds like a terrible idea to you,
06:11you're not alone.
06:12The show generated a lot of controversy
06:14for merely reinforcing the same racial stereotypes
06:17and prejudices it aimed to challenge.
06:19I always thought how nice it would be
06:20if I had to jump, get off the ground,
06:23leap, and slam dunk like these guys can.
06:25It's no wonder it didn't last long,
06:27taking a bow after just six episodes.
06:29Number four, The Swan.
06:31Dubbed the worst reality show ever made by Entertainment Weekly,
06:34The Swan had a concept that was basically ripped from a fever dream.
06:38It's been a month since we've seen Marcia and Sylvia,
06:40and nearly three months since they've seen themselves in a mirror.
06:44It's hard to imagine, isn't it?
06:45Each episode featured two women,
06:47who were referred to as ugly ducklings,
06:49undergoing extreme makeovers to become more conventionally attractive.
06:53One of them would then be picked as a winner
06:54and advance to a beauty pageant in the finale.
06:56Believe us, it was as ill-conceived as it sounds.
06:59Team, Marcia came to us claiming that she wanted to be invisible.
07:04Dr. Yanni, do you think she's still gonna wanna hide from the outside world?
07:06The show unsurprisingly drilled largely negative reception
07:09for promoting unhealthy beauty standards,
07:12although that didn't stop it from averaging around nine million viewers during its first season.
07:16However, by season two, the novelty wore off.
07:19The criticism only got worse,
07:21so The Swan was quietly put out of its misery.
07:23Something tells me you don't wanna be invisible anymore, Marcia.
07:26Number three, Sons of Guns.
07:28Over five seasons, Sons of Guns took viewers deep into Louisiana,
07:32where they met Will Hayden, the owner of Red Jacket Firearms.
07:36I wanna build a special occasion gun.
07:38Something that is spectacular.
07:40This is one of those guns that I've always wanted to tackle.
07:43The show revolved around Hayden's business,
07:45crafting and selling weapons to various organizations and private individuals,
07:49as well as his relationship with his daughter and business partner, Stephanie.
07:53But in August 2014, just months after the fifth season aired,
07:56their story took a dark turn.
07:58During an interview with detectives, the alleged victim said she did not report the sexual abuse
08:02because she was afraid Hayden would hurt her.
08:04Hayden was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a juvenile,
08:08prompting Discovery Channel to quickly cancel the show.
08:10At first, Stephanie stood by her father,
08:12but she later revealed that he had also assaulted her years earlier.
08:15In 2017, Hayden was convicted on multiple charges
08:19and is currently serving three consecutive life sentences.
08:21Fox 411 reached out to Discovery Network, who had no comment,
08:24and Hayden's lawyer was not able to be reached immediately for comment.
08:28Number two, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
08:30Despite the controversy surrounding toddlers and tiaras,
08:33it was popular enough to spawn multiple spinoffs,
08:35the most notable being Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
08:39Focused on Alana Thompson, one of the child beauty pageant contestants and her family,
08:43this series attracted similar criticisms as its predecessor.
08:46It was also slammed for its unflattering portrayal of the low-income family.
08:50Well, five girls and one bathroom, we're in Florence, we're getting creative.
08:55Well, this is how we wash it right here.
08:57However, none of these dented its popularity.
08:59What ultimately led to the show's downfall was the shocking revelation
09:02that Thompson's mother, Mama June, was dating a convicted thug.
09:06Mama June was dating a convicted sex offender
09:08who had assaulted one of her other children years earlier.
09:11In a statement obtained by ET, the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo Network TLC
09:15said they were, quote, re-assessing the future of the reality series.
09:18Despite having already filmed episodes for a fifth season,
09:21the show was abruptly canceled in 2017, leaving most of those episodes unaired.
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09:41Number one, 19 kids and counting.
09:44The Duggars, the family at the center of this popular TLC series,
09:48built their reputation as devout, independent Baptists
09:51with a commitment to religious family values.
09:53Budgeting for 19 people in our family is not an easy task.
09:57We get them for $1.50.
09:59We've probably been making our own laundry soap now for over a year.
10:02But that wholesome image crumbled in 2015,
10:05when an old police report involving the family's eldest son, Josh, came to light.
10:09This report indicated that between 2002 and 2003,
10:13Josh sexually harassed five girls, four of whom were his own sisters.
10:16We wanted to come out and say the truth, and I feel like we did that.
10:20And looking back, I still would have done that.
10:23I still would have said the truth of what happened.
10:25Since the statute of limitations had expired,
10:27Josh faced no criminal charges, but the fallout was severe.
10:30Over 20 advertisers pulled their support,
10:33forcing TLC to cancel the series.
10:35Though it was later revived as a spinoff title, Counting On,
10:38this, too, was axed in 2021,
10:40following Josh's arrest for possession of inappropriate material.
10:43Everybody makes their own decisions and everybody makes their own choices,
10:47but they're not the only ones that suffer the consequences.
10:50Everyone around them does.
10:52Are there any controversial reality shows that managed to stay alive despite an intense scandal?
10:56Let us know in the comments below.
10:58And coming up next, y'all,
11:01We're changing gears.
11:03We're gonna have some calamari.
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