Reality TV went too far this time! For this list, we’ll be looking at the most outrageous unscripted programming moments that crossed the proverbial line.
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00:00Tiffany, I'm extremely disappointed in you.
00:03Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:06for the top 20 times reality TV went too far.
00:10I hate myself for what I'm doing to Melissa,
00:13and it doesn't matter anything at this moment.
00:15Nothing else matters right now.
00:17For this list, we're looking at the most outrageous unscripted
00:20programming moments that crossed the proverbial line.
00:23Are you a reality show fan?
00:25Let us know your thoughts about these moments in the comments below.
00:28Long before the debacle between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars,
00:33there was one slap that was on the tip of everyone's tongue.
00:36Back in 1998, Stephen Williams and Irene McGee were contestants
00:40on the seventh season of MTV's The Real World.
00:43You gotta go back and get your sanity from where you left it.
00:45You're right, Stephen.
00:46The two had a fraught relationship, which culminated in this infamous moment.
00:51After McGee quit the show for a while,
00:54In response, Williams ran after the car taking her home,
00:57opened the door and struck her in the face.
01:00What are you thinking right here, right there?
01:02What are you thinking? What are you going to do?
01:03I hope the door's open.
01:05Surprisingly, Williams was allowed to remain on the show
01:08on the grounds that he take an anger management course.
01:11Number 19, the head-shaving incident.
01:14Top Chef.
01:15The show's most notorious head-shaving incident
01:17was in 1999, when a woman was found dead in a hotel room.
01:22Reality shows can be a bit of a pressure cooker,
01:25and that is even more the case in a culinary competition.
01:27Near the end of the second season of Top Chef,
01:30the remaining contestants wind down by getting drunk
01:32and spontaneously deciding to shave their heads.
01:35It all seems like good fun, until one of the chefs, Cliff,
01:38tries to force Marcel to do the same.
01:40Cliff wrestles Marcel out of bed,
01:42and none of the other cast members does anything to stop the assault.
01:46Seeing as how it is our last elimination challenge,
01:49I thought it would be a good idea to try to shave Marcel's head.
01:53And from there, things just basically got a little out of hand.
01:55Luckily, Marcel is able to break free
01:58and ends up sleeping on the bathroom floor.
02:00The heated situation results in Cliff getting disqualified from the season.
02:04Marcel, on the other hand, went on to finish in second place.
02:08Congratulations, you are Top Chef.
02:12American Idol has entertained audiences for years
02:15and turned many regular people into successful recording artists.
02:19At the height of its popularity in 2004,
02:21TV producers got the brilliant idea to create a spoof
02:25in search of the nation's worst singers.
02:27On our show, it's not enough for singers to be bad.
02:30They have to believe that they can do it.
02:32And that's what we're going to do.
02:34We're going to make you believe that you can do it.
02:37We're going to make you believe that you can do it.
02:39For singers to be bad, they have to believe they're great.
02:42However, they never let the contestants know this.
02:46Unsuspecting individuals performed for judges,
02:48who turned down the good singers and hyped up the terrible ones.
02:52In order to sell the premise to the live audience,
02:54producers lied that the bad singers were terminally ill people
02:57fulfilling their dying wish.
02:59The LA Times erroneously reported that it was a Make-A-Wish Foundation project,
03:03which led the show's producers to come clean about their false claim
03:07and apologize to the organization.
03:09Briggs, what do you say to people who think this show is cruel and offensive?
03:15I'd have to say...
03:18F*** you.
03:24Lifetime's Married at First Sight brings together random people who,
03:28just as the title suggests, get wedded on their first meeting.
03:32They live together for eight weeks,
03:33before deciding if they want a divorce or stay married.
03:36One of the most notorious participants was season 12's Chris Williams,
03:40who got married to Paige Banks.
03:42Right off the bat, Williams' behavior generated controversy.
03:45This relationship no longer serves me.
03:47I don't harbor any ill feelings towards you either.
03:50I just met you.
03:52And you're beautiful, by the way.
03:54You are too.
03:55He apparently pressured Banks into having sex early on,
03:58claiming that it would make him more attracted to her.
04:01He also repeatedly brought up his ex-fiancee,
04:03whose pregnancy he found out about during their honeymoon.
04:06And even arranged a meeting between the two women.
04:09Thankfully, Banks read the writing on the wall,
04:12and chose to divorce Williams on decision day.
04:14I'm sorry y'all, this is too much.
04:23There have been many heated confrontations on The Real Housewives of New Jersey
04:27since it premiered in 2009,
04:28but arguably none has gone as far as this unforgettable altercation
04:33from the season one finale.
04:35During a dinner party hosted by Teresa Giudice,
04:37Danielle Staub brought up the salacious book Cop Without a Badge,
04:41and the rumors involving her.
04:43This led to a heated moment that culminated in Giudice
04:46angrily flipping over the restaurant table
04:48in front of all the families and their children.
04:56She even had to be restrained by the production crew.
04:59Years later, it's still regarded as one of the most iconic Real Housewives scenes.
05:03But even Giudice admits that it wasn't her proudest moment.
05:20When this toddlers and tiaras spinoff series hit the air,
05:23fans knew they were in for a wild ride.
05:25Say what you will about this outrageous show,
05:28but the Thompson family was unafraid to be their candid selves on camera,
05:31even when it came to the gross stuff.
05:33In a season one episode, Mama June uncovers her forklift foot,
05:38which was run over by, you guessed it, a forklift.
05:41Gnats begin to swarm as soon as her foot is out in the open.
05:44It's a disgusting reveal.
05:46Even by Here Comes Honey Boo Boo standards,
05:48we're not surprised that June was hesitant to bare her souls.
05:52The 13th season of The Bachelor ended with Jason Mesnick getting down on one knee
05:57and popping the question to Melissa Rycroft.
06:06However, things took a shocking and abrupt turn during the After the Final Rose special,
06:11which aired immediately after the season finale.
06:13After the final rose, Jason's wife, Melissa Rycroft,
06:17The second you start having doubts,
06:19not talk to me about it and say, let's work on this, let's fight,
06:22you know, I just put a ring on your finger and that means forever,
06:24so let's see what we can do to fix this.
06:26It's, I'm just going to pull away.
06:28Whoa, things are different and I don't even want to try.
06:30Do you see where I'm a little irritated?
06:33Mesnick decided to call off his engagement to Rycroft
06:36in hopes of exploring a relationship with runner-up Molly Mullaney.
06:39You put a ring on Melissa's finger.
06:41You told Melissa you loved her.
06:43You put a ring on Melissa's finger.
06:45You told Melissa you loved her and wanted to spend the rest of your life with her,
06:49but you don't want to fight to see if that can work.
06:52This would be heartbreaking for anyone if done in private,
06:54let alone in front of millions of viewers.
06:57Although the audience watched their proposal and breakup happen in less than an hour,
07:01in reality, both events were filmed about six weeks apart.
07:05Mesnick and Mullaney ultimately got married and welcomed a daughter in 2013.
07:13America's Next Top Model.
07:15Well, things sure got a little heated there, didn't they?
07:17This infamous moment from cycle four of America's Next Top Model
07:21came after the first ever double elimination
07:23of contestants Tiffany Richardson and Rebecca Epley.
07:26While Epley cried as she hugged the other girls,
07:28Richardson seemed to take her elimination quite differently,
07:31much to Tyra Banks' dismay.
07:34Stop it!
07:37I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this.
07:39When my mother yells at this, it's because she loves me.
07:42I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you.
07:45How dare you learn something from this?
07:48Banks voiced her disappointment and exploded at Richardson,
07:51uttering the words that are now enshrined in the pop culture lexicon.
07:55You roll in her eyes and you act like this because you've heard it all before.
07:58You've heard it all before. You don't know where the hell I come from.
08:00You have no idea what I've been through.
08:02The outburst seemed totally unwarranted for the situation
08:06and apparently only humiliated Richardson.
08:08Who claims that what was shown on TV was only a fraction of Banks' actual tirade.
08:13We only hope that she never in her life yelled at a girl like that again.
08:22You cannot talk about reality shows with ridiculous premises
08:25without bringing up Are You Hot?
08:27Dubbed the search for America's sexiest people,
08:30this show brought together people who thought they were hot
08:32to be evaluated by a panel of judges on their looks.
08:36Each contestant has already appeared before our panel of experts
08:39and been pre-judged for this round to see if they're hot or if they're not.
08:43That's it. That's the whole show.
08:44It is mind-boggling that at some point in the production pipeline,
08:48nobody stopped to think,
08:49we probably shouldn't go ahead with this.
08:52Judges would rate contestants based on their appearance
08:54and then leave it up to the viewers at home to vote for their favorites.
08:57Thankfully, the dreadful series only lasted one six-episode season
09:01before it was deemed not sexy by ABC and canceled.
09:05I don't want to cry on your TV, but, um, but it's all right.
09:12I'm fine. I know I'm hot.
09:19In 2009, Megan Hauserman of Rock of Love fame got her own reality show,
09:23which featured supposedly rich single men vying to make her their trophy wife.
09:28Just three episodes into the season, however,
09:30Megan Wants a Millionaire was canceled
09:33after it was revealed that one of the contestants, Ryan Jenkins,
09:36was the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
09:40Apparently, shortly after filming Megan Wants a Millionaire,
09:42Jenkins got married to Jasmine Fiore, a model whose life he ultimately ended.
09:47Megan is definitely into me, and I'm definitely into her,
09:51and I'm definitely not going home tonight.
09:52Before he could be apprehended, Jenkins fled to Canada, where he took his own life.
09:57Police this morning are looking into whether her ex-husband,
10:00TV star Ryan Jenkins, acted alone.
10:02They're checking to see if he had help disposing of her body,
10:05and if he had help escaping to Canada.
10:08The network subsequently came under fire for failing to properly vet the contestant who,
10:12it turned out, already had a history of crimes against women.
10:16Ryan, please come here.
10:18Excuse me, guys.
10:22It's good of you to choose me first.
10:24This card is for you.
10:26Your credit is good with me.
10:27The guys are super jealous of me at this point.
10:29I got called out first, so I'm golden.
10:36The second season of VH1's Flavor of Love gets off to a pretty foul start.
10:40After the first set of girls are sent packing,
10:43Flav notices a terrible smell emanating from the room.
10:46After we do the toast, I was like, what is that f***ed up smell in my crib, yo?
10:53It is quickly revealed that one of the remaining contestants,
10:56Something, had relieved herself right in the open.
10:59While we never see this actually happen,
11:02Something claims that she just couldn't hold it in any longer,
11:04and had to do the needful while the elimination ceremony went on.
11:07She had reportedly informed the production crew that she needed to use the bathroom,
11:12but because they had to finish filming the elimination, she wasn't allowed to go.
11:16I take this deep breath and what is that smell?
11:21Number nine, the death of Captain Phil Harris, Deadliest Catch.
11:26Premiering on the Discovery Channel in 2005,
11:28Deadliest Catch focused on a group of crab fishermen in Alaska
11:31navigating their dangerous jobs on deck.
11:34One of the most beloved captains on the show was Phil Harris,
11:37who had devoted his entire life to the grueling profession.
11:40Harris had had a few health challenges shown on the series,
11:43all of which led up to the season six episode in which he suffered a stroke.
11:46He was airlifted to a hospital,
11:48where he underwent surgery and showed signs of recovery,
11:51only to pass away several days later.
11:53This entire process was put on display on the reality show,
11:57which for some may have felt too personal and exploitative on the part of the network.
12:02Number eight, the Louds split up, An American Family.
12:05Regarded as one of the first examples of reality TV,
12:09An American Family polarized audiences when it premiered in 1973.
12:18I can't understand people that feel the need to go to college.
12:22The show followed the lives of the Louds, a middle-class California family,
12:26and drew over 10 million viewers every week.
12:29One of the most shocking moments on the series was when mother of the home, Pat,
12:32asked her husband Bill for a divorce on air.
12:35Your father is all involved somewhere else,
12:39and there isn't somebody you can run to when you need help.
12:44Then what are you going to do?
12:46She also asked Bill to leave the house,
12:48and handed him her lawyer's contact details on the way out.
12:51While this may seem ordinary now,
12:54back in 1973, it was virtually unheard of for a TV program.
12:58An American Family went arguably the furthest such a show could have gone,
13:02and essentially birthed the reality TV genre.
13:05Number seven, patient's death aired without family permission, New York Med.
13:10In April 2011, 83-year-old Korean War veteran Mark Chanko
13:15was hit by a garbage truck and eventually succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
13:19Chanko's final moments were filmed as part of the ABC docu-series New York Med,
13:23and aired on its first season in August 2012.
13:27There was just one problem.
13:28Neither Chanko nor any of his family members
13:31had given the documentary crew permission to film his death and air it on the show.
13:34I watched him die before my eyes,
13:38without so much as a heads up from the show saying
13:41this episode will be broadcast at such and such a time.
13:44Chanko's widow Anita watched her husband utter his final words for the first time
13:49on a TV screen alongside millions of other viewers.
13:52While the doctor was telling us of our husband's death,
13:55he was miked, and that was filmed.
13:58She filed a lawsuit against ABC and the hospital,
14:01and had the segment in question removed by the network.
14:04Number six.
14:05Producers pay members of a hate group.
14:08Escaping the KKK.
14:10A documentary series exposing hate in America.
14:13If the KKK had a target, it would be me.
14:17Although this documentary series never made it to air,
14:20it generated a lot of controversy after it was announced.
14:23Originally titled Generation KKK,
14:25the series was reportedly about members of the infamous hate group trying to break away.
14:29Amid the backlash the series announcement faced,
14:32A&E changed the title to Escaping the KKK,
14:35and partnered with the Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change
14:38to provide additional context for the series.
14:40However, less than three weeks before its intended premiere,
14:44it was revealed that third party producers went against A&E's policies
14:48by paying participants for access.
14:50As a result, the network decided to cancel the series,
14:54pulling it from its scheduled programming.
14:56Number five.
14:57Kutcher punks Timberlake.
14:59Punked.
14:59Back before Ashton Kutcher was a husband and father,
15:02he was a young celebrity hosting a show about pranking his friends.
15:05These pranks ranged from the outlandish to downright hilarious,
15:08and were all on our favorite celebrities.
15:11But in one instance, he definitely went a little too hard on his pal Justin Timberlake.
15:15In this featured prank,
15:17fake IRS agents are called to Justin Timberlake's Hollywood home
15:20to repossess all of his belongings.
15:23This happens all the time to good people.
15:24This cruel joke ended with Timberlake in tears and frantically making phone calls.
15:29We're all for a little fun and games here at WatchMojo,
15:31but taking somebody's dogs seems a little harsh.
15:36Number four.
15:37Jeff bites off lizard's head.
15:39Naked and afraid.
15:40In this dramatic fight to the death,
15:43survivalist Jeff Zausch took out his built-up hunger on unsuspecting prey.
15:47After hours of hunting for a tiny lizard in the heat of Madagascar,
15:51Zausch finally captures the little rascal,
15:54and in a truly Ozzy Osbourne-esque display,
15:57bites off its head.
16:02The lizard did serve as an extravagant meal for starving naked people in the wild,
16:07so that is a pretty good legacy for a little lizard to leave behind.
16:10Zausch went on to compete on Naked and Afraid XL.
16:14Number three.
16:14Repo Man threatened with gun.
16:17Repo Games.
16:18Repo Games was a short-lived reality show that featured real-life individuals
16:22whose cars were repossessed,
16:24but who were then given a chance to win them back through a game of trivia.
16:27One of the more dangerous entries on our list,
16:30in this episode,
16:31a man becomes so aggravated that he pulls a gun on Tom Dutton.
16:35Now, this host had faced some seriously difficult situations before,
16:39but having a gun pointed straight at your face takes the cake.
16:42Dutton later stated that his whole life flashed before him,
16:45but luckily, security was on the scene and quick to diffuse the tension.
16:49Number two.
16:50Children dressed wildly inappropriately.
16:53Toddlers and tiaras.
16:54Some parents would do anything in their power
16:57to keep their young ones from growing up too fast,
17:00but this concept seems fairly impossible in the world of toddler pageantry.
17:07One of the most shocking examples came in this show,
17:09when a child came out in Madonna's infamous cone bra.
17:12That incident can only be beat by the mother who thought an appropriate outfit
17:16was one similar to the one Julia Roberts wore
17:18when she played a sex worker in Pretty Woman.
17:21Both incidents were met with outrage from audience members and judges alike.
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17:44Number one.
17:45Snooki sucker punched.
17:46Jersey Shore.
17:47In the first season of this notorious show,
17:50things rapidly got a little much, and physical.
17:53During a night of inebriation,
17:55Snooki got into an altercation with a man who swiftly sucker punched her in the face.
18:01The infamous meatball of New Jersey could sometimes be hard to get along with,
18:05due to her outgoing personality and drunken antics,
18:08but this hit came way out of nowhere.
18:10Thankfully, Snooki was not severely hurt, and the man was arrested.
18:15Do you agree with our picks?
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