Top 10 Cruel TV Shows That Got Cancelled

It was not the first sham dating show on American television, but “I Wanna Marry ‘Harry’” was definitely one of the more unnecessary ones. The contestants were not initially told who their mysterious bachelor would be, but the American women cast to compete were immediately taken with the Britishness of it all. The castle, the staff, the accents, and more were all meant to point them in one clear direction: they were trying to romance Prince Harry. The “prince” was actually Matthew Hicks, who is not royal. According to at least one former cast member, several dishonest tactics were used behind the scenes to make the women believe he really was Harry. In the end, the show was canceled halfway through the season.

In 2003, Fox aired a TV special that saw humans competing in physical feats against wild animals. Needless to say, animal advocates, and much of the general public, were outraged. The controversy didn’t stop them from airing a second special the next year. However, when “Man vs. Beast” was adapted for British television, there was a huge backlash. Though filmed, the show was scrapped indefinitely and never aired any of its six episodes. Animal cruelty has gotten high-profile shows canceled, but it’s a wonder this one ever made it to air in America, let alone twice.

Dr. Terry Dubrow may be a renowned plastic surgeon, but his contribution to television here is less than stellar. On “Bridalplasty,” his services were part of the prize package. The series pitted twelve women against each other to win their ideal nuptials and cosmetic procedures. Plus, each episode, whoever won that week’s challenge would also win a single procedure, such as a nose job or implants. Some of these contestants almost stumble into these moments of clarity about how problematic it all is. It might work as satire, if it weren’t so upsettingly real. The show was lambasted by critics and professional plastic surgeons, hemorrhaged viewers, and never got a second season.

This Indian game show lasted four seasons before it finally went off the air. Contestants were forced to square off against designated jerks who would distract them from completing tasks through abusive tactics like insults and humiliation. Physical violence occurred at least once. Indeed, the show achieved infamy for an incident involving contestant Ravi Bhatia. One of the show’s jerk performers, Esha Bhaskar, slapped Bhatia in the face. When Bhatia retaliated, many of the show’s workers attacked him. The fight was edited out of the episode, but footage leaked online and caused a national stir. Although the show continued for 3 more seasons afterward, its manipulative and demeaning format has placed it among the worst reality shows around.

A very weird and very offensive so-called parody of American TV, this mercifully short-lived British sitcom turned Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun into an archetypal sitcom couple. Many didn’t think the show’s premise could even be called satire. Not only was it completely unfunny, “Heil Honey I’m Home!” was essentially making a mockery of the real man’s atrocities, and was widely seen as a failure of humor, irony, and taste. Things could’ve been worse, though – we could’ve been forced to watch it in its entirety. Luckily for us, it was canceled after one episode, and has gone down as a low point in television history.

Game shows from the early 2000s were a different breed. Contestants on “The Chamber” were subjected to extreme heat and cold, among other things, while strapped to a chair while their vital signs were monitored by medical professionals. Each round, the conditions of the chamber would worsen. It became clear this was a program designed to push people to their physical and mental limits. Even the first host couldn’t take it, quitting during a rehearsal when he saw the game in action. When “The Chamber” premiered in 2002, people were horrified that we had sunk so low as to watch people go through such horrid treatment on television for a payday. Given the reaction and relatively low viewership, Fox canceled it after three episodes.

After the runaway success of “American Idol,” it was inevitable that more shows would come along to make superstars out of ordinary people. The hopeful singers of “Superstar USA” were counting on that. The series ran for about a month in 2004, and featured tone-deaf and inexperienced singers vying for a recording contract. If all this wasn’t unethical enough, “Superstar USA” was a two-way sham. To keep them from giving away the secret, the audience basically were informed that they shouldn’t mock the singers because they were gravely sick, and this was a contest for charity. The final reveal is cringe to the nth degree.

This show feels like what would happen if you left the principal from “Matilda” in charge of programming. Seen as something of a “Survivor” for kids, “Kid Nation” dropped forty young people in New Mexico and let them build their own society. Accidents and near-disasters were generally averted, but stories about accidentally drinking bleach and cooking mishaps have made the show somewhat infamous in retrospect. If the idea wasn’t cruel enough, the production team was accused of taking advantage of loopholes regarding child labor practices. In the end, “Kid Nation” wasn’t worth the trouble, and CBS gave it the chop after its first and only season.

Scam dating shows are one thing, but this short-lived British series crossed too many boundaries to name. Miriam Rivera was a trans woman recruited for a program about a group of men looking for love. Of course, the producers didn’t mention Miriam was transgender, and she wasn’t allowed to tell the contestants. They saved that fact for the end of the season. Playing on offensive, harmful ideas of transgender people being deceptive, “There’s Something About Miriam” was a complete violation of ethics and taste. Needless to say, the show never got any follow up seasons, finishing for good after its 6 episodes aired. Miriam enjoyed brief stardom afterward, but sadly passed away in 2019.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Axed After One 90 Minute Special, This Show Tasked a Woman with Finding Her Biological Father

Contestants Answer Increasingly Embarrassing Questions in Front of Their Loved Ones

Contestants Were Tricked Into Believing They Were in Space

A show that refers to its contestants as “ugly ducklings” is probably not operating from a place of compassion. “The Swan”’s premise took everyday women and peddled the message that self-love and confidence can only come after extensive plastic surgery and weight loss. Then, the “winning” women from each episode competed against each other in a beauty pageant. The most repugnant thing about the show was its constant moralizing. It was as though it felt it was a public service to play into peoples’ insecurities. What happened on the set was bad enough, but some contestants’ troubles started or worsened after filming had wrapped. Despite strong debut ratings, the series was canceled after two seasons.