Top 10 Reality TV Stars That Haven't Gone Away
#10: Omarosa
Omarosa found herself a national enemy when she starred in the first season of “The Apprentice.” Despite being a good player, she earned the ire of fellow castmates and viewers for her manipulative strategies and caustic personality. She subsequently starred in two more iterations of “The Apprentice” before randomly being appointed as the director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison under Trump’s administration. After departing the White House in early 2018, Omarosa wrote a book about the Trump administration titled “Unhinged” and returned to reality TV, this time starring in the first season of the American “Celebrity Big Brother.”
#9: Farrah Abraham
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Farrah Abraham is famous for one thing – being pregnant. She first came to the public’s attention on “16 and Pregnant” before starring in four seasons of “Teen Mom.” Following the conclusion of that show’s initial run in 2012, Farrah sort of just… wandered. She released an album and a memoir, starred in “Couples Therapy” (despite not having a partner), and released a sex tape for $1 million. Luckily for her, the reality TV work picked back up. Since her fabled sex tape, she has starred in “Teen Mom OG,” “Celebrity Big Brother,” “Marriage Boot Camp,” “MTV’s Single AF,” AND “Ex on the Beach.” Now that’s a lot of reality TV work… and all for being pregnant!
#8: Jon & Kate Gosselin
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Kate and her husband Jon became stars in 2007 thanks to their reality show “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” a show that documented the lives of the couple and their eight children. However, everything came crashing down in 2009, and the couple went through a messy divorce. Since then, Jon has kept quiet working as a DJ and line cook in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Kate continued starring in the reality show, now renamed “Kate Plus 8,” until 2017. Two years later, she began a new reality show called “Kate Plus Date” which follows her adventures in the dating world. If there’s one thing we’ve learned here, it’s that Kate’s name will always be rhymed with whatever it is she’s doing.
#7: Spencer Pratt & Heidi Montag
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This couple, lovingly named Speidi, originally rose to prominence on MTV’s “The Hills.” Their relationship, along with their constant bickering with Montag’s friend Lauren Conrad, quickly became the show’s biggest talking points. Following the conclusion of “The Hills” in 2010, Speidi has starred in a ridiculous number of reality shows. These include (*whew*) “Celebrity Big Brother,” “Celebrity Wife Swap,” “Marriage Boot Camp,” “Celebrity Big Brother” (yes, again), and “The Hills: New Beginnings” (yes, another “Hills). And that’s not even counting their documentaries “Speidi: Scandals, Secrets and Surgery” and “After Shock: Heidi & Spencer.” But hey, at least they’re still together after all this time! That’s gotta count for something, right?
#6: Mama June
Mama June is a character, that’s for sure. Her and her idiosyncratic Southern family rose to prominence on “Toddlers & Tiaras” before scoring their own spin-off - the infamous “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.” Despite being widely ridiculed, it aired for four seasons before being canceled amidst reports that Mama June was dating a convicted child molester. Following the cancellation, Mama and Sugar Bear appeared on “Marriage Boot Camp” and Mama started her own reality show called “Mama June: From Not to Hot.” It chronicles her massive weight loss transformation, and the third season aired from March to May of 2019.
#5: Tiffany ‘New York’ Pollard
Pollard rose to prominence in the late 2000s by starring in the VH1 dating show “Flavor of Love.” Her run was so popular and successful that she scored her own spin-off, “I Love New York,” which aired from 2007 to 2008. This, in turn, spawned spin-offs of its own – “New York Goes to Hollywood” and “New York Goes to Work.” Since then, New York has gone to work on “Celebrity Big Brother,” “The Next:15,” “Famously Single,” “Scared Famous,” and “Braxton Family Values.” In 2019, she appeared as a guest judge on an episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Now that’s how a reality TV star stays relevant over a decade!
#4: Bethenny Frankel
Nothing kicks off a reality TV career better than “The Real Housewives.” For example, Kim Zolciak-Biermann has been riding her fame from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” since 2008. That same year, Bethenny Frankel began starring in “The Real Housewives of New York City,” the eleventh season of which aired throughout the summer of 2019. The success of that show has spawned an entire Bethenny Frankel extended universe, including a documentary called “Bethenny Ever After,” a talk show simply titled “Bethenny,” and a Bravo show called “Bethenny & Fredrik.” Are you as sick of hearing the word “Bethenny” as we are of saying it?
#3: The Situation
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Despite nearing his 40s, The Situation is still going strong. Real name Michael Sorrentino, The Situation became popular through “Jersey Shore,” that MTV reality show about partying, fighting, and shamelessly embodying Italian-American stereotypes. The Situation appeared on the show until 2012 and was busted for tax evasion two years later. He starred in a few shows following the charge, including “Marriage Boot Camp” and “Worst Cooks in America” before heading to federal prison in 2019. He and Snooki are currently starring in “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation,” because the world needed another “Jersey Shore” starring aging reality personalities!
#2: Paris Hilton
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Paris Hilton is one of the OG reality stars and talking about her really takes us back! A modeling career and sex tape helped launch Hilton into the mainstream, and she began starring in a reality series with Nicole Richie called “The Simple Life.” And while her heyday has long past, Hilton continues to appear on TV. She starred in a few episodes of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” served as a celebrity guest on “The Grand Tour,” and began hosting a Viceland series called “Hollywood Love Story” in 2018. On top of that, she makes bank for simply showing up at clubs and events, where she is paid upwards of $300,000 per appearance.
#1: The Kardashian & Jenner Families
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The Kardashians and Jenners are like the Paris Hilton of the 2010s, and perhaps even more controversial. Fittingly, Kim Kardashian actually worked as Paris Hilton’s stylist back in the day before a sex tape made her famous. And wouldn’t you know it, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” began that very same year, a show that is somehow still on the air after seventeen seasons and over 250 episodes. The show has also launched a myriad number of spin-offs encompassing the wider family, including the “Kourtney and Kim” series, “Rob & Chyna,” “Life of Kylie,” and “Flip It Like Disick.” Even Kanye West has been sucked into the Kardashian circle, all-but ensuring that this family will never not be relevant.
