The amount of drama depicted is a big factor regarding the ratings for any Reality TV Show. The more drama, the higher ratings are. Sometimes, the drama can be so intense between just two or even more members of a Reality TV Show cast that it causes rivalries to form. Some of these rivalries, regardless of how long ago it happened, are so iconic that they have fans still talking about them today.
Listed down below are 10 of The Most Memorable Rivalries in the History of Reality TV:
After getting dumped by Jillian Harris on Season 5 of The Bachelorette, Jake Pavelka (who finished seventh overall) was selected to be The Bachelor of Season 14. On the final episode, he controversially gave his final rose and proposed to Vienna Girardi, who was the villain that season. Both seemed to be in love with each other until they broke up in June 2010 (three months after the finale aired). In a rare move, the two sat down with Bachelor Franchise Host Chris Harrison for an interview about their breakup, a special which aired in the middle of Ali Fedotowsky’s (who finished fourth overall on Jake’s Season) season of The Bachelorette.
In what is one of the show’s messiest and most dramatic breakups ever, Vienna accused her former fiancee of being a “Fame Whore” while Jake accused her of being unfaithful to her throughout their engagement. At 2:43 in the video below, Jake yelled at Vienna to “Please stop interrupting [him]”, which caused her to burst into tears and storm out of the interview. The breakup interview has caused Jake Pavelka to be ranked among one of the franchise’s worst Bachelors and most hated contestants.
The rivalry between the formerly engaged couple intensified when both were part of the Season 2 cast of Bachelor Pad, the spinoff and precursor Reality TV Show to Bachelor in Paradise. On the show, Vienna was in a relationship (which had been going on prior to filming) with Kasey Kahl (Ali’s Season). The relationship between Girardi and Kahl and her existing feud with ex-fiancee Pavelka stirred up a lot of drama that season on Bachelor Pad.
Zarin and Frankel were close friends when The Real Housewives of New York City premiered in 2008. However, in 2010, the two had a major falling out that reportedly started months before filming for Season 3 began. The former accused the latter of not being a friend when she needed her the most. Zarin’s accusation came when Frankel was achieving immediate success and fame as a result of her Skinnygirl lifestyle brand.
Their falling out was documented for viewers to see throughout Season 3 (see the video below from the Season 3 Reunion special) which including tons of fights and accusations of leaking stories to the press. Most notably, Zarin told Frankel on speaker-phone that she was done with her as a friend. The former friends didn’t speak to or see each other for several years (both left the show sometime after Season 3, though Frankel returned in Season 7) until January 2018. Jill’s husband Bobby passed away due to cancer and Bethenny made a surprise appearance at the funeral and even gave her personal condolences to her former friend. In a recent interview, Zarin has stated while things between her and Frankel are at a much better place since their dramatic falling out, their friendship will never be the same.
What makes this Reality TV Rivalry unique is that all of the drama wasn’t captured by cameras for viewers to see. Most of the fighting between Derek Hough (on the right) and Maks Chmerkovskiy (on the left), two of the most popular professional dancers on Dancing with The Stars, was done off-camera and reported by the media. Although both have denied that there was a feud between them, the media has learned how much the two disliked each other.
The thing that started the feud between the two pros was when Maks had a brief relationship with Hough’s sister Julianne (who was also a former pro on the show). Although Julianne didn’t want anything serious with Maks, she began a three-year relationship with then-boyfriend Ryan Seacrest, which made Maks furious and it was claimed that he spread rumors that she cheated on him with Seacrest.
Then, Maks got into his famous spat with and told Judge Len Goodman he should “retire” after the latter heavily criticized the routine he and his Dancing with the Stars Season 13 Celebrity Partner Hope Solo performed in Week 6. When asked about Maks’s remarks to Goodman, Hough stated, “I had to laugh about that [comment]. I was looking at the plaque upstairs and…well, never mind.” The plaque Hough was referring to was the one that listed all of show’s winning couples (At the time, Derek had won his first three of his eventual six Mirrorball Trophies while Maks wouldn’t win his first and only Mirrorball Trophy until a few seasons later on Season 18). In addition, Maks has stated several times that the only reason why Hough has won so many Mirrorball Trophies is due to favoritism from the show’s producers, which Hough has constantly denied.
Paris Hilton (on the left) and Nicole Richie (on the right) were best friends and their friendship was depicted on the former’s Reality TV Show The Simple Life. However, the two friends had a falling out and the tension so so bad that the had to film Season 4 of The Reality TV Show separately. Luckily, the two reconciled when filming for Season 5 began. Although the two are on better terms today, their friendship isn’t as close as it once was.
On both Seasons 9 and 17 (the first and so far only All-Stars Season) of the hit Reality TV Show Hell’s Kitchen, Elise butted heads with everyone and was a major source of drama. Her time on both of her seasons has resulted in her being one of the show’s most hated contestants of all time and in the history of Reality TV.
The one person who witnessed and suffered from Elise’s drama the most was Jennifer, who competed on both Seasons 9 and 17 with her. While the feud between the two during Season 9 wasn’t as intense as the one Elise had with fellow Carrie (see #5 below), Jennifer was one of several members on the Red Team who attempted to break up many of the fights Elise started. One time, Jennifer ended an argument between the red team by yelling at Elise (who caused it) to “Shut up for five F***** seconds”. Jennifer did this in front of not only the other members of the red team but also in front of the blue team and Chef Ramsay himself.
However, the rivalry between them started after Elise betrayed Jennifer (when there were five chefs left and the episode where Jennifer got eliminated) by manipulating Will and Paul (the eventual runner-up and winner of Season 9 respectively) to tell Chef Ramsay that Jennifer was the weakest link. This caused Jennifer to be sent home in what was one of the show’s most controversial eliminations ever.
Flash forward to the All-Star Season, Jennifer stated that Elise was “The last person she wanted to see” when the latter arrived. Jennifer wasn’t involved in a lot of the drama that season but was one of the chefs who attempted to break up the many fights between Elise and Michelle, the eventual winner. The two rivals even had a temporary truce (which Jennifer only agreed to for the sake of being on Elise’s good side). When both were eliminated in the same episode right before the Black Jackets Stage (Elise finished seventh overall and Jennifer sixth overall), Jennifer stated in her exit interview (in what was the quote of the season and one of the show’s most iconic quotes ever) “I still beat Elise”.
Many fans of the hit Reality TV Show would consider the beef between Elise and Jennifer to be more dramatic since both competed on Seasons 9 and 17 (The All-Stars Season). However, the reason why it ranks lower is because of how intense Elise’s rivalry with their fellow Season 9 competitor Carrie (who finished eighth overall on Season 9) was.
The rivalry between Elise and Carrie is perhaps one of Hell’s Kitchen greatest ever, in addition to one of the most memorable in the history of Reality TV. Both butted heads from the very first episode. Although Carrie had the passion and heart to be a great cook, she was viewed as a weak link by Elise due to her inconsistent (mostly poor) performances the entire season. Although Elise was the source of almost all drama on that season’s Red Team, she constantly picked on Carrie, and although the latter defended herself, their arguments annoyed the hell out of everyone.
Although neither made the final two, their rivalry played a huge role in the outcome of season as Will (the one all viewers thought was going to win) won the final challenge and got to pick first for his brigade for the final dinner service. Will manipulated the team selections in a way that resulted in Paul (the other finalist) having both Elise and Carrie on his team, hoping their feud would cause Paul’s dinner service to crumble. However, to the surprise of everyone (including Chef Ramsay), Paul (after threatening the two rivals) somehow managed both Carrie and Elise effectively and the two didn’t fight one during the dinner service for the first time that season. As a result (in addition to Paul’s passion and Will’s dinner service going poorly during the entree stage), Paul won Season 9 in an upset.
Conrad and Montag were best friends ever since they met at freshman orientation at The Academy of Art University in San Fransisco. When viewers saw the first season of The Reality TV Show The Hills, they saw how close the duo’s friendship was. However, on Reality TV Show’s second season, the friendship between Conrad and Montag began to deteriorate when the latter began dating her eventual husband Spencer Pratt.
Despite Lauren’s attempts to warn her friend that her new boyfriend was a ‘Suckish’ person, Heidi ended up choosing her boyfriend over her best friend. Their iconic fight on The Hills‘s Season 3 Premiere “You Know What You Did” saw Lauren ultimately ended her friendship with Heidi after she suspected that Montag and Pratt were the ones who leaked and fabricated rumors to the press of an existing sex tape of Conrad and her ex-boyfriend Jason Wahler. The feud between the former friends was depicted on every season after that episode aired until Conrad departed the Reality TV Show after its fifth season.
The rivalry between Annie Duke and Joan & Melissa Rivers occurred on Season 2 of the hit Reality TV Show The Celebrity Apprentice. Although this feud was mostly between Duke and the elder Rivers, the role that Joan’s daughter Melissa played will all be explained later on in this section.
All three ladies were initially on the same team before Donald Trump switched celebrities around from both the men’s’ and women’s teams. While Annie remained on what was the original women’s team, Joan was transferred to what was the original men’s team. After the first swapping of both teams by Trump is when the rivalry started between the poker player and the late comedian.
Now, the role that Melissa plays in the feud between Annie and Joan is that she was constantly caught in the crossfires between the two. When the first shuffling of the teams happened, Melissa also remained on the original women’s team with Annie. Reflecting back on that season of the Reality TV Show, I feel quite sorry for Melissa. I couldn’t imagine being in her shoes and having to decide whether to side with your own teammate and your mother’s biggest rival (Annie) or your own mother and fellow competitor on the other team (Joan).
One highlight between of Annie and Joan that season includes the latter comparing the former to Hitler. During the same spat, Piers Morgan, the winner of the previous season who served as a guest judge on the episode, stated that the bickering between Annie and Joan made his rivalry with Omarosa (See #1 below) on Season 1 look like “A Tea Party.
Another highlight was Melissa’s firing (see the second clip below) (which is one of the most memorable firings of the show and one of the most memorable Reality TV Moments ever). The younger Rivers’s ouster meant that she finished sixth overall. Although the mother and daughter pair were on separate teams, Joan was angry about her daughter’s firing as she accused Annie and Brande Roderick (who finished fourth overall) of conspiring against Melissa. This lead to both Rivers going on foul mouth tirade. Joan almost quit the Reality TV Show, but thank god she didn’t as she went on win Season 2 of The Celebrity Apprentice! Guess who the runner-up was? Her biggest rival Annie Duke!
The reason why this Reality TV Rivalry ranks so high compared to the rest (except for #1) is because of how recent it played out for viewers across TV Screens.
On the most recent season of The Bachelorette, Luke P. was the villain and didn’t get along with the rest of the men vying for Bachelorette Hannah Brown’s heart. While his intentions were questioned by the others during Week 2 where he famously declared he was “Falling in love with Hannah”, the incident that isolated him from the others was during the Week 4 Rugby Group Date when he body-slammed and kneed Luke S. in the head.
Besides that incident, he displayed signs of toxic masculinity and indicators of an emotionally abusive relationship. Despite these red flags and warnings from the other men, Hannah still kept him around each week. He caused fights and drama with every guy in the house. Two of the main fights he caused were in Week 6 when he went crazy after fellow contestant Garrett (his biggest rival) went naked bungee jumping with Hannah on a one-on-one date. He later slut-shammed Hannah for it and after Garrett confronted him, he sparked a huge fight with Garrett again that caused the other guys to get involved. The other major fight was in Week 7 (see video below) where Luke P. famously got all up in Garrett’s face, yelling at him and dropped bologna on his lap.
The bachelorette finally sent Luke P. home during the overnight dates (his overnight date was the last one of the four) after she felt that he was slut-shaming her for sleeping with the guys. The villain later made a dramatic return to the rose ceremony and his refusal to take no for answer resulted in Hannah to lift the rose stadium and move it away from him.
The second feud from The Celebrity Apprentice to make this list, the rivalry between Omarosa and Piers Morgan on the first season of The Celebrity Apprentice is not only one of the biggest rivalries from President Trump’s former show, but it is also one of the most memorable rivalries in the history of Reality TV!
Throughout Season 1 of The Celebrity Apprentice, the two rivals constantly were at each others’ throats, despite being on different teams initially. Things only intensified and got much worse between the two when in the middle of the season, Trump decided to move some of the members from both teams to the other. From this initial shuffle, both Omarosa and Piers were put on the same team. During one of their fights, Piers snapped at Omarosa after she brought up his previous marriage and how his children would be ashamed of him. Although their team won the task, the tension was so bad that Piers told Trump he never wanted to work with Omarosa again. After telling Trump to either move one of them onto the other team or fire one of them that week, Trump decided to transfer Piers to the other team. Piers ended up winning the season while Omarosa finished sixth overall. The clip below shows every time the two rivals fought over the course of the season.
Years later, the beef between the two wasn’t over as seen on the first episode of Season 6 (The All-Stars Season) of the hit Reality TV Show. Omarosa was one of the 14 returning celebrities competing that season. Although he wasn’t a contestant, Piers returned as one of Trump’s rotating advisors that season and served as one for the first episode. In the middle of the boardroom, a strong argument broke out between the two rivals, resuming their iconic feud from the first season. The argument between Omarosa and Piers Morgan got to the point where all of Omarosa’s fellow teammates (mostly Claudia Jordan and Dennis Rodman) stepped up to defend her.
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