Reality TV has been a major genre for decades. Although most of us think of MTV's The Real World and Road Rules as the first reality TV shows, the genre actually dates all the way back to series like Candid Camera, which first hit the airwaves in 1948. These days, reality shows are as ubiquitous as primetime dramas, and they are a part of most Americans' everyday lives. That really didn't happen until the early aughts, though, when shows like The Bachelor and Survivor debuted.
Along with those long-running favorites, shows like Paris Hilton's The Simple Life and subsequently, Keeping Up With the Kardashians really catapulted the entire genre into another stratosphere of popularity. In those days, all of us were so obsessed with reality TV, we'd watch every single new show we could, just out of curiosity. So of course, production companies have continued to do their best to churn out a spate of new reality shows every season, even today. Seriously, so many bizarre shows that no one ever asked for (or needed) have made it to our TV screens — it's crazy.
Recently, the upcoming series The Activist, which features Usher, Priyanka Chopra, and Julianne Hough, got so much bad press over its concept, which was to pit six activists against each other for the chance to attend a global summit of world leaders. Can you say, bad taste? It would have been a massive waste of money, too, so now CBS is reworking the entire show.
But the backlash did get us thinking about some of the other terrible reality TV shows we've been subjected to over the years. Keep scrolling to see the ones that rank as the craziest of all time.
'Joe Millionaire'
Deception at its finest! The series Joe Millionaire premiered in 2003, when the popularity of reality TV was really on the uptick, and the entire premise was honestly awful and totally unethical. In it, a working class guy pretended he had inherited tens of millions of dollars, hoodwinking 20 female competitors who thought they were competing for the affections of a rich guy.
'I Wanna Marry Harry'
Nope. That's not really Prince Harry (or Prince William), though he does look just like a combination of the two. Somehow, an entire group of American women were convinced that this guy actually was Harry and that they were competing for a chance to marry him on the reality TV series. We can't imagine how disappointing it was when they found out the truth. (And we're sure Meghan Markle would like this show erased from the annals of TV history.)
'Mr. Personality'
Did you remember that Monica Lewinski once hosted a reality show? We sure didn't, but it's true. In the truly terrible Mr. Personality, a group of bros competed for the affections of a very attractive twentysomething — but she was only allowed to judge them based on their personalities. The problem? None of the contestants were really all that interesting. Plus, she couldn't see their hair or the rest of their faces, but she could still see eyes and stature, so the entire idea was flawed from the get-go.
'Average Joe'
Yet another dating-based reality TV flop, it seemed like there was absolutely no thought put into the concept of the series Average Joe. Despite the fact that it was all about an average woman choosing between average men (um, isn't that the same as real life?), the show managed to hold on for four seasons. Bored, much?
'Married at First Sight'
We're not going to say Married at First Sight is terrible — though some of the early seasons were questionable — but it is absolutely wild. The entire concept of signing up for a reality show with the idea of potentially marrying a complete stranger is so insane, but we just can't look away.
'90 Day Fiancé'
Similarly, we're absolutely shocked at the success of 90 Day Fiancé. It's basically the reality TV version of mail-order brides, and it's nuts to think that everyone is OK with this. Honestly, though, we think a lot of people are hooked on this show because it's like watching a train wreck.
'Forever Eden'
Imagine a reality show in which the contestants never have to go home. Yeah, we're not sure how that works either. In fact, it actually didn't. The 2004 dating competition Forever Eden was canceled after just one season. It was similar to Paradise Hotel, except the contestants could stay at the resort for years.
'The Swan'
On The Swan, women who were considered unattractive underwent three months of transformations, often including plastic surgery. The show then culminated in them competing in a pageant-style contest. We know, it sounds totally heinous — and it absolutely was. So objectifying!
'Whisker Wars'
Nope, this one wasn't about adorable cats. Whisker Wars was actually a reality TV series in which men competed for the most impressive facial hair. Apparently men all over the world enter their beards in competitions, so back in 2011, one American decided to form a team and turn his journey to win the World Championship Competition into a reality show.
'American Candidate'
Imagine choosing a candidate for the US presidential election based on the winner of a reality TV series — it's totally insane. But that was the idea behind Showtime's American Candidate, which ran for just a single season in 2004, with the goal of selecting a "people's candidate" for the election that November.
'Who's Your Daddy?'
Who's Your Daddy? was an absolutely bizarre reality TV competition in which a woman was expected to figure out who her biological father was out of a group of 25 total strangers. She would win $100,000 if she managed to guess correctly. That didn't happen, though, since the show only made it one episode.
'Stylista'
The 2008 series Stylista was actually upsetting. It took the whole The Devil Wears Prada idea and applied it to real people by putting them in front of snotty fashion experts to compete for the chance to become an assistant at a fashion magazine. The challenges were completely humiliating.
'Farmer Wants a Wife'
Another strange one from the CW, Farmer Wants a Wife followed 10 women growing weary of life in the big city as they competed for the affections of a rural farmer in the hopes that they'd fall in love and get married. Like, why not just move, get a job, and find love the normal way?
'Scream Queens'
No, we're not talking about the 2015 TV series starring Emma Roberts and Lea Michele. There was actually a VH1 reality TV competition with the same name that aired between 2008 and 2010, in which a group of female actors competed in a bunch of horror-themed challenges for the chance to be a scary movie star. The challenges included super creepy things like pretending to be possessed.
'The Phone'
Around the same time, VH1's sister channel, MTV, tried to get in on the movie-themed reality show trend too. It developed a series called The Phone, in which contestants went head-to-head in a slew of challenges inspired by action movie plots, without being able to prepare in advance. Sounds super dangerous!
'Bridalplasty'
This could not get any weirder! In 2010, E! aired a reality show that was kind of a mash-up of Extreme Makeover, Bridezillas, and Big Brother. A group of brides-to-be lived together and vied for the chance to win not only their dream wedding, but whatever plastic surgery they wanted before said wedding.
'I Survived a Japanese Game Show'
This reality TV competition was actually really fun, but that didn't make it any less bonkers. On ABC's I Survived a Japanese Game Show, 10 Americans traveled to Japan to compete in an actual Japanese-style game show, which usually involve contestants completing wild stunts. The winner got $250,000. This one was just wacky for the fact that Japanese game shows by definition are wacky.
'Splash'
We can't even fathom why anyone ever thought this was a good idea. Back in 2013, ABC aired a reality show on which so-called celebrities competed in a professional diving competition. Even being hosted by Olympian Greg Louganis couldn't save this one, which had an entirely random concept to start with and was then plagued by injuries.
