Contrary to what some may believe, there is a distinct talent to being a reality star. The appeal of reality TV is that you’re watching, at least in theory, real people go about their situation. These aren’t actors—any of us could potentially be on a reality show. But, through continued exposure (and a healthy dose of producing and editing) certain story tropes emerge, and people begin to fall into the categories of heroes and villains.
Offering your life up and being willing to become a villain is a skill apart from being on reality TV. While the people we think of as reality antagonists may be noted for their egos or their aggression or their general disconnect from reality, there has to be some humility, too. At best, these stars aren’t playing characters so much as caricatured versions of themselves. They have given their names over to villainy, more than any fictional character ever could. Here, in alphabetical order, we look at some of the best who have ever done just that.
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Abby Lee Miller (Dance Moms)
Abby Lee Miller (Dance Moms)
Cruella de Vil, Ursula the Sea Witch, Miss Hannigan—some of pop culture’s finest villains are the ones whose chosen targets are children. Add Abby Lee Miller to the bad bunch: the demanding choreographer made many a tiny dancer cry, as well as their mothers, with her intensely militant teaching style during eight seasons of the Lifetime reality series Dance Moms. “Everyone’s replaceable!” she was known to bark at single-digit-aged students like Maddie Ziegler and Chloe Lukasiak, hot-headed outbursts that eventually landed Miller a lawsuit for assault and emotional distress from a young former pupil. That case was dismissed, but it wouldn’t be the dance instructor’s last run-in with the law: she went to jail for tax evasion in 2017. [Christina Izzo]
3 / 24
Big Ed (90 Day Fiancé)
Big Ed (90 Day Fiancé)
There are hundreds of characters in the 90 Day FianceBefore The 90 Days in 2020 and has been a franchise mainstay ever since. During his first run, he lied to his partner about wanting kids, told her she had bad breath, and complained about her impoverished living conditions. Viewers were so put off they even started a petition. Since then, Ed has appeared in multiple spin-offs with his on-and-off girlfriend, Liz. Despite breaking up 11 (!) times, the two reportedly tied the knot in August. [Luke Gralia]
4 / 24
Blac Chyna
Blac Chyna
The Kardashians may be the queens of reality TV at this point, but Keeping Up With The KardashiansRob & Chyna was short-lived both as a couple and a series, but the drama spun out past E! and into the court system when Chyna sued the family for defamation and interfering with her contract. Ultimately, the Kardashians won that battle too. [Drew Gillis]
5 / 24
Christine Quinn (Selling Sunset)
Christine Quinn (Selling Sunset)
When Christine Quinn announced she wasn’t returning to Netflix’s Selling Sunsetthat is the charity event”), explosive workplace confrontations (see: pretty much any scene involving Christine and series star Chrishell Stause) and fierce fashion moments (this is a woman who wore a pair of $50,000 black gowns to her own wedding, remember) we’ve come to expect from the Oppenheim Group’s resident troublemaker? The series simply hasn’t been the same without the extravagant chaos Quinn regularly roused among the rest of the realtors—thank the TV gods, then, for those Netflix binges. [Christina Izzo]
6 / 24
Danielle Staub (The Real Housewives Of New Jersey)
Danielle Staub (The Real Housewives Of New Jersey)
There were standout characters from the first three editions of The Real Housewives franchise—Vicki Gunvalson of The Real Housewives Of Orange County, Bethenny Frankel of The Real Housewives Of New York City, Nene Leakes of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta—but the Bravo behemoth only got its first real, down-and-out villain in Jersey girl Danielle Staub. The button pusher was a main cast member on RHONJ
7 / 24
Gordon Ramsay (Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares)
Gordon Ramsay (Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares)
Gordon Ramsay comes by his reputation for perfectionism and anger honestly: The former footballer turned Michelin-star chef cropped up on British shows about unbearable and awful bosses years before he’d ever set foot in Hell’s KitchenBoiling Point, which brought the Ramsay persona to the masses). And yet, that same “bad boss” shtick (and its attendant platform for Ramsay’s natural showman tendencies) made him a hugely cathartic, occasionally terrifying draw over the years, whether he was screaming at reality show contestants for burning their risotto, or lambasting failing restaurateurs for failing to live up to any kind of standards on his various Kitchen NightmaresKitchen Nightmares can get a little schmaltzy when its star goes sweet, but anyone who’s ever watched his gentle treatment of the kids on Masterchef Junior will grasp that the man knows exactly when, and where, a “villain” is needed—or not. [William Hughes]
8 / 24
Jax Taylor (Vanderpump Rules)
Jax Taylor (Vanderpump Rules)
The thing you need to know about Jax Taylor is that he was the most deranged person in the deranged ménagerie that is Vanderpump Rules. This isn’t hyperbole; he failed a sociopath test administered by armchair psychiatrist Stassi Schroeder during the show’s fifth season. Jax wages psychological warfare on every cast member short of Lisa Vanderpump, and half the time, it doesn’t even seem like he’s aware he’s doing it. Jax seems to have a complete obliviousness for how his actions will impact others. It probably sucks to be around him, but watching it from a distance was pretty compelling. [Drew Gillis]
9 / 24
Jill Zarin (The Real Housewives Of New York)
Jill Zarin (The Real Housewives Of New York)
Jill Zarin is something of a tragic figure. The Real Housewives Of New York City
10 / 24
Johnny Bananas (The Challenge)
Johnny Bananas (The Challenge)
They say villains aren’t born—they’re made. When it comes to The Challenge baddie Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, that origin story seemingly began when Chris “C.T.” Tamburello famously humiliated him during 2010’s The Challenge: Cutthroat, effortlessly slinging Johnny across his spine and wearing him as a human backpack during an elimination. From then on, Bananas’ ruthlessness throughout the competition franchise cranked up to 11. He’s burned many a bridge in his 21 seasons and seven wins, the most of any challenger, but no blindside was quite as catastrophically cruel as his treatment of partner Sarah Rice in 2017’s Rivals III: Instead of splitting the season’s winnings equally with his teammate, Devenanzio wickedly chose to pocket the $275,000 all for himself. [Christina Izzo]
11 / 24
Kristin Cavallari (Laguna Beach)
Kristin Cavallari (Laguna Beach)
It was a reality feud for the ages. In one corner, you had “nice girl” Lauren Conrad, the narrator of MTV docu-soaps Laguna Beach and The Hills, and the prism through which we saw every other character on both series. In the other? “That would be Kristin,” Lauren haughtily introduces Cavallari in Laguna’s premiere. “Wherever Kristin went, drama followed. She thinks she’s hot. Okay, I guess she is, but she can’t stand me.” The root of the rivalry was, of course, a boy—popular senior Stephen Colletti—and though Conrad and Cavallari have since fessed up to the producer-led manipulations of their yearslong beef, both gamely played their parts. Feisty, filter-free and always at the ready for an argument, Kristin Cavallari manufactured a high-school mean girl to rival the best of them. [Christina Izzo]
12 / 24
Lisa Rinna (The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills)
Lisa Rinna (The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills)
You may hate her methods but, dammit, they get results. It was easy—and fun—to root against Lisa Rinna, but her presence brought an undeniable energy to The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills. As the Los Angeles-adjacent ladies grew into the show, they became more stagnant, often willing to sit around and do basically nothing. Rinna would never let that happen; she is a television professional, after all. Sure, sometimes she may have gone too far—did she really need to say on national television that Yolanda Hadid didn’t actually suffer from Lyme disease, but Munchausen’s?—but during her tenure on RHOBH, she always made sure there was something to talk about. As she is wont to say, “Own it!” [Drew Gillis]
13 / 24
Phi Phi O’Hara (RuPaul’s Drag Race)
Phi Phi O’Hara (RuPaul’s Drag Race)
RuPaul’s Drag RaceAll Stars 2, but ended up being the villain all over again. She has since quit drag, but now has a popular Twitch stream. [Luke Gralia]
14 / 24
David “Puck” Rainey (The Real World)
David “Puck” Rainey (The Real World)
The famous premise of The Real World was to have seven strangers move into a house to “stop being polite and start getting real.” The problem with David “Puck” Rainey is that he made things a little too real during his time on 1994’s The Real World: San Francisco. The third season was a notable one not only for the diversity of the roommates—especially the inclusion of openly gay, HIV-positive activist Pedro Zamora—but also for the hurricane of fuckery that Puck unleashed in the townhouse. Beyond having very questionable hygiene (see: frequently blowing “snot rockets,” sticking his fingers in communal peanut butter, etc), the “bad boy” bike messenger revved up drama with everyone in the cast, but most notably Pedro, with the ensuing storm of abuse and animosity leading to Puck being voted out of the house halfway through the season. [Christina Izzo]
15 / 24
Omarosa Manigault Newman (The Apprentice)
Omarosa Manigault Newman (The Apprentice)
There would be bigger villains to emerge from The Apprenticethrice during her Apprentice appearances, Omarosa parlayed that villainy into a decades-spanning career with far more damaging results. [Christina Izzo]
16 / 24
Richard Hatch (Survivor)
Richard Hatch (Survivor)
Many reality show baddies achieve their “villain” status by antagonizing their fellow contestants; far fewer by victimizing the show itself. And yet that’s exactly what happened when business consultant, amateur fisherman, and nigh-constant nudist Richard Hatch waltzed onto the set of the first Survivorthought they had created a meritocracy about survival skills in harsh conditions; Hatch grasped that they’d actually concocted a small-scale, high-stakes political simulator. In the end, the snake successfully devoured the rat—even if, years later, the “snake” was unable to come back for at least one later season because he neglected to pay taxes on his Survivor winnings. Whoops! [William Hughes]
17 / 24
Roxxxy Andrews (RuPaul’s Drag Race)
Roxxxy Andrews (RuPaul’s Drag Race)
Season five of RuPaul’s Drag RaceAll Stars 2 managed to rehabilitate her image … sort of. While she was much more likable as a character, she did much worse as a competitor, falling into the bottom almost every week. Today, though, fans still regard her as Drag Race royalty. [Luke Gralia]
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Shaina Hurley (Love Is Blind)
Shaina Hurley (Love Is Blind)
She was a creationist. He was an atheist. Can I make it any more obvious? Yeah ... it was clear from the start of Love Is Blind season two that Shaina and Kyle weren’t a good match. But what’s a girl to do when the guy she actually likes is seemingly way more interested in another woman? String another man along, accept his proposal, and then ditch him in Mexico, of course! Poor Kyle even followed Shaina back to Chicago to try to work things out, even though Shaina seemed way more interested in trying to break up Shayne and Natalie so she could swoop in and get together with Shayne. Unsurprisingly, her plan completely failed, and Shaina ended the season alone. [Jen Lennon]
19 / 24
Simon Cowell (American Idol, The X Factor)
Simon Cowell (American Idol, The X Factor)
Every reality competition show has one categorically mean judge who seems nearly impossible to please. I don’t mean to be rude, but … none of them have managed to outdo the original. On American Idol, Simon Cowell had a knack for making contestants run out of the room crying. Who could forget such classic zingers like, “You were absolutely dreadful,” or “You couldn’t win this competition if you were the only person in it.” Cowell may have left Idol long ago, but he and his new face continue to judge America’s Got Talent. [Luke Gralia]
20 / 24
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag (The Hills)
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag (The Hills)
The Hills still publicly shading Conrad. [Luke Gralia]
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Tiffany “New York” Pollard (Flavor Of Love)
Tiffany “New York” Pollard (Flavor Of Love)
In all of the memes that her charismatic yet temperamental presence has inspired over the years—from “Bye Pumkin!” spitefulness to Beyoncé-related disbelief—one indelible image sums up Tiffany “New York” Pollard’s time on the VH1 dating competition Flavor Of Love: a GIF of her wielding a steak knife, manicured French tips tapping against the blade and a knowing smirk set on her face. It was that combination of cocksure posturing (she proudly proclaimed herself the house HBIC, a.k.a. “Head Bitch in Charge’’), caustic edge and comedic timing (“Good morning, good morning. Not you, you can choke’’) that made Pollard’s animated villainy transcend TV history and live on forever in internet infamy. [Christina Izzo]
22 / 24
Tom Sandoval (Vanderpump Rules)
Tom Sandoval (Vanderpump Rules)
The facial hair alone should have tipped us off: a villain is only as bad as his worst mustache and the follicular nonsense that Tom Sandoval unveiled on his face in Vanderpump Rules’ seismic 10th season was just the clue we needed that something sinister was underfoot in the SUR Cinematic Universe. By now, the world is well aware of the specifics of #Scandoval—Sandoval’s shocking months-long affair with Rachel (née Raquel) Leviss, the “best friend” of his partner of nearly a decade, Arianna Madix—but the sheer scope of the infidelity and Tom’s seeming lack of remorse about the whole ordeal made it clear that the disgraced star’s villainy stretched further than we thought, a long history of gaslighting, exploitation and egotism hurled against his past romantic partners and Pump Rules castmates. You know you’re a bad guy when you’re making Jax Taylor and James Kennedy look good. [Christina Izzo]
23 / 24
Tyra Banks (America’s Next Top Model)
Tyra Banks (America’s Next Top Model)
America’s Next Top Model has had its fair share of villains—there was Jade “This isn’t America’s Next Top Best Friend” Cole, Lisa Who Peed In A Diaper, and Monique the fake bedwetter. But somehow, none of them have come close to Tyra Banks herself. Banks’ completely bonkers screaming match with cycle four contestant Tiffany is the stuff of internet legend, but she also once tried to make cycle six’s Danielle close the gap in her teeth to make her more attractive, showed a shocking lack of empathy when Adrienne was groped on the way to a go-see in cycle one, and didn’t really seem to care all that much when Keenyah was sexually harassed by a male model at a photoshoot in cycle four. Repeat viewings of ANTM, especially the early seasons, have been eye-opening for a lot of people. Maybe it’s actually Tyra who needs to learn something from this. [Jen Lennon]