Top 10 Exact Moments That Changed Reality TV Forever
Reality TV was never the same after these moments. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the landmark reality TV moments that shaped and defined an entire genre.
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00:00 "This island is pretty much full of only two things, snakes and rats."
00:06 Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the landmark reality TV
00:11 moments that shaped and defined an entire genre.
00:15 "Talk to me, tell me your name."
00:19 Number 10.
00:20 The kindest reality show ever comes to America.
00:23 The Great British Bake Off.
00:26 American competition reality shows, particularly cooking shows, can be intense.
00:31 When Bake Off finally arrived stateside, albeit under the alternative title The Great British
00:37 Baking Show, it was a massive breath of fresh air.
00:40 "Maybe I was just a bit arrogant about the fact that I was going to be good at this,
00:43 seeing the competition."
00:45 Here was a show about competitive amateur bakers who were just as sweet as the confections
00:50 they made.
00:51 Not only that, but instead of milking them for trauma, the judges and hosts were good-humored
00:56 and actually wanted them to succeed.
00:58 "This person obviously had a bit of time to do a bit of piping."
01:01 "It looks straight from the 1970s, doesn't it?"
01:04 "I can't remember."
01:05 Of course, the show also introduced us to the horrors of a soggy bottom.
01:09 "You know what I'm going to say about that?"
01:11 "No."
01:12 "No soggy bottom."
01:13 "Oh, thank you."
01:14 Most importantly, gentle and hilarious tone produced likable winners, cheeky banter, and
01:20 incredible, sometimes gravity-defying feats of culinary magic.
01:25 It proved you didn't need to exploit contestants to get the best out of them.
01:30 "Well done."
01:32 9.
01:33 Teresa's Table Flip - The Real Housewives of New Jersey
01:37 If there's one thing a real housewife will do in a restaurant, it's make a scene.
01:42 Just ask Roni's Aviva Drescher.
01:44 "Heather, why don't you take it?
01:45 I'll crawl home.
01:46 Here.
01:47 Go ahead.
01:48 Go ahead, Heather."
01:49 But it was arguably this explosive moment from early in the New Jersey set series that
01:54 announced the franchise's chokehold on the genre.
01:57 "I am paying attention.
01:58 Obviously, there has to be something else.
01:59 It's just not name change and arrested.
02:00 There has to be something else.
02:01 All you're stripping was arrested."
02:09 Teresa Giudice, a name now synonymous with the program, shocked everyone when she unloaded
02:15 on the season's villain, Danielle Starb.
02:17 Giudice put a period on her profanity-laden tirade by shoving a restaurant table at her
02:24 co-star.
02:25 It was the moment Teresa became the show's star, and the moment The Real Housewives became
02:29 the blueprint for modern reality TV drama.
02:32 "I love you."
02:34 "Take it easy."
02:36 8.
02:37 David's Dead - Celebrity Big Brother
02:38 Reality TV was never the same once Tiffany "New York" Pollard came onto the scene.
02:44 During her time in the spotlight, she has introduced entire monologues into the public
02:48 lexicon.
02:49 "Beyonce, Beyonce, Beyonce, you know who you really look like?"
02:54 But no moment demonstrated her spontaneity and pure star quality like the David's Dead
03:00 fiasco on Series 17 of Celebrity Big Brother.
03:04 "You can't say a word."
03:07 "Nothing."
03:08 "David's dead."
03:09 "No he's not."
03:10 "Shh."
03:11 "Woo!"
03:12 "Shh."
03:13 When she told her ex-husband David Bowie had died, she probably didn't think she needed
03:17 to specify which "David" she was referring to.
03:20 "It just happened now."
03:21 "Wow."
03:22 "Shh, it's cancer."
03:23 "Shh, shh, and you gotta please stay calm, please."
03:27 Pollard, however, immediately assumed she was saying that their other co-star, David
03:33 Guest, had died.
03:35 Unfortunately, Guest actually did pass away months later, and Pollard stated during an
03:40 episode of Watch What Happens Live that he's haunting her kitchen.
03:44 "So wait, you have not made up from that season?"
03:47 "Well, since he died."
03:48 7.
03:49 The Finale Reveal - The Hills
03:51 Speculation that the drama on this MTV juggernaut was not as authentic as it purported to be
03:57 was faced head-on in its mind-blowing finale.
04:00 The Hills, and its original series, Laguna Beach, featured real-life people caught up
04:05 in an almost conveniently tidy story and character arcs.
04:09 "But the only thing really that there is to do is to forgive and forget."
04:14 In the former's 2010 series finale, audiences watched as Kristin Cavallari and Brody Jenner
04:21 said goodbye before she left for Europe.
04:24 "I hope you find what you're looking for."
04:27 But it's all just smoke and mirrors.
04:30 A backdrop is then wheeled away to reveal a studio backlot, showing it was all staged.
04:37 For a show that had high viewership, despite allegations of scripting, it felt like a stunning
04:42 tribute to how even manufactured drama can still feel real.
04:48 "Today is where it all begins."
04:54 6.
04:55 Introducing The Loud Family - An American Family
04:57 Technically, this miniseries was a documentary split into 12 parts.
05:01 "The Loud Family, like all families, has a history."
05:04 However, given how novel it was in 1973, and how similar it feels to modern-day reality
05:10 TV, many consider it one of the first reality shows.
05:14 When it premiered on January 11, 1973, the middle-class Loud family of Santa Barbara
05:20 became overnight stars.
05:22 "Are you running out of rollers?"
05:25 "Yeah, we only have these small ones."
05:27 The eldest Loud child, Lance, was an early example of real-life gay representation on
05:33 American television.
05:34 "Okay, ma'am, well, here I am, your ang-food cupcake that fell flat as soon as it got out
05:39 of the oven.
05:40 Yes, you guessed it, it's Lance."
05:42 Viewers turned into voyeurs, enraptured as tensions rose and parents Bill and Pat Loud's
05:48 marriage dissolved on camera.
05:50 With An American Family, ordinary people's seemingly ordinary circumstances took on a
05:56 greater cultural meaning, paving the way for the genre.
05:59 "You got everybody shaped up here, have you?"
06:03 5.
06:04 People rooting for you
06:05 America's Next Top Model
06:07 Tyra Banks didn't just teach us how to smize, she also taught us that being a model was
06:12 about more than just being pretty.
06:14 There's also things like dodging big swinging objects and wearing dangerously high heels.
06:19 We're joking, we know that there's more than that.
06:21 But one America's Next Top Model moment lives in infamy.
06:25 "This is a joke to you.
06:27 You've been through anger management, you've been through your grandmother getting her
06:30 lights turned off to buy you a swimsuit for this competition, and you go over there and
06:34 you joke and you laugh."
06:35 Eliminated Cycle 4 contestant Tiffany Richardson wasn't devastated enough for Banks' taste,
06:41 so she offered Tiffany some unhinged criticism.
06:44 "I don't have a bad attitude.
06:46 Maybe I am angry inside.
06:47 I've been through stuff, so I'm angry."
06:48 "Yes, but this is not, this is not…"
06:49 "Be quiet, Tiffany.
06:50 Be quiet!"
06:51 When it comes to cultural relevance, few reality show clips have had this long a shelf
06:57 life.
06:58 "The reason why she yells at this is because she loves me!
06:59 I was rooting for you!
07:00 We were all rooting for you!
07:01 How dare you!"
07:04 Anytime a beloved celebrity says something weird, someone inevitably busts out a gif
07:09 of this moment.
07:10 The tirade set a new standard for reality TV freakouts.
07:14 "You don't know where the hell I come from.
07:16 You have no idea what I've been through.
07:18 But I'm not a victim.
07:19 I grow from it and I learn.
07:22 Take responsibility for yourself."
07:23 4.
07:25 Kelly Clarkson wins American Idol
07:27 When an American take on a British show purporting to launch the next superstar landed stateside,
07:34 many were probably skeptical to say the least.
07:37 How could a TV contest find a superstar?
07:40 American Idol hedged its bets by also giving us lingering, cruel glimpses at people who
07:46 thought they were superstars, but couldn't exactly sing.
07:49 "She bangs!
07:50 She bangs!
07:51 Oh baby, when she moves, she moves!"
07:54 But when the voting public picked its winner at the end of the first season, the show actually
08:00 made good on its premise.
08:01 "The winner of American Idol 2002 is…
08:13 Kelly Clarkson."
08:16 Kelly Clarkson was, and still is, a supernova of talent.
08:21 Over two decades after winning a singing competition show, she remains a mainstay of the industry.
08:27 "It's been 17 years first of all.
08:29 It's crazy.
08:30 It's crazy."
08:31 Several copycat shows have since followed, but few have had the impact of Idol's early
08:36 days.
08:37 3.
08:38 The Osbournes invite us into their home
08:39 The Osbournes.
08:40 In the 90s, reality TV was often relegated to cable channels like MTV.
08:46 Once the networks started airing competition shows more regularly in the later part of
08:50 the decade, into the early 2000s, MTV had to reinvent the wheel again.
08:55 "I'm a very simple man.
08:57 You gotta have like, computer knowledge to turn the f---ing TV on and off."
09:01 This time, instead of making everyday people the star, they doubled back and made a spectacle
09:06 out of celebrities' real lives.
09:09 In 2002, the antics of eccentric rock star Ozzy Osbourne and his family became the perfect
09:15 opening act for this new era.
09:17 "See, I thought I saw it all, but now I have a f---ing dog failing me."
09:21 Soon, it seemed like every celebrity wanted to cash in on the reality train.
09:26 This genre would arguably reach its peak with Keeping Up With The Kardashians, but that
09:31 premiered five years after The Osbournes broke the mold.
09:35 "This is the new sign."
09:38 2.
09:39 Pedro Zamora brings attention to HIV
09:42 The real world
09:43 Viewers and critics wrote off MTV's Juggernaut series as a show about a bunch of vapid, party-obsessed
09:49 young people living in a house together.
09:52 But the real world, San Francisco, forced everyone to rethink their biases, and not
09:57 just about reality TV.
09:59 "I'm HIV positive."
10:00 Openly gay AIDS activist Pedro Zamora applied to be on the show because its makers were
10:06 looking to cast the first HIV-positive roommate.
10:10 Seeing the potential for the platform, he applied and was cast in the 1994 season.
10:15 His story moved his fellow co-stars and millions across the country.
10:19 "Every time I tell somebody I am HIV positive, it gets as hard.
10:24 It's as hard as the first time I did it."
10:26 Zamora sadly died later that year, but his experience humanized what was still a remote
10:32 social issue to many, showing the unique good reality TV can do.
10:37 "They reacted very, you know, good about it."
10:40 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:44 Changing his mind, The Bachelor
10:46 The fairy tale illusion ended when Jason Mesnick decided to be with his runner-up instead.
10:51 "I came here to find somebody to spend the rest of my life with.
10:58 And I… and we're not right for each other."
11:03 Snooki is attacked, Jersey Shore
11:06 The pop culture phenomenon aired its most controversial episode early in its run.
11:12 Representation wins, Queer Eye
11:14 The original Fab Five paved the way for LGBTQIA+ programming that had mass appeal.
11:21 "Oh my goodness, look at you."
11:25 Creating copycats, Jackass
11:27 The MTV show prompted fans to recreate dangerous stunts.
11:30 "Hi, I'm Johnny Knoxville, welcome to Jackass."
11:33 "3, 2, 1, fire!"
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11:57 Snakes and Rats, Survivor
12:00 In the year 2000, Survivor became one of the first successful reality shows produced by
12:05 a Big Three network.
12:07 "Rich, you are a very openly arrogant, pompous human being.
12:15 But I admire your frankness with it."
12:17 When CBS aired its first season finale in 2000, it was watched by millions of people.
12:22 What initially seemed like part social experiment, part extreme camping trip, turned into a game
12:28 of intense strategy.
12:29 Richard Hatch would ultimately emerge victorious, while Kelly Wigglesworth, who helped popularize
12:35 the reality TV cliché about not being here to make friends, finished as runner-up.
12:41 But it was arguably Sue Hawks' now-iconic "Snakes and Rats" speech that stole the show.
12:47 "We have Richard the snake, who knowingly went after prey, and Kelly who turned into
12:53 the rat that ran around like the rats do on this island, trying to run from the snake."
12:59 It was harsh, grandiose, and borderline nonsensical.
13:02 "I feel we owe it to the island's spirits that we have learned to come to know, to let
13:09 it be in the end the way Mother Nature intended it to be, for the snake to eat the rat."
13:15 The moment came to define the genre's ethos, essentially launching American Network TV's
13:20 first successful reality show into the stratosphere.
13:24 Which of these historical reality TV moments did you see live?
13:28 Let us know in the comments.
13:43 Thanks for watching!
13:52 (upbeat music)