Reality TV is great for those of us who want to escape from everyday life, whether it’s watching competition shows like Survivor or The Amazing Race. For those who are fascinated by drama and conflict, there’s reality shows like the Real Housewives franchise and Vanderpump Rules.
However, viewers have come across a few reality television shows that have made them wonder how they ever got air time. These shows were highly questionable because of their outrageous premise and some were downright offensive. The concept of reality TV was taken too far with these particular shows.
8 Chains Of Love
Aired On UPN
By 2001, there were terrific and fascinating reality TV shows like Survivor and Big Brother. However, that year also gave viewers a brand-new reality dating show called Chains of Love.
Surprisingly, the show emerged before The Bachelor and was adapted from a Dutch series that consisted of a man or woman being chained to four individuals of the opposite sex who are believed to be compatible with him or her. These individuals, who were called “playmates,” were chained together to the “picker” for over four days and nights. During that time, the “picker” can remove contestants from their chains and eventually end up with one person that they believe they have formed a connection with.
The show’s premise was pretty outrageous, as viewers would watch five people chained together in the same bed and even trying to ice skate. The series only lasted six episodes before it got the ax.
7 Playing It Straight
Aired On Fox
Only three episodes of Playing It Straight aired on the Fox network when it premiered in 2004. What led to the reality TV show’s cancelation was the lack of viewership because the premise of the show was just so controversial. The show mimicked The Bachelor as it featured 14 men attempting to win the heart of one woman. However, there was a twist: half of the men were straight, and the other half identified as gay.
Several
Bachelor
-inspired shows like
Playing It Straight
also aired on television and were just as bizarre, including
I Wanna Marry “Harry,” Boy Meets Boy
, and
MILF Manor
.
In the end, if the lead ended up with a straight man, she would split the cash prize with him. If she chose a gay man, he would keep the money all to himself.
The show encouraged negative stereotypes and was met with negative reviews. Dana Stevens of Slate magazine stated:
“[N]ot only is Playing It Straight ideologically offensive, it’s also colossally boring.”
6 My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss
Aired On Fox
My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss aired on Fox in 2004 and was a spoof of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice. The show featured 12 Ivy League contestants who all competed for a chance to win a job at a top Chicago conglomerate and a cash prize. However, the entire thing was faked, from the “boss” Mr. N. Paul Todd, who was an actor, to the IOCOR company, and the position that was to be given to the winner.
Although the “boss” did a phenomenal job convincing these candidates that they were all competing for an amazing job, the show made them do outrageous challenges that included selling soup on a hot day and promoting ridiculous products.
When the show’s first episode aired, the “boss” also revealed that there was a higher boss who would make the big decisions. Although the show was axed before viewers got to see who it was (some believed it could have been a member of the Trump family), it turned out to be a chimpanzee.
5 Best Funeral Ever
Aired On TLC
The TLC network is known for its bizarre reality TV shows and Best Funeral Ever was one of them. Airing in 2013, the show centered around the Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, Texas, which was owned by John Beckwith Jr. In one episode, he stated to his room full of employees, “We’re going to make these families extremely happy at the worst moments of their lives.”
What made this reality show so bizarre was that instead of honoring those who have passed the normal way, this funeral company made their funeral arrangements into a party with over-the-top themes requested by family members.
Airing for one season, the show featured funerals with disco themes, a funeral held in a wrestling ring, and one funeral that was created into a game show. In fact, one episode featured the funeral arrangements of Olympic gold medalist Ronnie Ray Smith, whose family had his casket “running” a 100-yard dash and accepting a medal.
4 Born In The Wild
Aired On Lifetime
The Lifetime network really kept viewers on their toes when they premiered Born In The Wild in 2015. The one-season show followed couples who wanted to forgo a traditional birthing experience in a hospital and welcome their children in the outdoors with no medical help, like epidurals.
According to Entertainment Weekly, medical experts found the show extremely worrying “as a premodern birth process is associated with vastly higher infant mortality rates.” Plus, viewers were all thinking about if the mother or child would even make it. Safe to say, it was a good idea that Lifetime pulled the show off their network.
3 The Swan
Aired On Fox
Fox’s The Swan would never air today. A show based solely about looks as women went through extreme makeovers like getting cosmetic procedures, personal trainers, and a new set of teeth to make them feel more accepted was hard to watch.
The show took average women and believed they could boost their confidence by doing extreme things to their bodies, including altering them with plastic surgery like a boob job and tummy tuck. Looking back, it’s sad that this show ever made it to TV as it glamorized plastic surgery and made women believe the only way they could feel good is if they “looked good.” Because of this, the show only lasted one season.
2 Are You Hot?
Aired On ABC
Another show based only on physical appearance, Are You Hot? aired on ABC and was literally about people being judged on how hot they looked. Both women and men would walk up on stage wearing next to nothing, as judges Lorenzo Lamas and Rachel Hunter scored contestants’ faces, bodies, and overall appearances out of 10.
According to Watch Mojo, the show was produced by Mike Fleiss, the man behind The Bachelor franchise. As the outlet reported, Mike wanted to “[give] viewers what they want,” but like other reality shows based on appearance, it didn’t fly and was canceled after its first season.
1 Who’s Your Daddy?
Aired On Fox
Meeting your biological father for the very first time is an emotional moment in anyone’s life. The Fox network decided to make a reality competition out of it with 2005’s Who’s Your Daddy? Although it was supposed to air for a full season, only a 90-minute special aired.
The premise of the show took 8 men who were all in competition to convince a woman named T.J. Myers that they were her real dad. $100,000 was on the line for everyone participating and, in the end, T.J. had to choose who she believed was really her father. If she chose the wrong man, he would walk away with the prize.
According to Realty TV World, the show faced backlash from adoption agencies for making a mockery of such an emotional experience. However, T.J. picked her real father, and she walked away with the prize money.
