Throughout reality TV history, the genre has created many stars, like the most iconic Survivor player and Gordon Ramsay, who has headlined a slew of reality shows. On top of that all those people, many fans don’t realize that several celebrities who are famous for other things appeared on reality shows in the past.
Over the last several years, there have been several podcasters who’ve entertained so many people that they’ve become beloved. Similar to Joe Rogan, who arguably is the most famous podcaster in the world, Theo Von has created a huge fan following for himself. What many of Theo’s fans don’t realize is that he has a reality TV background.
Theo Von Starred In MTV’s Road Rules And The Challenge
Currently known as one of the top comedians and podcasters in the world, there is no doubt that Theo Von is comfortable being in the public eye. As it turns out, it likely isn’t a coincidence that Theo seems to be so comfortable on camera.
In all likelihood, the reason why Theo is okay with being true to himself in front of the world is he has been doing that for a long time. After all, before Theo became a popular comedian and podcaster, he was a reality TV star.
When Theo was only 19-years-old, Theo was cast in MTV’s reality show, Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour. After that, Theo went on to compete in four seasons of the MTV reality show now known as The Challenge.
Not only did Theo compete in The Challenge, he apparently was pretty great at the MTV reality show.
When and where was Theo Von born, according to Famous Birthdays?
What was Theo Von’s birth name?: | Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III |
|---|---|
Where was Theo Von born?: | Covington, Louisiana |
When was Theo Von born?: | March 19, 1980 |
How old is Theo Con as of September 2024?: | 44 years old |
After all, in January 2019, Medium published an article that called Theo one of the best players in The Challenge’s history.
According to Medium’s article, Theo was the runner-up during his 1st season of The Challenge.
Medium reported that Theo went on to win the next two seasons of The Challenge that he competed in, which is impressive. Unfortunately, Theo didn’t make it to the finals of the final season of The Challenge he competed in.
Theo Von has a net worth of $5 million.
While Theo may have enjoyed success as an MTV reality star, that doesn’t mean that every part of his tenure went great. Unfortunately, there is a video of Theo from his Road Rules tenure that was uploaded on YouTube that shows that he didn’t always get along with his co-stars.
In the clip from Road Rules, Theo’s castmates are shown questioning how he spoke about people’s races at the time. For example, after Theo stated he “can’t deal with Asian people”, while talking about language barriers, the show cut to one of his cast mates who reacted to his comment.
“He’s 19. He’s young. He probably hasn’t been around a lot of people of color.”
There were other quotes from Theo’s former castmates that asked made it obvious they didn’t understand the comedian’s behavior.
Later during the same YouTube video, Theo was shown questioning himself during his Road Rules days. While speaking about how he felt that his cast mates didn’t get him, Theo reflected on being misunderstood.
While addressing Road Rules’ camera crew, Theo admitted that he didn’t even understand himself a lot of the time.
“They don’t really understand me. Because, I mean, a lot of times, I don’t even understand myself. You know? I’m surprised as other people are at some of the things that come into my head or some of the things that I think about. Why do you do it?”
During episode #242 of Theo Von’s podcast, “This Past Weekend”, he spoke about how his reality TV history began. As Theo explained during that podcast episode, MTV was holding auditions at the University of Arizona and he decided to try out.
During episode #242 of his podcast, Theo Von described the backlash he received after appearing on Road Rules.
“I went into the show and went back to LSU, and it was a nightmare. People were so mean. People would throw shit at me all the time. Make fun of me, call me all kind of names. I remember one time I was at a bar. I was waiting to go into a bar, and some kid threw a bottle, and it whizzed right by my head and shattered on the, on this bar right next to me. And that’s when I was like, man, I gotta get out of, here. It’s just not safe for me to be around here. Right. One night, some people I forgot about this. I was at a bar about Tulane University, and some kids started f*****g with me and then started chasing me.”
Theo also explained that he failed his first audition after saying some outlandish things. Then, Theo got the chance to audition again, and he was more reflective. After that, Theo explained some of the hoops he had to jump through before he was cast in Road Rules.
“This time I didn’t try to be wild on the packet. I just tried to be like, just talk about my life. And so then they called one time and then they made you set up a camera and they would call you and interview you and you had to mail them a tape. Okay. And then they did that three more times and it was with therapists.”
Theo Von Won Part Of A Season Of Last Comic Standing
Between 2003 and 2015, Last Comic Standing was a reality competition show that aired on NBC. Designed to give comedians the chance to find their big break, there were lots of people who wanted to compete in a season of Last Comic Standing.
In May 2022, Cracked published an article looking at comedians people forgot were a part of Last Comic Standing. That article revealed that Theo Von had a connection to Last Comic Standing that most people forgot about.
As Cracked’s article explained, Last Comic Standing allowed comedians to record their own performance and send it in. The best of those tapes were then uploaded online and fans could choose whose was the best. This competition was known as the Last Comic Downloaded.
Theo Von has a degree in Urban Planning from the University of New Orleans.
According to Cracked’s article, Theo won the Last Comic Downloaded competition during Last Comic Standing’s fourth season. While that isn’t the same thing as Theo starring in a reality show, it is another connection the celebrated comedian has to the TV genre.
