10 Forgotten Reality Shows We Can’t Believe Ever Aired

Nailing the formula for a hit show is tricky, and networks have experimented with absurd and comical reality shows which never should have existed.

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Everybody loves a good, drama filled reality show, and some have touched the highest levels of popularity: think Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Love Island, The Bachelor, 90 Day Fiancé, and many more. However, getting the formula for a hit show is tricky, and networks like MTV and E! have experimented with a bunch of absurd and comical reality shows which never should have existed in the first place.

Some of these forgotten reality shows lasted only one episode while some shockingly made it to more than one season. With controversial to downright exploitative themes, it’s a mystery as to why these reality shows were ever given the green light.

10 Joe Millionaire (Fox, 2003)

The premise of Joe Millionaire was for a group of women to woo an eligible and extremely wealthy bachelor, with the catch that the heir was actually a common place, regular guy. The fact would be disclosed to the woman he chose at the end, and if she chose to stay with him then they would get an actual check of a million bucks.

The point was to catch out which woman was doing it for the money and which for the love, but since the first season got popular, the production team had to cast their net far and wide towards Europe to get unsuspecting ladies to participate in the show, which predictably got backlash and flopped.

9 The Swan (Fox, 2004-05)

Often hailed as the worst reality show ever made, The Swan involved a group of women and lots of plastic surgery to “make them look beautiful.” These women went under the knife regularly, and would be pitted against each other based on which one looked better with surgery.

The contestants then had to participate in The Swan beauty pageant show within the premise of the show and get further evaluated on normative beauty standards set by the surgeons, aestheticians, and judges. The entire thing was a train wreck from beginning to end.

8 Who’s Your Daddy? (Fox, 2005)

Who’s Your Daddy? had another cringeworthy reality show premise, taking a woman’s search for her biological father and turning into a game show with a price tag of $100,000. The young lady, TJ Myers had been put up for adoption as a child. She was placed in a room with eight men, one of whom was her father.

Myers had to guess which one of the eight was her father — if she guessed right, she would win the check. If she guessed guessed wrong, then the wrongly picked “father” would get the check, but the girl would be reunited with her father anyway. The series got such negative reviews that Fox didn’t show the rest of the episodes of the reality show and it didn’t make it past one season.

7 Stylista (The CW, 2008)

The CW greenlit the strange show Stylista, which lasted all of one season. A group of young people competed by performing menial tasks and debasing themselves, ala Miranda Priestly’s tortured assistants in The Devil Wears Prada.

The contestants were competing for an entry level editorial job at ELLE Magazine, a lease on a Manhattan apartment for a year and a yearly allowance from H&M for clothing. In Miranda’s own words, the show was ghastly.

6 Whodunnit? (ABC, 2013)

A mystery-based reality show, this one had a creative concept. It trapped a group of individuals in the Rue Manor with its butler and host, Giles. One by one, a “killer” who was one of the contestants, would stage a murder and it was up to the other contestants to figure out how and who killed the victim.

Through a series of puzzles, riddles, and quizzes, each contestant would be given scores. The lowest scoring players would be at risk of getting “killed” in the next episode, while the highest scorers were safe. The winner won a check of $250,000, but it seems the mysteries were so brain numbing that the show didn’t last.

5 I Wanna Marry “Harry” (Fox, 2014)

Twelve American women were almost brainwashed into believing a Prince Harry impersonator was the real deal on I Wanna Marry “Harry,” which included lavish dates in royal settings, royal staff, and even trips to a therapist who asked them to stop questioning the veracity of the facts and convince them that Matthew Hicks was in fact, Prince Harry.

The girls, while being hired, were given a different impression and felt reportedly “messed with” by the production crew. This fake Royal Family-inspired reality show also lasted a short one season.

4 Mr. Personality (Fox, 2003)

At a grand count of five episodes from April to May 2003, this Monica Lewinsky hosted show was more creepy than anything else. The main character Hayley Arp was surrounded by twenty bachelors, all looking to woo her and become her husband.

The catch was that Hayley was supposed to choose a husband based on personality alone, and not looks, so the twenty were always wearing masks, almost presciently for 2021. The show, obviously, did not last.

3 Farmer Wants a Wife (The CW, 2008)

Based on its UK counterpart, Farmer Wants A Wife was a lot like The Bachelor, where a group of city-bred women were courting a handsome farmer, but the tasks were all farm-based challenges that the city ladies had to ace to win over the country lad.

Chickens, pigs, a wild night of bingo — this show had it all but it also didn’t sit too well with American audiences, earning it a cancellation within the next couple of months itself.

2 The Phone (MTV, 2009)

The suspenseful reality show The Phone was complex and got poor viewership off the bat. Two contestants were picked off of the streets and given mobile phones, where they would receive calls from The Operator who would invite them to play the game for a prize money of $50,000.

Once accepted, they would form teams and keep getting phone calls while being placed in the middle of action sequences straight out of a movie or intense television show. At the end, the winner was allowed to choose if they wanted to keep the money to themselves or share it with their team. The show was created by Justin Timberlake.

1 Bridalplasty (E!, 2010)

Another terrible version of The Swan, this show had twelve engaged or already-married ladies compete with each other in a house to win the wedding and cosmetic surgery laundry list of their dreams. The dismal sounding show was widely criticized for its awful premise.

The winner of the show was given an extreme makeover and their fiancé couldn’t see their significant other until the day of the “dream wedding.” A truly dystopian reality TV nightmare.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/forgotten-reality-shows-cant-believe-ever-aired/