Five Best Contestants on American Reality Shows

What makes a person a “good” reality show contestant? For me it is the drama they cause. Watching boring people is of no entertainment value. It is the ones who cause tension or who are unique that really become “Stars”. Not everyone is a person you might like, or even want to meet. But they all created original television moments, which is what the reality television fans enjoy, no matter how much they complain about it!

Richard Hatch – Survivor 1, Survivor All Stars

When Survivor 1 was filmed none of the contestants knew what to expect or what to do. It was Richard who understood this was more than a simple game, he realized the importance of forming “alliances”, and playing a strategy, which eventually won him the game. The interesting point of his alliance was that he was gay and formed a bond and alliance with admitted homophobic Rudy Boesch. He was an unlikely winner, being disliked by many other players in the game where it is those very people who decide the winner.

Richard became noted as being a bit of a nudist, and this resulted in an interesting twist of adventure on Survivor All Stars, where he opted for going naked during a challenge. At one point he rubbed a competitor, Susan Hawk, who later claimed she felt this was the equivalent to being raped. This is where I must defend Richard. Susan removed herself from the game after laying spread eagle in the sand on the beach complaining about how Richard made her feel, I assert that a person who felt violated in such a way, would not be laying spread eagle on a beach. I believe she simply disliked him so much that she internalized the incident too much.

Richard gained further fame by being charged with tax evasion for failing to claim his winnings on his Taxes.

Rob Mariano – Survivor Marquesas, Survivor All Stars, The Amazing Race 7, Amazing Race All Stars

Rob is an amazingly entertaining guy who has many “claims to fame”. Rob earned a place in my heart (or shall I say, on this list) because he proved over and over he could not be trusted and yet over and over, he had people believing they could trust him. His charm won them over. His charm also won him lots of air time. Even on “All Stars” where people should have known better, they were still fooled and allowed him to finish as a “runner up”.

Rob met fellow contestant, Amber Brkich on Survivor All Stars. As an engaged couple, they competed, and finished in second place, on Amazing Race 7, and later they married, again on Television. He turned his 15 minutes of fame into much more.

One of my highlight moments of Robs clever game moments was on The Amazing Race, when Rob realized he and Amber could not complete a task, eating four pounds of meat, he decided they would take a time penalty, and he convinced teams who came in after him to do the same, thus retaining his lead over them.

If you have an opportunity to see Rob on Sci Fi Investigates, please watch his Sasquatch episode, it is hilarious. If you were not a Rob fan before this, you soon will be.

Jonathan and Victoria – The Amazing Race 6, Fear Factor

Jonathan Baker and Victoria Fuller gained a lot of notoriety for their behavior on The Amazing Race season 6, particularly, Jonathans treatment of his wife. He yelled and belittled her constantly, so much so that the shows host, Phil, even questioned him about it on one leg of the Race. His anger management issues are not why I have included them in this list.

Beneath all the fighting with each other, one thing stood clear, they were one of the nicest couples when it came to their treatment and inclusion of the locals at the destination countries. In a show where sometimes people are horrified at the locals, Jonathan and Victoria never judged or looked down on them, instead they enjoyed the experience of seeing them.

They were brilliant at getting air time, Jonathan added color to his hair and wore different hats (literally different hats). On Fear Factor they competed along side other reality stars, and again Jonathan blew up when Victoria struggled in a task.

You might not like them as people, however as reality Television stars they were brilliant. One has to consider the fact that viewers enjoy watching drama, if every person on TV were nice, there would be no point in watching, and at the end of the day, these two do love each other and are trying to improve their relationship. They brought attention to issues of verbal abuse, which was ultimately very good for everyone watching.

Dick Donato – Big Brother 8

Better known as Evel Dick, he was endearing (as he worked on repairing his relationship with his daughter) and foul mouthed (as he called out every thing he felt was wrong with other contestants) while winning half a million dollars in a vote that was very much influenced by the viewers of the show.

Dick was a stand out, being an unusual dresser for a man of 44 years, the black nail polish didn’t go far off the mark either. Dick spoke his mind, which was usually negative. His antics won him lots of time in front of the cameras, which literally were on 24 hours a day. He cussed, spit, and in one episode, dumped an iced tea on a fellow contestant who was verbally insulting his daughter. Oh yes, his daughter, Danielle, whom he had not seen for 2 years. It was very touching watching them reconcile the fact that Dick was a single parent at a time when he perhaps was not ready to be so.

The “twist” on Big Brother 8 was that another player was acting as “Americas Player”, unknown to the house guests, he was responding to the requests of the fans, who seemed to be quite supportive of Dick and as such this twist probably helped Dick to remain in the game and win.

A lot of people on the show hated him, and viewers alike, mostly because he attacked the roots of religion and said things that many people “think” but never voice. In a show where many people fake friendships, Dick was refreshingly honest. You may not agree with him – BUT it was nice to have an honest person for once.