- 14 hours ago
They were branded as toxic, messy, and impossible to deal with, but sometimes the “villain” was the only one seeing the truth. Join us as we count down reality TV’s most notorious troublemakers who, against all odds, actually had a point. Our list includes bold personalities from “Big Brother,” “The Bachelor,” “Drag Race,” “Flavor of Love,” “The Hills” and more!
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I just want to say, and I wish I had taken my blinders just a little bit off.
00:06You want to say you were right.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most notorious troublemakers
00:12and pot stirrers on reality TV shows who, uncomfortable as it may be, actually kind of had a point.
00:19There's now five of us talking to the Vixen, telling her why you didn't have to do that.
00:23Yeah, everybody's telling me how I should react, but nobody's telling her how to act.
00:28Number 10. Plain Jane, RuPaul's Drag Race.
00:31Bluntness without a filter will get you the villain edit every single time,
00:34but Plain Jane knew exactly what she was doing.
00:37From the moment she hit the workroom on season 16, she was already dishing out major shade to other queens.
00:43I'm actually a Russian speaker. I am a Russian doll.
00:47Can you give us a sample of it?
00:48Um, let's see.
00:52I think she called me vodka.
00:56While she was an equal opportunity tyrant, the main target of Plain's vitriol was a mandatory meeting,
01:02whose fashion sense and makeup skills seemed subpar to her.
01:05As we get to know each other, and I hope we do,
01:08I hope that you're able to sort of sway my opinion on how you've been looking,
01:13which is not very great.
01:15I love it suddenly Plain Jane's Drag Race.
01:17Her delivery might have been unnecessarily harsh, but the criticism wasn't exactly baseless.
01:23The judges repeatedly pointed out the same thing in Amanda's presentation,
01:27right until the moment she was sent home.
01:29You?
01:29You have trouble with some of the drag aesthetic.
01:32This idea is great.
01:34It's just a little bit off.
01:36Love her or hater, but Plain often said what others were already thinking,
01:40albeit with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
01:42You know, you take away the message, and what is your talent?
01:45Holding up posters?
01:47Girl.
01:48Protect queer art, but is she giving us anything worth protecting?
01:53That's the question.
01:53Number 9, Jade Cole, America's Next Top Model.
01:56If you watched Cycle 6 of America's Next Top Model,
02:00the words biracial butterfly are probably fully lodged in your brain.
02:04You look like an arrogant bitch to me.
02:05I'm sorry?
02:06Do you think you're Nina Simone?
02:08This is something, George, I've been trying to defeat,
02:10because I'm just very down to earth.
02:12I'm very cool.
02:13I'm an exotic biracial butterfly.
02:15Exotic biracial butterfly.
02:16Interesting.
02:18Jade Cole shrutted into that competition,
02:20convinced she was already a legend,
02:21and nobody could tell her otherwise.
02:23She clashed constantly with her contestants,
02:26because in her own words,
02:27she wasn't there to be anybody's best friend.
02:29This is a competition.
02:31This is not America's Next Top Best Friend.
02:34I want to be America's Next Top Model,
02:36because I have everything that it takes to be that.
02:40All of these often came across as hilariously delusional,
02:43but Jade actually recognized that success in the modeling industry
02:46often comes from being memorable,
02:48rather than merely well-behaved.
02:50While she didn't win the competition,
02:51her confessionals are still circulating online,
02:54and her bizarre covergirl commercial is still being quoted.
02:57The second time, I just took my time,
03:00talked in the bigger.
03:02What, I felt fabulous.
03:04She's a drag queen.
03:15She overestimated herself, sure,
03:16but she wasn't wrong about the value of being impossible to ignore.
03:20Number 8, Kenya Moore, The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
03:23Throughout her time on The Real Housewives of Atlanta,
03:25Kenya Moore was known for stirring the pot.
03:27You're basically admitting that you were Cordell's beard.
03:33You are mother-
03:34Man, I have to say this, I do have to say this.
03:37You are low down, and you are dirty.
03:40And you don't get it.
03:41You've never been married.
03:42Yes, and neither have you for what you say.
03:45Her villainous behavior even manifested itself
03:47in the controversy that led to her exit from the show in 2025.
03:51She was one of Atlanta's most polarizing figures,
03:54and that perception played a major role in the controversy
03:57involving former couple Apollo, Nita, and Phaedra Parks.
04:00You shouldn't be texting nobody's husband.
04:02And you did imply that something inappropriate happened.
04:05No, I did not.
04:06Kenya knows that she went for my husband beyond those text messages,
04:09but it did not work
04:11because Apollo was not looking for a old beauty queen
04:14with scrambled eggs.
04:16Nita suggested that Moore had pursued him despite being married.
04:19Kenya repeatedly denied the allegations
04:21and argued that Nita was misrepresenting what happened.
04:24Many fans cited against her at the time,
04:26then Nita later admitted that he had fabricated the damaging claims.
04:43Kenya's insistence that she had been unfairly painted
04:46as a homewrecker was, indeed, the truth.
04:48Number 7.
04:49Omarosa Manigault Newman, The Apprentice.
04:52Love her or loathe her,
04:54Omarosa wrote the playbook that many reality TV villains have since followed.
04:58On The Apprentice, she played aggressive office politics
05:01and made it clear that she was there to be seen,
05:03not just to perform well.
05:04Try to contain your prejudice, okay?
05:07You're very intimidated by black women, right?
05:10I don't think that they've ever been around a strong African American woman,
05:13to be quite frank.
05:14I'm going to fight back, you know,
05:15I'm going to just keep pushing strong and focusing on the goal.
05:18I was told you're the outsider, and that was very clear.
05:20Her opponents treated her like she was destroying the competition,
05:23but in hindsight,
05:24she seemed to understand it better than almost anyone else.
05:27Omarosa's core argument,
05:28that reality television rewards visibility over virtue,
05:31has been validated repeatedly.
05:33You're the team leader and you lost.
05:35Why should you not be fired?
05:37Because you're looking for leadership,
05:38and I demonstrated leadership based on the time frame that I was given
05:42and the tasks that I was given,
05:44as well as the resources that I was given
05:45and the wonderful teammates that I had.
05:47She also argued that assertive women were edited
05:49and perceived more harshly than men displaying identical behavior,
05:53a conversation that has only grown louder since that time.
05:55Her methods were frequently obnoxious,
05:57a read on how reality TV functions, however,
06:00was remarkably sharp.
06:01Unfortunately, she choked at the worst time,
06:04and that's during leadership time,
06:05and that's when you're supposed to demonstrate your strengths.
06:08Do you think you could have done better?
06:09Yes, I grew up going to flea markets.
06:12I know how to buy low and sell high.
06:14I've watched my mother buy all of our school clothes at Goodwill.
06:17Number six, Bethany Frankel,
06:18The Real Housewives of New York City.
06:20Bethany Frankel had a habit of delivering advice
06:23like a prosecutor presenting evidence in court.
06:25Oh, I won't be making comments behind your back anymore.
06:27That I will tell you.
06:28Good, that's what I want.
06:29They won't be behind your back.
06:30That's what I want.
06:31Okay?
06:31That's all.
06:31They're not going to be behind your back.
06:33No, I'm not, let's not be like fake.
06:35I don't want to be like, that's true.
06:36Right, so I'm not, no, I know, I appreciate that.
06:38Relentless and rarely ever subtle,
06:40she often frustrated castmates
06:41who felt she inserted herself into situations
06:43that were not her business.
06:45Perhaps the clearest example
06:46involved Luanne D'Alessis' ill-fated marriage to Tom D'Agostino.
06:50Frankel repeatedly warned D'Alessis'
06:52that there were serious red flags,
06:53even showing her that D'Agostino had kissed another woman
06:56while they were engaged.
06:58Where, where is he?
06:58Is it the Regency?
06:59This is the Regency.
07:00How can he be at the Regency doing this in front of people?
07:02He was doing it for over an hour.
07:05And he left it with the check.
07:06Who sent this to you?
07:07I can't tell you.
07:08He what?
07:09And he, and he left it with the check.
07:10He left, wow.
07:10He was very, very drunk.
07:12Some called it meddling.
07:13Others felt Frankel was humiliating D'Alessis publicly.
07:16Yet she was eventually vindicated.
07:18Against Frankel's advice,
07:19D'Alessis went ahead with the marriage,
07:21but it crumbled less than a year later
07:23amidst further allegations of infidelity.
07:25I just want to say,
07:27and I wish I had taken my blinders just a little bit off.
07:31You want to say you were right?
07:33No, I don't want to say you were right.
07:34Well, I do want to say you were right.
07:36Just say it.
07:37You were f***ing right.
07:38Number five, Spencer Pratt, The Hills.
07:40I was proud of myself for not doing what I wanted to do to you
07:43because what I wanted to do and say to you, dear,
07:47whoo, I didn't because I was praying,
07:50praying like I do every day
07:51to not say the things that I want to say.
07:53If reality television had a Mount Rushmore of villains,
07:56Spencer Pratt's face would be on it.
07:58On The Hills, he fueled the destruction of Lauren Conrad
08:01and Heidi Montag's friendship
08:02and quickly became public enemy number one for many fans.
08:06I'm so sorry about all this.
08:07Went around and made calls
08:09and made an effort to make sure
08:11that everyone would hear these things about me.
08:14This is the person that you want to marry
08:16and spend the rest of your life with
08:18and you have to live with that.
08:20But Pratt was also loudly insisting for years
08:24that the show was hardly real.
08:26According to Pratt,
08:27producers influenced storylines,
08:28fanned the flames of conflict,
08:29and even went as far as recreating events for the cameras.
08:32You guys are sick people.
08:34What did we do?
08:34You're sick.
08:35What did you do?
08:36What did you do?
08:36You started a sick little rumor about me.
08:39I didn't start any...
08:40Oh, really?
08:41Nothing?
08:41No.
08:42You're a savage.
08:43Oh, yeah.
08:44At the time,
08:44it sounded like a convenient excuse
08:46from the show's resident troublemaker.
08:48Over the years, however,
08:49other cast members have openly discussed
08:51production's influence on the series.
08:53In the beginning, it was more real.
08:54And then as it progressed,
08:55you know,
08:55it's a little bit fake
08:57and then more fake
08:57and then everything's fake
08:59before you know it.
09:00Spencer also recognized
09:01that conflict was the lifeblood of reality TV
09:03and used it remarkably to his advantage.
09:06Number 4, Tiffany Pollard,
09:08Flavor of Love.
09:09Hardly anyone in the history of reality TV
09:11embodies that villain we love to hate template
09:14more than Tiffany Newark Pollard.
09:16Hi.
09:16Good morning.
09:17Good morning.
09:18Good morning.
09:19Good morning.
09:20Good morning.
09:23Not you.
09:24You can choke.
09:25On Flavor of Love,
09:26Newark carried herself
09:27like she was the obvious star
09:29and everyone else
09:30was fighting for second place.
09:31While most of her castmates
09:32loathed her for her brash behavior,
09:34Newark actually got one thing right.
09:37That many of the women
09:37weren't genuinely there
09:38for Flavor Flav,
09:39but rather to capitalize
09:41on their 15 minutes of fame.
09:42Were you trying to address me?
09:44I just said you're the aspiring actress.
09:46I haven't did any TV shows
09:48and I have not been playing with this.
09:49I've been on GameShop and dating shows.
09:50That's why I'm standing up here
09:52and you're getting ready to get the boo.
09:53She, on the other hand,
09:54had consistently maintained
09:55that her feelings for Flavor Flav
09:56were a hundred percent genuine.
09:59Ironically, it's New York
10:00who got the biggest boost from the show,
10:02becoming one of the most memorable
10:03reality TV personalities
10:04of all time.
10:06I might be a f***ing bitch to the heart,
10:08but at least I don't smile
10:09in all these girls' faces
10:11because you f***ing are a wolf
10:12in sheep's clothing.
10:14I'm not.
10:14I'm a f***ing wolf.
10:15You see me coming?
10:16You guys are just jealous
10:17because all of my friends
10:18that know me tell me
10:18that I remind them of fiancés.
10:20Number three,
10:21The Vixen,
10:21RuPaul's Drag Race.
10:23On season 10 of Drag Race,
10:24The Vixen was seen
10:25as the central source of conflict
10:27thanks to her frequent clashes
10:28with Aquaria and Eureka.
10:30You just want someone to fight with.
10:31I don't need to fight with you.
10:33You are picking this fight right now.
10:35This is my problem with you
10:36is that when you're not getting your way,
10:39then somebody's being negative.
10:41So are you.
10:41You and Aquaria are the same f***ing dope.
10:44To many viewers,
10:45she appeared combative
10:46and overly defensive.
10:48The Vixen, however,
10:49argued that people were paying
10:50more attention to her reactions
10:51than to what provoked them
10:53in the first place.
10:54More broadly,
10:55she raised concerns
10:55about how black queens
10:56are treated within both the fandom
10:58and reality television in general.
11:00I gotta say this.
11:01So this right here
11:02is exactly what it is.
11:04You say something,
11:05I say something,
11:06you start crying.
11:07You have created a narrative
11:08of I am an angry black woman
11:10who is scared off the little white girl.
11:12I understand that narrative.
11:13Doesn't matter how you do it.
11:14At the time,
11:15many fans dismissed those arguments
11:17as excuses for her behavior,
11:18but in the years since,
11:20discussions about racial bias
11:21have become increasingly prominent.
11:23The Vixen's delivery
11:24might have been questionable,
11:26yet the larger conversation
11:27she was trying to start
11:28has proven difficult to ignore.
11:30I had to sit with that
11:32and think that,
11:33oh, I'm this monster
11:33that's gonna come out
11:34that I'm like,
11:35just this testy bitch
11:36who can't keep it under control.
11:38And then I find out
11:39that she wanted me to go there.
11:41She took me there on purpose.
11:43Number two,
11:44Courtney Robertson,
11:45The Bachelor.
11:45It was hard for me
11:46knowing you're with Emily.
11:47That was getting me down
11:49a little bit.
11:49She was the person
11:50that said nasty things to me
11:52and it was hard to know
11:54like you were spending
11:55the day with this person.
11:56So yesterday was tough
11:57because I was bummed out.
11:58There's a camp of Bachelor Nation
12:00that loves to pretend
12:01The Bachelor is a love story
12:02above anything else.
12:04Courtney Robertson
12:05was not interested
12:06in that narrative.
12:07On season 16,
12:08she showed zero interest
12:09in cultivating friendships
12:10with the other women
12:11and focused her energy
12:12almost entirely on Ben Flanick.
12:14Do I need to put myself
12:15through all this stress
12:17to find love?
12:18Simply, no.
12:19Like, I don't
12:20but I think you're worth it
12:22and I like you
12:24and that's why I'm here.
12:26If it was anyone else,
12:27I don't think I would have
12:27made it this long.
12:29To Robertson,
12:30there was one person
12:31with the rose
12:31and she was there to win it.
12:33While other women
12:33spent energy worrying about her,
12:35she spent energy on Flanick.
12:37That perspective was unpopular
12:38but it was also strategically sound.
12:40By the finale,
12:41Flanick chose her
12:42despite months of warnings
12:43from the other women.
12:44Oh my God.
12:46Will you marry me?
12:50Yes, of course I will.
12:53I love you so much.
12:55Oh my gosh.
12:56Ben.
12:58It's beautiful.
13:00Robertson recognized
13:01something Bachelor Nation
13:02often struggles to admit.
13:04Finding love may be the goal
13:05but it is still a competition.
13:09If you love games,
13:10be sure to check out
13:11WatchMojo's new game
13:12Terrible Influence.
13:13Just launched for purchase
13:15at TerribleInfluence.com.
13:16Terrible Influence
13:17is a satirical board game
13:19about the dark side of fame
13:20from the writer
13:21of the most popular girls in school
13:22and us, WatchMojo.
13:24Boom.
13:25I can make an apology video.
13:26Oh, you so would.
13:28Click on the link
13:28in the description
13:29to check out the game
13:30and be the first to play
13:31Terrible Influence.
13:34Number 1
13:35Will Kirby
13:35Big Brother
13:37Reality television
13:38has produced
13:39countless villains
13:40but very few
13:41changed the game itself.
13:42During Big Brother 2
13:43Will Kirby
13:44openly lied
13:45manipulated alliances
13:46betrayed allies
13:47and somehow
13:48convinced people
13:49to trust him
13:49even after admitting
13:50they shouldn't.
13:51The more extravagant
13:52lie you tell
13:53the more people
13:54believe it.
13:55Why do you think
13:55she's looking at those cards
13:56alone?
13:56You think she's playing
13:57software with 12 cards?
13:58I throw out about
13:58100 to 150 lies a day
14:00and maybe 2 or 3
14:01stick.
14:02I really made it up
14:03and my favorite part
14:04about it is
14:04everyone believes it.
14:05Pretty good, right?
14:06At a time when
14:06many contestants
14:07treated Big Brother
14:08like a social experiment
14:09built on honesty
14:10and integrity
14:11Will viewed it
14:12as exactly what it was
14:13a game.
14:14His entire philosophy
14:16that strategic deception
14:17is a legitimate tool
14:18and social manipulation
14:19is the real superpower
14:20became the blueprint
14:22for modern Big Brother
14:23gameplay.
14:24At first I was afraid
14:25I was petrified
14:26I kept thinking
14:27I could never live
14:29without you by myself
14:30That's another show
14:31that's another show
14:32Will.
14:33But also I'm this
14:34He won the second season
14:40became arguably
14:41the most influential
14:42player in the show's
14:43history
14:43and spent decades
14:45being celebrated
14:46rather than condemned
14:47He was simply right
14:48about what the game
14:49actually required
14:50and shout out
14:51to Richard Hatch
14:52the winner of the
14:52first ever season
14:53of Survivor
14:54who had a similar arc
14:55I know some people
14:56out there
14:56are not happy
14:57with the way
14:57this show went down
14:58and they blame
14:59that on me
15:00but the simple fact
15:01of the matter
15:01is if you're not
15:02happy with this show
15:02maybe you're not
15:03happy with reality
15:04based TV in general
15:05if you're not happy
15:06with reality based TV
15:07maybe you're not
15:08happy with
15:09with as the name
15:11suggests
15:11reality
15:12What other reality
15:13TV villains
15:14do you think
15:14were justified
15:15in their philosophies?
15:16Let us know
15:17in the comments below
Comments