Earlier this week, The Ashley asked you to vote for your favorite (and least favorite) reality TV stars, shows and moments of 2019. We waded through the raunchy, the ridiculous and the reality TV trainwrecks of the year and the results are in!
Before we get to the results, The Ashley would like to thank her readers for another great year for The Roundup! It’s been….weird.
On to the results!
Biggest Reality TV Trainwreck of 2021:
Jenelle Evans & David Eason (‘Teen Mom 2’)
Over the years, Jenelle has taken this title solo a few times (most-recently in 2020), and David even snatched it away from his Mrs. in 2018. However, this marks the first year that both Jenelle and David were awarded “Biggest Trainwreck.” (The Ashley decided to combine them as an option this year because they were literally always together in 2021.)
Jenelle and David had a relatively “calm” (by Swamp terms) year, although David did manage to get himself arrested for the first time in awhile; Jenelle saw numerous deals– including podcasts, clothing lines and a ‘Teen Mom’ spin-off appearance— crash and burn before even being launched; and David was attacked for his latest poor treatment of his animals. Just another typical Eason year!
Honorable Mention: Paul & Karine Staehle (“90 Day Fiance”)
Most Shocking Split of 2021:
Kody & Christine Brown (‘Sister Wives’)
It’s no surprise that Kody and Christine “won” this award by a landslide. ‘Sister Wives’ fans were absolutely floored in November when Christine and Kody both confirmed that they had split after more than 25 years of (spiritual) marriage and six kids together. Christine, who had always seemed to be one of the most-devoted wives of Kody, apparently had enough of Kody’s poor treatment of her and her kids, and moved from Flagstaff to Utah with her and Kody’s youngest daughter. The crumbling of their marriage is currently playing out on ‘Sister Wives.’
Honorable Mention: Raquel Leviss & James Kennedy (‘Vanderpump Rules’)
Biggest Reality TV Villain of 2021:
Kody Brown (‘Sister Wives’)
While Kody was usually classified as ‘annoying’ or ‘egotistical’ by fans in the past, 2021 was the year that people began to suggest that his actions toward some of his wives on ‘Sister Wives’ may be somewhat abusive. Kody has certainly become the villain of his TLC reality show during the current season, thanks to his aggressive demands, downright cruel treatment of some of his wives and kids and lack of empathy. This has all made him very unpopular with fans (and some of his wives…as the previous result shows.)
Honorable Mention: Chris Williams (‘Married At First Sight’)
Show You Were Most-Embarrassed to Admit You Watched in 2021:
Any of the ‘Teen Mom’ shows
Ratings for the three ‘Teen Mom’ franchise shows have been declining rapidly this year, falling to historical low levels. However, plenty of you are still watching these shows–even if you’re too embarrassed to admit it! 2022 will bring two more ‘Teen Mom’ shows– ‘Teen Mom Family Vacation’ and ‘Teen Mom: Girls’ Night In’— that latter of which will have us watching the teen moms watch ‘Teen Mom.’
Yay.
Honorable Mention: Darcey & Stacey (TLC)
Most-Annoying Reality TV Star of 2021:
Farrah Abraham
Farrah didn’t actually appear on any reality TV shows in 2021 (although her mug will be present on the upcoming ‘Teen Mom Family Vacation’ spin-off). However she still managed to annoy the hell out of reality TV fans. This marks her 10th year of winning this title and it’s no surprise— given her 2021 antics: the “Farrah Speak” rants, her entire Harvard debacle, and her cringeworthy trying-so-hard-to-be-relevant social media posts.
Honorable Mention: Jenelle Evans (‘Teen Mom 2’)
Most-Shocking Reality TV-related scandal of 2021:
Former “19 Kids & Counting” Josh Duggar is arrested for– then convicted of— receiving and possessing child p0rnography.
Josh— the eldest child of the “wholesome” Duggar Family– was arrested by the feds in April and later accused of possessing and receiving child sex abuse materials. The Ashley attended Josh’s trial in December, where extremely disturbing details of his actions were exposed. Josh was convicted of the charges and is currently behind bars awaiting sentencing. Although Josh has been at the center of other scandals in the past— such as when it was exposed that he had cheated on his wife Anna via the Ashley Madison cheating website– this was by far his biggest and most-shocking scandal.
Honorable Mention: Jana Duggar is charged with child endangerment
Favorite New Reality TV Show of 2021:
“90 Day Fiance: The Single Life”
The “90 Day Fiance” franchise just keeps growing, with new spin-offs being added the existing lineup all the time. One of the most-popular of this year’s spin-offs was “The Single Life,” in which people who had appeared on various other “90 Day Fiance” shows (such as Colt Johnson’s newly made-over mom, Debbie, pictured above), were given another chance to find love.
Honorable Mention: ‘The Challenge: All-Stars’
Best Reality TV Comeback/Change of 2021:
Christine Brown (‘Sister Wives’)
Christine’s life and spirit seems to have taken quite the upswing since she left her husband Kody and his polygamy lifestyle behind and moved to Utah. For years, Christine was stuck in a seemingly loveless marriage, with her own wants and desires often being pushed aside because Kody (and/or her sister wives) didn’t approve. Christine seems truly happy with her decision to ditch the concept of sharing a subpar husband.
Honorable Mention: Jill Duggar Dillard (‘Counting On’)
Reality Show That Should Retire After 2021:
Teen Mom OG
It appears that, after more than a decade on the air, ‘Teen Mom OG’ has lost its appeal. Once a ratings monster for MTV, the long-in-the-tooth reality show has been hemorrhaging viewers over the last few seasons. While fans may feel it’s time for the show to retire, MTV apparently doesn’t agree, as ‘Teen Mom OG’ has another season filming, along with the upcoming spin-offs that feature ‘Teen Mom OG’ cast members.
Honorable Mention: ‘American Idol’
Most Jaw-Dropping Reality TV Moment of 2021:
Chris Williams reveals on his honeymoon with new wife Paige Banks that his ex-fiancé is pregnant with his child. (‘Married At First Sight’)
Poor Paige Banks agreed to marry Chris at first sight– but she (and viewers) certainly didn’t expect that her new husband would soon inform her that his ex-fiancé was about to have his child! Chris, whose engagement ended right before he appeared on ‘MAFS,’ shared the baby news while he was on his honeymoon with Paige. This was just the beginning of Paige’s nightmare marriage to Chris, which, thankfully was short-lived.
Honorable Mention: Former ‘Bachelor’ Colton Underwood comes out as gay.
Overall Favorite Reality TV Show of 2021:
“90 Day Fiance”
With so many “90 Day Fiance” spin-offs on the air, the franchise always keeps things fresh and interesting, so it’s no wonder it was voted your favorite reality TV show of 2021. In 2021 alone, six different spin-offs premiered: “90 Day Bares All,” “90 Day Diaries,” “The Other Way Strikes Back!”, “90 Day Journey,” “90 Day: The Single Life” and “90 Day: The Single Life Pillow Talk.”
This is the second year in a row “90 Day Fiance” took the award for “Overall Favorite Reality TV Show!”
Honorable Mention: ‘The Challenge’
Click here to see how Roundup readers voted in 2020!
Click here to see how Roundup readers voted in 2019!
8 Responses
Although we all know that Janele and David will ALWAYS be the trashy train wrecks of EVERY year (more accurately year, month, week, day, hour, minute, etc etc etc), is it even fair given that they are long gone HAS-BEENS – if they ever even were ‘beens’?
She has not been on TV in YEARS and has not done ANYTHING with her life {besides eat and fake illness, both of which consume the vast majority of her existence} since —- or even before!
Perhaps we are still giving them too much credit?
There is not even a category that adequately represents their trashiness, lack of star power, laziness, entitlement and narcissism.
The ONLY reason they even remain minutely INfamous is because *THEY* PLASTER THEIR OWN MUGS EVERYWHERE *THEY* POSSIBLY CAN!
NO ONE else is promoting them – they have to SELF promote and BEG for bottom feeding promotional gigs {that NEVER succeed or even get off the ground} for free JUNK.
Way easier than getting an actual j-o-b it seems…
They couldn’t handle not seeing their ugly mugs plastered all over, even if just ‘all over’ THEIR OWN PAGES?, so they spend the time they SHOULD be PARENTING and SUPPORTING their substantially delayed kids on creating cringeworthy immature BORING insignificant NON-“content” boasting about their narcissism, lack of societal contributions and PADDING ALL THEIR ACCOUNTS!
All those PURCHASED followers / likes / comments / etc must cost them a fortune, but without that ALL her accounts would resemble her Patreon!? {6 whole followers as of today, all likely from the land}
They can only WISH they were ‘reality stars’ all while somewhat CONVINCING {only} THEMSELVES by padding their accounts and responding to THEIR OWN comments??
Christine needs her own show! I think SIster Wives’ fans would love to see her happy and living her best life. She was always my fav.
Im not sure what the readership numbers are on The Ashley. But if all of you would just quit watching any TM spin off get your updates here if your morbid curiosity must know.
Once the franchise is canceled we can sit back and watch the kingdom implode. Way more entertaining than this over scripted trash they keep producing.
Just imagine it, Estate sales, bankruptcy court, divorce court, custody battles, apartment rental applications, entry level job enterview, grocery shopping at Sav Mor, hoopties and thrift shops,the fun would never end.
I saw a tik tok account the other day that said they fully supported janelle, that she was her favorite TM, and was so proud of how far she’d come. And I was like ?. And then commenters agreed. ?. I began rewatching TM2 and can’t believe how much worse she was than I even remembered.
You can bet your last cent that account is one of MANY of JEs fake accounts!
She has SO MANY it’s questionable how she even has time to parent ANY child …oh wait…
They ALL follow her script of the day with IDENTICAL LANGUAGE, praise her for breathing, insult anyone who doesn’t bow to her and conveniently post the exact same time that ALL the FACTUAL posts are deleted.
She spends more time padding her accounts than teaching her kids basic manners—- ok ok that’s a very low low bar but you get my drift?
Kody Brown. I called it lol.
Put Kail Lowry or Amber AF as biggest villain or most annoying and they’ll beat Farrah hands down.
No way. Kail has a lot of fans – with her it’s split half and half. But NO ONE likes Farrah.
Most people don’t like Amber because she won’t own up to her mistakes, but people don’t despise her as much as Farrah.
90 day Fiasco is my hands down new fav reality series. They are way better train wrecks then the teen mom crew!