A producer of one of the most notorious reality shows of all time is interested
in a potential reboot, but will it ever make it to air? Chances are,
you'll never see any of these programs that were undone by controversy.
The 2005 reality series Who's Your Daddy? may not exactly have been the best idea to
begin with. The show was hosted by Finola Hughes and focused on a woman named TJ
Myers who didn't know who her biological father was. She had to choose him from a
group of contestants in order to win money. If a contestant could instead
deceptively convince her that he was her father, then he would win a cash prize.
Even before Who's Your Daddy? aired a single episode on Fox, there were petitions to remove
it from the schedule by thousands of people who wrote to the network. There
were also protests from adoptive parents and adoption organizations. Adam Pertman,
the executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, for one, wrote to Fox,
"The very idea of taking such a deeply personal, complex situation and turning it
into a money-grubbing game show is perverse, destructive and insensitive to others."
Fox initially defended their decision to air Who's Your Daddy?, saying in a
statement that the "attention-grabbing" title didn't necessarily capture what the
show would be about. Six episodes were filmed, but Fox tried to just pass it
off as a one-episode special, with the remaining five episodes never airing.
Paula Deen was once a beloved Food Network chef. But that was before controversy surfaced
in 2012 that led to the cancelation of her show Paula Deen's Home Cooking. As reported by TMZ,
Deen was sued for racial discrimination by a former manager of one of her restaurants.
And during the deposition, she admitted to using a racial slur. That same lawsuit
also reportedly accused Deen's brother, Earl "Bubba" Hiers, of sexual harassment,
specifically for watching porn in front of other employees. Those revelations resulted in
Food Network canceling all Paula Deen-related shows, but that wasn't the end of the story.
In the same deposition, Deen reportedly confessed to wanting the waiters at Hiers' upcoming wedding
to be Black men portraying slaves. The New York Times spoke with one of Deen's employees,
who claimed that Deen asked another employee to wear an Aunt Jemima-style outfit at work. On
top of that, there was also an outcry about how Deen hid her diabetes after promoting
unhealthy foods on her shows, until she landed a lucrative drug company deal.
Deen attempted several apologies, at one point saying in a statement,
"Inappropriate, hurtful language is totally,
totally unacceptable. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way"
"My children, my team, my fans, my partners, I beg for your forgiveness."
But the damage was already done. Deen was dropped from the Food Network,
as well as from companies she had partnered with, like Walmart and Sears.
Perhaps executives at CBS thought that Armed and Famous could be a show so crazy that it just might
work. But it didn't quite work out that way, and there's still debate around why it was dropped
by the network after just four episodes and moved to VH1. The 2007 series followed a group
of out-of-work celebrities, including Jack Osbourne, LaToya Jackson, and Erik Estrada,
as they worked on the police force in the small town of Muncie, Indiana. Unsurprisingly,
the show was panned by critics, including one from The Buffalo News who wrote,
"I'd rather spend a month in Muncie or be tasered than watch another episode."
When CBS canceled Armed and Famous,
the network blamed a difficult time slot. Spokesman Chris Ender claimed,
"It came down to ratings. Going up against American Idol was a tall task for the show."
It also probably didn't help that the show was hit with a $1 million lawsuit. Plaintiff Lyndsay
Clements alleged that Muncie police, along with the cast and crew of Armed and Famous,
forcefully entered her apartment while looking for a fugitive. Before realizing that they had
arrived at the wrong address, they handcuffed her and looked through
her belongings. The incident left Clements feeling "violated," with her lawyer claiming,
"They ought to be held accountable. [...] If you think of cops as clowns and want to give
them guns, you're putting everybody at risk. This should not be entertainment television."
The team at HGTV may have forgotten to do a thorough enough background
check when they hired twins David and Jason Benham to host Flip It Forward,
a 2014 show about families who want to turn fixer-uppers into dream homes. But
as it turned out, the hosts were the sons of an evangelical minister who
often spoke out against homosexuality and abortion, as did the twins themselves.
It was eventually discovered that both Benhams had taken part in anti-gay rallies,
and at least David protested outside abortion clinics. He was even recorded saying,
"We have no-fault divorce; we have pornography and perversion;
we have homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation."
The network canceled the show and announced in a statement,
"HGTV is not moving forward with the Benham Brothers' series at this
time. We're not commenting beyond this statement."
It wasn't hard to read between the lines and infer that the
cancellation was probably due to what had surfaced about the Benhams. However,
the hosts claimed that the network knew about their past. As David told ABC'S Nightline,
"We explained it to them and we gave the proper
context for my statements. And they looked behind our eyes and said,
'they don't have any hate in their hearts for anyone, so we are going to give them a show.'"
The brothers also announced in a statement,
"If our faith costs us a television show then so be it."
"Jason and I are gonna finish the project with or
without the cameras. As a matter of fact, without the cameras."
MTV's 2013 reality series Buckwild followed a group of young and wild friends living in
West Virginia. But it all ended on a tragic note after one of the stars, 21-year-old Shain Gandee,
died from carbon monoxide poisoning while filming the second season. He was found dead alongside his
friend Donald Robert Myers and his uncle David Gandee, after the truck they were in got stuck
in the mud while they were off-roading, an activity often featured on the show.
Following Gandee's death, MTV decided to not
move forward shooting Season 2 of Buckwild, explaining in a statement,
"Given Shain's tragic passing and essential presence on the show,
we felt it was not appropriate to continue without him. instead,
we are working on a meaningful way to pay tribute to his memory on our air and privately."
This tribute came in the form of a special episode, as well as an entire day of programming
dedicated to Gandee. But this solution didn't sit right with the show's producer, J.P. Williams,
who wanted to continue with filming. As Williams put it to The Hollywood Reporter,
"This is the network that has shows about teen pregnancy. They'll stick
by a show that allows you to abandon a child,
but a kid dies by accident doing what he does for a living, and they cancel the show?"
Unfortunately for Williams, MTV owned the rights to Buckwild and
prevented him from shopping it around to other networks.
Actors Corey Feldman and Corey Haim were both big teen stars in the 1980s.
When they teamed up a couple of decades later for The Two Coreys,
it looked like they were trying to revive their careers. However, the show,
which ran for two seasons on A&E between 2007 and 2008, may have ended up making things worse.
That's because The Two Coreys was reportedly canceled after Haim,
who had struggled with drug addiction for years, suffered a relapse during filming. His addiction
was apparently so bad that Feldman decided he no longer wanted to do the show with him and
pulled out after Season 2 wrapped. Feldman's manager explained to the National Enquirer,
"Right now, there will not be a third season of The Two Coreys.
Things can't continue the way they did toward the end of the second season."
Tragically, just two years after the show ended,
Haim died at the age of 38. While drugs were found in his system and his death
was originally considered a suspected prescription medication overdose, it was
later determined that he died from pneumonia. A&E released a statement that read in part,
"We are saddened by the tragic loss of Corey Haim who we had the pleasure to work with on
the series The Two Coreys. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time."
As for Feldman, he went on to release the documentary My Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys
in 2020, which chronicled the alleged sexual abuse he and Haim dealt with as child stars.
"So what we got was the awareness. We opened enough eyes."
Kid Nation has lived on in notoriety since it aired on CBS in 2007. The premise was essentially
a cross between Survivor and Lord of the Flies. A group of children between the ages of 8 and 15
set about creating their own society when left on an uninhabited farmstead in the middle of nowhere
without adult supervision. If that doesn't sound sketchy enough, The Smoking Gun reported that
the parents of the participants had to sign a waiver that acknowledged that there were,
quote, "conditions that may cause the minor serious bodily injury, illness or death."
Thankfully, no one died, though there were reportedly instances of some of the kids
drinking bleach and becoming traumatized over the killing of a live chicken. The
show was also condemned by critics for exploiting children. Following
a lawsuit and an inquiry by the New Mexico Attorney General regarding whether or not
the production broke any laws, the show was canceled after one season.
Nevertheless, executive producer Tom Forman
stands by Kid Nation to this day, telling Variety in 2017,
"The part that was amazing and controversial and groundbreaking was the social element."
He also stressed that the children were always safe during production and added,
"Every couple of years I pick up the phone and
lob in a call to CBS and see if we should do it again."
The VH1 series Ev and Ocho was just another in a long line of
reality shows documenting the lives of a rich and famous couple. In this case,
the main storyline was NFL player Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson's engagement and then
wedding to Basketball Wives star Evelyn Lozada. But things took a dark turn when Johnson was
arrested on a domestic violence charge before the first episode was scheduled to premiere in 2012.
Johnson was accused of head-butting Lozada so hard that she required hospital treatment. Following
his arrest, VH1 immediately removed the show from its schedule, announcing in a statement,
"Due to the unfortunate events over the weekend and the seriousness of the allegations,
VH1 is pulling the series Ev and Ocho from its schedule and has no current plans of airing it."
The Miami Dolphins then released Johnson from their roster, and just days later,
Lozada filed for divorce. Johnson went on to have a year of probation. In 2020,
he looked back on the incident by tweeting,
"I lost my temper for once in life for 3 seconds & it cost me a [lifetime's] worth of work."
But Lozada took issue with that version of the story, as she responded in an Instagram video,
"It's messages like this [...] that are triggers for me. [...] It wasn't the first time."
"And I'm trying to move on, but as a victim, how am I supposed to move on."
Pretty Wild started as a fairly typical E! reality show about a new age mother
raising teenage girls in Hollywood. But things changed pretty much right out of
the gate. One of the show's stars, Alexis Neiers,
now known by her married name Alexis Haines, explained to Entertainment Tonight in 2019,
"It was supposed to be just kind of like the hippy, crunchy version of the Kardashians,
and then all of a sudden it made a 180 when I was arrested on the second day of filming."
Neiers wasn't just arrested. She was also accused of being part of
the infamous "Bling Ring," the group of teens who robbed celebrity homes
in 2010 and inspired the Sofia Coppola movie of the same name.
E! then retooled Pretty Wild to have it cover how Neiers and her family dealt
with the scandal. What made matters much worse was that both Neiers and her live-in friend,
Tess Taylor, reportedly had drug problems. As Neiers revealed to ET,
"I was using heroin every single day, all day long... I mean,
I was loaded from the second we started filming to the second we stopped."
The show ended up getting canceled after only one season, once photos
of Neiers and Taylor using heroin surfaced online. Both girls credit the cancellation
for helping them eventually get clean. As Neiers put it to The Cut in 2020,
"It was the best thing that ever happened to me. [...] It was kind of the perfect
storm that inspired me to get out of that place."
"Nancy Jo,
this is Alexis Neiers calling. I'm calling to let you know how disappointed I am in your story."
Singer-songwriter CeeLo Green was at the top of his game in the early 2010s, thanks to his
massive hit song "Forget You" and his role as a judge on The Voice. He was so popular
at the time that TBS even gave him his own reality show, called The Good Life, which offered fans a
behind-the-scenes look into his successful career. But everything changed in 2014. That was when he
pleaded no contest to a felony count of furnishing ecstasy to a woman two years prior. The woman had
also accused Green of sexually assaulting her, though prosecutors didn't pursue that charge.
Green maintained his innocence, but he made things worse by taking to Twitter to make controversial
statements about rape, equating it to burglary, and claiming that people who have been sexually
assaulted remember it. He eventually attempted to make amends, as he tweeted,
"I sincerely apologize for my comments being taken so far out of context. I only intended
on a healthy exchange to help heal those who love me from the pain I had already caused from this."
TBS went on to cancel The Good Life before its second season premiered,
and around the same time, Green also left The Voice. He did eventually
return to the latter show in 2018, though not without controversy.
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, a spinoff of Toddlers & Tiaras, followed spirited beauty pageant kid
Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson and her wacky but supportive family. While the show seemed innocent
enough, things took a controversial turn in 2014. That's when TMZ reported that Thompson's mother,
Mama June Shannon, was dating a convicted child molester following her split from her husband.
Photos emerged of June with the man at a hotel and also of him around her daughter. TLC went
on to cancel Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, as the network explained in a statement,
"Supporting the health and welfare of these remarkable children is our only priority."
But Shannon wasn't happy with that decision, and she took to Facebook to deny the claims,
claiming that she hadn't seen the man in question in ten years. As she put it,
"The statement of me dating a sex offender is totally untrue. [...] I
would not ever, ever, ever put my kids in danger."
But that wasn't the last of Shannon's troubles, as she began abusing drugs
with another boyfriend. That led to her arrest and Thompson having to move out
of her home and in with her sister. Shannon had booked another reality show on WEtv in
2017 that focused on her makeover called Mama June: From Not to Hot, though it was
later turned into Mama June: Family Crisis to focus on her recovery from addiction.
"I am so not ready to deal with this."
19 Kids and Counting followed the daily lives of the Duggars, a very large and
religious family. In 2015, a 2006 police report surfaced that revealed that eldest son Josh
Duggar had previously been investigated for child molestation when he was a teenager, and that two
of his sisters were among his six victims. TLC then announced that they and the Duggar family
were no longer moving forward. Josh admitted to the accusations, saying in a statement,
"I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret."
The Duggars attempted to spin the situation, saying in a statement on their official website,
"Josh, our daughters and our entire family overcame a terrible situation,
found healing and a way forward. We are so pleased with the wonderful adults they have all become."
Parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar also claimed,
"Even though we would never choose to go through something so terrible,
each one of our family members drew closer to God."
In April 2021, Josh was arrested on child sexual abuse charges.
As a result, the Duggars' Counting On spin-off was canceled. Josh was later convicted,
and he faces potentially up to 20 years in prison.
The 2009 VH1 show Megan Wants a Millionaire was supposed to focus on reality star Megan
Hauserman as she looked for a wealthy man who could eventually make her a
trophy wife. Hauserman had already appeared on some other VH1 shows
like Rock of Love and I Love Money, as well as The CW's Beauty and the Geek.
While Megan Wants a Millionaire sounded like just your average tacky dating show,
things became much more serious when it was discovered that one of the contestants,
Ryan Jenkins, was wanted for killing his wife Jasmine. Jenkins had even wrapped another VH1
reality appearance on I Love Money 3. Both shows were pulled from the network
once it was revealed that Jenkins was a person of interest in the murder case.
And just eight days after Jasmine's body was discovered, Jenkins took his own life.
The entire incident made it abundantly clear that the reality industry had to
do a better job of protecting their cast members by performing more thorough background checks.