Celebrity scandals can spread faster than the common cold, and reality TV offers no
shortage of material.
Even though viewers have come to expect the unexpected on their favorite hit shows, the
following scandals still caught audiences off guard.
From legal woes to to shocking outbursts to love gone horribly wrong, here are the reality
TV scandals we didn't see coming.
19 Kids and Counting
The scandal that rocked the Duggar family — stars of 19 Kids and Counting — was
especially shocking, considering the wholesome values they project on the show.
In 2006, In Touch published a police report detailing allegations from 2002 when a then
14-year-old Josh Duggar reportedly molested four of his sisters and one family friend.
A deeper investigation quickly revealed what looked like cover-up attempts by parents Jim
Bob and Michelle Duggar.
Within months, 19 Kids and Counting was canceled, but that wasn't the last of Josh's troubles.
He was also exposed in the Ashley Madison hack, prompting him to publicly admit to years
of lying and infidelity.
But by December 2015, the eldest children of the Duggar clan had returned to TLC with
a new series called Counting On.
In one way or another, nearly every member of the family has returned for that series…
except Josh.
Duck Dynasty
After Phil Robertson gave a now infamous GQ interview disparaging homosexuality, a social
media firestorm descended on the popular duck call makers.
The ensuing debate about free speech, hate speech, and religious freedom threatened Duck
Dynasty, prompting A&E to briefly suspend Phil from the show — in its off-season,
when it wasn't even filming.
Uproar from supporters caused Phil's eventual return.
"My idea of happiness is killing things, boom boom bow…:
Duck Dynasty is hands-down A&E's most popular show of all time, not to mention a merchandising
juggernaut, so the network decided to white-knuckle it through the backlash rather than end the
series and sacrifice a ton of cash.
Flip or Flop
The marriage of Flip or Flop stars Tarek [TAR-ek] and Christina El Moussa [EL MOOS-uh] was already
over when this bizarre incident hit the tabloids.
After a fight, Tarek left the house and fled to a nearby trail behind the house, but not
before grabbing a handgun from a safe and stuffing it into a backpack.
Why?
"There's mountain lions and bobcats and rattlesnakes and like big wildlife back there and I went
up for a hike just to hit some trails it wasn't even a big deal."
From there, the tabloid floodgates burst, and it was open season on the El Moussa's
marriage.
Amazingly, the show is still recording new episodes, and both Tarek and Christina are
still starring together, despite probably dealing with more stress than a cracked home
foundation could have ever given them.
Fixer Upper
It's tough to imagine the charmingly wholesome stars of Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna Gaines,
being tangled up in anything scandalous.
But in 2017, Chip's two former business partners — with whom he founded Magnolia Realty — sued
him for fraud.
According to The Waco Tribune-Herald, Chip allegedly bought them out of the business
for $2,500 each, just two days before the announcement that HGTV had picked up the show.
The kicker was, Chip had been in negotiations with the network for over a year.
Thanks to the show's explosive popularity, Magnolia Realty ballooned into a massive company.
Chip's former partners are now seeking $1 million in damages.
"Did I embarrass a lot of people?"
No, it was just it was just gross.
It took you on a whole other level."
Meanwhile, fans of the popular show are currently mourning the Gaines' decision to end the series,
but we're sure they'll have the popcorn ready as the unexpected drama surrounding Magnolia
Realty continues to unfold.
Sister Wives
This reality show is about polygamist Kody Brown and his four wives: Meri, Janelle, Christine,
and Robyn.
Obviously, their family dynamic is extremely complicated, hence the structuring of an entire
television show around it.
But one kink in the chain that no one expected was for one of the wives, Meri, to get wrapped
up in a full-blown catfishing scandal.
In Meri's case, it was especially bad.
Not only was her catfish, "Sam," attempting to exploit her emotionally, but he also turned
out to be a notorious online scammer named Jackie Overton, a woman who apparently did
this kind of thing a lot.
"This catfish was planting things in my head and just telling me how horrible my family
was.
And specifically how horrible Kody was."
It's unclear what Overton ultimately achieved from her deception, other than providing an
insanely juicy storyline for the show — which the producers drew out for an entire season,
of course.
Married at First Sight
If you've never seen it, this series does exactly what the title says — two strangers
get married the day they meet.
There clearly weren't high expectations for any of those marriages.
"Is that symbolic that they're wearing black?"
Still, nobody anticipated what happened with Season 2 newlyweds Jessica Castro and Ryan
De Nino.
Castro and De Nino married in December 2014 and made it all the way to February 2015 before
throwing in the towel.
Why did they decide to end it?
According to Castro, De Nino threatened her and her entire family.
De Nino didn't outright deny anything, but he did say in an Instagram post that he was
"disgusted" by the accusations.
Later, In Touch reported that a paralegal representing De Nino in the divorce claimed
he threw a tantrum during a meeting and "became even more violent" to the point where others
came in to check on the paralegal's safety.
De Nino later apologized for what he said to Castro at the reunion show.
"First I want to apologize for the way I talked to you and I am sorry.
No matter what it's unacceptable and as a man I need to take ownership of that.
And for that I am sorry."
That's nice and all, but it usually takes more than an apology to make up for threatening
to end the lives of your in-laws.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Granted, anyone who's ever seen a mafia movie has probably looked at Joe Giudice of The
Real Housewives of New Jersey and thought, "Oh yeah, that guy's done some stuff."
But Joe and his wife Teresa were always adamant that they weren't involved in any criminal
activity.
Turns out that was all a huge bluff, because both Teresa and Joe made plea deals regarding
a slew of fraud charges.
In the end, they both went to jail, and Joe also faces the possibility that he'll get
deported to Italy at some point.
Teresa served her 11 months in 2015.
She then returned to the show and wrote a book about the whole experience.
Who says crime doesn't pay?
Big Brother
Being held captive in an environment which is being broadcast to the world is literally
the entire concept of Big Brother.
You'd think contestants would be pretty careful to not make racially insensitive comments
that the whole world will see, but that's exactly what happened during the 15th season
of the American version of the show.
Contestant Aaryn Gries repeatedly made racist and homophobic remarks and was eventually
evicted from the house.
"Does she not know we're on TV and you shouldn't say stuff like that?"
During her post-show interview, she tried to explain away her comments.
"I have said some things that have been taken completely out of context, and wrong, and
I do not mean to ever come off racist."
As to why the series made the decision to air these particular comments, we'll just
go ahead and point to Business Insider's observation that before the controversial episodes aired,
the show was in a ratings slump.
Afterward?
The show enjoyed its highest ratings ever.
Dance Moms
In 2017, Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller went to prison for fraud related to a bankruptcy
filing.
According to ABC News, Miller was "allegedly hiding about $775,000 in income" and "bringing
$120,000 worth of Australian currency into the country without reporting it."
Fortunately, for Miller, she already knows exactly how she's going to spend her time
behind bars.
"I'm going to pretend I'm in a movie and we're on set and I'm there for 10 months and that's
the way it's going to be."
She also said she's going to spend her time in the clink "reading, writing and learning
Spanish."
That just sounds lovely.
Bachelor in Paradise
What would a list of reality TV scandals be without The Bachelor?
In the beach-themed spin-off, Bachelor in Paradise, a scandal broke out before the show
even aired its first episode.
After production was halted in order to pursue an investigation into alleged "misconduct,"
explosive allegations began to fly over what occurred between the two cast members in question,
Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson.
Normally, cast hookups on a show like Bachelor in Paradise are about as routine as an open
bar, but in this case, there was a claim of a possible sexual assault.
When the dust settled, the investigation indicated that there was no misconduct or evidence that
"the safety of any cast member was ever in jeopardy."
The show finally addressed the scandal in the most Bachelor way possible: weeks of promotion,
two dramatic sit-downs with both Olympios and Jackson, and a full cast Q&A.
While the producers of Bachelor in Paradise may not have anticipated this scandal, they
sure knew how to milk it for everything it was worth.
The Bachelor
It's no secret that The Bachelor has a rich history of controversies, most of which involve
drinking shenanigans, infidelity, or castmate hook up speculation.
But how about when a cast member is accused of hooking up with the show's staff?
Unlike the Bachelor in Paradise scandal, there was apparently no question about what happened
this time, at least not according to host Chris Harrison, who went in hard on the alleged
rule-breaker, Rozlyn Papa.
"Rozlyn, you entered into an inappropriate relationship with one of… with one of our
staffers."
Harrison spelled out the details of the forbidden tryst to People, saying:
"She had a physical relationship with a producer on our show.
You cannot do that.
There is no gray area.
[...] Other girls on the show saw it.
The producer confessed more than once and to more than one person.
I cannot make it any clearer."
Still, Papa denied that the relationship had ever happened.
"On my child's life, that never happened."
She also told Us Weekly,
"There was no making out!
[...] If I had known that I was going to get accused of it, maybe I would have gone for
it!"
Citing her confidentiality agreement, Papa refused to elaborate on what actually occurred
between her and the producer, leaving the whole thing open to speculation.
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Another victim of his own uncensored tongue is Duane "Dog" Chapman, the mulleted, sleeveless
wonder who tracks down fugitives.
Dog took some serious heat after a recorded phone call hit the internet, revealing his
repeated use of derogatory racial terms.
After a brief suspension and making the news talk circuit, Dog was back on A&E bagging
bail jumpers.
Because if there's one thing Americans hate more than racism, it's having to find a new
favorite show.
"I'll yell at you all I f------ want.
What the F--- you gonna do?
F------ Nothin'!"
Paula Deen
Apparently watching Paula Deen make sugar-coated, deep-fried butter balls wasn't enough for
America to forgive Deen for her controversial testimony during a racial and sexual discrimination
lawsuit.
"Now according to the deposition Dean was asked have you ever used the N word yourself?
She replies 'Yes, of course.'"
Even though she won the suit, the heat from the controversy was too much for the Food
Network, who kicked her out of the kitchen.
That sweet Southern grandma persona couldn't keep her business partners from publicly cutting
their ties with Deen, either.
Forbes reported that Smithfield Foods, Target, and Walmart all dumped Deen — along with
the endorsement deals that were earning her $17 million at the height of her popularity.
"Well hey, friends, hahahaha."
But she didn't go quietly.
According to Eater, Deen acquired the rights to all of her old Food Network shows and turned
them into a subscription-based online network.
On top of that, she launched a clothing line, competed on Dancing with the Stars, and attempted
to return to cooking on TV with a new syndicated series called Positively Paula.
There's just no stopping her.
"I have gone nuts, okay talk about my nuts oh my God I've got the best.. my uncle Bubba
well he's not my uncle he's my brother"
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