"Wife Swap" — can't stop. We loved Curtis’ chicken nuggets and Alicia's pageant queen fever dream.
But if you think it was all just an innocent guilty-pleasure binge, you’re dead wrong.
Which "Wife Swap" family member is serving 30 years to life? Keep watching to find out.
"Chicken nuggets is like my family." A crucial component of the "Wife Swap"
formula was to switch wives from families who were total opposites.
And in Season 5, the Browns and Hollands had markedly different styles of eating.
"We're definitely not calorie-counters 'cuz we can't count that high."
While stationed at the Hollands, fitness-focused Joy Brown worked
to establish healthier living for the family. And, of course,
her efforts were met with massive opposition. While she was cleaning out the fridge,
young Curtis Holland — best known as "King Curtis" — famously declared to his stand-in mom:
"No! I want my bacon! I gotta tell you something. Bacon is good for me."
Flash forward to 2015, when "Pretty Little Liars" star Lucy Hale posted a tweet asking for an update
on Curtis. Well, the King himself replied with a video on YouTube. He explained that his family
had filmed a pilot for an unproduced reality show. And he said he had switched from chicken
nuggets to chicken strips and was starting a GoFundMe so he could restore a muscle car.
Curtis later tried to score some cash to buy a demolition derby car on "Pawn Stars,"
but he ended up keeping his antique camera instead of making the deal.
"I'm gonna take the camera home and probably put it on a shelf and wait twenty years."
The Beaver family gained national recognition for their liberal views after appearing in
Season 1 in 2004. Mom Amy cried at the sight of a Confederate flag on the Smoak family's porch
and was horrified at the family's guns and trophy animal heads. While she was mocked at the time,
she and her husband Jeffrey later gained some new supporters after the Hulu run of the show.
"There will never be a Saturday like this at my home."
Their fans are most vocal on their daughter Emily's TikTok. In her videos, Amy and Jeff are
often featured participating in dance challenges and modeling her crocheted tops. As of 2022,
she has nearly half a million followers — and 92,000 likes on a video of her parents looking
like dead ringers for Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin of "Tiger King" fame. In a Q&A on YouTube, Emily
confirmed that the family was aiming to establish themselves as full-blown "content creators."
Mom Amy also revealed that she took so much heat from "Wife Swap" viewers that someone
once threw a deer leg in her yard. Still, she didn't let that ruin her experience, noting,
"I enjoyed being there. I really bonded with those kids."
Some of the families featured on the series drummed up a lot more press than others.
The Heene family, for example, was such a hit with fans that they shot the show twice;
first in 2008, and again in 2009 — brought back by popular demand.
But months after their second episode aired, the Heenes made national headlines. A large balloon
they built had floated away, and authorities were led to believe that their 6-year-old son
Falcon was trapped inside. Hours later, he was found safe and sound inside the family's home.
As it turned out, the entire ordeal was a hoax. Apparently, the Heenes were hoping to score their
own reality series, and had crafted the terrifying story to stir up buzz. According to Deadline,
parents Richard and Mayumi each served jail time and were ordered to pay $36,000 for damages.
In 2020, the governor of Colorado pardoned the couple for their crimes. But as for Falcon,
he just may be forever known as "Balloon Boy." He and his brothers
later started a metal band and released their track "Balloon Boy No Hoax" in 2014.
"We don't really wanna associate ourselves with that. We just wanna rock out."
Justin Starling took a different approach to extending his 15 minutes of fame than
most reality stars. Instead of trying to score gigs on other reality shows,
or become a social media influencer, Justin gained big time notoriety with motocross.
"What's going on, guys? My name's Justin Starling. I'm a professional supercross rider."
His affinity for the sport was a major plotline on his family's 2007 episode of the show.
Of course, the hobby was not well-received by his swapped environmentalist mother,
who said that he and his friends were, quote,
"desecrating the goddess" by racing their bikes around his family's backyard track.
According to Vital MX, Justin went pro in 2012, and signed with AJE Motorsports in 2018. And he
says he's making enough money racing, to get by. Justin is active on his Instagram — with over
25,000 followers — posting snaps and videos of himself going beast-mode on all kinds of bikes.
Meanwhile, over here, we're still a little intimidated by Peloton bikes.
In Season 4 of "Wife Swap," viewers were introduced to 15-year-old Alicia Guastaferro,
a dedicated beauty queen who described herself by saying:
"I definitely think pageants define me as a person. I don't care what other people say,
appearance is everything in this world."
After the episode aired, Alicia sued Disney and ABC for $100 million,
claiming that producers purposely made her look spoiled and bratty,
according to Daily News. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum.
But that wasn't the end of Alicia's legal issues. As the Associated Press reported,
in 2012, she then faced a prostitution charge. After she and an attorney were arrested at a
travel center in New York, she told police that her companion had paid her up to $700
for intimate acts on multiple occasions. The charge was ultimately dropped.
After seemingly putting her legal issues behind her, Alicia became Instagram famous.
As of early 2022, the former pageant star has over 184,000 followers. According to her bio,
she's now a "Hip-Hop/Pop Artist." Of course she has the music videos to prove it,
for tracks like "Pretty Girl," "Cash and Nap," and "Frost Me Up."
You can also catch up with her and her roughly 74,000 followers on TikTok.
Reality TV can be a great platform for people hoping to sell their products and services.
Just take a page out of the Kardashian/Jenner handbook! After appearing on "Wife Swap" in 2005,
Buzz Blackburn dropped some pounds, began peddling his voice talents, and became a voiceover actor.
Fans have kept up with the star on social media, with one Twitter user mentioning how
well he seemed to be doing after the show. Loyal "Wife Swap"-ers might remember his reluctance
to participate in the fitness "boot camp" devised by his temporary wife, Lin Johnson.
"It's selfish of me to not take care of myself well enough that I know I'm gonna be around."
But he's clearly not afraid of a little hustle now. Buzz's website bio reads:
"His natural voice quality is described as robust, energetic,
engaging, charismatic, a good bit of grit or extreme attitude. […] Whether it's a Cowboy,
Butler, Wizard, Monster, General, Grunt, Beast, Robot, or Mob Boss you need, Buzz can do it."
He also fronts a "party band" and has worked in radio, winning "DJ of the Year" at the Tennessee
Music Awards in 2018. Buzz's IMDb resume credits him as both an actor and a composer.
There were the light-hearted "Wife Swap" moments, and then there were the brutally
devastating real life tragedies of some of its stars. After appearing on the show,
some families met a heartbreaking new reality. But none have faced quite as
shocking a fate as the Stockdale family, who fans first met on the show in 2008.
"The day we moved, we heard gunshots in our neighborhood
and I knew we had made the right decision."
The family was known for their conservative lifestyle and strict parenting methods
many American families might consider extreme. There was a complete ban on TV
and the kids were made to earn "chore tokens" just to listen to the radio.
The episode also featured their involvement in a successful family band, which mom Kathy
managed. But as People reported, in 2017, Kathy and youngest son James were shot and killed by
son Jacob Stockdale. Jacob was also admitted to the hospital after what police believed to be
an attempt on his own life. The story shocked the family's community. Pastor Steve Todd told Fox 8,
"They have always been the most admired family. […] Everyone we know loves them and admires them
and we have never known anybody that would have said one bad word about any of them."
According to TMZ, Jacob was admitted to a mental institution before he went to trial,
making two failed attempts to escape the facility in 2019. He later pleaded guilty
to two murder charges and received a sentence of 30 years to life in 2021, according to WHBC.
After news broke about the Stockdale murders, media outlets approached those who knew the
family to find out more information. And that included "Wife Swap" star
Laurie Tonkovic, who switched families with the Stockdales for the show.
As Kathy Stockdale had once noted of the Tonkovic family,
"Their style of living is fruitless. It's time for the Tonkovics to learn; work comes before play."
But during the rule change portion of the swap,
Laurie let the Stockdale kids watch cable TV and play video games — two common amenities
they were certainly not at all used to. She proudly proclaimed of her own parenting style,
"I let my kids out there in the world with drugs and sex and whatever. Am I crazy?"
Laurie made some bold moves while living with the Stockdale family and was just as
candid when asked about the tragedy. During an interview with TMZ, she recalled how
Jacob Stockdale cried when she let the kids turn on the tube for a minute of downtime.
Reportedly, his parents had told him he would, quote, "burn in hell"
for doing anything of the kind. Remembering her time with the Stockdale kids, Laurie recalled,
"They weren't allowed to make choices. I just think that it caught up to him."
She also claimed to "Inside Edition" that she instantly assumed that Jacob was the
one responsible for the brutal deaths of his mother and brother.
"I knew immediately."
"You knew in your heart that it was Jacob?"
"Yeah."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts,
please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.