Reality Show Stars Who Destroyed Their Careers in Seconds

Hulk Hogan

A celebrity’s reputation is fragile, even more so in recent years because canceling culture places public figures in a constantly precarious position. In short, a wrong move and you are persona non grata in a fraction of a second.

Fans who once cheered begin to mock and any remaining goodwill with the public is further eroded by subsequent falsehoods, cover-ups, and mistakes. The celebrity scandals have ended with many careers, but fans of reality stars are especially fickle because what they consider is not a star’s talent, but his personality.

As ordinary people, some stars are self-destructive in nature. They have demons that chase them and contribute to reckless or dangerous behavior, or they simply rely too heavily on their perceived invincibility. It doesn’t matter if the transgression happened yesterday or yesterday: When a celebrity’s bad decisions come to light, the mob’s mentality caused by a simple Twitter trend can easily “cancel” that person’s career.

Roseanne Barr, for example, probably never considered that she could be fired from her own show, or that the show would be canceled due to a racist tweet. Thanks to countless files, the Internet is forever. With today’s lightning-fast 24-hour news cycle, a person’s reputation can be ruined between breakfast and lunch, and the cat cannot be put back in the bag. Here are some reality stars who destroyed their careers in seconds.

This queen lost a large slice of the Drag Race cake

While the VH1 crowd enjoys the upbeat and joyous nature of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 12 was burdened by a strong accusation. Joey Guglielmelli, also known as Sherry Pie, was disqualified from the show for allegedly killing his former colleagues and colleagues. One of his alleged victims, Ben Shimkus, shared his story on Facebook about a week after the season premiere.

The next day, Shimkus’ detailed experience, as well as that of other alleged victims, was nearly identical. Guglielmelli had given them contact information for casting agent Allison Mossey, who was reportedly looking for audition recordings of the men in risky situations, but neither Mossey nor the acting gig existed. Instead, without knowing it, they had been communicating with Sherry Pie the entire time. The celebrity then went to Facebook to apologize, admitted the behavior, and said she was “terribly embarrassed and upset” with himself.

With the filming of all the episodes but the full ending, the producers found themselves in trouble, as Sherry Pie had won multiple challenges and couldn’t be easily edited out of the season. VH1 and RPDR Producer World of Wonder released a joint statement announcing that Guglielmelli had been disqualified, but that the season would air as planned to honor the work of the other queens. Producers have removed most of the Sherry Pie images, giving it minimal screen time.

Lamar Odom could not keep up with this family

In 2015, former NBA player Lamar Odom overdosed on a Nevada brothel called Love Ranch and fell into a coma from which he hardly woke up. In his memoirs, Darkness to Light, Odom described the experience. “There [was] an ungodly mix of cocaine, cognac, and cannabis running through my veins. “As I continued horribly, my heart stopped twice. I had twelve attacks and six hits. My lungs collapsed and my kidneys broke. I was on life support. Everyone I loved looked at me with tired eyes.”

He was surprised to see his ex-wife Khloe Kardashian by his side when he woke up. Odom and Kardashian were married a month after they met in 2009, and their relationship is reported in Keeping up with the Kardashians and Khloe and Lamar. Things got complicated when the basketball star admitted to his infidelity and drug addiction during their marriage, prompting Kardashian to file for divorce in 2013. As Odom said this was when his drug use went to “another level.”

The two-time NBA champion wrote in The Players Tribune about the control cocaine had over him. I didn’t think I had a problem. But then I woke up in a bed with tubes coming out of my mouth, and it was real. Odom jumped from team to team throughout his basketball career, always recovering after setbacks, but never signed another NBA deal after the 2015 overdose.

Josh Duggar dug his own grave

The Duggar family made a career out of promoting their brand of very restrictive family values in the FTA 19 Children and Counting. Part of the Independent Baptist community, this clan prided itself on being morally respectful role models for its ultra-conservative religion.

Unfortunately, one of the 19 children in the family, Josh Duggar (now an adult father of six), has irreparably stained the last name. In 2015, Contact broke the news that Josh had sexually abused several young girls as a teenager, including some of his sisters. According to the police report, Josh, who was 14 at the time in 2002, reportedly admitted to his father, Jim Bob, that he petted a woman while she slept. Similar reports to Jim Bob uncovered additional abuse the following year, with several underage girls alleging that Josh had petted them.

In 2006, the Duggars appeared on the Oprah Winfrey talk show but never made it to their stage as Josh’s actions were made public when Harpo Studios received email advice on the allegations of abuse. As In Contact reported, “Harpo Studios faxed the letter to the Department of Human Services hotline,” but no criminal charges were filed because “the [then] three-year statute of limitations had expired.” TLC finally canceled the show after the news broke, and the nail in Josh’s coffin came three months later when Gawker unearthed his account at Ashley Madison and was forced to admit to his infidelity and porn addiction.

Renee Alway blames ‘reality television stigma’

America’s next top model Renee Alway, a third-place contestant on Cycle Eight, moved off the runway in 2007 to live as a fugitive in 2013. Homeless and a drug addict, Alway was arrested in June 2013 and pleaded guilty to robbery with a felony, vehicle theft, firearm charges, and misdemeanor. from a previous arrest. She received a 12-year prison sentence, of which she served five years.

TMZ first reported the release of the former model from prison in 2018, as well as the arrest in 2019 that put her back behind bars. She was always charged with “assault with a deadly weapon (not a firearm), two counts of inflicting bodily injury on a spouse or co-inhabitants, terrorist threats, a previous felony conviction and a violation of probation.”

She always spoke to KESQ affiliate ABC News in 2015 – while he was still in prison – revealing, “I felt like a failure [after [after ANTM ] because I couldn’t get over the stigma of reality shows that had been imposed on me… and then there’s the pressure from fans. ‘Where are you?’ ‘What happened?’ It’s almost like a trap for failure … There are many girls who were eliminated and are doing well, so obviously I made decisions that also brought me here. ” To this day, what happened to Alway is still one of the biggest scandals to plague America’s next top model.

What are you going to do when Hulkamania destroys you?

In 2015, Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) saw that what was left of his career caught fire when a racist speech he made on the tape was released. In a joint investigation by Radar Online and National Investigator, sources commented that Hogan’s hateful tirade was due to her daughter’s alleged relationship with a black man.

She is quoted as saying, “If she were going to fuck an n*gger, I’d rather she marry an 8-foot-tall n*gger worth a hundred million dollars!” Along with a series of equally offensive comments. Naturally, WWE fired him immediately. However, that was not the only overwhelming revelation of the film in question.

The WWE Hall of Fame had already been publicly humiliated by Gawker in 2012, when the publication leaked a deleted sex tape showing him with Heather Cole, the wife of his friend, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem (formerly known as Todd Alan Clem), apparently at the request of Clem. The break was surreptitiously recorded by Clem’s security camera. Hogan sued Clem and Cole, the man who leaked the tape, and Gawker. His invasion of the privacy lawsuit against Gawker finally ended the publication, and the two sides reached a settlement for $ 31 million.

The Hogans know best. Star has made few appearances since WWE terminated his contract. According to Wrestling Inc, Hogan was rumored to be making a public appearance at WrestleMania 2024, but the event was canceled due to COVID-19.

Anna Nicole Smith was once an adorable train wrecked

The last year of Anna Nicole Smith’s life was hidden in the dark as she mourned the loss of her 20-year-old son, Daniel, from a drug overdose in 2006. Smith, whose birth name was Vickie Lynn Hogan, had problems with substance abuse.

Three days before Daniel’s death, Smith gave birth to a baby girl, Dannielynn. Not only was she mourning the loss of her son during the child’s first months of life, but she was also fighting a paternity lawsuit filed by photographer Larry Birkhead, her ex-boyfriend, who wanted the child’s parental rights. As revealed by Daily Mail Birkhead claimed that Dannielynn was his daughter, but Howard K. Stern, Smith’s attorney and frequent partner, claimed that he was the boy’s father.

Like so many stars before and since his death, Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in February 2007, a year after his son. Two months after Smith’s death, DNA testing revealed that Birkhead was the girl’s father, and he has been raising Dannielynn as a single father in Kentucky since Smith’s death in 2007. While an overdose ended His career, his fans remain loyal to reality television star, and we are all supporting Birkhead and Dannielynn.

Chad Johnson will not receive a rose anytime soon

While high school destinations are completely dreamy, franchise student Chad Johnson found himself in a grim reality in February 2024. According to TMZ, Johnson was arrested for robbery and felony charges on domestic charges against his girlfriend Annalize Mishler. The robbery charge was reportedly due to him taking Mishler’s cell phone from him when he tried to ask for help.

Johnson admitted that the charges are likely true, but said he did not recall the night because he was drunk. As reality TV student Toofab said after the incident, “I am very sorry for any girl who has seen my girlfriend’s story; for any girl who has seen that and felt that emotion that triggers all these bad emotions for people, for the bad things that have happened. Sorry. I never wanted to make anyone think about all these things. I only regret my actions.”

Johnson seems to understand the seriousness of his actions, and he only exhibits this behavior when he’s drunk, but going physical with a partner once, regardless of the circumstances, is too many times. Everyone loves coming back, but if you become a public figure on TV and get arrested for domestic violence, you will probably never go back on a dating show. It’s safe to say that Johnson has been canceled, at least as far as the Bachelor franchise goes.

Kathy Griffin lost everything and then came back

In 2017, comedian Kathy Griffin posed for a photo leaked by TMZ and taken by Tyler Shields with what appeared to be Donald Trump’s bloody, severed head. Things got tough after that, and his career quickly fell apart. Griffin told fans in a YouTube video after the photo was released: “I just want them to know that when I get home, I don’t have a single day of paid work in front of me.” She had been wrong and she knew it, but she felt that the punishment did not fit the crime.

Not only did she lose all of his paying concerts in the United States, reported Daily Beast, but she was also being investigated for “conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States.” As she said NPR, “They stopped me at every airport,” adding that they even took her phone and SIM card twice.

While some dishonored public figures never find redemption, the mistakes of others are determined, in retrospect, not to end their career. Torn and hungry stars often find a way to return to the hearts and minds of fans. Cancel Culture almost has the My Life on the D Starlet list, but it looks like it could have some lives remaining on that list. Griffin has been booking standing performances at great venues again, including a Carnegie Hall appearance that sold out in 24 hours.

David and Jason Benham demolished their careers

In 2014, twin brothers David and Jason Benham were set to star in the new HGTV show, Flip It Forward. According to the show’s press release, the show would follow the twins as they help families buy dressers and turn those modest abodes into dream homes. Unfortunately, the show was not meant to be.

The homophobic remarks the Benham brothers made were revealed by Right-Wing Clock one month after HGTC announced Flip Forward as part of their lineup. The twins were also revealed to have ties to extremist groups. A video of David leading a group of protesters outside an abortion clinic appeared, praising them for their anti-choice determination at “the gates of hell.” The twins’ father, Flip Benham, was the leader of the organization that sent protesters to abortion clinics, Operation Save America. Interestingly, Flip has led similar protests in mosques, where he has been seen yelling at the faithful.

After the public outcry over the twins’ entanglements with extremist views and organizations, HGTV announced via Twitter that they would not proceed with the Benhams show, which was in the fourth week of production at the time. The Benhams released a statement (via CNN ) that said, in part, “If our faith costs us a television show, so be it.” It wasn’t really a faith that caused them to be canceled; It was hate.