Greatest Reality TV Personalities of All Time: Hosts and Judges
While we can’t honestly classify most of it as “real,” we admit that we’ve been hopelessly hooked on reality TV for, oh, about a decade and a half now. In honor of the 15th anniversary of Survivor (the show that kick-started the reality TV revolution premiered on May 31, 2000), we’re celebrating our favorite reality TV personalities in eight categories… and letting you pick the winners. Be sure to vote in the poll below — and if we left out your favorite, feel free to submit a write-in vote in the comments. Today’s category: Hosts and Judges.
Tyra Banks, America’s Next Top Model (Cycles 1–21)
Why She Makes the Cut: For 21 cycles, Tyra Banks has held court on America’s Next Top Model as both a host and a judge. The supermodel is known for her crazy stunts and campy behavior on the runway-themed reality show, from fake-fainting to her GIF-able animated faces. (Don’t forget to smize, people!) With 25 years in the modeling biz, she’s earned the right to poke fun at the process.
Best Moment: Hands down, Tyra’s crazed reaction to contestant Tiffany Richardson’s bad attitude in Cycle 4 of the show, in which she revealed that she’d never “shouted at a girl” that way before.
— Victoria Leigh Miller
Simon Cowell, American Idol (Seasons 1–9)
Why He Makes the Cut: American Idol made Simon Cowell a household name. But love him or hate him, the Fox singing competition was never the same after the outspoken British music mogul signed off at the end of Season 9. A revolving door of new judges tried to fill Mr. Mean’s shoes, but no one could ever replace Idol’s breakout star.
Best Moment: Idol superfans will never forget it — Cowell’s “affair” with fellow judge Paula Abdul was exposed in a hilarious Season 2 skit that was capped off with a sloppy kiss between the two.
— Victoria Leigh Miller
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance (Seasons 2–12)
Why She Makes the Cut: For a moment, forget Cat Deeley’s perfect hair, killer style, and legs up to there — that’s not why she earned a place on this list. Cat is pretty much the most real reality show host ever. She can’t hide it when she loves a performance by one of the contestants (she’s quick to show off her goosebumps when something moves her), and she’s not afraid to be completely goofy (“Shazam,” anyone?) and self-deprecating (she actually can’t dance).
Best moment: In Season 8, when the judges threw everyone a curveball and opted not to eliminate anyone, no one was more shocked by the change than Cat, who was forced to go completely off script… and totally nailed it with ease.
— Breanne L. Heldman
Chris Harrison, The Bachelor (Season 1–present)
Why He Makes the Cut: For 13 years and an ungodly number of seasons of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad/Bachelor in Paradise, Harrison has served as host, confidant, mentor, and Chief Rose Counter for countless single men and women looking to find “love” on TV. Even when the drama gets dialed up to 11, Harrison never loses his soothing equanimity, making him a beacon of calm in a sea of crazy.
Best Moment: While his reporting on a crew member’s ill-fated dalliance with a Bachelor in Paradise contestant in 2014 was outstanding, we’ve gotta go with something else: No matter how many times Harrison delivers the line “This is the final rose tonight,” he makes it feel like the first time.
— Kristen Baldwin
Jeff Probst, Survivor (Seasons 1–30)
Why He Makes the Cut: Fifteen years ago, when Probst hosted the first season of Survivor, he seemed a genial, slightly bland host. But since then, he’s shown that he can be insightful and smart, diplomatic yet no-nonsense, and he’s willing to call out players for great moves, terrible decisions, and utter BS. And nobody in the business has more iconic catchphrases — from “The tribe has spoken” to “Immunity is back up for grabs.”
Best moment: Probst completely cut down Dan Foley in this year’s “Worlds Apart” reunion, even playing unedited footage to prove that Dan had lied about misogynistic comments he’d made on the show.
— Kelly Woo
