Greatest Reality TV Personalities of All Time: Heroes

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: Heroes.

Diem Brown, The Challenge (eight assorted seasons)

Why She Makes the Cut: Diem was so much more than a fierce, fearless competitor on The Challenge; she was nice. She approached — or at least attempted to approach — each fellow Challenger with kindness, even when cattiness and drama seemed to rule the day. But that was just the beginning of the dancing queen’s impact. In November 2014, Diem succumbed to her third bout of cancer, leaving behind her patient gift registry website, MedGift, and a whole bunch of fans inspired to live their lives to the fullest.

Best Moment: No one will ever forget Diem’s romance with bad boy C.T. Tamburello, but reality television was forever moved when Diem finally took off her wig and revealed her beautiful bald head (and, yeah, we’re crying now just thinking about it).

— Breanne L. Heldman

Jo Frost, Supernanny (Seasons 1-7)

Why She Makes the Cut: Let’s get real: Most parents aren’t taught how to be parents, but Supernanny Jo rode to the rescue with real, practical advice for those ‘rents whose households were often completely out of control. With the patience of a saint, yet the ability to be completely honest in pointing out the mistakes being made, Frost — whose background includes a 15-year stint as a real nanny — saved many families from a miserable home life, and some parents, it’s no exaggeration to say, from losing their sanity.

Best Moment: Example: the McMillion family, with mom Cheryl in a fragile state thanks to three out-of-control boys and a military husband on deployment. Cheryl was so beaten down by having to be the sole disciplinarian that she had taken to locking her kids outside and locking herself in a room away from her sons, and told Jo, “I’m at the point where I can’t stand my kids.” In came Supernanny to the rescue, with the Naughty Spot, a treasure hunt, and, of course, a set of rules implementation and communication techniques that led Cheryl to be able to bond with son, Ryan, who had, pre-Jo’s visit, told his mom on a regular basis that he hated her.

— Kimberly Potts

Bear Grylls, Man vs. Wild (Season 1-7)

Why He Makes the Cut: What separates man and Bear? How about an ability to adapt to any environment, no matter how unforgiving; a demonstrated understanding of how to use what’s at hand to survive; and the enviable skill of smiling in the face of danger. It’s good for all of us that he uses those great powers responsibly.

Best Moment: While on a desert stroll in Mexico, Bear fought off dehydration by emptying his trouser snake into a snakeskin and gulping the resulting, um, “cocktail” down. (Hey, he said it!)

— Ethan Alter

Tim Gunn, Project Runway (Seasons 1-13)

Why He Makes the Cut: Equal parts motivating coach, influential teacher, genuine friend, and passionate stylist, Tim Gunn is reality TV’s mentor extraordinaire. The Project Runway mainstay never dismisses a designer’s vision — no matter how tacky or terrible. Instead, he listens first, then gently offers his assessment and critiques for improvement, and finally urges the contestant to do their best with what they have, telling them to “make it work!”

Best Moment: One of the Season 10 designers complains to Gunn that the sequined material he was using was a “bitch,” prompting one of the show’s most unexpected and hilarious Gunn reactions: “Bitch-slap that bitch.” We love it when dapper Tim Gunn gets sassy!

— Chrissy Le Nguyen

Capt. Phil Harris, Deadliest Catch (Seasons 1-6)

Why He Makes the Cut: A rock star of the Bering Sea crab-fishing fleet with a wicked sense of humor and a big heart, Capt. Phil finally got the chance to know his sons, Josh and Jake, when they became deckhands on the Cornelia Marie. After suffering a stroke in January 2010, Phil wasn’t expected to awaken from the medically induced coma he had been placed in following surgery, but he did — and he wrote a note telling the cameraman to keep shooting because they needed a great finish to his story. Before he passed away a week later, they got it: Phil had the chance to apologize to Josh for not being a better father when he was growing up, and Josh told Phil he’d been the best father he could be and taught him everything he needed to know to be a man.

Best Moment: The way we choose to remember Capt. Phil: In his wheelhouse, telling Josh with a straight face that the secret to finding crabs was looking for air bubbles. “They’re just fartin’ little machines. We can find those fart bubbles, we got it made.”

— Mandi Bierly