The 22 greatest reality TV villains of all time

It was a reality feud for the ages. In one corner, you had “nice girl” Lauren Conrad, the narrator of MTV docu-soaps and , and the prism through which we saw every other character on both series. In the other? “That would be Kristin,” Lauren haughtily introduces Cavallari in Laguna’s premiere. “Wherever Kristin went, drama followed. She thinks she’s hot. Okay, I guess she is, but she can’t stand me.” The root of the rivalry was, of course, a boy—popular senior Stephen Colletti—and though Conrad and Cavallari have since fessed up to the producer-led manipulations of their yearslong beef, both gamely played their parts. Feisty, filter-free and always at the ready for an argument, Kristin Cavallari manufactured a high-school mean girl to rival the best of them. [Christina Izzo]

You may hate her methods but, dammit, they get results. It was easy—and fun—to root against Lisa Rinna, but her presence brought an undeniable energy to . As the Los Angeles-adjacent ladies grew into the show, they became more stagnant, often willing to sit around and do basically nothing. Rinna would never let that happen; she is a television professional, after all. Sure, sometimes she may have gone too far—did she really need to say on national television that Yolanda Hadid didn’t actually suffer from Lyme disease, but Munchausen’s?—but during her tenure on RHOBH, she always made sure there was something to talk about. As she is wont to say, “Own it!” [Drew Gillis]

began to hit its stride in season four, thanks in no small part to the rivalry between Phi Phi O’Hara and eventual winner Sharon Needles. O’Hara often let the pressure of the competition get the best of her, leading her to snap at her fellow contestants—like when she told Needles, “Go back to Party City where you belong!” The queen returned to redeem herself on All Stars 2, but ended up being the villain all over again. She has since quit drag, but now has a popular stream. [Luke Gralia]

The famous premise of was to have seven strangers move into a house to “stop being polite and start getting real.” The problem with David “Puck” Rainey is that he made things a little too real during his time on 1994’s The Real World: San Francisco. The third season was a notable one not only for the diversity of the roommates—especially the inclusion of openly gay, HIV-positive activist Pedro Zamora—but also for the hurricane of fuckery that Puck unleashed in the townhouse. Beyond having very questionable hygiene (see: frequently blowing “snot rockets,” sticking his fingers in communal peanut butter, etc), the “bad boy” bike messenger revved up drama with everyone in the cast, but most notably Pedro, with the ensuing storm of abuse and animosity leading to Puck being voted out of the house halfway through the season. [Christina Izzo]

There would be bigger villains to emerge from universe—a certain Cheeto-hued Commander in Chief, for instance—but Omarosa Manigault Newman was its first, a pioneering TV antagonist so noteworthy, she became known by first name alone. Well before she worked as a political aide for the aforementioned orange politician, she was using every conniving, combative tool in the box to impress then-businessman Donald Trump and sabotage her fellow competitors on the entrepreneurial NBC series. She lied, she cheated, she backstabbed, she poured a whole flute of champagne over Piers Morgan’s head. And though she was fired not once, not twice, but thrice during her Apprentice appearances, Omarosa parlayed that villainy into a decades-spanning career with far more damaging results. [Christina Izzo]

Many reality show baddies achieve their “villain” status by antagonizing their fellow contestants; far fewer by victimizing the show itself. And yet that’s exactly what happened when business consultant, amateur fisherman, and nigh-constant nudist Richard Hatch waltzed onto the set of the first in 2000—and waltzed back out a few months later with its $ 1 million prize in hand. Although Hatch did plenty of things that were just outright awful to his fellow contestants (the nudity thing was clearly as much an intimidation tactic as any sort of actual free expression) his true impact was in understanding this new genre of show far better than its actual creators did. Mark Burnett and his team had thought they had created a meritocracy about survival skills in harsh conditions; Hatch grasped that they’d actually concocted a small-scale, high-stakes political simulator. In the end, the —even if, years later, the “snake” was unable to come back for at least one later season because he neglected to pay taxes on his Survivor winnings. Whoops! [William Hughes]

Season five of had some of the franchise’s most popular queens, including Alaska, Detox, and Roxxxy Andrews—who formed the mean girl trio Rolaskatox. However, Andrews was the most villainous of the group, often picking on kooky narcoleptic and eventual winner Jinkx Monsoon. She got a lot of hate from the fandom, but her appearance on All Stars 2 managed to rehabilitate her image … sort of. While she was much more likable as a character, she did much worse as a competitor, falling into the bottom almost every week. Today, though, fans still regard her as Drag Race royalty. [Luke Gralia]

She was a creationist. He was an atheist. Can I make it any more obvious? Yeah … it was clear from the start of season two that Shaina and Kyle weren’t a good match. But what’s a girl to do when the guy she actually likes is seemingly way more interested in another woman? String another man along, accept his proposal, and then ditch him in Mexico, of course! Poor Kyle even followed Shaina back to Chicago to try to work things out, even though Shaina seemed way more interested in trying to break up Shayne and Natalie so she could swoop in and get together with Shayne. Unsurprisingly, her plan completely failed, and Shaina ended the season alone. [Jen Lennon]

Every reality competition show has one categorically mean judge who seems nearly impossible to please. none of them have managed to outdo the original. On , Simon Cowell had a knack for making contestants run out of the room crying. Who could forget such classic zingers like, “You were absolutely dreadful,” or “You couldn’t win this competition if you were the only person in it.” Cowell may have left Idol long ago, but he and his continue to judge America’s Got Talent. [Luke Gralia]

may have been fake, but Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt’s vicious feud with Lauren Conrad was all too real. Montag and Conrad were BFFs when the show started, but once Pratt entered the picture, things quickly went downhill. In addition to driving a wedge between the blonde besties, Pratt also started a rumor that Conrad made a sex tape with her ex, which Montag backed. It all came to a head when Conrad delivered the iconic line, “You know what you did!” Montag and Pratt are still together, and they’re. [Luke Gralia]

In all of the memes that her charismatic yet temperamental presence has inspired over the years—from “Bye Pumkin!” spitefulness to Beyoncé-related disbelief—one indelible image sums up Tiffany “New York” Pollard’s time on the VH1 dating competition : a GIF of her wielding a steak knife, manicured French tips tapping against the blade and a knowing smirk set on her face. It was that combination of cocksure posturing (she proudly proclaimed herself the house HBIC, a.k.a. “Head Bitch in Charge’’), caustic edge and comedic timing (“Good morning, good morning. Not you, you can choke’’) that made Pollard’s animated villainy transcend TV history and live on forever in internet infamy. [Christina Izzo]

The facial hair alone should have tipped us off: a villain is only as bad as his worst mustache and the follicular nonsense that Tom Sandoval unveiled on his face in ’ seismic 10th season was just the clue we needed that something sinister was underfoot in the SUR Cinematic Universe. By now, the world is well aware of the specifics of #Scandoval—Sandoval’s shocking months-long affair with Rachel (née Raquel) Leviss, the “best friend” of his partner of nearly a decade, Arianna Madix—but the sheer scope of the infidelity and Tom’s seeming lack of remorse about the whole ordeal made it clear that the disgraced star’s villainy stretched further than we thought, a long history of gaslighting, exploitation and egotism hurled against his past romantic partners and Pump Rules castmates. You know you’re a bad guy when you’re making Jax Taylor and James Kennedy look good. [Christina Izzo]

has had its fair share of villains—there was Jade “This isn’t America’s Next Top Best Friend” Cole, Lisa Who Peed In A Diaper, and Monique the fake bedwetter. But somehow, none of them have come close to Tyra Banks herself. Banks’ completely bonkers is the stuff of internet legend, but she also once tried to make cycle six’s Danielle close the gap in her teeth to make her more attractive, showed a shocking lack of empathy when Adrienne was groped on the way to a go-see in cycle one, and didn’t really seem to care all that much when Keenyah was sexually harassed by a male model at a photoshoot in cycle four. Repeat viewings of ANTM, especially the early seasons, have been eye-opening for a lot of people. Maybe it’s actually Tyra who needs to learn something from this. [Jen Lennon]