Reality TV’s Most Cringe Moments of 2023 So Far: ‘Vanderpump Rules,’ ‘Claim To Fame,’ And More

Jill Ashock and Amber Asay carried out one of the most menacing sabotages in survival show television so far this year. In Episode 5 of Netflix’s Outlast – a reality show in which 16 players split into four teams must endure the Alaskan wilderness, but must also remain in a team while doing so. In an attempt to knock out their Bravo Team competition, Alpha Team members Ashock, Asay and Justin Court destroy the neighboring camp. While lone Bravo Team member Javier Colón – who was busy trying to recruit the remaining Delta Team members from across the lake – claimed the trio’s nefarious plan was “cheating,” Ashock reminded him that there is “no law here.”

Kate Chastain may have worked her butt off for multiple seasons as chief stew in Bravo’s Below Deck, but those days were clearly long behind her in The Traitors Episode 6. The Peacock reality series features 20 contestants in the ultimate murder mystery game, where they must carry out missions to build up a prize fund of $250,000 all while scoping out the secret “Traitors” of the group.

While Chastain admitted she was there to “fuck shit up” – and even lasted until the finale episode – she was clearly ready to leave at one point. When the group was tasked with rolling wheel barrels with prize money written on them up and down hills, across a river and through obstacles, the Bravolebrity barely offered any help – another clear act of sabotage.

“There’s no amount of money that I would push a barrel up a rocky hillside for,” she says. “Get some dignity, y’all.”

To the blind eye, this may seem like an innocent makeout. To Vanderpump Rules fans, this is cringe on so many levels. For some background: Katie Maloney asked her ex-husband Tom Schwartz – whom she recently divorced after a 12-year relationship – to stay away from intimate relations within the friend group. She also told Raquel Leviss, her alleged friend at the time, that she wouldn’t feel comfortable with them striking up a fling. Despite her warnings, the two shared an awkward, middle-school-like smooch that was far more forced than romantic at Scheana Shay’s wedding weekend in Mexico.

What’s even more cringe? That Leviss was actually sleeping with Schwartz’s BFF Tom Sandoval that entire trip, which we learned much later on when she secretly made the confession post-reunion.

Leave it to Khloé Kardashian to take a jab at her own life – making us wonder whether we should laugh or pretend like we didn’t hear a thing. In a recent episode of The Kardashians Season 3, the reality star joked about how easy it is to “make people uncomfortable” – especially those who aren’t aware of her baggage.

While getting her makeup done, Kardashian reenacted a hypothetical conversation in which she’d have to explain her father Robert Kardashian’s death, her ex-stepfather Caitlyn Jenner’s transition and her turbulent divorce from Lamar Odom.

“So how’s your dad? Which one? One’s dead and one turned into a girl,” she quipped. “Why’d you get a divorce? Oh, I found him in a brothel.”

Sonja Morgan may have packed her bags and moved to Benton, Illinois for the summer – but she certainly didn’t leave her care-free personality behind in New York City when it came to her and Luann de Lesseps’ spinoff series, Welcome to Crappie Lake. While the show hones in on the dynamic duo’s renovation of the small mid-western town, their NSFW antics never fail to make an appearance. In just the second episode, Morgan is caught charging her pink vibrator by Benton Motel owner Akash Patel, who points it out to the reality star. 

“Oh, Jesus. That’s not for you,” Morgan replies as she runs to cover up the charging dildo, before later explaining, “I kind of use it on my shoulders. And downtown. I do have something just for shoulders but it was too heavy.”

Well, it’s a good thing Patel “loved” her honesty.

Forrest Gump was right when he said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” I mean, we certainly didn’t expect someone related to the great Tom Hanks to have such a cringey meltdown on television. During Claim to Fame’s Season 2 premiere, contestant Carly Reeves was disqualified when her competitor correctly guessed her famous relative. Following the revelation, Reeves exited the stage and let out a blood-curdling scream.

“His freaking clues were so freaking obvious. Freaking bench and the freaking bench of freaking Forrest Gump, are you kidding me?” she fumes through tears. “Why a bench, why a bench? There’s literally no reference to benches in any other movie. Even Gabriel found that out, and he’s not even smart.”

A whining, sobbing Reeves added, “I didn’t even get to do any challenges! I don’t deserve this. I should have more camera time! I should be here longer.”

While she may not have lasted too long in the game show realm, we’re sure there will be a better-fit opportunity for her dramatics on a medium like Bravo at some point in the future.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 13 was undeniably messy. Between pizza-gate and the relationship-ending feud between the Gorgas and Teresa Giudice, there was a lot to take in. However, the most head-turning comment of the season came from Giudice’s husband, Louie Ruelas, when he explained to Joe Gorga that he wears his dead father’s pajamas to bed at night to make his step-daughters feel safe. While he’s since re-explained what he meant by that, it still stands as one of Bravo’s cringiest moments thus far.

You didn’t think we’d leave out a reality dating show, did you?! Well, one of the most skin-crawling moments so far this year came during Love is Blind Season 4 when Kwame Appiah and Zack Goytowski serenaded their dates. And before we get any further, let’s just point out that serenading of any kind is always extremely cringey – especially when it’s not great.

While Appiah could carry a tune and play guitar when he sang to an impressed Chelsea Griffin, Goytowski opted to perform an acapella version of his original song during his proposal to Irina Solomonova. And to put it nicely, he was a tad more on the tone deaf end of things.

“You found me all alone…I found myself a Blarney Stone. Irina, you take my blues away. Irina, you take my blues away. I love you. Forever and ever and ever…I do,” he sang, before getting down on one knee.

Unfortunately, Goytowski’s romantic lyrics weren’t enough to save the couple as they ultimately called off their engagement during a trip to Mexico.

Andy Cohen rightfully warned Vanderpump Rules fans that Tom Sandoval was about to “upset every woman in America” ahead of the show’s reunion. As if his cheating scandal with Raquel Leviss couldn’t get any worse, the disgraced reality star only dug himself in deeper when he shaded his post-affair sex with his then-girlfriend of nine years, Ariana Madix. The moment which made everyone in the room – and everyone watching – cringe came as Sandoval was asked whether he had slept with anyone besides Leviss during his relationship with Madix.

“Well, you know who he did sleep with after he and Raquel started sleeping together? Me,” Madix said, before Sandoval sarcastically responded, “She kept her T-shirt on, it was really hot.”

I know what you’re thinking: how can it get worse than Tom Sandoval’s T-shirt comment? Yes, what he said was bad. But nothing’s nearly as cringe as TLC’s latest reality dating series, MILF Manor — in which thirsty moms jet off to Mexico Love Island style in search of some younger meat. However, things take a turn for the weird when that younger meat happens to be all of their sons. And if you thought that was awkward — the overtly sexual innuendos made between mother and son just about tips the cringe-meter.