Tiffany “New York” Pollard
Flavor of Love
Pollard was a pioneer of the school of “I’m not here to make friends” reality TV frostiness, making it clear from the get-go she was on this landmark dating show to do one thing only: win the heart of Flavor Flav. Her quotability (“Cute next to gorgeous, gorgeous is gonna, you know, DEVOUR cute”) has made her a star both on reality TV and on the internet.
Grace Adams-Short
Big Brother
Forget Nasty Nick, the real Big Brother villain was series seven’s Grace. The 20-year-old dance teacher left the house the most hated woman in Britain due to her dogged campaign against fellow contestant Susie Verrico. She also revolutionised the heckling industry: previously, disliked contestants left to boos but Grace was met by a chorus of “Get Grace Out!” chanting that even the show’s non-partisan narrator Marcus Bentley admitted to taking part in.
Christine Quinn
Selling Sunset
It is a pretty mean feat to rank alongside the giants of reality TV villainy so early in one’s career, but Christine Quinn has already cemented herself in the antihero hall of fame. Selling Sunset, which follows the staff of a high-end real estate agency in LA, only started last March, but in that short time Quinn’s antics – ripped right out of the Mean Girls playbook – have made her a reality TV icon.
Phi Phi O’Hara
RuPaul’s Drag Race
The Drag Race ecosystem runs on bitchiness, and Phi Phi is – hands down – the bitchiest contestant on the show to date. Her sabotaging of fellow queen Jiggly Caliente and antagonising of the affable weirdo Sharon Needles led to Phi Phi being universally loathed. That said, her “Go back to Party City where you belong!” barb during a fight with Sharon will surely go down as one of the most beloved Drag Race quotes of all time.
Terry Walsh
Love Island
It’s always fun to watch more recent Love Island converts be scandalised by the behaviour of its bad-boy contestants. “Is there anyone more savage than Adam Collard?” Yes, and his name is Terry Walsh, most famous for having sex with fellow islander Emma-Jane Woodhams in full view of the villa, three days after his girlfriend Malin Andersson was evicted in 2016.
Gemma Collins
Celebrity Big Brother
Collins was recently named the “most iconic’ Towie cast member by viewers but easily ranks as one of TV biggest villains too, for her infamous meltdowns and putdowns. She shocked the nation during her 2017 Celebrity Big Brother stint and her spin-off show Diva Forever continues to make headlines, but fans of Towie know she’s been a diva, well, for ever. Like the time cast member Ferne McCann called her out on her unreasonable behaviour, to which she replied: “I’m Gemma Collins, Ferne. I’m 34 – I’ve earned my divaship.”
Joseline Hernandez
Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta
I had never watched any of the Love & Hip Hop franchise prior to the 2012 Atlanta iteration, and started to because of Joseline Hernandez. My sisters rang me in a frenzy to alert me of the news of her arrival: affairs normally played out offscreen, but in the love triangle between Stevie J, Mimi Faust and Joseline, the mistress was a recurring cast member. And what a cast member she was; her best/worst bits reel could be days long.
Tyra Banks
America’s Next Top Model
Tyra Banks was such an incredible villain because she wasn’t even supposed to be one. From having contestants don blackface in a task to advising a model to close the “not marketable” gap in her front teeth (only to demand another professionally widen hers years later), her infamous “We were all rooting for you!” speech reads pretty differently with hindsight.
Spencer Matthews
Made in Chelsea
Made in Chelsea’s serial cheat was unfaithful to four women during the course of the show: Louise Thompson, Lauren Hutton, Lucy Watson and Stephanie Pratt, the latter of whom he apologised to with a Prada bag. To make matters worse, he was rarely remorseful; when Thompson accused him of disrespect, he retorted: “It’s fucking hard to respect you when you allow me to cheat on you!”
Phaedra Parks
Real Housewives of Atlanta
Phaedra Parks could have made this list solely on the strength of her eye-watering monologue about castmate Kenya Moore, which viewers have since dubbed “the read of the decade”. Phaedra was consistently and casually catty on the well-to-do reality show, so much so that her stint culminated in her being fired from the franchise after making defamatory allegations about a fellow castmate.
