50 Reality TV Stars You Didn’t Know Were on Other Shows First

Yep, our girl Stassi was actually on one more reality show before heading to Vanderpump Rules. After The Amazing Race, she was on a season of Queen Bees, a competition series that brought together a group of 10—you guessed it—“queen bees” to compete in a series of challenges with the idea being they’d learn how to be nicer to people. You know, famously something that’s accomplished via reality television.

Before she was on Southern Charm, Cameran Eubanks appeared on a season of The Real World: San Diego in 2004. She later wrote about the experience via Twitter, saying, “I have no idea why people bring it up like it was a bad thing. The worst thing I did was get drunk.”

Along with Cameran Eubanks, The Real World: San Diego also put another reality TV star on the map: Jamie Chung. After appearing on The Real World in 2004, she went on to appear on the spin-off game show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge. You might also know her from her subsequent acting roles in movies, like The Hangover Part II or Lovecraft Country.

Eva Marcille (formerly Eva Pigford) was the winner of America’s Next Top Model in 2004. After that, she appeared on a handful of other reality shows, most notably The Real Housewives of Atlanta. She started the show as a friend of NeNe Leakes before being promoted to a full-time cast member in 2018.

Another ANTM alum! Nyle DiMarco competed on (and won!) America’s Next Top Model in 2015, becoming the series’ first deaf winner. Then he went on to win Dancing With the Stars the following year. Casual! Stay tuned for whatever reality TV competition Nyle wins next.

If you didn’t already know that Kim Kardashian’s first foray into reality TV was as Paris Hilton’s stylist, now you do! She appeared on a few episodes of The Simple Life alongside Paris and Nicole Richie.

In 2005 (that’s three years before The Real Housewives of New York City premiered, FYI), Bethenny Frankel competed on a season of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. She made it all the way to the series finale before being eliminated.

Well, since we’re all talking about Sofia Richie’s wedding, let me remind you that before her modeling career and appearances on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Flip It Like Disick, young Sofia was on her sister’s reality show Candidly Nicole. In this scene, the sisters are forcing famous dad Lionel Richie to tell them who has better nails, better ear piercings, who’s smarter, who’s prettier, and so on. If you want to watch him in the hot seat, you can see the clip here.

Before she was one of Jersey Shore’s icons, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was briefly on an MTV series called Is She Really Going Out With Him?—the premise of which was basically finding the most obnoxious guys in America and trying to figure out how they’d landed girlfriends. The 2000s were a wild time, okay???

Consider this your official reminder that before The Hills or (obviously) The Hills: New Beginnings, Heidi Montag was on MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County in 2004. Crazy to think that there was ever a time we didn’t have Speidi!

If you recognized Ryan on The Amazing Race’s 21st season, it’s probably because you saw him on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart in 2005 when he was a recent law graduate competing with Bethenny Frankel.

Hi, did you know that waaay before RHOBH, Camille Meyer (previously Camille Grammer) was a dancer on Club MTV, which, from what I can tell, was basically a half-hour show in which attractive people danced to music videos in an NYC club? It’s reality, kind of. Obviously, it was a simpler time.

Lisa Rinna had a long reality TV résumé before joining The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. If you consider talk shows to be reality TV (which I do), then you could say one of Lisa’s first reality show stints was as the host of Soap Talk. Anyway, enjoy this very ironic screenshot!

In 2011 (quick reminder, she joined RHOBH in 2014), Lisa Rinna appeared on Celebrity Apprentice, alongside fellow Bravolebrity NeNe Leakes from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Pre-RHOBH, Lisa appeared on additional reality shows, including Harry Loves Lisa, Sing Your Face Off, and RuPaul’s Drag Race.

You might recognize Joanna Krupa from The Real Housewives of Miami, but before she was on the Bravo show, she appeared on Dancing With the Stars in 2009. Yes, those are Ed Hardy Uggs—but in Joanna’s defense, this picture is from 2009.

Claudia Jordan is another Real Housewife™ with a substantial reality TV résumé. One of her earliest jobs was as a model on The Price Is Right from 2001 to 2003. You might have also seen her on Deal or No Deal, The Apprentice, or Life With La Toya.

Tiffany “New York” Pollard has appeared on a ton of reality shows, but the one that launched her career (and approximately 10,000 memes and TikTok audios) was Flavor of Love. The first season of the dating show debuted in 2006 and led to Pollard starring in her own spinoff, called I Love New York. She also later appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, Celebrity Ex on the Beach, and Famously Single...among countless other reality shows.

Before rising to fame on Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, Karlie Redd starred on Scream Queens, a VH1 series that brought actresses together to compete for a role in an upcoming horror film.