2004 RealityNewsOnline/Reality TV Hall of Shame Year in Review Awards: "Best Of" Segment

It’s that time of year again – time for RealityNewsOnline and the Reality TV Hall of Shame to present awards for the bests and the worsts in reality TV over the past year. For those of you who didn’t see the 2003 awards, we’ll briefly explain before we present the awards themselves.

Half of this article resides here – you're reading it now, obviously. This is the RealityNewsOnline portion and will address the "best" awards. The "worst" awards are naturally posted separately over at the Reality TV Hall of Shame. All of these awards were arrived at by the following means: First, for the first time ever, RealityNewsOnline readers were invited to submit nominations for each of the categories. The nominations were tallied and the top nominees in each category were put forth for a vote of the RealityNewsOnline Staff. These ballots were totaled to arrive at the awards. In the case of ties, reader nominations were the tie-breakers. So you, the readers, chose the nominees and helped pick some winners – in short, you played an important role and we thank you.

Below, you will find the list of top nominees, some reasons why each were nominated (where appropriate), and then the final winner along with an award presentation delivered by one of the writers of RealityNewsOnline. We even have an award acceptance speech this year in one category as well!

Like any other awards presentation, we will start with the more minor awards and move up from there. So without further ado, we give you the 2004 RealityNewsOnline/Reality TV Hall of Shame Awards!

Most Courageous/Inspiring Moment on a Reality Show

Let’s start out the awards on a high note. Sometimes on reality TV, we actually see people acting in ways that inspire us. OK, so it doesn’t necessarily happen all that often, but all of the following nominees were courageous and/or inspiring in their own ways:

• Amanda competing on America’s Next Top Model 3 while clinically blind
• Chad competing on Survivor: Vanuatu with a prosthetic leg
• Charla competing on The Amazing Race 5, and her exit speech
• Chris winning Survivor: Vanuatu against impossible odds
• Gus and Hera at the doorway of no return on The Amazing Race 6
• Shii Ann fighting off elimination by winning immunity when she needed it on Survivor: All-Stars

In one of our closest battles, the runner-up is Gus and Hera. However, the winner is… Chad competing on Survivor! To present the award, we have Survivor recapper David Bloomberg:

David: James “Chad” Crittenden found out that he had a rare and deadly form of cancer on hit foot just a year and a half before coming to Survivor. It was necessary to have his leg amputated below the knee – but that didn’t stop him. He competed a triathlon just nine months after the surgery, and he was quite ready to be on Survivor. Once there, he made sure to put in hard work before revealing his prosthesis to his tribe. They marveled at his abilities just as the RealityNewsOnline voters recognized it as inspiring. Chad showed that he could compete as well as anybody else – indeed, he was voted off before Chris in part because the women believed him to be a greater physical threat. In his interview with RealityNewsOnline, Chad told us that he hopes viewers “have a newfound appreciation for what those with prostheses and disabilities in general are capable of.” Beyond that, he specifically offered to our readers, “If you ever know anyone who is facing the prospect of amputation (lots of motorcycle accident victims) or is a new amputee, have them watch the show or get a hold of me.” Chad is truly an inspiring individual.

Most Shocking Moment on a Reality Show

We move from inspiring to shocking, as this category recognizes the moment that threw us all for a loop – the twist that turned the game upside down or the action that surprised everybody. Sometimes it was good, sometimes people didn’t like it. But either way, these nominees had people talking:

• Adria/Natalie twin twist revealed, Big Brother 5
• Bradford’s firing despite walking into the Boardroom with an Exemption, The Apprentice 2
• Fantasia/Jennifer/LaToya in the Bottom 3, American Idol 3
• Ivana drops her skirt to sell candy bars, The Apprentice 2
• Jonathan shoves Victoria near the Pit Stop, The Amazing Race 6
• Richard grinds against Sue during a challenge, Survivor: All-Stars

Most of the shocking moment nominees this year were of the negative variety, and that held true with the winner as well. The winner is… Jonathan shoving Victoria on The Amazing Race 6! Here to make the award presentation is Amazing Race recapper Phil Kural:

Phil: How many times to do I have to say this? It's just a game! Jonathan didn't seem to understand that as he flipped out on Victoria because she stopped to carry his bag to a Pit Stop. Not only did Jonathan not console her when he saw she was crying, he shoved her bag, which was still on her back, almost knocking Victoria over. Now, I know Victoria isn't so innocent herself, but it's quite shameful when you shove your wife, no matter how whiney she is, almost knocking her over – nobody deserves that. This moments earned itself a Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment, but even more shameful is the fact that it's the Most Shocking Moment of the year. Will Jonathan ever learn? I doubt it. This one's for you!