Who is the most memorable/famous reality TV show contestant(s) ever?
 

After reading the Amazing Race thread, I had a question. Who is the most memorable (or famous) reality TV contestant(s) ever? To make my decision, I threw out any quasi-celebrities who've appeared in shows such as "The Surreal Life". I strictly want to base the criteria on average Joes or Janes who through their association with a reality TV show, became memorable and/or famous. For instance, you may look at this person and go, "Oh, I know you from BLANK".

What are your thoughts? Who would you vote for?

Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken did the best for themselves. So maybe they're the most memorable. Everyone else just had fifteen minutes of fame.

The most "memorable" would be Johnny Fairplay, but he's not the most "famous". That would probably be Clay Aiken, depending on your criteria.

das

I've got to go with Colleen Haskel. I've only seen the last few episodes of Survior 1 but she seemed the nicest, most down to earth (and cutest) reality show constestant I've ever seen on any of these shows. Heck, she even got me to watch the Rob Schneider movie she was in and that's saying something.

The runner up would be "Chicken" George from Big Brother 1 but only because he's from my town and people around here wouldn't stop talking about him when he was on the show.

Ken Jennings. :D

I think the most memorable is Puck, he pretty much introduced the role of reality show villain. One of the most famous not mentioned is Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Richard Hatch.

Johnny Knoxville from Jackass.

Remember Darva Conger and Rick Rockwell from Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? -screwy-
Wonder whatever happened to these two.

I had her, but dropped her for Rupert. I wanted to be fair and include other reality shows, but I didn't also want it to be a Survivor love-fest.

Good call das on Johnny Fairplay. He was memorable in the sense that Jonathan and Victoria were memorable last year...everyone hated them!

Kelly Clarkson easily. She's the only one that's had continued success since her reality show appearences.

I picked Kelly Clarkson. I don't actually watch any of these shows so I'm basing it on the fact that she has actually crossed over into mainstream success (along with Clay Aiken) and alot of people know who they are without having watched American Idol. Their careers will likely go on for a few more years at least whereas the rest just seem like they have already faded out of pop culture.

Memorable = Will Kirby from Big Brother 2

Other
 

the first names to pop into my head when I read the thread title were.....

Zach & Flo

Zach Behr and Flo Pesenti from The Amazing Race 3. This was the first season of TAR that I watched and I was hooked from the first episode I saw....and I mainly kept tuning in to see if Flo would finally quit this week. There was no way in hell I would have predicted that they would ultimately win the race. That season was just "good tv" and although I still watch the show regularly and love every minute of it...nothing has matched that season yet for me in ANY other reality show.

I'd go with Hatch. I think it's his turn on Survivor that brought reality into the mainstream.

I've heard of others mentioning that season, but I didn't get to see it. Was she that useless?

As far as The Real World like her or not Coral is far more memorable than Puck.

Zach and Flo were the most one-sided team in the history of TAR and I include Chip and Kim. Man, Zach deserved $999,999.99 of that money counting the many times he convinced Flo to not quit and stay in the race. I don't know how he put up with her whinning and complaining but he did.
He practically dragged her to the finish line. She is the least deserving winner of ANY reality show, IMO

But I think that the most famous is Kelly Clarkson because she went on to have a music career. For the most part, AI doesn't have the negative connotation that many reality shows have. Even that horrid movie with showshow bob didn't hurt her as much as some people i.e. Marah and that glitter movie.

yes she was....not only was she useless...she was a HUGE liability for Zach....
she would just throw everything down and cry and Zach would have to spend a lot of time convincing her to just keep trying.....he was definitely a saint. It made great television.

but that makes Zach the most deserving in my eyes.
TAR is the only reality show I would even consider buying on dvd.....
I am definitely going to get TAR1 when it is released in June...and I hope it does well enough for them to release more as I want to get the first two races that I missed, and I would love to have the third one as well...

I think if you go by who will be known way down the line, say 10 years from now, its going to be Richard Hatch. Survivor really put reality TV on the map, and he was the first winner/villan.

I would put him in a tie with Kelly Clarkson, but she'll be known more for her success as a singer, not that she was on American Idol.

Time will tell i guess.

Yeah, I don't think Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken count as much because they're memorable for things they've done SINCE the show, their continued success outside of reality TV. The ones that I was thinking of when I saw this thread was, who will I always remember even if they're never on TV again? Even if they weren't on AR at the moment, I would've voted Rob and Amber because of his mastery of that season and because they actually found love out of that experience.

I have no idea who Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken are. Richard Hatch "wrote the book" on Survivor tactics. Everybody wants to play like Richard.

I have been watching Survivor religiously since day 1. Richard Hatch came out (so to speak) on that show and announced his plans and I thought to myself, "This is the only one of these idiots that gets it. He is going to win easily." And he did. And no one on that show since has been so dominant the whole way through except for Boston Rob. Only difference? Hatch won. Then when they were on All - Stars the rest of the survivors villainized him like he was Darth Vader's illegitimate demon seed. That makes him the most memorable to me.

Most memorable? Johnny Fairplay.
Most famous? Probably one of those dolts from AI. I never watch the show yet I know the names Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson.