Who has appeared on the most celebrity reality TV shows?
Loved? Hated? Somewhere in between? These are the Aussie celebs who have made or remade their careers on reality TV.
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If you think you’re seeing the same faces on the celebrity reality TV circuit it’s because you are.
Famous Australians are now jumping from celebrity reality TV show to celebrity reality TV show as a way to build their profile, sell a product, get more followers on social media and get a pay cheque – especially when work dried up in 2020.
Some wind up on multiple reality TV shows on the network they’re signed to, even if they’re an unlikely fit, as a way to keep them in work and justify their expensive contracts.
David Knox, of blog TV Tonight, said celebrities can make reality TV work for them – depending if they get the hero or villain edit from producers.
“The 2011 season of Celebrity Apprentice cemented Julia Morris’ career after years of hard yakka,” Knox said. “Frankly she’s never looked back. But the same season did the opposite for Deni Hines.”
Knox said using celebrities, rather than everyday Australians, in reality TV shows instantly changes the dynamics of what passes for ‘real’.
“Celebrities are generally fairly guarded in reality TV because they are protecting a brand and have some experience in how TV works. Or you can get contrived conflict because they know they have been booked to perform.
“Whereas ‘everyday Australians’ tend to throw their all at their only shot at $100,000. It’s closer to the true definition of ordinary people in extraordinary situations.”
REALITY REPEATING
DANNII MINOGUE
12 reality shows
Dannii Minogue was one of the first Australians to realise the power of reality TV. And there’s a reason why she continues to be hired across the globe – not as a contestant, but as a judge or mentor; the best way to do reality TV as there’s no chance of being voted off. The singer, who launched her career on TV as a kid on Young Talent Time, has set the bar for using her extensive knowledge of show business to mentor in Australia and the UK. Minogue joined the British X Factor in 2007 and for a time filmed that then flew home to be on the Australia’s Got Talent panel from 2008. She was a guest judge on It Takes Two in 2008, Project Runway Australia in 2013 and Dancing With the Stars in 2011, and had her own reality show, Style Queen, to launch a British fashion range in 2010. In 2013 Minogue was a judge on Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model as well as joining X Factor in Australia, then in 2017 returned to the UK for Let It Shine with Gary Barlow from Take That. A rare misstep was Dance Boss in 2018, the same year she co-hosted Ultimate Beastmaster for Netflix. Since 2019 Minogue has joined the guessing panel of The Masked Singer, a role she will return to this year.
COURTNEY ACT
9 reality shows
ANOTHER Australian who’s leveraged their success to appear on global reality TV. Singer and drag queen Courtney was on the first season of Australian Idol in 2003 (scoring a record deal and hit single in the process). Courtney then appeared as herself on drag reality show I Will Survive in 2012 and went international on Ru Paul’s Drag Race in 2014 and MTV UK’s celeb reality/dating show Single AF in 2017. Courtney won British Celebrity Big Brother in 2018, and was praised for educating mainstream UK on LGBTQ issues. That was followed by a hosting role on another British reality dating show, The Bi Life. In 2019 Courtney returned to music taking part in Eurovision Decides to potentially represent Australia and that year also became part of the first same sex couple on Dancing With the Stars. Last year Courtney filmed another UK reality show, Celebrity Karaoke.
MANU FEILDEL
8 reality shows
The French chef made his TV debut on Ready Steady Cook in 2006, then appeared on MasterChef in 2009 before landing his breakthrough role hosting MKR from 2010. Since then Feildel has pinballed between Channel 7 reality shows, tapping into his appeal with viewers. He won Dancing With the Stars in 2011 (and returned for an all-star version this year), hosted the ill-fated Dinner Date in 2011 and wound up on the judging panel of Australia’s Got Talent in 2017. Feildel was also one of the judges on post-MasterChef/MKR flop Plate of Origin in 2020. He’ll be seen in SAS Australia this year.
SOPHIE MONK
7 reality shows
Monk was part of pioneering reality show Popstars in 2000, as one fifth of girl band Bardot. She’s put her musical career on hold for acting and back to back reality TV work. Monk won Celebrity Apprentice in 2015, took a judging role on Australia’s Got Talent in 2016, and went looking for love on The Bachelor in 2017. She hosted Love Island in 2018 and 2019 and last year returned to singing on TV briefly by coming eighth on The Masked Singer. This year Monk will host Beauty and the Geek, making her our reigning reality queen, using her ongoing profile to make serious bank from TV gigs, advertising campaigns and monetising her social media following.
JULIA MORRIS
7 reality shows
A teenage Lady J-Mo made her TV debut on New Faces in 1985, tying for first place. As well as acting roles and a comedy career, Morris has shown how to make reality TV work for you. She won singing competition It Takes Two in 2008, co-hosted The Singing Office in 2011, the same year she won Celebrity Apprentice, which gave her career a major boost. Morris hosted Channel 9’s version of Australia’s Got Talent in 2013, has hosted I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here since 2015 and sang on The Masked Singer in 2020.
RICKI-LEE
7 reality shows
Ricki-Lee Coulter launched her career on Idol in 2004. She then starred on the short-lived Celebrity Circus in 2005 (with Cameron Daddo and Toni Pearen), then worked as a mentor on It Takes Two in 2008 and returned to Australian Idol as a co-host in 2008 and 2009. Coulter appeared on The Voice in 2012 as a mentor, launched a hit album off the back of appearing in Dancing With the Stars in 2014, hosted Life Changing Adventures in 2017 and since 2019 has been the host of Australia’s Got Talent on Channel 7.
ROB MILLS
6 reality shows
His career launched on Australian Idol in 2003, leading to consistent music, theatre, acting and TV work. Mills joined the cast of The Singing Bee in 2007 and Dancing With the Stars in 2009. He hosted the rebooted Young Talent Time in 2011, was on Celebrity Apprentice in 2013 and went undercover on The Masked Singer in 2019.
ANTHONY CALLEA
5 reality shows
Also launched on Australian Idol in 2004, Callea has pinballed to no less than four reality shows since – also smartly using the national profile to promote new music or tours. He was one of the professional singers on Seven’s It Takes Two in 2007 and 2008, was a vocal coach on Foxtel’s one-off Ultimate School Musical in 2010 (Ruby Rose and Eddie Perfect were also in the cast), hit the jungle for I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2016 and was booted off Celebrity Apprentice this week. Callea has been very quiet about his short time on the show, never referencing or promoting it on his social media as other contestants have.
KATE CEBERANO
5 reality shows
SINGER Kate Ceberano was on the original 2005 version of The X Factor on Channel 10, then won Dancing With the Stars in 2007. Later that year she’d join the cast of It Takes Two for two seasons and then hosted celeb weight loss show Excess Baggage in 2012. Ceberano returned to reality TV for the first season of The Masked Singer in 2019.
PAULINI
5 reality shows
Even before she appeared on Australian Idol in 2003, Paulini won the reboot of Starstruck in 2001. She found herself on makeover show Celeb Overhaul in 2005 (with the likes of Fabio and Merv Hughes) then It Takes Two for two seasons from 2006 as well as The Masked Singer in 2019.
ANGIE KENT
4 reality shows
KENT found fame watching TV on TV in Gogglebox in 2015, before taking the very meta approach of launching her own TV career. She left Gogglebox to appear on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2019, and was launched into The Bachelorette franchise that same year. Kent joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars in 2020 and is now a podcast host and social media influencer.
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