A Look Back: The 2009 Reality TV Year In Review - August 2009

With 2009 drawing to a close, it's time to take a look back at the year that was.  The following is Reality TV World's 2009 Reality TV Year In Review, a 12-part, month-by-month review of some of the past year's reality TV headlines, highlights, lowlights, and milestones. 


Today we continue our 12-day countdown with the eighth installment: August 2009.

- Former Survivor castaways and The Amazing Race contestants Rob and Amber Mariano reveal they have had a baby girl.

- America's Next Top Model reveals it is replacing Paulina Porizkova with a series of guest judges for its upcoming thirteenth season.

- Jon & Kate Plus 8 returns with new episodes for the first time since Jon and Kate Gosselin announced their separation in June. Jon claims that Kate quit on their marriage last October and Kate states their marriage is definitely over and would have failed even without Jon & Kate Plus 8.


- Jon Gosselin states he doesn't want to do Jon & Kate Plus 8 anymore before denying he said it, and producers for the new tentatively-titled Divorced Dad's Club reality series refute reports that they're in talks with him about starring in it.

- Police are forced to respond to Jon and Kate Gosselin's home after Kate arrived on a day Jon had custody of their eight children. In addition, Kate attributes her husband's strange behavior in recent months to an alien abduction.

- Paula Abdul announces via her Twitter account that she's decided to leave American Idol. According to  subsequent reports, she rejected a $5 million a year offer to remain on the reality series. Experts doubt Abdul's exit will impact the show's ratings and ad sales.

- Fox announces it will likely replace Abdul with a series of guest judges for the upcoming ninth-season auditions -- beginning with Victoria Beckham.

- Abdul says her decision to leave Idol was a matter of "principle" and her manager claims there have been "no discussions" about a possible return. Abdul also claims she's received "many wonderful" offers since announcing her Idol exit -- including hosting VH1's VH1 Divas revival.


- Reports that The Bachelorette fifth-season winner Ed Swiderski had two girlfriends before, during and after the filming of the show emerge.  He subsequently denies the alleged girlfriends' claims, and Jillian Harris stands by her man.

- Jeanine Mason is crowned So You Think You Can Dance's fifth-season champion.

- An autopsy reveals that cocaine use contributed to the death of Pitchmen star Billy Mays, however his family claims they never saw any signs of drug use by the infomercial king.

- Former Dancing with the Stars sixth-season couple Derek Hough and Shannon Elizabeth announce they've split.

- Former American Idol third-season finalist Jennifer Hudson gives birth to a baby boy.


- Former Survivor: The Australian Outback castaway Elisabeth Hasselbeck gives birth to her third child.

- American Idol's production company reveals it believes Simon Cowell is close to signing a new deal to remain with the show.

- Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami star Kourtney Kardashian reveals she's pregnant.

- Dancing with the Stars reveals its upcoming ninth season will feature three double eliminations and early training limitations to reduce celebrity injuries.

- Reality TV villainess Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth reveals she's entering the seminary.


- Former The Bachelor second-season star Aaron Buerge gets married.

- Big Brother eleventh-season houseguest Chima Simone unexpectedly leaves the house. Host Julie Chen claims Simone gave producers no choice but to boot her. It is subsequently learned that she was expelled following several rules violations and she eventually apologizes.

- Former So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Alex Da Silva is charged with sexual assault and subsequently pleads not guilty.

- Original Survivor winner Richard Hatch is arrested and jailed after participating in several media interviews while on house arrest as he serves the final few months of his 51-month prison sentence.

- Hatch's lawyer claims he was imprisoned because of a "little misunderstanding" about whether all of the interviews were approved by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. A hearing is held, however Hatch remains behind bars.


- The Biggest Loser couple Nicole Brewer and Damien Gurganious get married.

- Mexican cuisine chef Rick Bayless is crowned Top Chef Masters' champion.

- The DiSalvatore family wins NBC's Great American Road Trip reality series.

- Megan Wants a Millionaire suitor Ryan Jenkins is named a "person of interest" in the murder of Jasmine Fiore, causing VH1 to pull the reality dating series from the air in the midst of its broadcast run.

- Authorities launch a manhunt for Jenkins, who they suspect may have fled the U.S. for his native Canada.   A $25,000 reward is offered in the search for Jenkins, who is officially charged with murder in Fiore's death.

- Reports that Jenkins begged Megan Wants a Millionaire's producers to pre-pay him the $250,000 grand prize he allegedly won on I Love Money 3, another upcoming VH1 reality series, surface.  


- Jenkins is found dead from an apparent suicide in a secluded Canadian motel an unidentified woman checked him into.  Police subsequently identify the woman but decline to reveal her identity and announce she will not be charged.  Reports that the woman was Jenkins' half-sister surface.

- Evidence linking Jenkins to Fiore's murder is found in her abandoned car in California, however his parents still insist their son couldn't have been capable of murder.

- VH1 decides to cancel both Megan Wants a Millionaire and I Love Money 3.

- A&E confirms that its documentary on the Jackson family will become a reality series despite Michael Jackson's June death.

- Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein, the star of MTV's upcoming Gone Too Far intervention reality series, is found dead at age 36 from an apparent drug overdose.

Premieres: Megan Wants a Millionaire (8/2); Tool Academy, Season 2 (8/2); Real Chance of Love: Back in the Saddle (8/3); Addicted to Beauty (8/4); How'd You Get So Rich? (8/6); America's Best Dance Crew, Season 4 (8/6); There Goes the Neighborhood (8/9); Shark Tank (8/9); Flipping Out, Season 3 (8/17); Ghost Hunters, Season 5 (8/19); Project Runway, Season 6 (8/20); Models of the Runway (8/20); The Rachel Zoe Project, Season 2 (8/25).

 






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio