A Look Back: The 2009 Reality TV Year In Review - November 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 eleventh installment: November 2009.

- Jon & Kate Plus 8 star Jon Gosselin countersues TLC for $5 million, while the network subpoenas Hailey Glassman, Michael Lohan and Kate Major, among others, to testify against him in its breach of contract lawsuit against him.

- Glassman and Gosselin continue to take a break from their romance to instead focus on the "individual lives." In addition, Gosselin's lawyer states his client's divorce from estranged wife Kate is almost finished.

- Jon & Kate Plus 8's finale broadcast airs, and Kate calls the end of the show both "sad" and "needless." Jon reveals plans to spend Christmas with Kate and the kids since it is a joint-shared custody day, but spends Thanksgiving skiing in Utah with friends.


- Former Big Brother winner Will Kirby and For Love or Money winner Erin Brodie reveal they are having a baby.

- Out editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin criticizes Adam Lambert's management team for allegedly only agreeing to let the American Idol eighth-season runner-up appear on the gay magazine's cover if it didn't make him look "too gay."

- Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew star Dr. Drew Pinsky saves a high school student's life while attending his son's football game.

- Original The Real Housewives of Orange County cast member Jeana Kough states she didn't feel appreciated by Bravo, which played a role in her decision to leave the show during its fifth season.

- Dancing with the Stars professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy is tapped to reprise his Burn the Floor Broadway role with fellow professional Kym Johnson instead of his former fiance Karina Smirnoff, who previously starred alongside him in it.


- America's Best Dance Crew co-host Layla Kayleigh gives birth to a baby girl.

- The Rachel Zoe Project star Taylor Jacobson leaves the celebrity stylist.

- ABC cancels the premiere of its new Let's Dance reality series because it reportedly couldn't secure enough celebrities to compete on it during the holiday season.

- Jon & Kate Plus 8 nanny Janet Weidenheimer dies at the age of 72.

- Reports surface that Dancing with the Stars professional Julianne Hough and her boyfriend Chuck Wicks have split, and she subsequently confirms they are no longer dating. In addition, Hough announces that she will not be participating in Dancing with the Stars' tenth season in the spring.


- TV One orders a new Donald Trump-produced reality dating series starring former The Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.

- Dancing with the Stars' ninth-season couple Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff deny they are dating.

- American Idol fourth-season champ Carrie Underwood's new "Play On" album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart.

- Wipeout third-season contestant Tom Sparks is taken to a local hospital after complaining of knee pain and subsequently dies at age 33 after suffering a stroke.

- Chidi Uzomah is arrested wielding a knife outside of E! Entertainment's Los Angeles' offices and is subsequently charged with stalking American Idol host Ryan Seacrest after he violated a stay-away order issued in September. Uzomah pleads not guilty and Seacrest receives a restraining order against him.


- Two-time former Wife Swap parents Richard and Mayumi Heene plead guilty to charges stemming from their "balloon boy" hoax.  Richard pled guilty to a felony count of falsely influencing the sheriff who led the effort to rescue the couple's supposedly missing son, while Mayumi pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of knowingly filing a false report with emergency services.

- The Hills star Stephanie Pratt is sent to a 30-day rehab stint following her arrest last month on suspicion of drunken driving charges.

- Leave it to Lamas star and The Bachelor: London Calling winner Shayne Lamas is arrested for driving under the influence.

- Former A Shot at Love star Tila Tequila sues NFL star Shawne Merriman over their previous altercation in which she claims he allegedly choked her.

- Rebecca Meyer reveals she's dating fellow former The Biggest Loser eighth-season contestant Daniel Wright.


- Nicole Fox wins America's Next Top Model's thirteenth-season title.

- Big Brother ninth-season winner Adam Jasinski requests his release from prison after he was arrested in Massachusetts last month for attempting to sell 2,000 oxycodone pills as part of a drug trafficking operation he allegedly operated.

- American Idol eighth-season runner-up Adam Lambert S&M-themed performance during ABC's live American Music Awards broadcast sparks controversy.  The performance draws 1,500 complaints and causes ABC to cancel an upcoming appearance on Good Morning America. Lambert claims he had "no clue" the performance would cause so much controversy but does not apologize for it.

- Irina Shabayeva is crowned Project Runway's sixth-season champion.

- Jose Garces wins The Next Iron Chef's second-season title.

- An Italian-American organization claims MTV's new Jersey Shore reality series is offensive to Italian-Americans and should be pulled from the air before it even premieres. MTV defends the show.


- Entertainer Donny Osmond and his professional partner Kym Johnson win Dancing with the Stars' ninth-season title.

- American Idol eighth-season champ Kris Allen's debut album drops at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart after selling only 80,000 units -- the lowest ever for an Idol winner's debut.

- Potential The Real Housewives of D.C. cast members Michaele and Tareq Salahi are accused of attending a White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh without an invitation. Bravo subsequently confirms that the Salahis are being considered as cast members but added neither the network nor show's production company had any knowledge they were crashing the state dinner.

- The Secret Service takes responsibility for the Salahis' improper admittance and reports that a criminal investigation could be coming surface. The couple is said to be shopping an interview to give their side of the story, however they deny the report.

- America's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff is hospitalized after reportedly suffering a seizure. He is subsequently released and denies that he was being held for psychiatric evaluation.

- Los Angeles International Airport eyewitnesses take pictures of Big Brother eleventh-season lovebirds Jordan Lloyd and Jeff Schroeder competing as one of The Amazing Race's sixteenth-season teams.


Premieres: Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew (11/1); For the Love of Ray J, Season 2 (11/2); Tabatha's Salon Takeover, Season 2 (11/3); Flowers Uncut with Jeff Leatham (11/4); The Real Housewives of Orange County, Season 5 (11/5); Chef Academy (11/16); Intervention, Season 8 (11/30); Hoarders, Season 2 (11/30).






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio