A Look Back: The 2009 Reality TV Year In Review - September 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 ninth installment: September 2009.

- Audrina Patridge claims she is "almost done" filming her final The Hills episodes.

- Departed American Idol judge Paula Abdul says she's in talks for her to appear in her own Las Vegas show while adding she's uncertain if she'll accept Nigel Lythgoe's offer to serve as a So You Think You Can Dance guest judge or choreographer.  Simon Cowell says American Idol ninth-season auditions feel "different" without Abdul.

- 18 Kids and Counting star Michelle Duggar announces she's expecting her nineteenth child.


- Eighth-season American Idol third-place finisher Danny Gokey inks a recording contract with 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville.

- Kevin Skinner is crowned America's Got Talent's fourth-season champion and former host Jerry Springer is tapped to helm the NBC reality competition's live Las Vegas show.

- Bravo announces The Real Housewives of Orange County's fifth season will include the departure of original cast member Jeana Keough.

- Rejected The Bachelor suitor and former Dancing with the Stars celebrity participant Melissa Rycroft says he'll wed fiance Ty Strickland in December.

- VH1 denies it is giving Megan Wants a Millionaire star Megan Hauserman another show.  She says it's "been a very challenging time" since Ryan Jenkins, her former Millionaire suitor, was charged with murder and committed suicide.


- Former A Shot at Love star Tila Tequila alleges she was choked by NFL star Shawn Merriman, who denies the allegations and instead claims Tequila was intoxicated and he was trying to help her. Tequila's lawyer claims Merriman's version of the incident is "spin," but the district attorney later dismisses the assault case against him.

- The Bachelor host Chris Harrison states that the show is "very close" to picking its fourteenth-season star and adds The Bachelorette fifth-season suitors Reid Rosenthal, Kiptyn Locke and Jake Pavelka are "obviously" all candidates. In addition, a strange report that The Bachelor producers are planning an all-star edition of the reality dating series surfaces.

- Natalie Martinez gets engaged to her boyfriend during a Big Brother 11 twist.

- Former American Idol first-season finalist Jim Verraros marries his longtime boyfriend.

- Jon & Kate Plus 8 star Jon Gosselin claims his failed marriage with estranged wife Kate was not his fault, says he despises Kate, and accuses her of verbally abusing him. Kate decides to take the high road and not respond to Jon's allegations.


- Former Gosselin family nanny Stephanie Santoro alleges she had an affair with Jon, and Kate said she's not surprised by the claims.  Jon files a request to suspend the couple's divorce filing with the hopes of establishing better communication with Kate.

- TLC announces plans to reduce Jon's Jon & Kate Plus 8 role and rebrand the series as Kate Plus 8 in November.  

- Dancing with the Stars professionals Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff call-off their eight-month engagement before reports surface that they argued with each other at the Emmy Awards.

- Former The Simple Life star Nicole Richie gives birth to baby boy.

- Fox announces that Ellen DeGeneres will replace Paula Abdul on American Idol's judging panel for its upcoming ninth season, and it's reported that the The Ellen DeGeneres Show star inked a five-year deal with the network.


- DeGeneres states she'll be honest -- but not mean -- as an Idol judge and Fox rejects claims that she's not qualified to serve on the panel. While Abdul publicly wishes DeGeneres the "best of luck," it's reported that she was privately "stung" by the replacement.

- John Graziano leaves the hospital two years after he was left with permanent brain damage from a car crash while the passenger in a vehicle driven by former Hogan Knows Best star Nick Hogan.

- Original Survivor winner Richard Hatch requests his immediate release from jail after his August arrest for participating in several media interviews that were not approved by the Federal Burear of Prisons. The judge denies Hatch's request and he appeals.

- Survivor crew members are unharmed by an earthquake and tsunami that hits Samoa only weeks after Survivor: Heroes vs. Villians finished production.

- A&E's Intervention wins Outstanding Reality Program honors at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony. One week later, The Amazing Race claims Outstanding Reality-Competition Program honors for the seventh year in a row while Survivor host Jeff Probst takes home the Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program award for the second straight year. Probst subsequently states The Amazing Race should pull itself from the category due to its dominance.


- America's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff is reportedly hospitalized due to heavy drinking, however he subsequently states it was due to a bad reaction to a drug he's taking and not alcohol.

- Survivor Africa winner Ethan Zohn reveals his cancer has returned and resumes treatment.

- Antonio Ballatore is crowned HGTV Design Star's fourth-season winner.

- The Johnston family wins CBS' There Goes the Neighborhood reality series.

- Indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay suffers a foot injury while rehearsing for Dancing with the Stars.

- More to Love bachelor Luke Conley proposes to Tali -- and she accepts -- during the Fox reality dating series' finale.


- Survivor: Samoa castaway Elizabeth Kim alleges several of her fellow castaways were racist.

- Jordan Lloyd wins Big Brother's eleventh-season, defeating Natalie Martinez by a 5-2 jury vote.

- The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice gives birth to a baby girl.

- So You Think You Can Dance announces Adam Shankman is joining its judging panel as a regular member.

- Former American Idol sixth-season finalist Lakisha Jones gives birth to a baby girl.

- Reports that Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami star Khloe Kardashian is engaged to NBA star Lamar Odom after only a few weeks of dating surface. Kardashian subsequently confirms the reports and the couple weds less than two weeks later -- however it is reported that the marriage won't become legally binding until a prenuptial agreement is finalized.


- Reports that Simon Cowell is close to inking a new deal that will keep him on American Idol's judging panel and also bring his U.K. The X Factor reality series stateside surface.

- An additional report that Cowell is working on a new dance-themed reality series to rival So You Think You Can Dance surfaces and Nigel Lythgoe claims he is "thrilled" to hear about it.

- Reports that MTV has decided to air Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein's Gone Too Far intervention reality series despite his August death surface and his passing is ruled an accidental drug overdose.

- Big Brother host Julie Chen and CBS chief Les Moonves welcome a baby boy.

- Original American Idol runner-up Justin Guarini marries his former high school sweetheart.

- Garrett Paul and Jessica Stout get engaged at Elimination Station after becoming the second team eliminated from The Amazing Race's fifteenth season.


- We Are Heroes win America's Best Dance Crew's fourth-season title.

- The Hills star Kristin Cavallari says the MTV reality series isn't real and she just does what the producers tell her to do.

- Former The Hills star Lauren Conrad inks a movie deal for her debut novel "L.A. Candy."

Premieres: America's Next Top Model, Cycle 13 (9/9); So You Think You Can Dance, Season 6 (9/9); The Locator, Season 3 (9/12); Eddie Griffin: Going for Broke (9/14); The Biggest Loser, Season 8 (9/15); Launch My Line (9/16); Survivor: Samoa, Season 19 (9/17); Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin (9/17); Dancing with the Stars, Season 9 (9/21); Rescue Ink Unleashed (9/25); The Amazing Race, Season 15 (9/27); Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Season 7 (9/27); My Fair Wedding, Season 2 (9/27); The Hills, Season 5 (9/29); King of the Crown (9/30).






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio