Failed Reality TV Romances Over the Years: From ‘Love Is Blind’ to ‘Teen Mom’

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Failed Reality TV Romances Over the Years: From 'Love Is Blind' to 'Teen Mom'

It's not easy to keep the flame alive with the cameras around. Dozens of reality TV couples have proven just that, as their romances came to an end after filming a show together. Kate and Jon Gosselin tied the knot in 1999 and welcomed twins in 2000. In 2004, they had sextuplets. Their journey as parents of eight played out on TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8, which aired for five seasons. In 2009, the pair announced they were ending their 10-year marriage after allegations of infidelity and the show ended. In 2010, TLC retitled the series as Kate Plus 8, and it ran for six more seasons, wrapping for good in 2017. The pair are one of many whose relationships came to an end after being featured on reality TV. Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler documented their on-off relationship on Meet the Barkers, which aired for two seasons between April 2005 and February 2006. The drummer, who shares two children with the model, filed for divorce in 2007. Though they briefly reconciled, they split for good in 2009. In 2021, Barker began dating Kourtney Kardashian, who also had a famous relationship play out on reality TV, after their kids became friends. Kardashian and Scott Disick, who share three children, dated on and off from 2006 to 2015. Their ups and downs have been documented over all 20 seasons of E!'s Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “I think they’ve been friends for a really long time,” Moakler told Us exclusively in March 2021. “My kids seem to really like her, and they all seem [to be] in a good place, and I’m in a good place, so it’s good. ... As long as she’s great to my kids and they’re both happy, I’m happy for them. I absolutely am super happy for them. I have no ill will toward anybody." In October 2021, Barker and Kardashian got engaged following a whirlwind romance. They tied the knot with multiple ceremonies less than one year later. The Poosh founder later teased that viewers might get to see her exchange vows with the musician during season 2 of The Kardashians. “We don’t know yet. I have hours and hours and hours of footage. I don’t know if we’re going to keep it for home video or share it with the world," she shared with WSJ Magazine in September 2022. Scroll through the gallery below for more failed reality TV romances: [podcast_block]

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Gabby Windey and Erich Schwer

Speculation sparked that the season 19 Bachelorette and her fiancé were done after Windey was seen not wearing her engagement ring while competing on Dancing With the Stars. In November 2022, the twosome confirmed their split, which occurred less than two months after their proposal aired on the season finale of the ABC reality show.

“The end of our relationship happened because we weren’t completely in step and in sync with each other in our common goals or just the way we approach life,” Windey explained to her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, during a November 2022 episode of the Disney+ competition series.

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Iyanna McNeely and Jarrette Jones

After finding love during season 2 of Love Is Blind, McNeely and Jones walked away from the show engaged. In August 2022, the duo confirmed their split shortly after celebrating their first wedding anniversary.

“After much thought, we’re saddened to share that we have separated and will begin the process of divorcing,” they said in a joint Instagram statement at the time. “While we have love for each other, our lives are going in different directions and that’s OK. Coming to this decision was far from easy and we will always wish each other the absolute best.”

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Danielle Ruhl and Nick Thompson

The reality TV couple were the first to get engaged on season 2 of Love Is Blind and later walked down the aisle while cameras were rolling. Us confirmed that Ruhl had filed for divorce in August 2022.

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Julia Haart and Silvio Scaglia Haart

The My Unorthodox Life stars called it quits in February 2022 after less than three years of marriage. News of their split came one week after they started filming season 2 of the Netflix series.

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Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi & Omid Kalantari

Shahs of Sunset's GG confirmed her engagement on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live December 9, 2012, but one month later, the costars parted ways. "I appreciate that Omid sees past my exterior," the reality star said shortly after her engagement. "I will always cherish the man that he is."

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Tony Pieper & Blakeley Shea Jones

Just one month after Pieper proposed to his Bachelor Pad 3 partner-turned-girlfriend on the reunion show in September 2012, the single dad confirmed the couple had called it quits. "Unfortunately, things didn't work as we had hoped," Pieper told Wetpaint of his bond with the former VIP cocktail waitress, who first competed for Ben Flajnik's love on The Bachelor in 2010. "No one is to blame. It just ended up being a lot harder than we expected. I wish her nothing but the absolute best."

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Adrienne Maloof & Paul Nassif

After 10 years of marriage and three children, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills costars pulled the plug on their union in August 2012. The couple finalized their divorce after three months of legal drama that included a restraining order, abuse allegations and custody disputes over their sons.

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Bethenny Frankel & Jason Hoppy

Announcing her separation from Hoppy in December 2012, the Skinnygirl mogul -- who documented her marriage and life with daughter Bryn on Bravo's Bethenney Getting Married and Bethenney Ever After -- found herself on the receiving end of Hoppy's long list of divorce demands, including primary custody of their little girl. "I wanted the fairytale. I thought I had it," Frankel told Ellen DeGeneres of her split. "This is excruciating, I have to say."

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Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey

Newlyweds debuted on MTV in 2003 and documented the marriage of the 98 Degrees singer and Simpson until 2005. Filing for divorce just months after the final episode aired, Simpson told Vanity Fair she didn't blame reality TV for their split. "In all honesty, I believe it did not affect our marriage because we enjoyed watching those episodes," she said at the time.

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Kathy Griffin & Matt Moline

My Life on the D-List star Griffin divorced her Bravo costar husband in May 2006, and later admitted that he stole $72,000 from her. "My ex-husband, without my knowledge, was sneaking into my wallet when I was asleep in the mornings and taking my ATM cards of my own private accounts and withdrawing money," the two-time Emmy winner told Larry King, adding that the couple tried to mend their five-year marriage with therapy. "Unfortunately, we [weren't] able to get beyond the trust issue."

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Jenni Pulos & Chris Elwood

Flipping Out's Pulos -- now married to Jonathan Nassos -- wed Elwood before filming Bravo's reality hit, but the couple's marriage crumbled during season 2 of the show after Lewis caught house manager Elwood on hidden camera slacking off while on the job. Calling the tape a contributing factor in their marital tension, Pulos filed for divorce shortly after Elwood's dismissal from Jeff Lewis Design.

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Brad Womack & Emily Maynard

After Womack gave the single mom his final rose -- and an engagement ring! -- during his stint on the The Bachelor in 2010, their relationship fizzled and ABC gave Maynard a second shot at love as The Bachelorette. "I think I dodged a bullet with that relationship," Womack sniped of his time with Maynard. Though she accepted Bachelorette suitor Jef Holm's proposal in July 2012, the couple called it quits in October 2012.

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Jenelle Evans & Gary Head

Teen Mom's Evans called it quits with her former fiance, Marine Gary Head, just two weeks after he proposed in May 2012. Seven months later, Evans was married to another man, Courtland Rogers. Shortly after Evans filed five assault charges against her new husband. Rogers later accused Evans of cheating on him with ex-boyfriend Head.

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Maci Bookout & Kyle King

Splitting from her boyfriend of two years King in January 2012, Teen Mom's Bookout -- mom to Bentley -- hasn't ruled out a reconciliation down the road. "I think Kyle and I could make things work right now," she tells Us. "But we'd rather figure ourselves out first and then try to make a life together."

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Kim Kardashian & Kris Humphries

Married in a lavish August 2011 ceremony in Montecito, Calif., Kardashian and Humphries were legally husband and wife for 72 days before Kardashian filed for divorce on Halloween 2011, two weeks after their four-hour E! wedding special aired. Kardashian is now expecting her first child with new boyfriend Kanye West. Her divorce proceedings with Humphries continue.

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Leah Messer & Corey Simms

Teen Mom 2 fans were shocked when the couple -- parents to twins Aliannah and Aleeah -- ended their marriage after just six months in 2011. Documenting her divorce on the MTV series, Messer married Jeremy Calvert in April 2012 in a Kentucky ceremony attended by 20 guests including Teen Mom's camera crew. She and Calvert welcomed their first child together -- a baby girl -- in February 2013.

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Jake Pavelka & Vienna Girardi

Dumping ABC's Bachelor over the phone in 2010, former Hooters waitress Girardi later hooked up her Bachelor Pad 2 costar Kasey Kahl, but their romance fizzled after seven months. "No idea what the future holds for us, but we will always remain friends," Girardi tweeted at the time of Kahl.

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Vicki & Donn Gunvalson

"A marriage and a man should be treated with dignity. I don't think how this went down was treated with class or dignity and I deserve both," an angry Donn sniped after his Real Housewives of Orange County star wife filed divorce papers in October 2011.

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Jason Mesnick & Melissa Rycroft

In 2009, Mesnick chose Rycroft over Molly Malaney on The Bachelor finale, only to change his mind and dump her for the runner-up during ABC's After the Final Rose special. "Since this all ended, things have been different and we're not right for each other," Mesnick told host Chris Harrison on the special. Mesnick and Malaney married in 2010, one year after Rycroft wed insurance agent Tye Strickland.

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Hulk & Linda Hogan

The WWE star filed an 18-page lawsuit accusing his Hogan Knows Best ex of defamation after she wrote of the alleged physical, mental and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband during their 24-year marriage. "He's being accused of all sorts of vile conduct that he did not commit," his attorney said in 2011, three years after Linda received over 70 percent of the couple's liquid assets in a divorce settlement.

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Jon & Kate Gosselin

The parents of twins Maddy and Cara and sextuplets Aaden, Hannah, Leah, Alexis, Collin and Joel, the reality TV duo earned a reported $75,000 per episode during the fifth season of their TLC hit Jon & Kate Plus 8. In June 2009, the Gosselins announced -- on TV -- that they were ending their 10-year marriage. Contributing to their split: Jon's three-month affair with elementary school teacher Deanna Hummel.

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Bobby Brown & Whitney Houston

The Being Bobby Brown couple divorced in 2007 after 14 tumultuous years together, one of which was chronicled on their 2005 Bravo reality series. Finalizing her divorce in 2007, Houston was awarded custody of the couple's then-14-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. Four months after Houston's February 2012 death, the New Edition singer married his manager girlfriend of two years, Alicia Etheridge.

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Flavor Flav & Brigitte Nielsen

Flavor Flav's unconventional romance with Sylvester Stallone's ex-wife Nielsen that budded on The Surreal Life resulted in their own spin-off. Though the couple split shortly after its single 2005 season ended, the rapper went on to greater reality stardom with the Flavor of Love series.

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Alexandre & LuAnn de Lesseps

In 2010, the Real Housewives of New York City star's husband left her for an Ethiopian princess, reportedly breaking the news of his affair to her via email. As angry as she was, LuAnn -- mom to two children with her ex -- opted not to air her family's dirty laundry on the Bravo series. "There is such a thing as discretion, and even on Housewives, you can have discretion and only show the part of yourself that you want people to see," she told Fox News.

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Carmen Electra & Dave Navarro

Five years after she wed Dennis Rodman, model-actress Electra tied the knot with Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro in 2003. Documenting their marriage on MTV's seven-episode series, Til' Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave, the couple finalized their divorce in 2007.

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Travis Barker & Shanna Moakler

Documenting their on, off relationship on MTV's Meet the Barkers, the Blink 182 drummer and beauty queen -- and their three children -- made for must-see TV from 2005-2006. After their series wrapped, Barker filed to divorce his wife of nearly two years. By 2007, the couple were back together, but split for good in 2009, one year after their divorce was finalized.

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Britney Spears & Kevin Federline

Announcing their engagement in 2004, the pop star and former backup dancer Federline documented their early courtship on the UPN series Britney & Kevin: Chaotic, which aired five episodes during summer 2005. The couple -- parents to sons Sean Preston and Jayden James -- divorced two years later.

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Lauren Conrad & Jason Wahler

The sun set on the Laguna Beach lovers when they ended their fling in summer 2007. "Breaking up with Jason was the hardest thing I've ever done," Conrad told CosmoGIRL in March 2008. "I still wanted to be with him, but I knew that I couldn't be."