Most Tumultuous Relationships in Reality TV History: From Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries to Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph

Credit: Shutterstock (3); John Tsiavis/USA Network

Most Tumultuous Relationships in Reality TV History: From Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries to Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph

It wouldn't be reality TV without a little bit of a mess. That's definitely the case when it comes to finding love in front of the cameras. Over the years, fans have seen explosive fights and breakups on a wide variety of reality shows, including The Bachelor, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Temptation Island and The Challenge. Kaci Campbell and Evan Smith, for example, appeared to be the perfect couple when appearing on season 1 of Temptation Island, having been in a 10-year relationship prior to the show. However, once filming began, everything changed and he fell in love with one of the singles on the show, Morgan Lolar. Smith got engaged to Lolar after the show and although they seemed happy during November 2019's season 2 reunion special, one mother later he ghosted her. Lolar proceeded to reached out to his ex Campbell for advice. [jwplayer dexLeNuw] "This is the thing when it comes to Evan, I even said it on the show. … This girl has no idea what she’s getting herself into. I genuinely meant it,” Campbell told Us Weekly exclusively in April 2020 of her former flame. “Evan is very much a man of patterns. What he wants is a comfortable situation. He wants his bills paid, he wants food taken care of, he wants to party." She explained: "He doesn’t want to work, he wants someone else to provide that for him. As soon as that new situation he has found gets a little uncomfortable and you start putting pressure on him, like, you need to get a job, get your own health insurance, he bails. Morgan was seeing the same signs that I was experiencing before Temptation Island. She started putting on pressure like any normal woman would … and he bounced." The Temptation Island threesome weren't the only tumultuous relationship that has played out on reality TV through the years. Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries had a rocky whirlwind romance on KUWTK, while The Bachelor's Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph let their drama continue after the cameras stopped rolling Scroll through the gallery below for more explosive reality TV couples: [podcast_block]

Credit: Broadimage/Shutterstock

Cassie Randolph and Colton Underwood

The couple’s season 23 Bachelor journey resulted in Randolph trying to quit before Underwood convinced her that she was The One for him. At that time, he sent home his other finalists to follow Randolph and ultimately gave her his final rose. While they dated after the show wrapped, they split in May 2020. Shortly after, Randolph filed a restraining order against Underwood and claimed that he placed a tracking device on her car. The order was later dropped. Underwood came out publicly as gay in April 2021, and apologized to Randolph for how things ended between them.

Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for WE tv

Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott

The couple shared the ups and downs of their relationship on Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood from 2007-2011. The pair, who wed in 2006, have been public about their marital struggles due to low finances as well as McDermott's 2013 cheating scandal. “Communication has been our key,” Spelling, who shares five kids with McDermott, told Us Weekly in May 2017 of repairing their bond. “We had both taken the ease of our relationship for granted. We both realize now that relationships and marriage take work. You get out of it what you put into it. We love each other so much though. We are willing to put in that work.”

Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt

While The Hills stars are now happily married with their first child, Gunner, they once had heavy relationship drama surrounding Montag's former best friend Lauren Conrad, as well as the relationship's effects on their respective families. The couple also appeared on Marriage Boot Camp in 2015 to work on their union. 

Credit: John Tsiavis/USA Network

Kaci Campbell and Evan Smith

When joining season 1 of Temptation Island as a couple, Smith and Campbell were convinced that they'd be together forever. He then strayed, falling in love with Morgan Lolar during the show and proposing to her on the 2019 finale. The pair split a year later with her claiming that he'd been unfaithful.

Credit: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images for Extra

Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett

Baskett was accused of cheating with a transgender model in June 2014 while the reality personality was pregnant with their second child. At the time, the couple let cameras in as they tried to rebuild their marriage. The duo tackled their personal trust and intimacy issues onscreen on Kendra on Top and Marriage Boot Camp, before splitting for good in April 2018.

Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Tom D'Agostino Jr. and Luann de Lesseps

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star and businessman announced on August 3, 2017, that they were divorcing after seven months of marriage. The couple’s drama was an ongoing storyline on the Bravo reality series as costars Dorinda Medley, Bethenny Frankel and Carole Radziwill told de Lesseps that there had been rumors of infidelity by D’Agostino. The former Countess also previously forgave D'Agostino after he was spotted kissing another woman prior to their wedding.

Credit: Rodolfo Martinez/Bravo(2); Faye Sadou/MediaPunch/INSTARimages.com

Thomas Ravenel, Kathryn Dennis and Ashley Jacobs

Ravenel and Dennis’ on-again, off-again relationship was documented during the first four seasons of Southern Charm. The duo, who welcomed two children during the series’ run, had a rocky relationship that often left them fighting in public. After they split in 2016, Ravenel accused Dennis of abusing drugs and was granted custody of their children.

During season 5 of the Bravo series, Ravenel started dating Jacobs, who referred to Dennis as “just an egg donor.” While the two women did not get along on the show, Ravenel made up with Dennis and she was granted 50/50 custody of their son and daughter. His relationship with Jacobs, however, seemingly ended in August 2018 after season 5 finished airing.

Credit: Rick Rowell/ABC via Getty Images

Amanda Stanton and Josh Murray

Murray and Stanton got engaged on season 3 of Bachelor in Paradise in August 2016. After splitting nearly four months later, the couple reconciled and broke up several more times before calling it quits for good. The Bachelor Nation stars continued their war of the words through summer 2017, when Stanton returned to Paradise and moved on with Robby Hayes, until they split in September of that year. 

Credit: Prince Williams/WireImage

Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian

The former couple's tumultuous relationship was well-documented on their E! series, Rob & Chyna. The duo dated from January 2016 until December of that year, and have since been involved in multiple lawsuits regarding custody of their daughter, Dream, and several allegations of emotional and physical abuse against each other. 

Credit: Jake Holly/startraksphoto.com

Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian

Keeping Up With the Kardashians viewers watched the former spouses wed just nine days after the NBA player proposed. As seen on the E! reality series, their relationship unraveled as Odom struggled with drug addiction, which eventually caused his heart failure in October 2015. The couple officially divorced in December 2016. 

Credit: Prince Williams/WireImage

T.I., and Tameka 'Tiny' Harris

Harris filed for divorce from T.I. in December 2016 after six years of marriage. The pair wed in 2010 and have three children together — Clifford “King” Joseph, Major Philant and Heiress Diana. In September 2017, amid rumors that the T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle stars reconciling, Harris clarified: "We are trying to figure it out one day at a time.” 

Credit: gotpap/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Kailyn Lowry and Javi Marroquin

The Teen Mom 2 stars split in May 2016 after three years of marriage. The former couple are parents of son Lincoln. The hit MTV docuseries has followed the duo's many ups and downs, including their arguments with ex Jo Rivera over child support for her son with him, Isaac, her miscarriage, rumors of infidelity and Marroquin's overseas deployment.

Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner

The former spouses, who were married for 25 years, let their marriage woes and eventual 2015 split play out on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Once they separated, Caitlyn transitioned into a woman and later claimed in her memoir, The Secrets of My Life, that Kris was well aware of her desire to transition from male to female. Kris’ children have come to her defense, as seen on the reality series, and many of them currently have strained relationships with Caitlyn over the claims about their mother.

Credit: David Becker/WireImage

Scott Disick and Kourtney Kardashian

The on-and-off couple split for good in 2015 after nearly a decade together when Disick was spotted cozying up to his ex Chloe Bartoli, as documented on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. The series documented the couple from the beginning of their relationship through the birth of their three children, Mason, Penelope and Reign, and also documented Disick's struggle with alcohol addiction.

Credit: Vivian Zink/Bravo

Brooks Ayers and Vicki Gunvalson

The Real Housewives of Orange County alum and Ayers dated for four and a half years before splitting in August 2015. Their drama continued when Ayers admitted to fabricating medical documents about his cancer diagnosis, which Gunvalson denied any knowledge of. 

Credit: Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images

Andi Dorfman and Josh Murray

Dorfman and Murray got engaged in the Bachelorette finale that aired in July 2014, but they called it quits in January 2015. In her tell-all book, Dorfman referred to their romance as "the most volatile and f--ked up relationship of my life." Their drama later resurfaced on Bachelor in Paradise's third season in 2016, when contestant Evan Bass warned Amanda Stanton about Murray based on the contents of Dorfman's book.

Credit: ABC/Michael Fullana

Clare Crawley and Juan Pablo Galavis

Crawley came in second place on Galavis' season 18 of The Bachelor. During the finale, she was blindsided by him choosing Nikki Ferrell over her. "I thought I knew what kind of man you were. What you made me go through, I would never want my children having a father like you," she told him during the 2014 finale. He also allegedly told her he didn't "love" her but "loved f--king" her.

Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Courtesy of Ronnie Ortiz-Magro/Instagram

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi Giancola and Jen Harley

During the original run of Jersey Shore from 2009 to 2012, Ortiz-Magro and Giancola had one of the longest-running, on-again, off-again relationships, which included cheating, screaming, crying and even slapping. The couple continued dating briefly after the show ended but split for good in 2014 after he cheated again.

Giancola did not return for Jersey Shore: Family Vacation in 2018, but the drama with Ortiz-Magro continued when he came into the house with a seven-months pregnant girlfriend, Jen Harley, at home. During the first week, he grinded on a girl in the club before bringing her home and flirting with her for hours. After the episode aired, the duo got into a physical altercation on Instagram Live and called it quits in April 2018. The twosome had an on and off romance for more than one year before they split for good in October 2019.

Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Stassi Schroeder and Jax Taylor

The Vanderpump Rules stars publicly bashed each other in the wake of their split when Taylor accused Schroeder of holding him back from his modeling career, among other things.

Shortly after their split, Schroeder opened up about the experience during a January 2013 interview with Bravo. "Even though I was constantly asking him to grow up, I think he always assumed I would never have the balls to leave and that I'd always still be waiting at home. It was time for me to stop babysitting and focus on myself, and if he ever was going to change, he DID have to see what it was like not to have me," she said at the time. "It saddens me: I not only lost my boyfriend, I lost my best friend."

Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski/INFphoto.com

Amber Portwood and Gary Shirley

The Teen Mom OG stars, who share daughter Leah, called it quits for good in 2013 after years of an on-and-off relationship. In 2016, the former couple ended their custody battle over their little girl with the decision that Shirley would maintain primary custody and Portwood would agree to pay child support.

Credit: Kevin Winter/NBCUniversal/Getty Images

Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian

Just seven months after meeting, the NBA player and Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum got engaged in May 2011. Their lavish August wedding was televised months later, however, Kardashian pulled the plug on the marriage after 72 days. Their tumultuous relationship lasted long after the KKW Beauty founder filed for divorce due to Humphries filing for an annulment, claiming their marriage was based on "fraud." The two officially divorced in April 2013.

Credit: Getty Images

Taylor Ford Armstrong and Russell Armstrong

In July 2011, amid a $1.5 million lawsuit against them, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star filed for divorce, claiming allegations of abuse and that the life they portrayed on TV was a fraud. The businessman tragically committed suicide in August of the same year. "I went through about nine months where I was drinking to cope with the pain and the memories. I was drinking to forget, to stop the recurring images in my head, to relax enough to try to sleep at night," Taylor wrote in her blog in February 2013 following Russell's death. "I quickly discovered that one glass of wine made it a little easier, two would help me forget, three, four — you get the point."

Credit: Amy Sussman/WireImage for Discovery Communications

Jon Gosselin and Kate Gosselin

The Jon & Kate Plus 8 stars were married for more than 10 years before divorcing in 2009. Their split came just two years after the debut of their TLC reality series, which documented life with their eight children. The former spouses had a very public war of words consisting of abuse claims and bashing the other's parenting ability. In 2010, the series was renamed Kate Plus 8.

Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker

In 2005, the former spouses showcased their relationship on MTV's Meet the Barkers. Viewers watched as the couple often fought and made up, eventually separating in 2006 amid accusations of cheating and mental instability. When the Blink-182 drummer began dating Kourtney Kardashian in late 2020, things got heated once again between Moakler and Barker. Moakler, who shares son Landon and daughter Alabama with the musician, alleged to Us Weekly that Barker had an affair with Kourtney’s sister Kim Kardashian in the early 2000s. She claimed that she signed her divorce papers because of the infidelity. Both Kim and Barker have denied the allegations.

Credit: Dave Hogan/MTV 2014/Getty Images for MTV

Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne

Married for more than three decades, the former stars of MTV's The Osbournes have been very public about their relationship struggles, including domestic violence, substance abuse, cheating, heath scares and more, however have worked past their issues and are currently together.