Survivor: Tocantins, Coach & The Best Reality TV Villains of All-Time

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After watching Survivor: Tocantins these past few weeks my loathe/loathe relationship with Coach continues to grow (When he is practicing his ultra-rare form of Tai-Chi in the river each week there is a small part of me that wants a wild animal to pop up and get him). I started to wonder how he stacked up (if at all) to some of the past villains of reality TV. So I started brainstorming and came up with some of the great reality TV villains of all time and as much as I despise him he just feels a little light weight to me. I mean he IS annoying as all hell, arrogant and so full of shit but he lacks something fundamental that these other baddies have in spades that keeps him acting as a caricature of himself.

Here in no particular order is my top 10 list of baddies. Who did I miss and how does Coach stack up against them?

Puck from The Real World – Puck probably tops the list. He’s caustic and abrasive; rude and loud; possibly homophobic and definitely in your face. He is in may ways the Platonic ideal that others aspire to. Surprisingly though I couldn’t find that many Puck clips so this one will have to do.

Omarosa from Apprentice – Failing to hold her own, ever critical and bitchy Omarosa made Apprentice appointment TV.

Johnny Fairplay from Survivor – Responsible for one of the great Survivor moments Johnny Fairplay was a shit bird and a half. Too bad his turn as a quitter tainted the brand.

New York from Flava of Love – New York was the unstoppable and always watchable ghetto-fabulous star of the season.

Richard Hatch from Survivor – He showed us that lying was the name of the game back when an “alliance” was an unheard of concept on reality TV and not just a mainstay.

Simon Cowell from American Idol – It may be a singing competition but we really want to see what Simon will say next.

Chef Ramsey from Hell’s Kitchen – Training under the volatile Marco Pierre White Chef Ramsey has a world class temper and a harsh word for imperfection.

Stephen from Top Chef – It was Stephen’s snobbish arrogance that cast in the villainy role. Viewers loved to hate him. No good clips on Top Chef so this one will have to do.

Jeffrey Project Runway – Jeffrey was happy to play the bad guy role and it fit him. Too bad for the others that he had the skills to back it up.

Lacey Rock of Love – Lacey was a P S Y C H O. She’s killed some bunnies in her day.

Honorable Mention – When Marguerite Perrin from Trading Spouses went ape-shit announcing that she was a god warrior an instant classic reality TV moment was created.

If reality TV amplifies personality traits a thousand fold then the medium seems made for villains. It’s not the good guys that hold our attention but the bad (with the exception maybe of Rupert from season 7 of Survivor) and the things that they do, that only a great Reality TV villain can do, has made for some some great TV moments.

Who did I miss and how does Coach stack up against them?