16 Most Outrageous Reality TV Dating Shows

CHAINS OF LOVE
Perhaps no dating show in TV history tried to make a stronger love connection than this short-lived series. A contestant had to choose from four suitors who were chained to him/her around the clock for days. Yes, they were given bathroom breaks, but only for washing off the indignity of being on Chains of Love. —Dan Snierson

CONVEYOR BELT OF LOVE
In this one-time special, men were rolled out on a ­conveyor belt and given 60 seconds to impress a panel of women. Sound ridiculous? It was. But this mechanical parade of cartoonish bachelors (among them, a man who did turkey calls) was surprisingly watchable when taken as the joke we truly hope it was meant to be. —Sandra Gonzalez

BLIND DATE: UNCENSORED
When the granddaddy of all reality dating shows took it one step further by releasing the uncensored version on pay-per-view, the LOLs instantly turned into STFU moments. With the same awkwardness of blind dates caught on camera and snarky pop-up video comments running along the bottom of the screen, the show transformed itself from quirky to shameful. —David Yi

MR. PERSONALITY
It is apt that this Fox dating show forced suitors to wear masks at all times, because Lord knows I still want to hide my face for having watched it. While single gal Hayley dated dudes who looked like dopey rejects from Voldemort’s Death Eater army, I engaged in my own private shame spiral for actually sitting through a show hosted by Monica Lewinsky. —Dalton Ross

TEMPTATION ISLAND
An island that serves as host to a sexual fiesta was the basic premise of this show, which encouraged couples to venture out and put their love (making) to the test. Staying faithful to your significant other? Boring. —David Yi

FLAVOR OF LOVE
Crazy but true: Flavor Flav is a genius. The pint-sized rapper single-handedly changed VH1 from a channel of coma-inducing music programming (remember Rock & Roll Jeopardy?) to the ”It” network for anything and everything trash-tastic. The clock-obsessed, gold-grilled former hype man for Public Enemy started a legit thing by creatively naming all of his sex kittens — one of whom landed her own spin-off I Love New York that, in turn, spawned several more in (Real Chance of Love, Frank The Entertainer in a Basement Affair). It even introduced Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson to her future husband. —David Yi

BOY MEETS BOY
This show was just as confusing as the sexual orientation of each of the contestants: One man attempts to find love among 15 men who he thinks are all gay. He’s oblivious to the fact that some are indeed straight. If the man manages to choose a gay man in the end, he wins a paid vacation and some cash. Should he lose, he wins nothing except embarrassment, harassment, and possibly a new gaydar for Christmas. Imagine, people found this one offensive. —David Yi

AVERAGE JOE
Finally, a matchmaking show for guys who don’t come straight from an Abercrombie catalog! The Bachelor-lampooning setup was especially shocking for the romance-seeking beauty at the show’s center. Then, just as Miss Right seemingly dropped her ­prejudices and developed feelings for an Average Joe, producers pulled a switcheroo and brought in a boatload of male-model wannabes. Guess which type got the girl? —Lanford Beard

A SHOT AT LOVE WITH TILA TEQUILA
Forget those icky twins, er, Ikki Twins who flirted with men, women, and incest in the clone follow-up A Double Shot at Love, this intoxicating show had the ”bisexual” bachelorette test her own sexual limits — and America’s — by unabashedly dry humping both boys and girls at the same time. Here’s to you, Tequila. You probably need the titular shot more than we do. —David Yi

THE LITTLEST GROOM
With a promotional line of ”Good things come in small packages,” the show featured Glen Foster, a 4′?5” salesman, trying to find love among women of different heights. Thankfully, someone decided the world needed to see only two episodes of this series. Plus, with just 7.5 million viewers, the audience was pretty, uh, small. —Jessica Shaw

PLAYING IT STRAIGHT
Who’s gay, who’s straight, who in their right minds knows anymore? In this show, a woman had to pick a man who might actually like her back. Of course, this man might actually be gay. What’s worse? Learning that the man of your dreams is gay, or being rejected by a totally straight guy because he’s just not into you? —David Yi

MARRIED BY AMERICA
A cross between American Idol and The Bachelor, the show had America vote for two people they thought were most compatible. And America is usually so right about stuff. —David Yi

MORE TO LOVE
Is there really more to love with those who have bigger…hearts? Fox’s reality show ran exactly like The Bachelor, but replaced the usual studs with a man who is over 300 pounds of lovin’, and typical size-two female contestants with those flaunting ”real curves.” Naturally, the show cast plenty of women with self-esteem issues who felt the only way to overcome them was to — what else — air them on television. —David Yi

MOMMA’S BOYS
This show had good intentions: Bring mommy along to help you pick the right girl. But in a quick and unsettling turn, it seemed like all too often the mothers were competing with the women for the affections of their own sons. One mom creepily went on about how her son was ”sexy, good looking, handsome, has great muscles, and great teeth.” That’s when we knew that the show was really about mothers who never wanted their boys to leave the nest. —David Yi

JOE MILLIONAIRE
You can take a Joe Shmoe out of Shmoe-ville but you can’t take the Shmoe-ville out of the Joe. That’s what happened on this awesomely disastrous show about a ”millionaire” construction worker looking for love. When it turned out that he was broke and, yipes, was actually a loser, we couldn’t help but feel for everyone involved. Though, not so much for the girl who fell for him. —David Yi

WHO WANTS TO MARRY A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE?
Thank this two-hour special for the advent of reality TV nuptials. The importance of thorough background checks, though, was its more critical legacy: Not only was groom Rick Rockwell’s net worth questioned, it was also discovered that he had a restraining order against him. No wonder bride Darva Conger annulled the union in less than two weeks. —David Yi