The 25 Most Memorable Reality Stars

It's all about making a strong impression! These are the personalities we loved — and the ones we loved to hate.

Want more? EW has detailed the best in movies, TV, music, and books for 25 years with the Must List, and in celebration, The Must List: Ranking the Best in 25 Years of Pop Culture is out now. This gallery is an excerpt from the book. The Must List: Ranking the Best in 25 Years of Pop Culture is in stores now, or available for order online.

She wasn't a housewife, but reality never needed to be real. Her terse sarcasm made her breakout, but Bethenny's no-bull professionalism infused <em<housewives with Lean-In aspiration. </em<housewives

A wounded Iraq vet who became a motivational speaker, an actor, and one of the most inspiring human beings ever to grace a dance floor.

The glamorously British SoCal entrepreneur brings trashy class to 90210. She's even more fun on Vanderpump Rules, playing a gossipy queen to her beautiful-idiot minions.

Too charming to be a bad guy, too nefarious to be a good guy, the one-time Survivor winner is the rascal antihero we deserve.

A lovably tough player with enough heart to dominate competitors.

A sex-idiot supervillain and an emotional terrorist, Juan Pablo set a new standard for mesmerizing narcissism.

Paris Hilton got the headlines, but her Simple sidekick gave the rich-kids-go-country reality-sitcom its goofy, oddly endearing heart.

They called him acerbic, mean, an elitist Brit picking on try-hard American dreamers. Reality's first great judge told the truth: brutally, hilariously.

The High Priestess of Telling It Like It Is, NeNe redefined sass into alpha-female heavy artillery. Watching someone argue with her is like watching an ant pick a fight with the God of Thunder.

She was the housewife reimagined as a battalion commander, mothering her children the way Patton marshaled his troops. There followed fame, fortune, divorce, desperation — and Dancing With the Stars.

Sure, Fairplay didn't rally play fair. But give the devil his due: The creator of the innovative "Dead Grandmother" strategy was uniquely good at playing bad.

Her onscreen origin was tragic, but Glanville's ensuing Housewives arc is variously infuriating and train-wreck fascinating.

Talented, beloved by fans, dominant in challenges: Chef Sam was the full package.

Reality TV's greatest creation transformed selfie-age vanity into a boundlessly (and endlessly monetizable) resource. Kim invented a world where her personal life was the brand.

Everyone's got that one uncle: the weirdo, the kookbat, the guy who might be just a little insane. But no way your uncle has a beard half as impressive.

We knew she was a supermodel. But it took Top Model to reveal that Tyra was a maniacal space alien sent from the heavens to give you beauties their won Full Metal Jacket.

Hootie hoo! In a genre that trends toward big-ego melodramatics, Carla was a rare bird: a fierce competitor with a cheerful, light attitude.

An unapologetic cad with a nigh-telepathic gift for gab, Dr. Will defined Big Brother's unique strain of mustache-twirling vanity. At least he always stabs in the front.

American television had never seen his like: a proud gay man living bravely (and openly) with AIDS. Reality TV is still waiting for someone half as real.

Conspicuous consumption personified (and later convicted). The docusoap genre begins and ends with Teresa's table-flip freakout.

The Laguna Beach everygal spun off her own big-city adventure, becoming the island-of-sanity Gallant to frenemy Heidi's bad-decision Goofus.

The Great American Reality TV Big Bad. Survivor's first survivor brought the world "alliance" into the lexicon and earned attention for his plotting — and his no-clothes policy.

The sacred requires the profane, so the season of Pedro was also the season of Puck. The snot rockets, the peanut butter: Wouldn't you evict him from your house?

The youngest Runway winner — and the show's best argument for itself — Siriano's legitimate talent was matched only by his talent for catchy one-liners.

Is Omarosa a villain? Or just the perfect capitalist? We can all agree that Omarosa set a new standard for reality amorality, invigorating the genre with a Game of Thrones mentality.