The Biggest Fights in Reality TV History

Have you heard? Reality TV shows thrive on drama. Producers throw a bunch of polarizing figures into a restrictive space and just wait for chaos to erupt. Sometimes, when they're lucky, that chaos involves intense verbal and physical violence. Those altercations are what reality shows run on—it's their Gatorade.

Reality TV has gotten considerably more violent over the years—punching someone on The Real World is no longer an automatic send-off—but there are a ton of classic, even iconic, brawls that set the bar for the Love & Hip Hops of the new world. To figure out which reality show fights stood above the others—because you can only watch so much hair-pulling before it all blends together— the following factors were considered:

So the highest any fight could score is a round 50. Keep all this in mind as we run down The Biggest Fights in Reality TV History.

Brawlers: Snooki vs. Angelina

Score: 22

No one liked Angelina—the confrontational, overt way she turned her nose up at The Jersey Shore ethos was unbecoming—but no one expected Snooki to be the one to take out the trash. The Little Meatball finally had enough 10 episodes into Season 2, taking off her enormous hoop earrings and getting into a weird hair-pulling match with the girl. Both Snooks and Angelina threw a couple fists but none any of them landed. Mostly, Snooki just showed everyone her underwear.

Brawlers: Joe Budden vs. Consequence

Score: 23

This fight had so much potential. Consequence and Joe “Pump It Up” Budden, two actually famous figures in hip-hop (well, Joe is at least) hashing out their beef on live television? It sounds too good to be true. Unfortunately, Cons had to up and duff Budden on the back of the dome as he was WALKING AWAY. Budden reacted to the punch by saying, “That's what I like,” which couldn't have been Consequence's desired result. But what else could he have expected after that sorry excuse for a fight?

Brawlers: Ronnie vs. A Stranger

Score: 23

When The Jersey Shore premiered, everyone saw Ronnie and knew he was a roided out freak perpetually one step away from succumbing to his HGH rage, so we all hunkered down and waited for the time bomb to go off. He held it in longer than expected—six episodes—but when a local started hollering at him and Sammi Sweetheart, It. Was. On. Ronnie looked like an absolute gorilla, right down to the way he lumbered towards his enemy and hurled his arms at the guy's head. The fight was pretty much what everyone expected—Ronnie is scary (and impossible to beat) when he gets mad—and was totally worth a trip to jail.

Brawlers: Stephen vs. Kristin

Score: 24

The most absurd/legendary words ever spoken on reality television. Let's break this down though: Stephen gets mad at Kristin, who he is not technically dating, because she is dancing on a bar in Cabo. Strike one for Stephen—it's Spring Break, bruh! What girl doesn't dance on the bar of the Cabo Señor Frogs while on Spring Break!?

Moving on. Stephen handles his anger not by going and hooking up with a rando, but by telling Kristin he could hook up with a rando. He never actually does, mind you. Instead he just calls Jay Cutler's future wife a slut an alarming amount of times. She then goes and presumably hooks up with a guy named Sam. Strike two and three. This was the official downfall of Stephen Colletti. Side note: I don't really get why MTV censored the word “hoe” but left “slut” untouched back then.

Brawlers: Sundy vs. Draya

Score: 25

It's hard to fully talk about the dust-up between Sundy and Draya because VH1 cock-blocked the world by cutting out just as things were heating up. But judging by the shiner Sundy's sporting in the next scene, this was a good fight.

Brawlers: LC vs. Heidi

Score: 26

The drama between Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag has to be one of the most well-crafted reality TV plots ever, and this was the boiling point. They started as best friends tackling a scary city together, then the flesh-bearded Spencer Pratt came along and turned the two against each other, to the point where Heidi was allegedly telling people that LC had a sex tape. When an angry LC finally erupted with that, “You know what you did!” in a way that was so tired, so desperate, and so heartbroken—wow that was catharsis, guys.

Brawlers: Amber Portwood vs. Gary Shirley

Score: 26

No jokes here—I debated not even including this on the list, but decided to because it's maybe the most lasting image from 16 & Pregnant. But this was disturbing and sad, and it's not surprising in any way that Amber was charged with three counts of domestic violence.

Brawlers: Teresa Giudice vs. Danielle Staub and a Table

Score: 28

You know, six years ago when this moment aired on TV we should've suspected that Teresa was gonna end up in jail. Just look how quickly she turns up! Danielle Staub says one rude thing and it's over—see ya later, table. 0 to 100 so quick. I don't think we need to be worried about Teresa in ladies prison.

Brawlers: Renee vs. Natalie

Score: 28

As far as I can tell, this whole conflict started because Natalie said Renee's boyfriend “smelled delicious.” Now that I've set this very complicated scene, let's get to the fight. It's crazy how you can see Renee flip through the stages of anger as Natalie continues to throw verbal jabs at her until she loses it and just chokes a bitch.

The way this fight builds is A1. As if that wasn't enough, round two pops off under basically the same circumstances. You almost feel bad for Renee because Natalie got so far under her skin there was nothing she could do. By the way, I would say this was another case of a reality show over-dramatizing, but this is actually just what happens when you force six pure-blooded Italian women to hang out together.

Brawlers: New York vs. Buckwild, Buckeey and Bootz vs. Security

Score: 29

It takes about four seconds until Buckwild hurls a shoe at New York's head. It barely misses, but that's just the beginning. Saaphyri soon throws another shoe and when Deelishis steps up on New York, a billion other girls go hurtling toward the stage while the security guards are distracted. It's total reality TV show mayhem—everyone's going bonkers. Except for Carmelo Anthony's wife. La La keeps it cool.

Brawlers: Vanessa vs. Brandy

Score: 29

This has all of the classic elements of a good reality TV fight: a dramatic build-up, hair-pulling, the C-word, a person saying she “can't do this anymore,” and other contestants crying in horror from the sidelines. Can you believe these two girls were fighting over this? 2007 was a dope year.

Brawlers: Porsha Williams vs. Kenya Moore

Score: 29

Any time someone busts out a megaphone and says, “You are a dumb hoe,” you know there's gonna be a fight. Porsha vs. Kenya went quickly—it really just boils down to some hair-pulling—but the fight had residual effects. Kenya pressed assault charges on Porsha (which have not been dropped) and Porsha was relegated to being a “friend” for Season 7 instead of a main cast member. A friend!? Man, that's really gotta put things into perspective for a person.

Brawlers: Christina vs. Julie

Score: 30

If we were basing this ranking on violence alone, I'm pretty sure the entire list would be fights from Bad Girls Club. How does this show exist? It's basically Locked Up in a mansion. Just look at this fight, possibly the most brutal in the show's history: Christina and Julie are landing haymakers. They both know how to fight and it's terrifying. AND THEN CHRISTINA LIGHTS JULIE'S EXTENSIONS ON FIRE!!!

Brawlers: Steven vs. Irene

Score: 31

Maybe the most iconic act of violence in reality television history? The only clip I could find of this has commentary by Stephen and some other girl, and it's really messed up. The girl keeps asking him logical questions like, “Why would you steal and hide someone's belongings?” and, I don't know, “Why would you hit a woman?” and not once does Stephen have a moment of self-awareness where he's like, “Oh wow, I'm a horrible person.” Anyways, if this had happened on a show in 2014, there's no way the cast would have a conversation about whether Stephen should be allowed to stay in the house—that dude would be given a spin-off.

Brawlers: Nia vs. Johnny and Averey

Score: 31

Case and point—this Real World fight that happened 15 years later. It is so much more violent. Nia kicks it off by wailing on Johnny like she's Christina from Bad Girls Club, but shit really turns up when Johnny's in-house boo, Averey, gets into the mix. There are three rounds to this fight. Round 1: Nia swinging on Johnny while he takes it like Jay Z in an elevator. Round 2: Averey pulling on Nia's hair and getting some punches in after Nia tried to attack Johnny with a blow dryer.

Round 3: Nia creeping up behind Averey and duffing her in the back of the head harder than Consequence hit Budden. That's when this fight goes from entertaining to pretty scary. But after all of that, Nia was eventually allowed to stay on the show, while Johnny and Averey moved into a hotel for the remainder of the season.

Brawlers: Joe Giudice vs. Joe Gorga

Score: 33

I believe it was Snooki who always called greased up Italian guys “gorillas”—I just never knew she was being literal. When Joe hears that Other Joe called his wife scum he goes full Sopranos: “I'm gonna make him apologize,” he says. Upon Joe entering whatever weird nondescript building they're all standing and arguing in, Other Joe gets as low to the ground as possible and shoots at him. The two lock together like, well, gorillas (or like Ronnie from The Jersey Shore). My favorite part of this fight isn't Teresa inexplicably running away or Melissa Gorga slapping the shit out of Joe Giudice—it's him blurting out mid-fight, “He's biting my nuts!”

Brawlers: Ronnie vs. The Situation

Score: 36

The anticipation for this fight was just so high—for four seasons everyone wanted to see The Situation get his ass beat and finally Ronnie was gonna make it happen. What ended up happening? The Situation peacocked like a pyscho, slammed his own head into a wall and gave himself a concussion. Then he got back up and proceeded to get lifted off the ground by Ronnie like a little boy. It wasn't the heavyweight battle that everyone had been hoping for, but it was significantly damning enough to The Situation's ego to make us all happy.

Brawlers: Adam vs. CT

Score: 37

Anyone who watches The Challenge knows: DO NOT MESS WITH CT. The guy is physically enormous and emotionally unhinged; if you get under his skin, he will have no qualms about murdering you. Before this beatdown, Adam had a long history of bothering CT—they mixed it up when they were on The Real World: Paris together and CT poured a beer on Adam's head on The Gauntlet III—and it overflowed on The Duel II. Usually producers are able to get into between reality TV fights before they get out of hand, but no one had a chance of stopping CT here. Look at the guy running around at full speed, literally chasing Adam around. That is the mark of a guy who is ready to go to jail to end you.

Brawlers: Pumkin vs. New York

Score: 38

When you mention Flavor of Love to someone, this is the image that's likely going to pop into their heads. Pumkin firing a loogie at New York (and possibly straight into her mouth) before running like hell and getting pushed by the hair into some cameras is a Top 5 Moment in Reality TV History. What else can you say about a fight this perfect?

Brawlers: Everyone

Score: 41

Most times, a network wants their audience to witness all the drama that unfolds during a reunion episode. Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta's Season 3 reunion is the exception—the taping had to actually be shut down because of the cast-wide fight that broke out. What you can see on the show is Stevie J and Joseline simultaneously deciding it's go time with Benzino and Althea, security guards struggling to control the situation, Stevie ripping his shirt off, and Thi Thi grabbing and throwing a glass bottle. What you couldn't see was all hell breaking loose backstage. This has to be the most violent, chaotic fight to ever go down on reality TV. I mean, TMZ is still writing about it.