Top 10 Annoying and Obvious Reality TV Contestant Lines

Posted at 5:00 AM Nov 16, 2009

5. "No one knows what the judges are going to say."

Often said with a child's sort of wide-eyed wonder, this one cracks me up. Because you know, if contestants or audiences knew what judges would say each week, would they participate or watch? Yeah, OK, probably. But it's just one of the dumbest observations to make, and yet, it undoubtedly pops up on at least every other episode of any show featuring a judging panel. ANTM and So You Think You Can Dance should go ahead and get a joint trademark on this one c/o of Tyra and crazy-train Mary Murphy.

4. "Someone's getting kicked off tonight."/"I could get kicked off tonight."

I sometimes wonder if producers ask cast members to say this because they fear that somehow, someway, their viewing audience is going to suddenly forget how reality TV contests work. The only difference in the two versions is that someone confident in the week's performance goes with the former, while someone who knows they screwed the prime time pooch opts for the latter. This one is standard fare on Top Chef.

3. "I'm not here to make friends."

And yet, designers make friends, chefs hook up and models cry and hug when someone is eliminated. Sure, it's not the intent of the show, but it happens...except on anything having to do with drag queens, Tila Tequila or Ray J. Those people mean that shit. And, no, I'm not saying Bravo's peeps or American this-close-to-Idols end up pen-pals, I'm thinking they just say it because it makes the next statement seem more intense.

2. "I'm here to win."

Right. Because it's a competition and you're not here to make friends! We get it! Why else would you be here? Sidenote: You don't really want to say this, especially if there's a Fan Favorite contest in the works, but if you don't win, it could be really good for your career (better, actually, for your career if you don't win ANTM from the looks of it) to have all the exposure. By contrast, if you're on Rock of Love, it's probably better after all that "exposure" if you can snag sort of income--even temporary--that allows for you to let your "area" breathe a bit, so winning is definitely a priority.

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1. "I don't want to go home."

I've never lived in an adult dorm-hotel-mansion-suite, but I'm guessing that for at least a couple of weeks it's pretty badass. Also, the disciplined schedules, furnished foods and sanctioned time to work on your ultimate goal with awesome equipment and mentors like Tim Gunn and Miss Jay is probably fairly cool. Combine that with cameras and the feeling that people actually give a shit about what you have to say or do? Any contestant would hope to be there for the long haul ... especially if they've said or done anything for which they'll have to answer once they get home. Oh, and because if they go home it means they didn't win. Hello, obvious.