best australian reality tv 2021

The 14 Most Chaotic Aussie Reality TV Moments Of 2021

Tell us you love Punkee without telling us you love Punkee. Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. It'll mean the world.

Australian reality TV is having a real moment. From cooking to singing and dating shows, there are simply too many TV shows to juggle.

Not to mention that this year has seen the addition of celebrity spin-offs from Big Brother, MasterChef, and an all-stars version of Dancing with the Stars. We’ve been truly spoilt for choice, with a steady stream of reality show after reality show. Like seriously, the end of The Bachelorette and Love Island marked the end of nonstop shows which feels like it began at the start of 2021 with Married at First Sight.  

2021 has given us so much! As a reality TV writer, I must admit that I am very tired!

But before I nap for eternity over the Xmas holidays, it’s time to look back on the best chaotic moments that Australian reality TV offered us this year. Ooft! It’s been a real mess.

The 14 most chaotic Aussie reality TV moments of 2021:

1. The feet clapping scene on Married at First Sight.

The horror. MAFS is known for its awkward moments, but nothing will ever or could ever compare to the bath scene between Belinda and Patrick on their honeymoon. Patrick’s attempt at romance saw him filling a rose petal scattered bath for Belinda, before trying to give her a foot massage while in the tub. Somehow he ended up slapping her feet together (for some reason??) which became the foot clap heard around Australia.

2. Booka dedicates a night to Brett on Married at First Sight.

Booka was a gift to us all. At first, this heavy metal musician seemed like an ideal match for hipster Brett, but eventually their relationship turned toxic. Everything came to a head when Brett’s bestie Patrick (the feet clapper strikes again) wrote Booka a nasty letter, instructing her to put together on a date that was all about Brett — and not about herself.

Booka took this concept and truly ran with it: she decorated their apartment with photos of Brett’s face, and she played him a song that only featured the lyrics “Brett”. Brett was left mortified but the song was a banger.

3. Bryce’s “friends” exposed his lies on Married at First Sight.

There are A LOT of chaotic Bryce moments we could list, however nothing quite compares to this God-tier ‘Gotcha!’ moment. Honestly, this whole scene is one for the history books, as Bryce brought Melissa to Canberra to introduce her to his friends. The visit followed rumours that Bryce had a secret girlfriend, who he had even arranged a gift for while still in the MAFS experiment.

Melissa asked Bryce’s mates if there was any truth to the rumours, expecting them to ease her worries — but their clammy reaction spoke volumes. They didn’t deny the speculation Bryce had been dating someone else, and then in a truly hectic moment, when the friends thought they weren’t being filmed, they could be heard admitting that Bryce had lied to Melissa.

SO AWKWARD. This is the reason we watch reality TV.

4. Rebecca tells Australia that she kissed her brother to cover up cheating on Married at First Sight.

Speaking of awkward, nothing was quite as cringeworthy as Rebecca claiming that the man she was kissing in footage played at the MAFS reunion was, in fact, her brother — and not an ex-boyfriend.

As Bec and Jake sat on the experts’ couch, a video was played that was captured when Bec briefly left the experiment to care for her sick pet. In a wild moment, Bec could be seen clearly kissing a man in the background. “Who was that?” John asked. “That was my brother,” Bec replied, before adding “It wasn’t, like, sexual.” OK then! After footage was played again, Bec eventually admitted she was kissing an ex… and not her own brother. Good to know!

5. Macy Gray and Anastacia being unmasked on The Masked Singer.

The Masked Singer actually casting internationally renowned celebrities this year is the most chaotic thing that could have happened to 2021. Macy Gray turned out to be Atlantis, and after Vampire was crowned winner, they were unmasked as ’00s pop diva Anastacia.

Not to mention, Hollywood actor Vinnie Jones was unmasked first as Volcano.

reality tv australian 2021 best moments

6. The reunion on Farmer Wants a Wife. 

While the reunion itself was low-key uneventful, the drama going down off-screen made it highly anticipated. As the season was still airing, contestant Hayley came forward claiming to be pregnant with Farmer Will’s baby — even though she dated Farmer Matt on the show. This was despite the fact that Farmer Will had ended the season dating Jaimee.

On the finale, Will and Jaimee appeared to still be together. They have since split and while Will has cast doubt over whether Hayley’s baby is his, former contestants have rallied around Hayley.

7. A cheating scandal truly rocked The Block.

The Block proved to be a huge ratings success this year and a large part of that has to be due to the cheating saga that plagued production. From the early episodes, host Scott Cam revealed that there was a photo of the production schedule floating around among the contestants. It was eventually revealed that Tanya took the photo after a producer asked her outright. “Yes I did,” she said. “Yeah I took the photograph.” Drama!!

reality tv australian 2021 best moments

8. Thomas Markle Jr. caused controversy on Big Brother VIP.

Thomas Markle Jr. simply being cast on Big Brother VIP was controversial in itself, given that his only claim to fame was bad-mouthing his half-sister Meghan Markle in the media. But then he had to go and write Meghan and Prince Harry another letter, which of course was just pure media bait to garner international headlines. And it worked.

9. Steph called Holly a “c*nt” on The Bachelor.

The Bachelor has a rich history of people slinging the word “c*nt” around like it’s 3am at your local pub. It began with Abbie telling Matt in 2019 that Monique had allegedly called him a “dog c*nt”, and then this year, Steph dropped the C-bomb when describing eventual winner Holly. After Steph called Holly a “c*nt”, some women overheard and relayed the conversation to Holly. When confronted, Steph denied everything but sadly for her, the cameras don’t lie. It was iconic.

10. Brooke meeting Jimmy’s mum on The Bachelor.

When it comes to reality TV memes, nothing quite sums up 2021 like runner-up Brooke excitedly running to meet Jimmy’s mum, which was then contrasted with her unimpressed reaction. Brooke was a unique contestant – she was someone people either loved or hated – but there’s no denying she provided the perfect reaction photo for when expectations collide with reality.

11. Aaron and Taku fought over a fruit platter on Love Island. 

If petty drama is your vibe then Love Island truly outdid itself this year when Aaron and Taku had a fight over a fruit plate. It all began when Jess dumped Aaron then quickly moved on to Taku. As a romantic gesture, Taku prepared Jess a fruit platter and while he was not in the room, Aaron joked that he wanted to knock it over. How dare! The sanctity of a fruit platter had been truly violated. Aaron’s shady comment got back to Taku and they ended up having a heated argument over it.

The whole fight was promoted heavily in trailer’s, claiming it was the biggest fight in Love Island history, which is hilarious when comparing it to when Grant and Eden literally came to blows in Season 1.

12. Jess and Aaron break up over a nipple-slip on Love Island.

If you thought that was petty, just wait! Later in the season after Jess and Aaron had reconciled, Jess broke up with Aaron because she didn’t like how he reacted to when she suffered a nipple-slip. After her wardrobe malfunction, Jess was offended that Aaron gave her a dirty look, but he maintained that he didn’t care about the nipple-slip and probably just had resting bitch face.

They couldn’t agree and it all ended in Jess dumping Aaron while in bed. The next day, Aaron threatened to leave the villa until Jess talked him into staying.

love island australia jess aaron

13. Konrad’s love seat debacle on The Bachelorette.

The Bachelorette started with a bang when on premiere night there was already mutiny afoot: Jess stole Konrad’s thunder by commandeering his precious love seat. Upon meeting Brooke, Konrad announced that he was a carpenter so, of course, he had brought pieces of wood to build a seat, later christened the love seat. Konrad told Brooke that he would find her later to sit on it together, but Jess slid in his place and when she grabbed Brooke for a chat, Jess took her to sit on the fateful love seat.

The audacity!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14. Abbie awkwardly starring as Brooke’s bestie on The Bachelorette.

We can’t mention The Bachelorette without addressing the real shitshow that followed when Brooke called out Abbie for hard launching her relationship with Konrad during finale week. The timing couldn’t have been more awkward as Abbie featured as one of Brooke’s close friends on the finale episode. Brooke criticised Abbie’s timing of announcing her relationship with Brooke’s third runner-up just as Brooke’s winner was about to be revealed, labelling Abbie’s actions as “narcissistic” and displaying “white privilege”. Abbie has since issued an apology.

best australian reality tv 2021

What a year!