There are No Couples on Reality TV Worth Rooting For

It’s so easy to see a couple on reality TV that you know is going to be doomed – Vanderpump Rules and The Real Housewives are the biggest examples of how romance is doomed in the reality television show world. Whether it is with relationships we know are doomed from the start or ones we see implode on themselves after years together, the franchises highlight a problem that exists through reality romance shows and beyond.

All rooted in their own drama, whether that be cheating or lies as a whole, each franchise shows that romance in the reality world is just something that we, the viewers, should never expect to work out. Even if there are a few cases that seem to be the exception to the overall problem. In looking at Vanderpump Rules and The Real Housewives franchises though, it’s clear why couples were never destined to succeed together in the first place.

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More Like the Real Divorcees

You’d be hard-pressed to find an original couple of The Real Housewives still together. The Real Housewives of New York featured housewives in Season 13 who were, well, no longer married for the most part. In fact, the couples who do remain together are often the ones who leave the show. Albert Manzo and Caroline Manzo are still together but left The Real Housewives of New Jersey back in Season 5. Likewise, Jacqueline Laurita and Chris Laurita are still together and left two seasons after the Manzos.

There are some cases of couples having their issues and trying to work it out. Recently, Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky posted about their rough year together among rumors of a separation for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills couple. Richards herself posted that they were not divorcing but that they had a rough patch. For The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Nene Leakes, she was married to Gregg Leakes before divorcing him to essentially send him a message. The two remained together until his death, but their issues were a major part of her story throughout the show.

Even the “solid” couples have rumors swirling around them. Outside of Richards and Umansky, who were often the subject of cheating rumors on Umansky’s side of their relationship, there are also the near-constant cheating rumors about The Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Melissa Gorga and Joe Gorga. While not an original couple of the show (joining in Season 3), the two are often the subject of a cheating scandal. Most recently in Season 13, rumors swirled about Gorga with another man and it was often brought up by her sister-in-law, Guidice.

This opens up a world of issues with couples who are still together despite cheating. On The Real Housewives of Potomac, Robyn Dixon and Juan Dixon were divorced the first time around because of his cheating. He cheated on her again prior to their remarriage to each other in Season 7. That is a theme throughout Potomac, too with Ashley Darby and Michael Darby getting a divorce for multiple reasons, including his infidelity, as well as in Gizelle Bryant‘s previous marriage. All of this destruction led to a show like Vanderpump Rules where there is not a single couple that viewers can have hope for.

The Lost Hope on Vanderpump Rules

Hindsight is 20/20 but watching Vanderpump Rules from the beginning, it is easy to see why each of these couples was doomed. Each couple was rooted in their own cheating scandals and even with “forgiveness” comes a mistrust that never goes away. This is very obvious with Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz. Together from the start, it was Schwartz’s cheating on Maloney in Las Vegas that led to a season of them fighting before their marriage where he still made out with someone while black-out drunk before they even made it a year as husband and wife. Still, they remained married until 2022 when he and Maloney called it quits.

Out of all of Vanderpump Rules cast members, they were sadly the only one you could sort of root for, and they still had cheating mare their relationship. For Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval, it obviously blew up with the recent “Scandoval” situation where Sandoval cheated on Madix with their friend Raquel Leviss, who was previously with James Kennedy. But even Madix and Sandoval’s relationship was founded on his previous relationship with Kristen Doute falling apart because she cheated on him with Jax Taylor, who also cheated on both Stassi Schroeder and his now wife Brittany Cartwright on the show.

All of this leaves viewers with a sour taste in their mouths about these couples. Even when they do work out, how can you root for them when you think that the women (most of the time) in the relationship deserve so much better than the men who constantly cheat and lie to them? It has made these shows hopeless, especially with how the couples interact with each other and how, more specifically, the men treat the women they’re supposed to love.

Taylor is obviously the worst at this but Sandoval did it to Madix recently where his actions were excused away (in his own mind) because of some slight he thought Madix did to him. It highlights why all the hope of love, in reality, television has sort of vanished, especially on the Bravo side of things.

Does Love Even Work?

Shows like Love Island are designed for high drama, “romance,” and the hope that people will find love that is ever-lasting. The reality is that most couples break up. In the 2023 season alone, there is one couple who is “maybe” together or they are still together because the show hasn’t ended yet. Even Love Is Blind gives us mixed results on couples, many getting divorced or never making it to the altar. They have their exceptions too with couples like Amber Pike and Matt Barnett as well as Lauren Speed and Cameron Hamilton. That doesn’t change that most couples don’t make it.

All of this has just left reality television viewers with one harsh reality: None of these couples are worth cheering for. When they do end up together, there is the looming sense of “when will it end and how badly will it be?” over it. Just look at every Vanderpump Rules couple and how most of them are broken up. It’s just…not fun cheering these couples to win.