Reality TV's best spin-off shows

Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules is a spin-off of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It follows the serving staff at Lisa Vanderpump’s SUR Restaurant & Lounge in West Hollywood, California. Over the years, there have been 10 riveting seasons, with their most recent earning the cast two Emmy nominations. 

Southern Hospitality is the third spin-off from the reality series Southern Charm. Its first season premiered in November 2022 and featured many exciting characters and explosive feuds. Like Vanderpump Rules, this cast of 10 works at Leva Bonaparte’s Republic Lounge & Garden and Bourbon and Bubbles Restaurant & Bar in Charleston, South Carolina. 

CBS’ Big Brother needs no introduction. With its first season premiering in July 2000, BB legends have provided viewers with captivating content for 25 seasons. Its celebrity edition, which aired from 2018 to 2022, featured several stars, from NBA champion Lamar Odom to Grammy-nominated singers Tamar Braxton and Kandi Burruss. 

The creators of MTV’s The Real World were in their bag when they created their sister show, The Bad Girls Club, in 2006. Just like The Challenge, Bad Girls All-Star Battle was a competition-based reality series airing from 2013-14. It featured some of the show’s most notable cast members, including Natalie Nunn, Judi Jackson, and former Basketball Wives star Mehgan James. 

As the name suggests, Selling The OC is based on Netflix’s Selling Sunset and premiered in August 2022. In addition to multi-million dollar homes and expensive labels, this cast delivered scandalous drama and closed the deal on a second and third season.

The first of many Kardashian spin-offs, Kourtney and Kim Take Miami followed the sisters as they traveled to Miami, Florida, to expand their fashion boutique, DASH. The series aired from 2009-13 and showcased the family’s dynamic yet complicated relationships while providing tons of laughs in the process.

The first season of 16 and Pregnant aired on MTV in July 2009 and focused on the lives of six teenage girls dealing with the difficulties of teen pregnancy. Its spin-off, Teen Mom, featured four of the six original cast members, Maci, Farrah, Amber, and Catelynn, and showcased their journeys raising their children and relationship struggles. 

Like Big Brother, The Challenge has been a mainstay in reality television since 1998. The spin-off, All Stars, is a Paramount+ original, pitched by OG Mark Long, and features several of the series' most iconic players from earlier seasons. 

Tiffany “New York” Pollard is a reality TV icon, and there’s no question about it. Her dramatic and noteworthy antics on VH1’s Flavor of Love landed the star her own series, I Love New York, in 2007 and 2008. Like other dating shows, the series followed New York and 20 men competing for her love.  

Southern Hospitality isn’t the only spin-off produced from Southern Charm. Its New Orleans iteration, which aired from 2018-19, featured former NFL player Jeff Charleston and a handful of other dynamic players. Even though there are only two seasons, they’re jam-packed with relationship drama and struggling friendships, making for the perfect reality show. 

Jersey Shore: Family Vacation is a revival of the MTV hit series Jersey Shore. It features original cast members Paul "DJ Pauly D" DelVecchio, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Vinny Guadagnino, Deena, Nicole Cortese, Angelina Pivarnick, and as of 2023, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola. 

The series highlights the cast’s real-life struggles, including Mike’s prison sentence, Ronnie’s rehabilitation stint, and Deena, Nicole, and Jwoww’s lives as mothers. Plus, they rehash some of their drama from the old days. 

Like the show’s original run, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation has been a hit among audiences, earning them two MTV Movie & TV Awards for Best Docu-Reality Show and Reality Royalty Lifetime Achievement. 

Floribama Shore, a 2017 successor to Jersey Shore, aired for four seasons before going on hiatus in 2022. The first three seasons were filmed in different locations in Florida, primarily Panama City and St. Pete Beach, while the fourth occurred in Montana, Arizona, and Georgia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like its sibling show, Floribama Shore’s drama revolved around romantic partners, house rules, and silly misunderstandings. 

Marriage Bootcamp: Reality Stars is a spin-off of We TV’s Bridezillas . True to its name, this series follows reality TV couples undergoing an intense two-week boot camp designed to strengthen their romantic relationships. Since its inception, the show has seen the likes of reality TV icons like Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett, and Tami Roman and Reggie Youngblood. 

Lifetime’s Little Women: Atlanta is the third spin-off to their original series Little Women: LA. Despite its cancelation, LWA is arguably the most entertaining of the four shows and featured several memorable moments, mainly thanks to cast members Ashley "Minnie" Ross and Shirlene "Ms. Juicy" Pearson. 

Another spin-off of Bunim-Murray’s Bad Girls Club, Love Games, followed three bad girls from previous seasons as they sat back and let 13 different bachelors compete for their hearts. In addition to love and happiness, there were plenty of dramatic moments to go around, featuring heartbreak, physical altercations, and shocking revelations. The series was hosted by Tanisha Thomas, a BGC icon, from 2010 before its cancelation in 2013. 

Nikki and Brie Bella had already stunned audiences worldwide during their reign as WWE Divas. However, their spin-off reality series, Total Bellas, which comes from the E! original Total Divas , showcased the sisters in a different light. The show’s six seasons focused primarily on Brie’s marriage to Bryan Danielson, Nikki’s split from John Cena, and her eventual relationship with Dancing With The Stars winner Artem Chigvintsev. 

After Jersey Shore was canceled, fans weren’t ready to forget about the series’ most appealing cast members, Snooki and Jwoww. Their spin-off of the same name aired on MTV from 2012 to 2015 and heavily emphasized the women’s friendship, personal relationships, and journey from guidettes to full-time wives and mothers. 

The only reason The Celebrity Apprentice makes this list of reality TV’s best spin-offs is because of the show’s unhinged contestants. 

From Omarosa’s iconic feud with Piers Morgan to Kenya Moore’s years-long rivalry with Vivica A. Fox, one thing is for certain: this show made for must-watch TV.

Winter House is another one of Bravo’s spin-offs featuring several cast members from Vanderpump Rules, Southern Charm, and Summer House. Like the latter, the premise of this show is the same; however, the cast films during the frosty season in Stowe, Vermont, and never fails to give viewers a drama-filled episode. 

If you’re a reality TV lover, you know all about MTV’s The Hills . It’s one of pop culture's biggest phenoms, primarily because of the drama between Heidi, Spencer, and Lauren Conrad, and is often considered one of the shows that put unscripted television on the map. The show aired 102 episodes over six seasons from 2006 to 2010 and was the catalyst for future spin-offs, The City and The Hills: New Beginnings.