# Has an actual celebrity ever been on those celebrity reality TV shows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-actual-celebrity-ever-been-on-those-celebrity-reality-tv-shows/919912 "2020-09-05T23:30:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-actual-celebrity-ever-been-on-those-celebrity-reality-tv-shows/919912/21 "2020-09-07T14:13:03Z")
I’m not sure exactly where the line is drawn between “reality show” and “game show”, but Jeopardy’s celebrity tournament usually has some significant names in it. I remember one episode not too long after the first Iraq War with General Schwarzkopf as a contestant (unsurprisingly, he blew away the two TV stars he was matched against). ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-actual-celebrity-ever-been-on-those-celebrity-reality-tv-shows/919912/22 "2020-09-07T14:28:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@kitap](#): > > > > The Masked Singer has had Donny Osmond, Wayne Brady, Patti La Belle, Gladys Knight and Drew Carey. > > IANA expert, but ISTM each of these people is long past their prime, and indeed some are complete has-beens. > > Which is exactly one of the OP’s criteria for not being “celebrity enough” to qualify for the term. Donny Osmond did the show while flying back and forth from Las Vegas where he was doing a show. It was an 11 year run. Wayne Brady hosts Let’s Make a Deal and is on both Whose Line Is it Anyway and Black Lightning. Drew Carey hosts The Price is Right. Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight are legends - even though they’re retired they’re still celebrities. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-actual-celebrity-ever-been-on-those-celebrity-reality-tv-shows/919912/23 "2020-09-07T14:42:22Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > The Masked Singer has had Donny Osmond, Wayne Brady, Patti La Belle, Gladys Knight and Drew Carey. Since you brought up the Masked Singer, it’s the one case where I kinda sorta get the OP’s point. With something like DWTS, even if you don’t know all the celebrities, it can still be fun to watch, and you get to know everybody as the season goes on. But the whole concept of Masked Singer is to spend weeks trying to guess who the celebrity is. Then when it turns out to be somebody you never heard of, it’s a big anticlimactic letdown. (For the record, I don’t agree that being past one’s prime invalidates one’s celebrity status.) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-actual-celebrity-ever-been-on-those-celebrity-reality-tv-shows/919912/24 "2020-09-07T20:32:38Z")
Nelly isn’t a celebrity? ---
**Author:** ![Caprismall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@Caprismall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprismall)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-actual-celebrity-ever-been-on-those-celebrity-reality-tv-shows/919912/25 "2020-09-07T20:45:48Z")
I once read that these shows take the biggest celebrities who have nothing better to do for 6 months. Zendaya was on Dancing With the Stars before she hit it big. She was a Disney kid when she was on the show and has since broken out in a big way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-an-actual-celebrity-ever-been-on-those-celebrity-reality-tv-shows/919912.md?page=1)