There are competitive reality shows for so many things now- cooking, fashion, modeling, music, dance, and millions of other things. On almost every show I’ve seen, the contestants will say in their interviews something about how if they win, it’s their ticket to the big time. Or even just being on the show will help them a lot in being successful. I was wondering how true that was for the various shows. What shows have had the most people go on to the greatest success?
As someone who has never watched American Idol, it seems like it has the most successful contestants. Several of the winners or finalists who were on there have gone on to have fairly successful careers, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, and others I can’t think of right now. It seems true that if you get on American Idol, you have a decent chance of making it big.
On the other end seems to be America’s Next Top Model. I do love the show because it is absolutely ridiculous, but absolutely no one from it has gone on to become anything near a top model. A few have gone on to have modeling careers where it seems like they are making a decent living, but most of them seem to disappear, unless it’s to make an appearance on the Tyra Show or on a later season of American’s Next Top Model. And if when they are eliminated from the show they say something about how they’re still going to make it big, and how this isn’t the last we’ve heard from them, it’s pretty much guaranteed they’ll be swallowed by a black hole and never heard from again.
So what do y’all think? What show is the most successful spring board for their contestants? I’m only familiar with American reality shows, but feel free to mention ones from other countries.
Im going to go with the old Ed Mcmahon show STAR SEARCH. An impressive list of commedians appeared on the show. Drew Carey, Dennis Milller , Ray Romano, Rosie Odonnell, Sinbad.
Major Bowes and Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour. The radio version discovered Frank Sinatra, which trumps pretty much everything, and there also were people like Alan King, Pat Boone, and Gladys Knight.
I wish Guy Sebastien had gone on to greater musical success. He won Australian Idol & was a truly talented singer & arranger. The NZ version never produced anything but the bland & ordinary & the show seems to have mercifully died.
I don’t know if the purpose of ANTM is to find someone who has the potential to become a Super Model. If it was they would allow contestents in the 15-17 year old age group.
New Zealand just had its first season. The main judge Sarah Tetro owns a modelling agency so she is actually wanting to find young women who will be successful in the industry. While I don’t think any of this season’s group is going to make it internationally, subsequent series may find someone as they took contestants from 16 & up.
Terry Fator went from performing a show with exactly one paying audience member, to appearing on and winning America’s Got Talent, to a Las Vegas contract reportedly worth $200 million. Cite.