Once the entire industry was derided as D-List, but even the most cursory glance at a TV listings page confirms reality stars are now everywhere.
From breakfast TV to Strictly Come Dancing, the relentless march of those famous simply for their self-promotion, social media followings and likeability appears unstoppable.
But don’t be fooled by their endearing personas, the battle for supremacy in the newest of celebrity genres is cut-throat.
It’s also fickle: just ask Maura Higgins who, since finding fame on Love Island in 2019, has now gained herself a reputation for being a marriage-wrecker after she was seen kissing McFly singer Danny Jones.
So who else is slipping down the reality hot list, and who is clambering up to the top of the tree?
A-LIST
It’s been quite the journey from Dagenham market to prime-time stardom for STACEY SOLOMON.
When the then 20-year-old single mum first auditioned for The X Factor in 2009, Simon Cowell spotted her star power and predicted she would win. She didn’t – that accolade went to sweet-faced Newcastle crooner Joe McElderry – but in terms of wealth, fame and staying power Stacey won the top prize and is now a best-selling author, TV presenter and owner of a successful life-style, homewares and fashion brand, with an estimated worth of £6 million and a social media following to match.
The show she did win, I’m A Celebrity, in 2010, secured her place in the nation’s hearts, and even led to love when she met and went on to marry the spin-off show’s presenter and former EastEnders actor Joe Swash, with whom she now has another three children, and a dream home in the country dubbed Pickle Cottage.
But don’t underestimate her infectious Essex chuckle, ditzy demeanour, and worries about her figure. Stacey, 35, didn’t succeed in business without being both clever and tough.
Love Island star Maura Higgins, 34, won the nation’s hearts just three months ago on I’m A Celeb – but has since found herself on the verge of being cancelled after kissing married McFly musician Danny Jones last week
‘Stacey is not to be messed with,’ one of her former Loose Women colleagues tells me.
Next up is PETE WICKS, another Essex resident who came to fame thanks to The Only Way Is Essex (Towie) and was a B/C-lister. But then Strictly enticed him into the class of 2024 and he foxtrotted his way to the top of the reality A-list.
Pete, 37, wasn’t the best dancer, but a combination of his brooding, long-haired looks, touching vulnerability and the hot-pink Lycra trousers he wore during Blackpool week got Middle England voting in their droves and he survived until week 12.
His lively lovelife also means he stays firmly in the news. A reported love triangle featuring fellow reality star Maura Higgins and his Strictly professional partner Jowita Przystal captivated the nation last year, but both romances have now come to an end so Pete is very much back on the market.
‘It won’t be long until he’s back in bed with another pretty woman,’ says a source who knows him.
ZARA MCDERMOTT, 28, another Strictly alumna, has managed to turn herself from a bikini-wearing Love Islander into a serious TV presenter after fronting a series of BBC documentaries on such gritty subjects as eating disorders and rape culture.
Today, the BBC adores her and she has become their go-to name to make hard-hitting programmes relevant to the much sought-after young female audience.
Then there’s SAM THOMPSON, who started his reality career on Made In Chelsea and until recently was in a TV power couple with Zara before they split late last year.
Another winner of I’m A Celebrity (and competitor on Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity SAS), Sam, 32, hosts a podcast with Pete Wicks called Staying Relevant – a show that has more than mimicked its name for the rising duo.
Ladies’ man SPENCER MATTHEWS, 36, now married to Irish model Vogue Williams, has had a lot of success since finding fame on Made In Chelsea.
Brother-in-law to the Princess of Wales’ sister Pippa Middleton, he has attempted to move from his humble reality beginnings by setting a new Guinness World Record, running 30 marathons in 30 days through the desert, trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp to search for his brother Michael’s remains, and giving up alcohol – something he has talked openly about in his podcasts and writing.
B-LIST
Nobody knows the reality world like GEMMA COLLINS. The matriarch of the genre after joining Towie in the late Noughties following a brief stint on the show as a car saleswoman for Mercedes, she coined herself the moniker ‘The GC’ and became a millionaire thanks to her personal appearances and advertising work.
Today, Gemma, 44, has a clothing brand and tours the country with her one-woman show where her fans come together for a sell-out night of singing, dancing and howling.
Pete Wicks, 37, of The Only Way Is Essex fame, makes it to Katie Hind’s A-list collection of reality TV stars
Her burgeoning fame mushroomed when she face-planted on the Dancing On Ice rink six years ago while starring on the show (although I’m told Strictly bosses still won’t touch her).
When it comes to matters of the heart, Gemma is now dating businessman Rami Hawash after she was left heartbroken when her Towie co-star James ‘Arg’ Argent dumped her in 2020.
I can attest she is super-fun and super-generous having partied with her into the small hours on the Greek island of Mykonos until she went home to bed as she had to ‘meet the paps’ in the morning for set-up pictures.
Not everyone likes her though. ‘She’s absolutely terrifying,’ says one star who used to work with her.
Talking of tough women, VICKY PATTISON, 37, has managed to turn having sex on the Newcastle-based MTV reality series Geordie Shore back in her early 20s into a lucrative career move. She has now settled down and married clothing brand executive Ercan Ramadan – a wedding that was, of course, captured for her fans as part of a reality show on Channel 4.
Like Zara McDermott, she has transformed herself into a documentary star, having recently fronted Channel 4 show Vicky Pattison: My Deepfake Sex Tape. Still, there are many Vicky met in her earlier days who aren’t so pleased to see her succeed.
‘She was pretty grim back in the day,’ says my snitch. ‘She could be pretty nasty, especially if she had had a drink.’
DAVID POTTS made his name as the ultra-camp head rep on raunchy ITV2 reality show The Ibiza Weekender. Famed for his skimpy shorts, David, 31, was cast on Celebrity Big Brother last year, eventually winning the show, beating showbiz stalwarts Louis Walsh and Fern Britton.
Impressed by his bubbly personality, he has recently been hired by ITV chiefs to present the competition segments on This Morning which is often a springboard to greater things for reality stars intent on presenting gigs.
I would say move over boring Ben Shephard but most people who actually know David say he is ‘excruciatingly annoying’.
CHARLOTTE CROSBY, 34, is best known as the hilariously messy boy-crazed 21-year-old from the first series of Geordie Shore in 2011. She remained on the show until 2016 and, during her time in The Toon, had an on-off relationship with Gary ‘Gaz’ Beadle in one of its most notable storylines.
After five years of will-they-won’t-they, they became official just before Charlotte suffered an ectopic pregnancy. They split in 2016. She triumphed over her rocky past and today has almost 9million Instagram followers and her own clothing range. She is engaged to businessman Jake Ankers with whom she has just welcomed her second daughter.
Zara McDermott , 28, also finds herself at the top of the rankings. She made her name on Love Island – but has since fronted a series of gritty BBC documentaries
C-LIST
When former Love Islander and Made In Chelsea regular OLIVIA ATTWOOD, 33, signed up for I’m A Celeb in 2022, ITV bosses had a plan that they would make her their new star. But she was forced to withdraw following a medical.
I encountered Olivia after she left the jungle and she agreed to do an interview and shoot with me but failed to get in the car in time to make it to the studio. We ended up having to do the chat over Zoom. Not cool.
Another former Love Islander TASHA GHOURI (class of 2022) looked as though she was destined for great things when she reached the 2024 final of Strictly, partnered with Aljaz Skorjanec – only the 26 year old is sooooo boring. ‘Her personality is lacking,’ says a Strictly insider.
JOEY ESSEX began life on Towie as the much-loved dimwit and later went on to star on I’m A Celeb, where he revealed he couldn’t tell the time.
But his whole lost puppy act was exposed when he signed up for Love Island aged 33 last year. It was a big mistake. He was accused of being misogynistic and controlling towards the women in the villa – particularly his partner Jessy Potts.
‘Perhaps he should spend some time learning to tell the time, instead of mixing with much younger women,’ one insider
tells me. He would be in the D-list but he made me laugh so much when I was sat next to him at the Pride of Britain awards back in 2012 that I will save him from that.
Desperate EKIN-SU CULCULOGLU, 30, had so much going for her after she ramped up the drama on Love Island in 2022, where she quickly became one of the show’s most iconic contestants thanks to her on-again off-again pairing with fellow fan favourite and Italian model Davide Sanclimenti.
But a silly, probably greedy, decision to star in Celebrity Big Brother last year, where she had a clash with fellow contestant Marisha Wallace, saw her tumbling from the A-list to the C-list. Ekin was later accused of being manipulative, fake and ‘playing a game’, which prompted much anger amongst viewers.
But she had a boost after returning to Love Island All Stars and is now dating another Islander, Curtis Pritchard.
Not everyone is convinced by their romance, however. ‘It stinks of a set-up to up their profiles and make money,’ says my source. Despite their determination to raise their fame, they’re staying in C!
Ladies’ man Spencer Matthews, 36, is of Made In Chelsea origin and is brother-in-law to the Princess of Wales’ sister Pippa Middleton
D-LIST
‘No more Maura!’ were the words screamed down my phone to me this week. ‘Can’t she just go away? We’ve had enough,’ said the showbusiness insider after she was filmed kissing her married I’m A Celebrity co-star, Danny Jones.
Indeed, it has been quite the fall from grace for Maneater MAURA HIGGINS, her new nickname in celebsville. Just three months ago the former Love Islander won the nation’s hearts with her wit in the jungle. She has also amassed a seven-figure fortune thanks to an appearance on ITV’s Dancing On Ice and deals with brands such as Ann Summers, and she was able to buy her dream home in Essex and a Porsche with her earnings.
Once a reality A-lister, I’m told that thanks to last week’s kiss, Maura, 34, is on the verge of being cancelled. ‘She has been found out,’ says one of her colleagues. ‘Her whole game plan has been discovered: she latches onto men and hopes that they will be her ticket to lasting fame.’
While his wife (Our Girl star Michelle Keegan) is one of Britain’s most sought-after actresses, 38-year-old MARK WRIGHT‘s star has waned quite some. ‘He’s a prat,’ says an associate. ‘He thinks he’s far more relevant than he actually is.’
Towie fans will remember him as one of the OGs, and it led to him presenting his own showbiz gossip show Extra in America before he was axed for being, well, completely devoid of talent.
As the star of her own Amazon reality TV show Behind It All, MOLLY-MAE HAGUE, 25, should be a superstar, only I just don’t buy what she’s selling (for quite a sum, I hear) any more – and I’m not alone. After leaving Love Island she and on-off boyfriend and fellow islander TOMMY FURY, 25, monetised their relationship, which saw her buy herself a £2 million mansion in Cheshire.
Her clothing line, Maebe, coincidentally launched at the same time as her split from Fury in August – presumably she thought that would help sales. ‘It hardly took off, did it?’ says one former colleague. ‘Find me someone who has anything from it.’
As for Fury, while he may be a member of the boxing Fury dynasty (his half-brother is former world champion Tyson), these days my insiders say that he is regarded throughout the industry simply as ‘Tyson’s little brother’. ‘They’re an awful pair,’ says my source who knows them. ‘Totally self-obsessed, yuck.’
