Tuesday Top Ten: Reality Contestants

With the massive amounts of reality TV coverage coming to TCB over the next few weeks, we thought we should embrace it and celebrate it with a Top 10 list of our favorite reality contestants. Admittedly, the lists are pretty limited, because Allie and I don't watch too many reality competitions, but here's my half of the list.

5) Danny Tidwell (So You Think You Can Dance, Season 3) I loved almost all of the men of season 3 (Jesus, Hok, Cedric, Dom, Pasha, Neil), but in terms of sheer breathtaking talent, Danny leaped above the rest (literally). Incredibly, he landed in the bottom three couples several times, but he always saved himself with his solos, and made it all the way to the finals, where his solo to "We Are the Champions" was my favorite solo dance ever.

4) Clay Aiken (American Idol, Season 2) If this list had been complied, say, four years ago, Clay would have been #1. I was as big a Claymate as there was - his finale performance of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" gave me chills for years after. I maintain to this day that something went wrong with the phone lines and/or Fox fixed the outcome, and he's the true winner of Season 2.

3) Benji Schwimmer (So You Think You Can Dance, Season 2) During his run to the Season 2 crown, Benji took adorkable-ness to a new level. He was a geek and was seriously proud of it. He had a magnetic personality and I looked forward to watching him dance every week.

2) Elliott Yamin (American Idol, Season 5) While Taylor Hicks was twitching and stomping his way to the S5 crown, Elliott was tearing it up week after week, starting in the early semifinal rounds. His performance of "Trouble" during Top 4 week was my favorite of many great performances that year. When Hicks and the talent-less Katherine McPhee made it past him into the finals, I lost all faith in American Idol, and gave it up for good.

1) Apolo Anton Ohno (Dancing With the Stars, Season 4) Partially due to the cuteness of his pairing with Julianne Hough, but Apolo (who I already loved from the Olympics) won me over by being funny, charming, and a great dancer.