Top Reality TV Star Buzzmakers

Entertainment Tonight, Tuesday, November 2, 2010, 4:40am (PDT)

The more outrageous they behave, the more famous they become: Reality TV stars who act badly grab the headlines and now ET looks at the best of the worst.

MTV premiered "Jersey Shore" in 2009, launching the reality TV careers of eight housemates who spent their summer together partying and hooking up. One of the standouts of the eight was Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, a pint-size female with a plus-size persona, who is famous for her "poof" and her July 30, 2010 arrest for disorderly conduct in Seaside Heights, NJ. Snooki's popularity has soared this year, making her one of this just-past Halloween's go-to-gals for people looking for a reality TV costume.

Snooki's castmate Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, who was singled out of the eight-pack because of his six-pack, has used his reality-star fame to cash in on the big bucks. It is reported that "The Situation" will make $5 million this year with his "Jersey Shore" salary, endorsements, book deals, an iPhone app and from his fancy footwork on "Dancing with the Stars."

"The Hills" alum Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, aka "Speidi," whose on-again, off-again marriage seems to be on-again, keep the headlines coming. Heidi, who has more than a million followers on Twitter, made the Internet buzz  in early 2010 when she revealed to People magazine that she had more than 10 plastic surgeries in one day. Then there were the rumors that Spencer was going to sell a sex tape that the couple made when news of their divorce broke. The latest on this reality TV couple is that Heidi's mom is allegedly working as a maid to support herself.

And speaking of sex tapes, the one released by Kim Kardashian's ex Ray J was the beginning of a legitimate career for the daughter of late attorney Robert Kardashian and mother Kris Jenner. Kim has parlayed her notoriety into the E! reality series "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," which also stars the rest of her family. She also has competed on "Dancing with the Stars" and has gone retail, launching a fragrance, as well as clothing and jewelry lines, several with her sisters Khloe and Kourtney. Kim is equally famous for her breakups and makeups. She is currently without a boyfriend after her split with Reggie Bush.

When it comes to breakups, none is more infamous than that of "The Bachelor"'s Jake Pavelka and Vienna Girardi. It was just months after Jake and Vienna declared their undying love for each other that they had one of the nastiest breakups in "The Bachelor" history -- and aired their dirty laundry for all to see on TV, with Jake accusing her of cheating on him and Vienna revealing in a tabloid story that they were no longer having sex. That said, Jake and Vienna weren't the only couple breaking up on TV's "The Bachelor." Remember when Jason Mesnick told Melissa Rycroft that he had changed his mind and he no longer wanted to be engaged to her, but realized it was really runner-up b>Molly Malaney, now Molly Mesnick, who had won his heart?

No list of reality stars that have captured headlines would be complete without including "The Real Housewives of New Jersey"'s Teresa Giudice, who was pushed too far by Danielle Staub. Danielle wanted to confront her co-star about allegations and rumors in the book Cop Without a Badge, causing an argument and the now infamous table flip by Teresa.

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