Most reality stars end up finding fame, fortune and love after a stint on television.
But these stars ended up finding notoriety for committing crimes after their 15 minutes of fame was up.
MURDER IN VEGAS
Gigolos cast member Ash Armand was one of five male escorts whose lives were filmed for the Showtime series.
But four years after the show ended, he was in prison after pleading guilty to “voluntary manslaughter and mayhem” for the 2020 death of Herleen Dulai.
Just 29 when she passed away, Herleen worked as a personal trainer and was said to be a friend of Armand’s at the time of her killing.
The night of her death the pair took psychedelic mushrooms and watched a movie.
The following morning Armand called 911, telling the dispatcher his friend had experienced a heart attack and that “I temporarily lost my mind”.
When first responders arrived at the Las Vegas apartment, it became clear Herleen had been beaten to death.
Armand pleaded guilty reportedly to spare Herleen’s family a trial and was sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison.
Armand has since been named as one of the escorts who allegedly participated in Sean Combs aka P Diddy’s infamous “freak offs”.
DEATH FOR HIRE
James Timothy Norman, one of the cast members of Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 for the murder-for-hire plot that led to his nephew’s death in 2016.
Andre Montgomery Jr, 20, had also starred in the long-running reality show about the family’s soul food restaurant.
It chronicled the former backing singer for Ike and Tina Turner Robbie Montgomery’s chain of US eateries in Missouri and premiered on the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2011, running for nine seasons.
The 85-year-old’s son Norman was found to have taken out a life insurance policy of nearly $800,000 on his nephew and then arranged to have him lured to a street in St Louis where another man shot him.
Assistant US Attorney Angie Danis said after the sentencing, “Tim Norman portrayed one image to the public, but there were more sinister intentions lurking underneath.”
His motivation was reportedly simple greed.
Last year, Norman appealed his two life sentences but the court rejected the bid.
FALLEN ANGEL
In 2014, French reality TV star Nabilla Benattia, then 22, was charged with attempted voluntary homicide when her boyfriend was found with stab wounds to his chest.
The couple were sharing a hotel room in Paris when Thomas Vergara was attacked.
Known as France’s Kim Kardashian, Benattia appeared on The Angels Of Reality TV.
Initially, Benattia said the couple had been assaulted by strangers, but her story didn’t add up and she was soon charged with the knife attack.
She claimed she’d been defending herself against an angry Thomas.
Thomas survived his stab wounds and, in 2016, Benattia’s charges were reduced and she was sentenced to six months in jail but avoided spending any time in prison.
By then the couple had reconciled and they married in 2019. Benattia now runs a popular beauty business.
PARAMEDIC PERPETRATOR
Daniel Duffield was a 24-year-old UK paramedic who appeared in an episode of 999: On The Frontline last year.
A camera crew followed him during a busy shift with the West Midlands Ambulance Service.
But soon after, in June 2024, a murder investigation was launched after Duffield’s body was found at a home in Staffordshire along with that of his girlfriend, Lauren Evans, 22, a student nurse.
The pair were discovered by Duffield’s colleagues.
Police said Lauren’s death was being treated as murder and they were not looking for anyone else in relation to her death.
Lauren’s parents spoke of their heartbreak at losing their daughter, who had been due to start a career in mental health nursing, at such a young age.
“We tragically, prematurely and unnecessarily had our beautiful daughter Lauren taken from us at the tender age of 22,” they shared in a statement.
“Lauren’s thoughtful, caring and loving nature made her endearing to so many during her short life…”
“You were always loved, will always be in our memories and by our side.”
MILLIONAIRE KILLING
True life ended tragically for Ryan Alexander Jenkins, who found fame after appearing on the US show Megan Wants A Millionaire.
Jenkins was one of a group of millionaires competing for the heart of a former Playboy model.
Instead, during filming and off-screen, the real estate entrepreneur fell for another glamorous model called Jasmine Fiore.
They married in Las Vegas on March 18, 2009, soon after he was eliminated from the show, but by August that year, Jasmine, 28, was dead.
Her body was found inside a suitcase in a dumpster.
She’d been strangled, and her fingertips and teeth had been removed to hamper efforts to identify her.
Jenkins, 32, became the prime suspect after friends told police about blazing rows between the couple in the hours leading up to her death.
He died, apparently after taking his own life, days after Jasmine’s murder.
The TV show producers pledged to do more background checks on contestants in future after it was discovered that Jenkins had a criminal record for assaulting a previous girlfriend.
