TVSquad

So, for those of you who think New York from Flavor of Love and I Love New York is an obnoxious, crazy, bitchy windbag, you needn't look any further to see the reason why. In the case of New York and her mother Sister Patterson, the apple truly does NOT fall far from the tree.

Sister Patterson is a detestable bigoted old woman who tries to achieve celebrity by living vicariously through the dysfunctional love-life of her daughter. And because her daughter's antics on VH1's reality show overshadowed her own on last season, I guess Sister figured she should ramp up her despicable behavior to prevent her footage from being left on the cutting room floor.

Here are seven people who used their reality TV notoriety to their advantage. They have found success in other TV genres, film, or entrepreneurial pursuits. Some just found more fame in the genre that put them on thee map.

7. Colleen Haskell (Survivor): Colleen was in the first season of Survivor (Borneo) and while she didn't outwit, outplay and outlast the other cast members, she did make a good run of her fifteen minutes. She finished sixth in her season but was such a genuine and fair player that when her torch was extinguished Richard Hatch called her a "wonderful person." Using her American-apple-pie-pretty-girl-next-door appearance and attitude, she parlayed her reality TV fame into more roles in both television and film. She did a Blistex commercial and had a guest spot on That 70's Show. Most notably, however, she starred alongside Rob Schneider in The Animal (2001). Pretty good for a Catholic school girl from a small town in Maryland.