15 Most Shocking Reality TV Breakups of 2025, Ranked
While this year has seen many romantic highs, from Team Pizzy becoming the highest-ranking lesbian couple in The Amazing Race history to watching Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen fall in love in real time on Love Island USA, if we had to guess, 2025 will be remembered for its explosive breakups.
Before we head into the new year, Swooon‘s looking back at some of the most shocking breakups from 2025, taking you from Rachael Kirkconnell and Matt James‘ messy split in January to Brennon and Alexa Lemieux‘s shocking divorce in December. While some of these couples were born from romance-centric shows like The Bachelor, Love Is Blind, and 90 Day Fiancé, others emerged from competition shows like The Challenge and Big Brother.
Scroll to relive this year in reality TV history, with the 15 most shocking breakups of the year, ranked. Do you agree with our ranking? Comment below with the reality TV couple whose 2025 breakup left you completely blindsided!
15. Jasmine & Gino, 90 Day Fiancé
This one has been a long time coming, but we weren’t necessarily surprised. In 2025, 90 Day Fiancé veterans Jasmine Pineda and Gino Palazzolo finally called it quits, separating shortly before Jasmine revealed that she was pregnant with her new flame, Matt Branistareanu‘s baby. This split is still ongoing and getting nastier by the day.
14. John & Claire, Farmer Wants a Wife
Just months after going public, John Sansone and Claire Dirette from Farmer Wants a Wife called off their relationship in a since-deleted social media statement. While we loved them on the show, this was not a big surprise.
13. Matt & Colleen, Love Is Blind
After years of rumors, Love Is Blind couple Matt Bolton and Colleen Reed broke things off in 2025. Seeing as the couple waited long past marriage to live together, much of the fanbase had already assumed that they were separated before they made it official.
12. Grant & Juliana, The Bachelor
While Bachelor Nation wasn’t surprised that The Bachelor lead Grant Ellis and his final rose recipient Juliana Pasquarosa didn’t make it down the aisle, their split did come with one shocking reveal. According to Juliana, the morning after their engagement, Grant had already planned their breakup.
11. Bryan & Amaya, Love Island USA
After winning Love Island USA Season 7, Amaya Espinal assured viewers that she and Bryan Arenales were still together. However, weeks later they had already called it quits. While seeing the season’s breakout star experience a post-show breakup is never fun, but we have to say we were more in love with Amaya Papaya than the couple itself.
10. Dale & Kat, Bachelor in Paradise
After leaving Bachelor in Paradise together, Dale Moss and Kat Izzo quietly split in October. As both Dale and Kat had gotten engaged during their previous seasons in Bachelor Nation, we had high hopes seeing that the couple was willing to take it slow this time around. Looks like their love wasn’t made to last. Check out what they had to say about their split here.
9. Kaycee & Nany from 5. Hugo & Olivia from The Challenge
Nany González and Kaycee Clark‘s breakup shocked The Challenge fans, leading to a ton of speculation about why they split. While one popular theory was that Nany had cheated on Kaycee, Nany set the record straight, claiming that she never cheated and is still friends with Kaycee. Never a dull moment in The Challenge universe.
8. Michael & Rachael, Are You My First?
While Are You My First? stars Michael Fractor and Rachael Staudt’s split was not that surprising, what came after was absolutely shocking. According to Rachael, soon after the left they left the virgins-only dating show, Michael revealed that he wasn’t actually a virgin. Yikes!
7. Marita & Ashley, The Ultimatum: Queer Love
While The Ultimatum: Queer Love may be over, Marita Prodger and Ashley Johnson’s split will go down in reality TV history. In an exclusive interview with Swooon, Marita looked back at their heated reunion argument claiming, “It’s [hypocritical] for her to be, like, trying to get an emotional sense out of me about her grandmother dying when clearly she was f**king around while my grandfather was dying.” Read the full interview here.
6. Hugo & Olivia, Claim to Fame
Months after Claim to Fame couple Hugo Wentzel and Olivia Aquilina gushed about their relationship during an interview with Swooon, the couple announced that they had called it quits. After a photo of a post-split kiss sparked reunion rumors, Olivia shared, “Lol we did breakup but idk what’s happening anymore at this point hahaha that’s my honest take.” We’re confused, too!
5. Kenny & JaNa, Love Island USA
A year after leaving the villa, Kenny Rodriguez and JaNa Craig shared one of the messiest breakups of the year. After tons of speculation, JaNa wrote, “I have seen all the breakup theories and none have matched up to how terrible, disgusting and disappointing it truly is.” This led to a mass unfollowing of Kenny from the rest of the Season 6 cast.
4. Tucker & Rubina, Big Brother
Viewers fell in love with Rubina Bernabe and Tucker Des Lauriers on Big Brother, watching them compete as part of separate teams on The Amazing Race was clearly the beginning of the end. Still, the beloved CBS reality duo have not revealed the specific reason behind their unexpected breakup.
3. Brennon & Alexa, Love Is Blind
After welcoming a baby in 2024, Love Is Blind Season 3 couple Brennon and Alexa Lemieux called it quits. For fans, this news came out of nowhere. However, it’s clear now that Brennon and Alexa had been on different wavelengths for a long time. Now, the exes appears to be feuding over their shared assets.
2. Matt & Rachael, The Bachelor
This is the most dramatic breakup to come out of Bachelor Nation in quite a long time. While Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell had been together for four years, Matt broke up with Rachael during their trip to Japan in January. Two hours later, Rachael was shocked to find that Matt had announced their split on Instagram.
1. Vince & Kelsey from Big Brother
Coming in at the top of our list is Big Brother‘s Vince Panaro and his longtime girlfriend Kelsey. While Kelsey wasn’t on the show with Vince, Big Brother fans quickly came to her defense as Vince grew cozy with his housemate Morgan Pope on the show’s live streams, in a scandal now referred to as the “cheatmance.” Since the show, Vince and Kelsey have officially split, and Kelsey has shared her side of the story.
