Chris Soules, American Idol’s Caleb Flynn and More Former TV Stars Involved in Serious Crimes

Things got a little bit too real with these former tv stars, who were implicated in serious crimes.

Ryan Jenkins – Megan Wants a Millionaire

Shortly after appearing on the VH1 dating show as a self-professed womanizer, the 31-year-old married swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore two days after meeting her in Las Vegas in March 2009. Five months later, he was a person of interest after Jasmine’s mutilated body was discovered stuffed into a suitcase in a dumpster. With her fingers and teeth removed, she was reportedly identified by the serial numbers on her breast implants. Pursued by law enforcement, Jenkins killed himself in a hotel room, The New York Times reported. After it surfaced he had a previous criminal history, the reality TV industry came under fire for ineffectively vetting candidates for its shows.

Ryan W. Ferguson – The Amazing Race

In 2025, a judge ordered the city of Columbia, Mo.’s insurance company to pay more than $43 million to the season 33 competitor, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and incarcerated for nearly 10 years. The 41-year-old was arrested in the 2001 killing of a newspaper editor in Columbia and convicted in 2005. After key witnesses recanted, saying they’d been coerced by police to lie, his conviction was vacated in 2013. Ironically, Ryan has said a phone call with his dad when he first got to prison prepped him for the adventure show. “I know you’re innocent, but while you’re in there, I can’t protect you,” his dad said. “You have to do everything you can to make yourself stronger, faster and smarter to survive.”

Christina Grimmie – The Voice

A lasting legacy: In recent interviews, both Madison Beer, 26, and Victoria Justice, 33, have said they were inspired by Christina, with Madison calling the Voice alum’s 2016 murder “beyond devastating.” In 2016, just two years after she wowed coach Adam Levine on the singing competition, the 22-year-old was shot point-blank during a meet-and-greet after a show in Orlando by Kevin James Loibl, who then shot himself in the head. Her family later launched the Christina Grimmie Foundation “to shine a light on the needs of families who have lost a loved one to gun violence.”

Chris Soules – The Bachelor

An alum of both The Bachelorette and The Bachelor, as well as Dancing With the Stars, the 44-year-old was accused of leaving the scene of a fatal accident in 2017 after he crashed his truck into a tractor driven by 66-year-old war veteran Kenneth Mosher, running it into a ditch. “I knew the accident occurred and knew it resulted in injury to another person,” he wrote in his conditional guilty plea, admitting that while he’d called 911, he’d failed to provide the registration number of his vehicle. He received a suspended two-year prison sentence and two years’ probation, according to People.

Caleb Flynn – American Idol

On Feb. 20, the 12th-season contestant pleaded not guilty to five charges, including the murder of his wife, Ashley, and tampering with evidence, in Ohio’s Miami County Municipal Court. A judge set a $2 million bond. The 39-year-old — who’d gushed on the show, “I love my wife more than anything” — allegedly shot the teacher and volleyball coach, 37, in their Tipp City, Ohio, home on Feb. 16 while their two children slept. In his 911 call, the worship minister blamed an intruder, saying, “Oh, my god, somebody broke into my home, somebody broke into my home and shot my wife.” In a statement shared with Fox News, his attorney says he “looks forward to defending this case.”