Can you imagine an alternate universe without the Kardashians on TV?
During an interview on the The Kelly Clarkson Show on Monday (January 25), Khloé Kardashian revealed that her family’s hit E! reality series, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, almost never even aired.
“I think we shot a pilot or something for Ryan [Seacrest] and it didn’t go anywhere,” the 36-year-old Kardashian sister said. “And then a show on E! fell through, so they needed something to fill this dead air time. And they were like, ‘You’re getting on the show, start filming, you’re getting on the air, like, in two weeks.’”
“We were so excited, asking what to expect and they said, ‘Don’t get too comfortable here. It’s just filler.’ I actually really appreciate that because we were just thinking, ‘Oh we’re not going to have a season two, let’s just film. It’s fun. Let’s just be ourselves. This isn’t gonna go anywhere.’ They told us we’re just filling up this dead air time,” she admitted.
“We had no pressure on ourselves,” the social media star and business woman continued. “We didn’t even have time to think about it; to really, like, have any preconceived, fake anything. It was just who we are on the fly and I think that’s what made the show so good… we just weren’t thinking. We were just being us. It wasn’t a time to over analyze and critique. It was just us and we were just thinking we’re not going to have a season two anyway so who really cares?”
She added, “And it turned out that was probably the best thing to happen to us because it was so, I think, relatable and realistic to some people.”
The show — which is wrapping in 2021 after 20 seasons — did way more than just fill up dead air time. It became one of the longest-running reality television series in the United States with a slew of spin-off shows including Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Khloé & Lamar, Kourtney & Khloé Take The Hamptons, I Am Cait, Dash Dolls, Kocktails With Khloe, Rob & Chyna, Revenge Body With Khloé and Life Of Kylie.
Watch the full interview clip, below: