Sarah Palin beats Snooki as worst female reality star at lighthearted Bennie Awards

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Later this week, we’ll be talking about the Razzie Awards, the infamous and hilarious awards that serve as the anti-Oscars, honoring the worst in film from the past year.

But this morning, we received notice of a similar award that was unfamiliar to us. The 2011 Bennie Award winners were announced. Only in their second year, the awards recognize the worst in prime time television. The awards’ name (and, presumably, the face seen on the award itself) are inspired by former NBC head Ben Silverman, the architect behind failed series such as Knight Rider, Kath & Kim and Bionic Woman.

The awards are run by The Hollywood Temp Diaries, “a news/entertainment/job search destination for the underemployed Hollywooder.” Visitors to the site nominated their choices for the Golden Trashcan (pictured), and because the Bennies use “Chicago-style voting,” participants could nominate a personality and show as many times as they wanted.

But there is a little bit of good at the Bennie Awards. New this year is the Pushing Daisies category, recognizing the best series that was canceled too soon, named in honor of the critically acclaimed Pushing Daisies, which only lasted 22 episodes.

Here are the winners of the second annual Bennie Awards:

Worst Female in a Reality Program
Sarah Palin (Sarah Palin’s Alaska) — WINNER
Camille Grammer (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills)
Kim Kardashian (Keeping up with the Kardashians)
Shanna Moakler (Bridalplasty)
Snooki (Jersey Shore)

(According to Temp X, the founder of The Hollywood Temp Diaries, “Mama Grizzly warned us that she was tough. But for a TV neophyte to beat Snooki, a gaggle of Kardashians and a show where women compete for plastic surgery, well, she is most certainly a pit bull with lipstick.”)

Worst Male in a Reality Program
Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) — WINNER
David Hasselhoff (The Hasselhoffs)
Randy Jackson (American Idol)
Kevin Pollack (Million Dollar Money Drop)
The Situation (Jersey Shore)

Worst Female in a Scripted Program
AnnaLynne McCord (90210) — WINNER
Aly Michalka (Hellcats
Blake Lively (Gossip Girl)
Elizabeth Mitchell (V)
Jada Pinkett Smith (HawthoRNe)

Worst Male in a Scripted Program
Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) — WINNER
Jim Belushi (The Defenders)
David Caruso (CSI: Miami)
Charlie Sheen (Two and Half Men)
Blair Underwood (The Event)

(The Bennie Awards release says that Westwick’s “singular facial expression — that of chronic contempt” put him over the top in this category of one-note actors.)

Pushing Daisies Award
Better off Ted — WINNER
Caprica
Huge
Lone Star

Terriers

(“As Billy Joel once sang, ‘Only the Good Die Young.’ The same can be said of Better Off Ted, as it got sacked after a scant 26 episodes,” says Temp X.)

Worst Reality Program
Sarah Palin’s Alaska — WINNER
16 and Pregnant
Bad Girls Club
Bridalplasty
Jersey Shore


Worst Scripted Program
Hellcats — WINNER
Chase
Happy Town
Outsourced
Sh*t My Dad Says

(This marks the second year in a row that a CW show has won this category. “You’ve gotta hand it to The CW and their programming,” Temp X says. “They may not be good, but at least they’re consistent.”)