Yes, that’s me auditioning for season 2 of American Idol back in 2002 (surrounded by a few of my pop culture faves of the time). It was the early stages of the reality TV explosion, back when they made you camp out overnight on the sidewalk — or in my case, a wind tunnel of an alleyway behind a DoubleTree Hotel in Austin. Really conducive for your best singing, right?

That’s how deep my love for reality TV goes, and I’m not alone. So much of the EW team reflects fondly — though perhaps through a few winces — on the Wild West Y2K era of unscripted gems, which is why we partnered with beauty brand Milani to celebrate the early 2000s with our Reality Rewind Issue. From our cover story ranking the best reality stars of that decade to a look back at reality’s most iconic pioneers, like Big Brother 3’s game-changer Danielle Reyes, we hope you enjoy this (non-Bachelor) journey to the past.

(Oh, and in case you were wondering: I made it to the round before the judges, when executive producer Nigel Lythgoe cut me…something I never let him live down while I was covering So You Think You Can Dance a decade later.)

Patrick Gomez, Editor-in-Chief