Trista Sutter

One of many individuals who rode the crest of fame from obscurity to instant celebrity courtesy of the U.S. reality television boom, Indiana native Trista Sutter (maiden name Trista Rehn) is perhaps best known for her career-defining stint on the first season of the competitive reality program The Bachelor. Though she lost that season to winner Amanda Marsh (finishing as the runner-up), she generated such popularity among viewers that ABC created a 2003 spin-off, The Bachelorette, and devoted the first season squarely to her, beginning in January of the said year. Over the course of the following 12 months, Rehn met, fell in love with, and married firefighter Ryan Sutter, and ABC promptly televised the couple's lavish December wedding, to spectacular ratings. The two settled in Colorado, and the press devoted ample attention to their doings over the following years, including their parentage of firstborn son Max.

Rehn also appeared as a contestant on the competitive reality programs Dancing with the Stars and Fear Factor, and (like her husband) became a veritable mainstay on the talk show and news magazine circuits. - Nathan Southern, Rovi