Most shocking TV moments of 2010

The single most shocking television moment of the year came courtesy of “The Amazing Race” and one particularly violent watermelon.

Contestant Claire Champlin attempted to fire ripe watermelons at a suit of armor to fulfill the first Roadblock challenge of the race, but soon found out the fruit had other plans. Rather than knocking out a knight, one hefty melon backfired and collided with Claire’s face at a frightening speed.

While the resulting fruit punch left Claire dazed and confused, and millions of viral-video watchers thrilled, the hard-headed racer suffered no permanent damage.

The fact that Bristol Palin joined the cast of the 11th season of “Dancing With the Stars” wasn’t a surprise. Although one could argue that she didn’t qualify due to her lack of “star” status, the same debate could be had about many of the ballroom wannabes.

No, the shock of Bristol’s “Dancing” days is simply that they lasted so long. No amount of flubbed footwork or dance-floor disconnect could sway her voting base from keeping her in the ballroom battle.

Missed steps? No biggie. Lack of musicality? Whatever. Ape suit? Stick around for the finals!

Remember the first season of “Lost”? There were the core characters whose stories were slowly revealed, the frightening monster that went bump (and crush and kill) in the night, the endless string on turns and twists and the feeling that television finally found its perfect sci-fi mystery.

Now remember the series finale? Talk about shocking.

After six seasons and more unexplained misdirects than even die-hard fans could keep track of, the story went straight to the great beyond. Never mind about the long unanswered bits or any last-minute, plausible (in a sci-fi sort of way) wrap-ups. In the end the focus wasn’t so much on the island drama the gang left behind. Instead, it was on the pan-spiritual afterlife that only Exposition Man, erm, Christian Shephard could explain.

Television host and political commentator Bill O’Reilly paid a memorable visit to “The View” this year. While the professional pot-stirrer was up to his usual ways with politically provocative chitchat, this time declaring that “Muslims killed us on 9/11,” two of the five women on the talk-show panel decided it would be better to walk off their own set than stay and risk what they might say to him on the air.

Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar exited stage right much to the disapproval of Barbara Walters, who announced, “We should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking off stage.”

“Big Love” viewers know to expect the unexpected when “Sincerely Yours” Hollis Green and his mini Mormon mafia are on the scene, but the unexpected usually comes from Team Green.

That wasn’t the case when the Henricksons had their last run-in with the polite-but-deadly bunch south of the border. Sure, the baddie threatened to kill just about everyone before bargaining down to just Bill, but it was mad mom Lois who stunned everyone by taking a machete to Hollis’ right arm and saving the day.

It was only a matter of time before McKinley High’s Kurt received his first same-sex kiss, but the who, when and where weren’t exactly a given on “Glee.”

So the big reveal (i.e., the bully), while bullying in the gym, turned out to be quite the jaw-dropper.

Before Bristol Palin put on her dancing shoes, reality TV mom Kate Gosselin left her “Plus 8” at home and gave the 10th season of “Dancing With the Stars” her best ballroom effort.

Well, OK. She gave it an effort of some kind.

Over the course of her five-week stay, Kate wrecked a waltz, ruined a foxtrot and the less said about what she did to the paso doble, the better.

In the final act of “South Park’s” three-part Coon and Friends story, Cartman and his pal, the great Cthulhu, set out to destroy the world. They killed the hippies at Burning Man, destroyed the denizens of Whole Foods and then they did the unthinkable: They took out the “most challenging and most evil opponent” of them all, tween-to-teen heartthrob Justin Bieber.

The “Baby” singer didn’t stand a chance when Cthulhu plucked him from the stage and popped his head like a pimple.

Long before the eighth season on “Project Runway” aired, workroom mentor Tim Gunn tried to prepare fans for what was to come. He talked about “crack-smoking judges” and warned that he’d never “felt so disabled by what the judges have decided.”

Still, no one could have imagined he meant that the most talented designer of the season, Mondo Guerra, would lose to the all-important Fashion Week challenge to the least likable designer of the season, Gretchen Jones.

And yet … sigh.

It’s been three long months since finale night, but frankly, the results of the last season of “America’s Got Talent” still haven’t sunk in for some of us.

The first cut came early in the night, removing modern dandy Prince Poppycock from the competition. (There is no justice.) Then it was just a matter of finding out whether or not America voted for child opera phenom and long-presumed winner Jackie Evancho or the generic vocal stylings of some guy named Michael Grimm.

The vote revealed that Grimm’s got talent, as well as a surprising number of phone-in fans.

Ree Hines admits she was also shocked by the mere existence of “Bridalplasty.” Follow @ReeHines on Twitter and share which TV moments shocked you.