Well, folks, it’s the end of an era.
After 20 seasons and 14 years on the air, Keeping Up With the Kardashians is coming to an end.
The family’s success in the reality TV realm is unprecedented, and it’s tough to imagine that anyone could take their place.
Not surprisingly, however, the marketing geniuses who made Kim and company famous are working hard to find a replacement.
Usually, when we talk about the Kardashians’ rise to fame, it’s Kris Jenner who gets most of the credit.
But those in the know say it’s American Idol host and media mogul extraordinaire Ryan Seacrest who really ushered the family to stardom.
Seacrest is to E! what Andy Cohen is to Bravo, and with his biggest reality franchise coming to an end, the 46-year-old mega-producer is looking for the next family of influencers who are just dysfunctional enough to make for compelling television.
And he thinks he’s found it in the Thorne family.
Yes, according to a new report from Page Six, Seacrest has tapped Bella Thorne and her sisters as the heirs to the Kardashian empire.
You’re probably familiar with Bella, but you might not know much about her sister Dani, 28, and her half-sister Kaili, 29.
Kaili’s name is pronounced “Kylie,” a fact that’s led some to conclude that the Thorne sisters would make perfect replacements.
“They’ve even got a Kylie!” one insider gushed to Page Six.
And the similarities don’t end there.
In fact, in some ways, Bella’s rise to stardom has been even more random and unpredictable than Kim’s.
Along with her sisters, Bella moved from Florida to Los Angeles with dreams of making it big.
Like a gender-flipped version of HBO’s Entourage, it was the little sister who found stardom, and now, she’s taking her sisters along for the ride.
Bella has proven adept at making tabloid headlines, and Dani and Kaili are no slouches in that department, either.
When Bella joined OnlyFans last year, she was criticized for taking money away from full-time sex workers.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to create controversy, Kaili joined too, and she immediately made the situation worse by arguing that sex work isn’t “real” work.
“The argument is that sex should not be work. That’s why it turns into human trafficking and should be stopped. Sex work does not exist. It is not real,” she wrote in a shocking Instagram rant.
“Would I call it legit? No. Nothing about ‘sucking for crack’ is legitimate,” Kaili continued.
“All your bios say the same thing: ‘Insatiable s–t.’ Get creative and maybe you’d keep your clientele,” she said.
Well, there’s no denying that Thornes have a knack for grabbing attention!
But while insiders maintain that Bella and her sisters are already in talks for the E! gig, sources close to Seacrest say the rumors of a potential deal are completely baseless.
“This project and news are completely false and Ryan nor his team have not had any discussions with or about the Thornes,” says a rep for Ryan.
“There are no plans for Ryan and the Thornes to work together.”
Of course, if this were really happening, Team Seacrest would probably seek to keep the project under wraps until all the contracts were signed and the premiere date was approaching.
So we guess we’ll just have to stay tuned to find out if the Thornes are on track to become the next Kardashians.
But regardless of whether or not they partner up with Seacrest, these sisters clearly have their eyes on the prize, and they won’t be going away anytime soon.