When Barbara Walters announced her ten most fascinating people of 2011, some people may have been surprised by who made the list: the Kardashian family, Donald Trump and Herman Cain? Apparently, all “fascinating.”

Herman Cain

What makes Herman Cain so fascinating? Perhaps the fact that he was the Republican Party’s front-runner for the presidential nomination for at least an entire month — that’s like a year in political time. Or maybe it was because he’s both black, and a Tea Party favorite. (For why that seems ironic, and fascinating, see here.)

But now that Cain has dropped out of the race, for reasons having to do with his apparent fascination for women who are not his wife, does he really deserve the include? I could give you 9-9-9 reasons why he doesn’t, but we’ll assume Walters chose Cain before Ginger White went public, on the heels of allegations that Cain made unwanted advances toward women when he was head of the National Restaurant Association.

Donald Trump

On this one, we’ll just have to say…huh??? The Donald took birtherism into prime-time in 2011, and nearly became the Republican presidential nominee (cough) before ceding the stage to the Hermanator. And what’s not fascinating about a realty TV host being publicly humiliated by the president of the United States and the head writer for SNL? That certainly fascinated me.

The Kardashians

What other television family do you know of makes a profit of a wedding, a quickie divorce, and a string of sibling pregnancies? In just a few years, the Kardashian family, led by Kim and her…um…assets…have become the reigning queens (sorry Bruce Jenner) of reality TV. And while you tell your friends you hate them, secretly, you know you’re fascinated by them.

For the complete list of Barbara Walters’ “10 most fascinating people of 2011,” go to Gather.com