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The 12 Grossest TV Moments of 2016

So many exploding heads

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Liz Raftery

There were several times in 2016 when we found ourselves watching TV with our hands over our eyes, or wanting to turn the whole thing off entirely -- and we're not even talking about the presidential campaign.

FromThe Walking Dead to Westworld, Westeros to Roanoke, one thing remained constant in the ever-changing entertainment landscape: television's ability to turn our stomachs time and time again.

Here are the top 12 grisliest TV moments of 2016. (Warning: Images are not for the faint of heart!)

12. Cassidy drinking the co-pilot's blood, Preacher

Viewers who tuned into the pilot episode of AMC's Preacher got a bloody introduction to Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), who exposes himself as a vampire by killing an airplane pilot as well as the passengers on board, and drinking the pilot's blood. Just to be on the safe side, he also makes himself a to-go container of the pilot's blood as well before jumping out of the plane before it crashes.

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11. Ash getting his head stuck in a corpse's butt, Ash vs. Evil Dead

In the Ash vs. Evil Dead episode "The Morgue," Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) may face his most preposterous dilemma yet, when -- there's no elegant way to say it -- he gets his head shoved, quite graphically, through a corpse's anus. Is the scene revolting, hilarious or both? You be the judge.

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The Best TV Shows of 2016

10. Punisher's prison hallway massacre, Daredevil

Daredevil took the idea of a prison brawl to new heights in Season 2. The brutally violent episode "Seven Minutes in Heaven" proves (as if there was any doubt) that The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) means business, as he takes out countless fellow inmates, armed with only a shank and his bare hands -- which he uses to pry out one victim's eyes.

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9. A French gymnast breaking his leg at Olympics

Most people will remember the Rio Olympics as the site of Ryan Lochte's downfall stemming from his fake robbery. But that's not the only wince-worthy thing that happened at the summer games. In the men's gymnastics qualifying round, France's Samir Ait Said broke his leg on a vault. The most stomach-turning thing about this video? No acting here!

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8. A demon-possessed child getting beaten up, Outcast

There's more than one way to slay a demon. But in the series premiere of Outcast, Cinemax's new show from Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, main character Kyle Barnes learns that the most effective way to perform an exorcism is to punch a possessed person in the face repeatedly -- even if said person is a 10-year-old child.

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7. A man's head getting crushed in a vice, Banshee

In the Season 4 premiere of Banshee, a member of the Red Bones gang gets a painful (and eventually fatal) lesson about working outside of his own territory. First, Calvin Bunker crushes the man's head inside a vice before Burton eventually finishes him off with a baseball bat, painting the walls with bits of his brain. Burton must be a fan of The Walking Dead.

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6. A zombie biting a man's nose off, Fear the Walking Dead

Like its predecessor, Fear the Walking Dead isn't exactly short on gross scenes. But the moment that's still stuck in our brains is from the Season 2 finale, when a zombie goes on a violent rampage and bites off a man's nose and then a woman's finger. The zombie is finally taken out by Nick (Frank Dillane), who presses his thumbs into its eyes to kill it, but we're left wondering: Are there reconstructive surgery clinics in the post-apocalyptic world?

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5. Shelby killing Matt, American Horror Story: Roanoke

It's called American Horror Story for a reason. Amid all the disgusting moments on this season, the moment when Shelby (Lily Rabe) kills Matt (Andre Holland) in a fit of rage stands out. After discovering that her husband Matt is having an affair with the Wood Witch, Shelby rams a poker into his head, splattering his brains all over the floor of the basement where she caught Matt and the Wood Witch in a fit of passion.

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4. Freddy slitting a fellow prisoner's throat, The Night Of

We knew Freddy (Michael K. Williams) was a ruthless murderer on HBO's The Night Of, but we got a demonstration of just how brazen he can be with his cruelty in Episode 7, when he casually strolls through a group of prisoners watching TV and swiftly slits one's jugular. The victim, a former member of Freddy's crew, bleeds out on the floor before any of the guards -- who are being distracted by Naz (Riz Ahmed), asking for a new inhaler -- can do anything about it.

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3. Ramsay feeding Walda and the baby to hounds, Game of Thrones

What is perhaps Ramsay's (Iwan Rheon) most dastardly deed (though there are so many to choose from) came in "Home," the second episode of Season 6, when Ramsay killed his stepmother and infant stepbrother by locking them in his kennels and siccing his hounds on them. The only thing that makes this scene slightly more palatable (other than the fact that the deaths are, thankfully, not shown, merely heard) is knowing that Ramsay himself would eventually suffer the same fate.

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2. A host committing suicide by smashing his own head in, Westworld

The head-smashing trend was a big one this year. In the Westworld episode "The Stray," the titular host goes rogue and wanders off his intended course, eventually committing the robot equivalent of suicide by repeatedly smashing his head in with a rock.

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1. Negan killing Abraham and Glenn, The Walking Dead

... Duh. There's no contest as to the grisliest TV moment of 2016 -- and maybe ever. The Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead left fans stunned, heartbroken, angry and, well, grossed-out. As if the notion of smashing not one, but two people's skulls in with a barbed-wire-covered baseball bat isn't disgusting enough on its own, the show offered viewers a close-up look at Glenn's popped-out eyeball, resting among the gruesome remains of what was once his head.

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What TV moments grossed you out the most in 2016?