A reality blurred tradition returns! • Love on the Spectrum, Top Chef, & more
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday! I hope you’re well and—if in the central U.S.—safe from the storms.
On Tuesday, I wrote about:
As you will see when you read those stories—and I hope you do!—a long-standing reality blurred tradition is back: the satirical April Fool’s Day story. 🎉
I hope they gave you a laugh or three.
The “casted” story was far more triggering than I expected; many people saw the headline and ran to comments to yell at me. 😆 Trust me, it was painful to write! And I am relieved I’m not the only one horrified by that usage.
In my podcast this week, I shared why I started this tradition, and why it took a break. Listen here:
Finally, this is the one April Fool’s Day gag I believed—probably because it’d make perfect sense!
⭐️ Recaps
Top Chef Destination Canada:
The Amazing Race
Episode 5: Did the Double U-Turn sink the right team? (I mean Jonathan)
Survivor 48:
Episode 6: The fake merge births a milky alliance, comedy, and a rising Star
Below Deck Down Under
🥰 Interviews and a review
I interviewed Love on the Spectrum’s creators:
ICYMI:
I talked to Shark Tank’s best guest shark in years
Eaten Alive!:
Best Evidence's bonus review for March is about Eaten Alive!, a horror feature from Tobe "Chainsaw Massacre" Hooper based on a 1930s case out of South Texas. I wouldn't say it surprised me, but it was more thought-provoking than I expected
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
New reality TV this week includes season two of the great competition America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation; the new travel/food show Savor the City; a new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! Untucked, the behind-the-scenes Las Vegas show; and more Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa, Say Yes To The Dress, and Fix My Frankenhouse
This week’s docs and specials include Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America, and Oprah’s three-part menopause special. The special is three parts, not menopause. I think.
If you’d like to support my work, here’s my brand-new support page with options, including Patreon and one-time contributions.
You’ll get a new weekly preview e-mail most Sundays, and the warm feeling that comes from supporting independent pop culture media. 😍 💜
💬 Comments of the week
Karl had us ROFL with this comment on the April Fool’s day story:
How sad. I was so hoping to get casted on “16 and Pregnant”, despite being in my 50’s and also a man. Which, now that I think about it, isn’t the automatic “no” that I thought it was.
And we discussed the mud on Survivor after Archie wrote:
I get that making them muddy is an interesting look, but with such a long challenge (with scrambled teams) and then ANOTHER challenge on top of that, made for a ridiculously long game of “who IS that?”. Not a service to TV viewers.
And at least let them get that mud off them before they eat, for heaven’s sake.
🗞️ News
Excellent Food Network news: Eric Adjepong has signed a multi-year deal with the network. The announcement didn't say what that includes except a third season of his fun show Wildcard Kitchen, which will film this spring, having grown by 33 percent among people ages 25 to 35 in season two.
TCA—of which I’m vice president—won’t hold a summer press tour this summer. Here’s a report on the meeting we held yesterday.
Christmas Cookie Challenge has been over for months, but Charlotte Magazine profiled one of its contestants, Jossie Lukacik, and has some interesting details about the process: sending three outfit options to producers, getting family members to sign photo releases, and four days of filming in April for one episode that'd air in December.
Crime news:
Mary Berry, iconic Great British Bake-Off judge, was once arrested in the U.S., after traveling here with baggies full of white powder. The Traitors UK host Claudia Winkleman got Mary to tell the story on The Graham Norton Show.
Sarah D. Bunting gives us this amazing tidbit: “I can't top NJ.com's headline here, so I shan't try: "Police chief pooped by desks, spiked coffee with Viagra, cops say in list of assault complaints." The lead-pic two-pack is also a thing of glory. Citizens of North Bergen, our thoughts are with you...allegedly. (And with who might adapt this deranged list of violations. American Vandal team gets my vote.)
🤩 I recommend
Million Dollar Secret on Netflix, which dropped more episodes this week
This article about how some of your favorite TV websites are written by “underpaid, overworked and really pretty — extremely — exploited” writers
I hope you have a happy and safe rest of your week, and can find some escape from the news in reality TV and the writing above.
See you next Friday in your inbox!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 413 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 4 April 2025, and it loves falling for April Fool’s Day gags.