An all-Big Brother Amazing Race • Team Tzarina or Team Anthony? • Bye, Bachelorette!
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Valentine’s Day! 💜 I hope you’re surrounded by people, animals, books, and/or ideas that bring you joy and love today.
In this week’s episode of my new-ish podcast, I talked about what happens when I get requests to delete informationfrom reality blurred, and what I do about that.
Even when I have a clear ethical and journalist sense of what I will do, it’s still tricky, which I discuss.
The short version: there are very rare instances in which I'll delete something, and that's nearly always to fix an error, in accordance with my editorial policies.
I’ve been largely avoiding the news—because it’s not helpful for me to get caught up in that stream of things I cannot control—but I did realize yesterday that I talked about this the same week as our government is deleting references to people and groups from government websites, part of a big purge of data.
Erasing references to trans or queer people is, of course, a waste of everyone’s time. It helps absolutely no one pay for groceries or a house, or get cheaper health care.
It’s just about dehumanizing and turning people against each other to distract us all from the real plans.
One reason why I love reality TV is that it while it can be a lovely diversion and distraction from the shitstorm of news, it does the opposite, bringing us together to discuss and connect—even if that’s connecting over people behaving badly. 😅 So let’s get to it!
🥀 News and an interview
Big news: ABC axes The Bachelorette, because now is not the time to let a woman make decisions!
Inside Fox’s Extracted: two games in one with nearly double Big Brother’s cameras, which includes my interviews with Survivor’s Lauren Ashley Beck, who visited the set, and showrunner Rob Buchta.
📸 Recaps
The Traitors:
- Episode 8: The Traitors players take the easy route, while the traitors face a dilemma
- 📋 All of my Traitors US season 3 recaps
Deal or No Deal Island:
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives:
- Episode 3: Fruity Pebbles cause a rift
Below Deck Down Under:
🔪 True crime
Reviews:
- Remember America Undercover? An appreciation for the show and its Ice Man episode
- Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar
Things to read:
News from Sarah D. Bunting:
- People has Theranos founder/fraudster Elizabeth Holmes's first interview from behind bars. No stop-the-presses revelations here, IMO -- Holmes is still 1) extremely corny and 2) positioning herself as another victim …
- Per an NBCUniversal News Group announcement, "Dateline will premiere Spanish-language episodes on Telemundo starting this Saturday at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, bringing viewers a new way to watch the true crime original’s distinctive storytelling." Noticias Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro will host. ...Anyone else legit surprised this is only just happening?
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
This week’s premieres included The Floor; dating shows Love is Blind (which has been around for five years!); Muslim Matchmaker; and Sweethearts (which follows teenage couples, ugh); and new seasons of The Masked Singer, Next Level Chef, and Summer House.
Among this week’s documentary premieres are: Netflix’s Surviving Black Hawk Down, and documentaries about Sly & The Family Stone, killer whales, and Chautauqua
Another great newsletter
The writing of award-winning journalist Rick Ellis reflects a deep understanding of the television landscape, blending analysis with a sense of humor and a sharp perspective on both popular culture and the business of television.
💬 Comments of the week
Tzarina vs. Anthony edition! Michelle wrote:
Team Tzarina! Anthony is acting like a jackass and simply wants to complain. Her communication with him improved from what was shown on episode one and she gave him what he wanted, to cook for the guests. She didn’t have to do that. It is her galley and what she says is law. It’s how a kitchen brigade works. His only response should be “yes, chef”. As a chef, I find his behavior unprofessional and insubordinate. As a diehard fan of Below Deck in all its forms I find it delicious!
And Mike B. wrote:
Aquarium enthusiast here, that aquarium is horrible. Jason should be in aquarium jail. The Brazilian stew seemed to be napping behind the guests in the red sub. Weird.
And team Anthony, Tsarina is just such a sour puss.
🗞️ Reality show news
- On every Amazing Race 38 team: a Big Brother houseguest
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The grandmother of Survivor alum Johnny Fairplay—who memorably became a plot point when Johnny and his best friend lied during the family visit, pretending Johnny's grandmother died—has died.
For real, this time. She died of kidney failure on Feb. 7, 2025, he told TMZ, as one does.
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Former American Ninja Warrior star Drew Drechsel is now in prison, serving a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to two felonies and said he both "received child pornography and enticed an individual to travel across state lines for sex."
Evie Greyy, who says she was "the first one to come forward," talked for the first time on the podcast Friends with Davey about her experience in the Ninja Warrior community and with Drew.
- Six football players featured on Last Chance U are suing Netflix and the show's producers for $30 million, saying they "received no compensation" for the popular show and were "misled and unaware of the potential commercial value the footage had" when they signed appearance agreements, Front Office Sports reports.
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Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio claims a marketing company tweeting on his behalf was responsible for the racist tweet replying to Big Brother winner Taylor Hale. It included an ape emoji, which the company and Johnny claim has to do with his crypto bullshit.
However, a Reddit user looked at his tweets (bless that person) for a year prior and found his account never used an ape emoji prior to that reply to Taylor.
“I went back and forth with this company for a few days, putting tweets together that I approved being posted from my social media accounts. What I did not approve was them to go rogue and start responding to others,” Devenanzio told Variety.
That company, Step Up Social, apologized in a statement for "unauthorized content of a recent tweet posted on behalf of Johnny Bananas by our agency designed to promote the $BANANAS cryptocurrency."
If that sentence didn't break your brain, congratulations!
🤩 I recommend
- Fox’s Extracted, an intriguing format
- These Everyday Black History stories
- FreeTaxUSA, an alternative to TurboTax that is so much easier to use
- These ridiculous dubs, which are great for a laugh or three
And that’s the conclusion of this week’s newsletter. Have a wonderful rest of your week!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 407 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 14 February 2025, and it’s 100 percent Team Tzarina and zero percent Amazing Race with Big Brother teams