BB27's 🙄 twist • Below Deck tip explained • reality blurred is 25! 🎉
Dear newsletter friends,
Wow, 25 years of reality blurred! I can’t quite believe it, and I’ve been here since the first day. 😂
On my podcast this week, I tried to figure out just how I’ve spent 25 years creating the same thing.
And a lot of it comes back to what I wrote in my very first anniversary post: it’s you, the people who read this.
When I started sharing links I found, I didn’t know if anyone would care, or want that. And thankfully, people did! Many of you have been around these parts since 2000, and that’s amazing.
Yesterday, at a conference, Lex Roman and Liz Kelly Nelson led me and other journalists through an exercise designed to articulate who we are and what we do—our brands, basically.
As part of that, I had to fill in the blanks: My mission is to _____ because I care about _____.
I ended up with creating connection & informing people as the last part.
I would have added “community and people” if I could have fit it; I have trouble condensing!
And that’s true: It’s fun to recommend a great show or mock another one, but I mostly love that we’re all watching and talking about these shows together.
That we can talk about our disagreements civilly and with passion. That we can find moments of joy together in reality TV.
So, on this anniversary, I’m so grateful for reality blurred’s community, including you. Thanks! 💜
🦈🦈 Reviews
On Netflix:
On E! and Peacock:
These books:
👺 Big Brother
Big Brother is back!
Check out my new Big Brother hub, where you can easily find past stories, including behind-the-scenes secrets, and an entire section of all the times Big Brother shat the bed. Metaphorically.
Before the premiere, I had a lot of fun speculating about the big twist. Enjoy:
And here’s my recap of what actually happened:
🤑 Below Deck
I reported on the gay porn stars’ ‘pathetic’ tip, which was blamed on a sponsor.
I will soon update that story because, while the company ignored my questions, they held an event where they finally allowed the content creators to talk about it, and blamed the low tip on the charter initially being three days and extended to five. It’s a weak excuse.
And I recapped this week’s episode:
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
There were almost 30 shows among this week’s reality TV premieres, including new seasons of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Celebrity Family Feud, and Press Your Luck; Bachelor in Paradise, with Golden cast members joining the youngsters; and two new Drag Race seasons: Drag Race Brasil and Drag Race France All Stars.
Docs and specials premiering include Jaws @50: The Definitive Inside Story of the film, plus some other shark docs, and Netflix’s next Trainwreck.
💬 Comments of the week
On my latest Survivor interview, Dena wrote,
What a terrific interview. I appreciate Leslie being so honest. While I’m sorry so many of the people in her life don’t appreciate her [growth], I’m happy for her and proud of her.
On my list of potential Big Brother mystery houseguests, Kyle wrote,
Team the polar bear from Lost
🗞️ Reality TV news
Show news:
Netflix's Queer Eye is ending after its 10th season, which started filming Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Okay.
HGTV's Battle on the Beach is the latest show on the network to get cancelled. Co-host Alison Victoria revealed that on her podcast, according to TV Line, and also criticized its editing.
Here’s an oral history of Dancing with the Stars’ first season
Dimma Davidoff created of the game of Mafia in the 1980s, and was asked about The Traitors—which, of course, is Mafia as a TV show: "They have made an entertaining show, but the way they went about it is disappointing."
The Wrap reports that Ryan Murphy's Monster franchise is taking on Lizzie Borden in its fourth season. That case is one of my preoccupations; VERY interested to see where that goes! (S03, which has yet to drop, is focused on Ed Gein.) —SDB
Reality star news:
Former 16 and Pregnant star Whitney Purvis "was arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter and drug distribution," The Cut reports. She's accused of selling tranq—xylazine + fentanyl—to someone who then overdosed.
Sean “Diddy” Combs, former host of Making the Band and judge on The Four, was "convicted of two federal felonies, but for all practical purposes, he has won," as New York Magazine’s Elie Honig describes it. The reason, in Honig's analysis: "The prosecution’s lead charge, racketeering, turned out to be a grievous overcharge," so while they "showed that Combs is a horrible human being, an abusive domestic partner, and a purveyor and consumer of interstate prostitution," he's "not a boss presiding over an organized criminal machine."
Parvati Shallow's new memoir Nice Girls Don't Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power is out now.
🤩 I recommend
Trying out the new reality blurred time machine!!
This free e-book about Amazon, and ignoring Amazon’s Prime Week. If you need books:
Shop Sarah’s Exhibit B. Books and get 15 percent off with that link!
Check out my favorite books and books about reality TV, which all have free shipping today
That’s everything for this anniversary week! Have a great rest of your day.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 426 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 11 July 2025, and it’s so grateful to you for reading all the way to the end, and for being here.