Bob vs Rob • Dr. Will, reality TV corpse • Hollywood Squares lies • help for fire victims
Dear newsletter friends,
While LA fires are still burning, the worst may have passed. There’s still a whole lot of destruction and displacement, though.
I wrote about how to help reality TV crew and others affected by fires.
That story links to this spreadsheet, which now has almost 250 listings, including quite a few people who work in unscripted:
If you’re looking for other ways to help, there’s a similar Displaced Black Families GoFundMe Directory with almost 700 people and families listed currently.
The disaster is terrible, of course, but to see people come together and help each other is reassuring, whether through direct donations like this or in all kinds of other ways.
I’m thankful we can still take care of each other when it matters most.
⭐️ Recaps and a review
I reviewed the latest revival of a classic game show:
I recapped:
Below Deck Sailing Yacht: The crew brings Drag Race’s Detox to full mast, then throw tantrums
Deal or No Deal Island 2: Dr. Will, reality TV corpse, joins the show
🏰 The Traitors
The Traitors US season three didn’t waste any time getting interesting and dramatic!
Here are my review/recaps:
Episode three: It’s Housewife Hunters and Survivor slander season
Episode four: A cataclysmic clash made for epic TV. But was it too soon?
🎧 My podcast
procrastination, perfectionism, and writer’s block, with insight from The Golden Girls
the reality of reality TV producing
recommendations, including this great show
Listen here or find it on any podcast app: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Overcast
🔪 True crime
Reviews:
Reading for your weekend:
News from Sarah D. Bunting:
Dina Manzo's ex has gotten sentenced for stalking her and her current husband. According to NJ.com, Thomas Manzo "received the maximum 18-month prison sentence for each count, which will run concurrently to the seven-year federal sentence he is already serving for orchestrating a 2015 violent assault on [Dina's husband David] Cantin." I hope the outcome brings Dina Manzo and her husband some peace — and that a stalking case involving a high-profile victim will lead to more consistent justice for others.
Morgan Geyser, one of the perpetrators of the so-called "Slender Man" stabbing in 2014, was granted release last week from a psychiatric hospital.
Need a lighter true-crime lift? Try Bradford Morrow's "A Brief History of Literary Forgers and Forgery" at CrimeReads.
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
Highlights of this week’s premieres include Shark Tank’s mid-season return, plus new seasons of A Real Bug’s Life and Moonshiners: Master Distillers, and new seasons of Young, Famous & African and Singles Inferno on Netflix.
Documentaries include Peacock docs on both Diddy and Saturday Night Live, plus NatGeo’s look at wolves in Yellowstone National Park.
💬 Comments of the week
On this review, Jeff wrote:
The Jon Bauman hosted version of the show, part of the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, did not give celebrities the answers because it was a Mark Goodson production and he felt the same as Andy about the ethics of doing so. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide whether or not that decision resulted in a better show. (There are episodes on YouTube, and it sometimes runs on BUZZR.)
On this recap, Geri wrote:
Don’t know why you despise Rob so much, other than for his God-awful baseball cap, but it’s time to chill. He is a terrific player and an awful lot of people genuinely like the guy. For him to be humble would not make any sense. Not sure how I feel about him being a traitor, but am very interested to see if he takes over the other three, and more importantly to see how he manages to keep his name out of the round table. In my opinion adding Wes and Rob makes the game all that much more interesting. You have A LOT of weak players […]
🗞️ Reality TV news
Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell broke up, which Matt announced in an Instagram post addressed to “Father God”
Chase Chrisley was arrested for assaulting a bartender. What if the whole Chrisley Knows Best clan eventually ends up in prison?
The Traitors season 3 has become Peacock’s biggest reality TV premiere ever, increasing viewers 67 percent over season two, Peacock said.
Also successful: Mr. Beast’s shitty show has done what it was designed to do: bring more people to Amazon
Denise Richards says both of her breast implants ruptured while jumping off a bridge on Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
It’s Supernanny’s 20th anniversary today
An interesting argument about the NLRB’s Love is Blind decision: “The Sexism Behind Reality TV Performers’ Lack of Workers’ Rights”
A fan found a hidden clue in the new Survivor card game and Jeff Probst compared that fan to Russell Hantz, ew
🤩 I recommend
This week’s episode of The Traitors
The Hollywood Squares revival, for the jokes and Tyra Banks shade, not the gameplay
This website, “the calmest place on the Internet,” which I mentioned on my podcast
That’s everything from me. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and weekend!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 403 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 17 January 2025, and it thinks Britney Haynes should host a Peloton competition show