Dr. Will & Boston Rob earn their paychecks • Captain Jason & Coach D are back • recaps and reviews
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday! First, a correction and mea cupla.
In a news item last week, I linked to the Survivor 48 cast reveal video—or at least I thought I did!
I actually sent you to the Survivor 47 cast, and even wrote “Survivor 47.” (Survivor season numbers are like years for me: it takes a while to get used to the next one.)
I was trying to be helpful by embedding the YouTube link and didn’t actually look to see that the video was not of this cast!
So here’s the real link: Meet the Survivor 48 cast.
In other news, as I mentioned in my podcast this week:
- I recommend you call 707-873-7862 now—or later, or whenever you need it.
- Press 6, or maybe 3 or 4.
No one will answer the phone, and I promise it’s not the Survivor 47 cast video again. Enjoy. 💜
📸 Recaps
The Traitors:
- Episode 7: Blunders and bugs: the traitors may fail, but The Traitors US keeps hitting
- All of my Traitors US season 3 recaps, now in a handy list 📋
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives:
Below Deck Down Under:
😮 Interviews
Bring It
-
I interviewed Bring It! star Dianna Williams about her new show, and why the Lifetime show didn’t reflect reality:
Why Bring It ‘fell apart’ and how her new Dancing Dolls show is different
Deal or No Deal Island
- Dr. Will walks off Deal or No Deal Island twice, after ‘excruciating’ ‘grandstanding’
- My interview with the eliminated player had some shocking news: Dr. Will hired the person he kicked off
🔪 True crime
Reviews:
- Netflix’s Zodiac Killer Project
- Prime Video’s The Girl With the Needle: a gorgeous Danish nightmare
Sarah writes:
- Paid subscribers to the Best Evidence newsletter got my review of Ramin Setoodeh's Apprentice In Wonderland yesterday evening. If you want that write-up; the entire archive of Best Evidence material (almost six years, friends!); AND all the reviews here in their entirety straight to your inbox? No prob, just grab a paid subscription! Click here to get started.
🎧 My podcast
- Reality Blurred got a shout-out at a 5K!
- How my interview with Dianna Williams came about
- Recommendations for taxes (seriously!) and phone calls
Listen here or find me on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Overcast, or anywhere!
Another newsletter I think you'll like
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.
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
Premiering this week: New seasons of The Voice and The Kardashians; Celebrity Bear Hunt, on which celebrities are hunted by Bear Grylls, not actual bears; and Alone Australia, plus new cable series Love After Lockup: Crime Story, on which “cast favorites” talk about how they ended up in prison, and Incredible Northern Vets, which follows indigenous veterinarians. Details + all reality premieres
This week’s documentary premieres include: The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Big Game, on which athletes attempt baking in the attempt for Prue and Paul; a profile of Luther Vandross; and the story of prisoners who went on a hunger strike across California to abolish solitary confinement. All documentaries + details
💬 Comments of the week
On my recap of Below Deck, Michelle wrote:
Oh man, I really wanted to grab Tzarina by the shoulders and say stop before you dig a deeper hole with the sous chef! I am a female chef and worked on yachts when I was her age and watching her was like a mirror of myself then. …
On my recap of Deal or No Deal Island, annie wrote:
“Was [Dr. Will] as annoying to you all as he’s coming across to us?”
I don’t know who “us” is because all I see on different social medias is the majority of people lovingggg Will. He’s highly entertaining and a lot of people are eating it up lol. (and I think I read somewhere that he actually had skin cancer in the early 2000s and that’s why he avoids the sun so much, so — and I mean this kindly — maybe be a bit more sensitive in how you talk about how pale he is?)
🗞️ Reality show news
- The Amazing Race 37’s cast was announced. It's the largest cast ever for the show.
- After 18 seasons, Married at First Sight has a new home
- Heidi Klum is leaving America’s Got Talent, and Mel B. is returning. Heidi isn’t leaving reality TV; she’s returning to host the new Project Runway.
- Wayne Brady’s interesting celebrity family show has been cancelled
-
TBS cancelled its revival of Wipeout (which was disappointing) and its game show The Cube (which had fun challenges!), with an executive saying they're too expensive.
As BuzzerBlog noted, each was "recorded over a year before airing, shelved very shortly before starting their second seasons, and then dumped onto the schedules with little-to-no promotion."
Yes, all part of the Warner Bros. Discovery's ongoing genius strategy of cancelling everything and then wondering where viewers went.
Survivor cast news:
- Survivor 47’s Teeny Chirichillo talks about how “getting top surgery and Survivor converged”
- Survivor 45’s Dee and Kellie hilariously convinced season 32 winner Michele they now swim to Tribal Council in the new era
🤩 I recommend
- Canada's Drag Race, and if you haven't seen it, it’s now free on Tubi (seasons 2 and 3)
- These two wild clips from Spain’s Temptation Island, which are kinda NSFW: first scene, second scene
- Melanie McFarland’s review of this show, which you can watch free; she writes it’s “coming to us at precisely the right time”
- Calling 707-873-7862 🙂
That’s everything I have for you this week. Thanks for reading to the end, and for being here.
Have a terrific rest of your week and weekend!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 406 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 7 February 2025, and it wonders who will have the courage to stop Elon Musk from running amok