Happy 25th birthday, Survivor! 🥳 🏝️ Plus: Survivor 50's cast, Destination X, and more
Dear newsletter friends,
A quarter of a century ago tomorrow night: That’s how long it’s been since so many of us sat down and watched that first episode of Survivor: Borneo.
25 years—holy shit!
Do you remember where you watched? Or what you thought at the time?
I’m so excited about the anniversary that I thought it was today, and even said that in my podcast this week. Oops!
Speaking of Survivor: This week, we learned who’s on the Survivor 50 cast.
We also learned who was cut (Jesse Lopez, Carolyn Wiger, Abi Maria Gomes, so many others), and who’s particularly angry/sad/disappointed about that (Jerri Manthey).
I’m underwhelmed by the cast as a whole, and wish there were fewer five-time returnees and fewer recent players (five from seasons 48 and 49!). But also, it’s a near-impossible task to choose 24 people from more than 700, never mind please me with that choice. 😅
🚨 Big news
Tomorrow, on the 25th anniversary of Survivor, I’m launching:
a brand-new Survivor hub on reality blurred, highlighting past and new Survivor-related pieces I’ve written, from the cast contract to recaps
a new interview series with former contestants, focusing not on their game play but on how Survivor has affected their lives
I’m super-excited about both of these, which I’ll launch at 8 p.m. ET tomorrow, keeping with my tradition of marking exact anniversaries. (I published the Survivor rule book on May 31, 2010, at 8 p.m. ET.)
I’ll send a special dispatch tomorrow night so you won’t miss either!
🚍 Recaps and reviews
Reviews:
My Destination X review: NBC’s new competition
My interview with Josh Martinez of The Challenge, Big Brother, and now Destination X
Below Deck:
Tzarina offered far more juicy gossip than Below Deck Down Under’s finale did
24 in 24 & Top Chef:
🏝️ Even more Survivor
News from the week:
From the past:
So far, two family members have sent me TikTok or Reels versions of Jeff Probst's incredible 1990s demo reel, which he used to audition for Survivor.
Probst shared it on Jimmy Kimmel in 2017, and I wrote about it then, but it's going around again now—wild that it keeps finding new life, but good that it does because it's such a great watch.
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
Premieres this week new seasons of America’s Got Talent, Raid the Cage, and Jersey Shore Family Vacation, and the new show F1: The Academy, following female racecar drivers.
This week’s docs and specials include the Summer House reunion, and these helpfully subtitled documentaries Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, Implosion: the Titanic Sub Disaster, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, and BLUE: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue
📖 Write and grow
Wherever you are, join me for my summer creative nonfiction survey: six Wednesdays, starting June 18, all online. Learn more here!
💬 Comments of the week
I’m loving reading your memories about Survivor’s season-one premiere! Keep those coming.
Some of your thoughts about Survivor 50’s cast:
I think for a season that’s meant to be a celebration, only casting six people from the seasons anyone actually watched is a bit off – especially when there are five from the most recent two. It’ll be three tribes of eight / double tribals for the pre-merge I’d guess, and I’d be shocked if any of the people who played pre-20 make it to merge.
I’m super excited to watch Joe and Kamilla again. And I’m really surprised they got Mike White; that’s awesome.
And I’m SO happy there’s no Boston Rob or Parvati!!
It’s actually a shame there were so many seasons between “non-winner” returnee seasons. 14! That’s a lot of potential people to come back for their 2nd go. Add in those legacy players…
People like Ozzy, Cirie, etc. Yeah, they’re legacy players. I’ve seen ’em enough. But the average person at least remembers these characters. Might they have remembered Jerri or any of the less overexposed returnees? Possibly.
So my takeaway… more all-stars? Maybe we need to take the Drag Race approach. One regular season, one all-stars season every year! hahaha
🗞️ Reality TV news
Shows:
Besides renewing its The Great American Baking Show and specials for new seasons, The Roku Channel gave us thrilling news: It's bringing The Great British Sewing Bee (seasons 1 to 10) to the US for the first time, and adding The Great Pottery Throwdown (seasons six, seven, and the Christmas specials) to its library, too! Also coming: The Great Canadian Baking Show (seasons 1 to 8 and specials).
I've asked them when this will happen, since that's the key question, and no answer yet. But great competition TV coming to free streaming = win!
House of Villains season three won't premiere until 2026—on Peacock, its new home—but it's starting production this week, so now we know the cast: Paul Abrahamian (Big Brother), Tyson Apostol (The Challenge, Survivor), Kate Chastain (Below Deck, The Traitors), Jackie Christie (Basketball Wives), Drita D’Avanzo (Mob Wives), Plane Jane (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Johnny Middlebrooks (Love Island, The Challenge), Ashley Mitchell (The Challenge), Tiffany New York Pollard (Flavor of Love, I Love New York), Christine Quinn (Selling Sunset), and Tom Sandoval (The Traitors, Vanderpump Rules)
I'm loving all the behind-the-scenes Top Chef videos Kristen Kish has been posting on Instagram. A few: delivering a whole season's worth of "chefs remain" at one time; learning to duck walk between tasting and Judges' Table; and behind-the-scenes of the production areas.
PBS's national programming executives demanded a short segment about Donald Trump be removed from a documentary, Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse, before it aired, Documentary magazine reported. One of the film's producers, Alicia Sams, said, “The irony of censoring someone who is a free speech advocate is maybe lost on PBS, but certainly not lost on us.”
How's trying to appease the tyrant working for you there, PBS?
People:
Apologies for the following sentence, as it's nothing but a list of contemptible opportunists: Donald Trump pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley—who were both in prison after being convicted of tax evasion and defrauding community banks—and they're now free to star in the new Lifetime Chrisley family reality show, which is being produced by Bunim/Murray Productions, a pathetic shadow of the company that once created modern reality TV.
There's a lot that's sad in this People EXCLUSIVE about Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, including People continuing to exploit her in an EXCLUSIVE.
But the saddest part is Alana saying she doesn't know what happened to all the money from their reality TV show, and when reached for comment, Mama June said, “I can’t really talk about [the money]. That’s part of this season." She's referring to their new show, and whether she feels contractually silenced or is trying to juice ratings, it's so gross.
Hell Gate's Jessy Edwards had breakfast with George "Puts The 'Con' In 'Disgraced Congressman'" George Santos last week. Made me want to try Cameo as a way to knock down my car-insurance bill. —SDB
🤩 I recommend
Re-watching Survivor Borneo
The Great Pottery Throwdown (five seasons are on Max, with more coming to Roku Channel soon!)
These clips from an unaired episode of Expedition Unknown, during which Josh Gates is locked inside the Titanic sub
🍎 Adding reality blurred to Apple News—if you use Apple News! (Click the link and then hit the + symbol)
Woo hoo, you made it to the end! Thanks for reading and watching with me this week.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 421 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 30 May 2025, and watching “16 Americans begin an adventure that will forever change their lives” changed its life, too.