HGTV axed 4 shows • a Survivor first • Poop Cruise & Astroworld • Anne Burrell tributes
Dear newsletter friends,
I know it’s folly to try to reach a point at which all my e-mail is answered, all my tasks are done, and, you know, the world is all perfect.
None of those things will ever happen!
Yet somehow I still try—to finish things, to make the world better in whatever small way I can.
Then I inevitably get behind or despondent and feel overwhelmed. So that’s what today is for: catch-up. And anxiety. 😂
Well, and sending you this e-mail message—important things first, after all! So let’s get to it.
💩 Reviews and a recap
Netflix ‘Trainwreck’ reviews:
- Finding fault in Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy
- Trainwreck: Poop Cruise works because it squeezes out laughs
Below Deck:
American Ninja Warrior:
🖍️ Anne Burrell
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One last Worst Cooks with Anne Burrell is coming!
- Food Network aired a pitiful ‘special’ this week ☹️
- 19 tributes to Anne Burrell, a fearless, fierce, funny force on TV and in life
🏝️ Survivor series
My next interview is coming Monday, with “Sister Christian” from Survivor China.
Previously:
- Francesca Hogi: ‘There’s no escaping Survivor’
- Eliza Orlins on Survivor and speaking truth: ‘silence is complicity’
- Erik Reichenbach and his ‘weird relationship’ with Survivor
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
The week’s reality TV premieres included a new show following Nelly and Ashanti, and a new show about child influencers 🥴; a new season of Human Footprint, following a biologist who travels the plant to look at the impact humans have; and more The Ultimatum: Queer Love, Rehab Addict, and Match Me Abroad
This week’s doc premiers have very self-explanatory titles: Trainwreck: Poop Cruise, Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything, My Mom Jayne [Mansfield], and Caregiving.
🎈 Pre-25th campaign!
A warm thank you to the 11 people so far who've become supporters, and 25 people who've shared this newsletter with others! You rock!
Join them now:
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💬 Comments of the week
On my review of Poop Cruise, Christopher wrote,
If enough people see this documentary, Stouffer's may go out of business.
On my review of Destination X, JF wrote,
I really wanted to like this show, but it was poorly produced. The viewer can’t really play along because of the narration, aerial establishing shots, and haphazard editing. Also, it is wildly frustrating that the entire bus doesn’t get to step outside after someone is booted. I suppose the idea is to keep the players in the dark about the distance to the next destination x by not confirming the last one, but it makes for a strange feeling. This show would really have to be retooled to return. I couldn’t even finish it.
🗞️ Reality TV news
Show news:
- Is Tough As Nails dead? Phil Keoghan says: Nope!
- HGTV cancelled four shows: Married to Real Estate (Egypt Sherrod said "the chain of events leading up to this is disheartening" but "we'll share [more] soon"); Farmhouse Fixer (Jonathan Knight wrote, "I’m still processing the reasons that led to their decision"); Izzy Does It; and Bargain Block (Keith Bynum wrote, "Our entire business and lives have been put through the ringer at the hands of a giant corporation"). Sounds like Warner Bros. Discovery is doing its usual bullshit.
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Superchef Grudge Match is returning to Food Network, in rebooted and renamed form: Chef Grudge Match will be hosted by Laila Ali but otherwise remain unchanged: "a single round, winner-take-all culinary battle where elite chefs come to settle long standing disputes and bitter rivalries." Jet Tila will judge alongside a guest judge.
The original was pulled off the air in the middle of its second season, after its star, Darnell "Superchef" Ferguson," was arrested on multiple charges. (He recently pled guilty to misdemeanor charges.) - Jackass star Johnny Knoxville will host Fox's new Fear Factor, which sounds a lot like Deal or No Deal Island: "a group of strangers will live together under one roof, and face mind-blowing stunts, harrowing challenges and a twisted game of social strategy where trust is fleeting — and fear is a weapon." It'll premiere in the 2025-2026 season.
People news:
- Survivor has its first Black queer couple: Season 45 players Katurah Topps and Sabiyah Broderick are dating. On Instagram, they revealed that, at Ponderosa, before the game, they had a secret conversation in a bathroom when they weren't supposed to be talking with other players.
- At the end of last season’s Below Deck Med, I wrote of Gael and Nathan’s relationship, “I give that about two weeks.” Well, they just had a baby so I admit that I was wrong! 😂
- Rob Mariano told a story in a Cameo video about how, on Survivor Heroes vs. Villains, he and Tyson used gasoline from a safety boat to start a fire—which created a fireball, alerting producers who forced them to put it out. (If you want Rob to tell you a story, they start at $249.)
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Former The Bachelorette star Katie Thurston, who's also dealing with breast cancer, responded to a person upset about her hawking products on social media.
Katie said her partnerships help her pay "the $1300/month I pay to help with my medical bills that I’ll have the rest of my life as a stage 4 patient." Us Weekly reported that she also "uploaded a screenshot of her insurance claims. A receipt indicates that her providers were billed $320,325.57, and she paid $22,420.40 out of pocket."
I wonder if that person who challenged Katie is also upset about how we live in a country where people don't have health care and are at risk of being a diagnosis away from bankruptcy. - Evidently, part of Kevin "Dawson's Creek" Williamson's new series, The Waterfront, is based on his father's criminal past. Marie Claire has the rundown on Williamson's father's arrest for marijuana trafficking -- which ALSO mirrors Joey Potter's father's extra-legal attempt to make ends meet on Dawson's. Decades of career contact with DC and I never knew this! (We'll be talking about the show with Jessica Morgan on Extra Hot Great this coming week.) —SDB
🤩 I recommend
- This shitty Netflix documentary—which is hilarious and fun!
- This behind-the-scenes video on the set of Jeopardy!, which reveals so many cool things about its production and sound.
That’s everything for this week.
Next Friday is the Fourth of July in the U.S., so I’ll either send an early newsletter or skip next week—haven’t decided yet!
Have a terrific rest of your week, weekend, and holiday week if you’re in the States!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 425 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 27 June 2025, and it’d rather nap like those kittens than go through e-mail right now.