I was on TV! • that Survivor blindside • Dating Game killer • so much more
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday! This week, I was on a reality TV show—well, a documentary reality show, as a talking head for Vice’s The Dark Side of Reality TV.
I’ve done TV before—mostly live interviews back in the 2000s, when reality TV was fresh and new and cable news needed to fill a few minutes with someone who understood the latest trend.
This felt different, in part because the production rented a house in Miami just for my interview, so I had my own fakey reality TV/Golden Girls house.
Also, unlike live TV, this was nearly two hours of me answering a producer’s questions, so I had no idea what they’d use and what they wouldn’t.
It gave me new empathy for the trust reality TV cast members put in producers and editors, and just for how awkward it is to watch oneself on TV! 😅
But it was also fun, especially to see how the editors used something I said with reaction shots from Richard Hatch.
More details—plus what the show actually revealed about Survivor Borneo here:
🧗 Survivor, Summit, Sailing Yacht
Survivor 47:
My recap: A historic and hilarious Tribal Council follows an improved fake merge
Behind-the-scenes details: Why Jeff Probst cut the schoolyard pick, and is ‘apprehensive’ about large tribes
The Summit:
The Summit gives a massive advantage to one player after a snow day
ICYMI: How the crew got to location, and who the Mountain’s Keeper is supposed to be
Below Deck Sailing Yacht:
🔪 True crime reviews
HBO’s I’m Not A Monster: A “killer grandma” and the heart of darkness
Netflix’s Woman Of The Hour, about the Dating Game killer case
🎧 Listen to The Docket:
Baseball’s crimes and misdemeanors: A-Rod, Eight Men Out, wild men of the Gay Nineties, and more.
True-crime news from Sarah D. Bunting:
Los Angeles DA George Gascón has recommended resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez. For more on the historic view of the Menendez case, you could start with Netflix's The Menendez Brothers; my review is here.
Sometimes the headline does all the work for you: "'Tiger King' Joe Exotic quarantined with scabies in Texas prison, reps say." Other times, you feel it's worth noting that this speaks to conditions for the incarcerated more than it does about the incarcerated themselves.
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
Reality TV that debuted this week included the second half of Simone Biles Rising; Game 7, about “high-stakes showdowns” in sports games; new seasons of Car Masters: Rust to Riches and Fear Thy Neighbor; and The Wranglers, a show following employees at a dude ranch, which I think should be called The Real Hey Dude
This week’s one-off nonfiction premieres take a look at an Uber Eats worker taking us along his daily bike rides in Tokyo; “the priorities of a politically diverse Latino electorate for the 2024 election”; people at Alicia Keys’ songwriting camp; the 2004 Boston Red Sox; and Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band.
💬 Comments of the week
I love our discussions! Here are a few of the many great comments from the past week.
On this recap, Jeff wrote:
I always wondered what it would be like if they did Survivor somewhere cold. It looks like this show is as close as we're going to get, so I'm enjoying it.
On this recap, Michelle wrote,
I was a chef on yachts for a few years at the beginning of my career, both motor and sail. […] I was allowed to go snorkeling with the guests on one trip because it was almost the end of the season and captain knew we wouldn’t be back. My prep work was done lol. The chef is a tool.
On this episode, Claire wrote:
A-Rod is a total PITA. I still love 8 Men Out (the film), even though I know there’s fault with it. I’m a non-baseball person (as my father loftily informed me once, “You just don’t understand the game.”) but give me any scandal from the 19-teens or 1920s and I’m honestly in.
🗞️ Reality TV news
Cast news
Finland's first openly gay hockey player, Janne Puhakka, was murdered on Oct. 13. His boyfriend was arrested and reportedly confessed, YLE reported, citing law enforcement that said a break-up led to the premeditated killing.
Janne, 29, was starring in Petolliset, Finland's adaptation of The Traitors, and was still in the game as a traitor before the finale. The network, Nelonen Media, said in a statement it would postpone the finale: "We have come to the decision that now is not the time to show the episode. We will return to the question of possibly presenting the episode later."
Josh Seiter—who was dumped by Kaitlyn Bristowe during the first week of The Bachelorette season 11—pretended to come out as a trans woman on Instagram, which he revealed last week was a lie, because he wanted to conduct "a social experiment online to expose how gullible and how delusional the left is."
Basically, people were nice and supportive to him, so yeah, good one Josh! You've proven that "the left" is, uh, warm and kind. Way to get the libs, you dipshit!
Speaking of dipshits: Former Bachelor and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire host Chris Harrison "was a jerk. Total jerk" "who did not like me," comedian Matt Rogers said on his podcast Las Culturistas about his appearance on the game show. Rogers' and Bowen Yang's guest was actor Rachel Bloom, who said, “Everyone knows he’s a piece of shit."
Show news
Fox's MasterChef is moving its production from Los Angeles to Australia next year, as the reality TV industry collapses as part of Hollywood's massive contraction.
Shows that are left are leaving for overseas locations. It's cheaper to fly all the cast to Australia than film in the U.S. because of cheaper labor and tax credits (California tax credits don't apply to unscripted productions).
The Hollywood Reporter notes that, in L.A., there were "one-third the number of shoot days for reality TV last quarter compared to the highs of 2022."
I really liked the start of USA Network's The Anonymous, but it fell off my viewing schedule, and I honestly forgot about it.
Spoilers follow: Its first season finally ended on Monday, and its winner was one of its two celeb contestants: Nina Twine, who has been on Australian Survivor twice and is the daughter of two-time Survivor winner Sandra Diaz-Twine.
In USA's exit interview with her, Nina demonstrates that she had some of her mom's confidence: "I never doubted that I would make it. Did I get nervous? Yes, but I honestly never doubted it," she said.
Normally I'd mock this kind of advertising, but my affection for Ghosts and Survivor mitigates that—and I appreciate how this feels like an actual scene from Ghosts, with believable character beats, not characters doing an ad.
Some good reality TV-related reads:
Franchises took over reality TV. Now they threaten its success, L.A. Times. Meredith Blake and Yvonne Villarreal dig in to the trends of reality TV turning to franchises—and franchise stars—instead of new shows. I'm quoted, but the story is still worth reading!
One of the best parts of The Golden Bachelor and now The Golden Bachelorette are the singles and their noncompetitive, supportive interaction. Two pieces about that:
Is the Cure to Male Loneliness Being a Contestant on The Golden Bachelorette?, Jezebel. Kady Ruth Ashcraft writes about how nice and emotional it is to see the men having fun together.
Actually, They Are Here to Make Friends, Vulture. Kathryn VanArendonk writes about why "friendship is the current name of the game"—and what makes that possible, like social media connections post-show.
MTV’s nostalgia problem, explained by The Challenge, Vox. Kyndall Cunningham writes about The Challenge’s evolution into a show that's now "comically serious and inspirational, as though the contestants are competing in the Olympics or for some greater cause beyond winning money and being on TV," adding that it "falls flat without the unvarnished edge of the past" and "is now just a generic sports competition."
🤩 Recommended
Netflix’s Simone Biles Rising
Food Network’s Last Bite Hotel, which has host Tituss Burgess chewing through scenery faster than the chefs can cook, and ends its season Tuesday
Netflix’s Woman Of The Hour, about the Dating Game killer case
Coming later today: My review of this Great British Bake-Off season so far. Preview: I love it! And I love Nelly so much.
That’s this week’s edition! I wish a weekend of great TV for you, and I’ll see you next week!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 396 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 25 October 2024, and it thinks the merge should be the merge.