Survivor's latest shenanigans, Love is Blind set photos, (HBO) Max's reality TV plans, and much more
Dear newsletter friends,
I have a lot of great reality TV to discuss with you—recaps, news, and more—that's all below, so let's just get right to it!
Also I just can't think of a story to share this week. 😂
👍👎 Reviews!
Tournament of Champions IV on Food Network (with spoilers!)
😃 Recaps
Survivor 44:
Episodes 7: producers meddle with a big pile of dumb, vote-revoking twists
Jeff Probst's podcast, which I listen to so you don't have to:
Episode 7: “The Big Theme”, in which Probst says some shocking things about this week's episode
Top Chef:
episodes 4 and 5: After nearly killing a chef, Top Chef 20 took its chefs on a wonderful holiday vacation
episode 6: coming soon!
Big Brother Canada
Hamsterwatch continues her recaps of all BBCAN11 episodes:
episode 17: Tears and tension as the Crown alliance is broken. Plus: the new HOH!
episode 16: Campaigning, showmance drama, and mysterious clues
episode 15: Who went commando?
And the Digital Dailies:
🗓️ This week's reality TV
Reality shows that premiere this week include Jeremy Renner's renovating in Rennervations, a new season of Below Deck Sailing Yacht, and more of The Wall and Neighborhood Wars
Specials and documentaries this week include looks at the Boston Marathon bombing on Netflix,hummingbirds on PBS, and Kourtney and Travis's wedding on Hulu.
Also: Sunday night's live Love is Blind reunion will be Netflix's second live show ever.
🗞️ Reality TV news
HBO Max will become just "Max," which promises ‘the best of unscripted.’ Here's what reality TV is coming to Max
The New York Times discovered Love is Blind, and has some fascinating behind-the-scenes photos. TV sets always look much worse in real life than on camera, but the pods, yikes!
Drag Race’s Sasha Velour has a new book out, and talked to Sam Sanders about it
Josh Duhamel will star in CBS's reality competition Buddy Games, which the network said was "inspired by" his "real-life annual tradition with his lifelong friends" who "compete in a variety of competition-style games."
Valerie Bertinelli's Food Network show Valerie’s Home Cooking has been cancelled
Bethenny Frankel said she was paid $7,250 for season one of The Real Housewives of New York City.
💬 Comments of the week
Well, Andy, you are awful bitter. Just don’t watch it anymore then. I still enjoy it more than not.
—Jacki S., on this Survivor 44 recap
I hope at some point, they talk about the AMAZING work that the camera people do on Survivor. It is one of the few shows I put down my phone and actually watch 100%. When I fast forward commercials, if I miss even a second of the b-roll coming back to the show, I’ll rewind because it’s so beautiful.
—Melissa, on this recap
🤩 I recommend
This show, mostly for the great improvised characters
This episode of Eurowhat, because * shameless plug * I was on it, talking about some of the 2023 Eurovision songs
That's it for this week. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and weekend!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 332 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent 14 April 2023, and it won't let Jeff Probst take away its vote.
📸 Photo of a bunny by Gary Bendig