The greatest reality stars of all time?! Plus: a review, recommendations, recaps, and more
Dear newsletter friends,
This week, a new reality competition was announced: a search for the reality TV GOAT, which of course stands for "Greatest of All Time."
That kind of title invites a certain level of scrutiny about who, exactly, will be competing.
So I ask you: Are these 14 reality stars worthy of ‘the greatest reality star of all time’ title?
As you may have guessed, I'm not so sure—though I am looking forward to seeing a few of them back on reality TV again!
🍰 A review
The new Great American Baking Show, now on The Roku Channel
😃 Recaps
Survivor 44:
Episode 10: Survivor 44 serves fly-covered tacos, Carolyn and Frannie’s bond, and plenty of unanswered questions
Jeff Probst's podcast, which I listen to so you don't have to:
Episode 10: "Shooting Survivor," which has a ton of great, behind-the-scenes details about filming—plus Jeff Probst's defense of not just letting players play
Top Chef:
episode 8: The fast, furious mise en place challenge was its best yet
episode 9: coming this weekend!
Big Brother Canada:
As BBCAN comes to a close, Hamsterwatch continues her coverage:
episode 26: Has BBCAN’s Ty committed more than one ‘evictable offense’?
episode 25: Big Brother Canada celebrates 300 episodes with The Ty Show, and more cockamamie choices
episode 24: When will we see BBCAN11’s surprise Tuesday eviction? Plus: a super-fast HOH
And the Digital Dailies:
🗓️ This week's reality TV
Reality shows premiering this week include new seasons of Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, Great British Baking Show: Juniors, and, as mentioned above, The Great American Baking Show.
Also this week: dating shows Jewish Matchmaking, Couples Retreat, and Love Village. Dates and times are here.
Documentaries on TV this week focus on subjects including people with ALS and their families and The Menendez brothers and Menudo, in the same documentary (!).
🗞️ Reality TV news
Here are 34 great reality TV stories from April, including Love is Blind, Love Island, and Bling Empire news
Operation Repo’s Sonia Pizarro died Wednesday
You can bid on an old Jeopardy! podium
Nick Cannon will host the new season of Beat Shazaam, as Jamie Foxx is still hospitalized in Atlanta for an unknown illness.
FBOY Island is moving to The CW, which has also ordered the spin-off FGIRL Island. No word as to why part of the names are now SHOUTING AT US.
Dancing with the Stars will be back on ABC this fall, but also still keep streaming live on Disney+
💬 Comments of the week
Your insistence that Jay is “the most casual of casuals” because he likes something that you don’t is utterly ridiculous and insulting. Shockingly unprofessional from someone who purports himself to be a journalist.
—James, on this recap
Being the wrestling junkie that I am, I always found it humorous that there was a guy named Kane who resembled Isaac Yankem, DDS (same wrestler, different gimmick).
I’m a little split about Kane losing. On one hand, he seemed like a nice guy. On the other, he completely butchered O Canada despite being from Canada.
—Kevin, replying to Antonio, on this recap
🤩 I recommend
This show, if you like The Great British Bake-Off
The last episode of this show, which goes behind the scenes
This chart, if you'd like know what Hollywood writers want from production companies
Finally, I'm excited to announced that reality blurred is now on Threadless. (I moved from Redbubble after it announced insane fee increases.)
Threadless will be having a sale at the end of May, so perhaps wait! Just know anything you buy, now or then, helps support my work.
You can currently buy reality blurred swag, and I'm thinking about what other designs to add, like maybe t-shirts and stickers with reality TV catchphrases.
Ideas? Hit reply and let me know! And have a terrific rest of your week and weekend.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 335 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent 5 May 2023, and it doesn't know what it would do with a Jeopardy! podium, but still kind of wants one
📸 Photo of the Damme Canal in Belgium by Milan De Clercq