It's Big Brother, Survivor, and reality blurred anniversary week!
Dear newsletter friends,
As much as I'm annoyed by a petulant billionaire destroying Twitter, this week I immediately joined two more social networks this week owned or started by petulant billionaires.
So:
I'm on Instagram, where Padma liked one of my images!
New social networks are both exciting and overwhelming; I feel pressure (from who?!) to define my persona immediately and impress everyone. And that's exhausting.
That's why I'm so grateful today to be connecting with you right here, in your inbox, the original social media.
I love knowing you can hit reply and I'll read it and reply (I do!). No algorithm will hide us from each other, and no billionaire can take this away.
Of course, you can unsubscribe! 😂 But even if you do, I'm glad that's something you control.
😍 Recaps and a deep dive
Tough As Nails:
episodes 1 and 2: In the first competitions, boats sink, sod is shredded, and dirt rains
Claim to Fame:
episode 2: painful but brilliant strategy. I just love this show!
Alone:
I wrote about Alone’s aftercare, what happens before and after filming—and how its producers changed that over time
🗞️ Reality TV news
The Traitors, Jury Duty, and the 14 other unscripted TCA Award nominees, plus all shows TV critics nominated
Aubrey O'Day says that, after meeting Donald Trump Jr. on The Celebrity Apprentice, they had sex for the first time in a gay club's bathroom
The whole cast of The Real Housewives of New Jersey will return next season, including Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga
Tim Gunn talked in an interview that Project Runway about the "lying, deceptive assholes" at the Weinstein Company. It started when the season-one contract said that its winner would owe Miramax 15 percent of everything he earned in the future. Jay McCarroll rejected it; Tim Gunn said he wouldn't return for season two unless that changed. Tim Gunn said in season 13, he discovered that the Weinstein Company still retained ownership of contestants' work, and said he wouldn't return unless that was undone all the way back to season two. Then he found out they lied yet again.
🗓️ This week and next
This past Wednesday:
Big Brother turned 23. Here's a look back at the highlights and lowlights of its first 20 seasons
It was the 23rd anniversary of the Survivor challenge win that turned "Pagong" into a verb
Coming soon:
reality blurred's 23rd anniversary tomorrow 🎉
Tough As Nails and Claim to Fame recaps
A story about Drag Race’s new all-star format
💬 Comments of the week
Amazon took the bite out of Judge Judy. This is a kinder gentler version and it is boring
—Jack, on this review
What a great opportunity missed. It hate manufactured high school drama survivor shows. I thought this would be a beautiful authentic Tuscan real food learning experience. Instead some of the best chefs got voted off for strategy. It was a not good feeling show and I am disappointed that these respected judges lowered themselves to this level. Do better.
—Brandi, on this review
🤩 I recommend
This show and its strategy, which is already interesting in episode two
This show and its challenges, which are both real and fun
This show, which keeps delivering in its 10th season
Have a great weekend!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 344 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent 7 July 2023, and it is not owned by a billionaire. Or a millionaire!
📸 Photo of a sunrise over the Cascades by Sergei A