Winter reality TV • Golden Bachelor's cruelty • Survivor's challenges • elves
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy December!
As the end of the year approaches, and I work on my best-of list for 2023, I have a familiar sense of guilt over all the shows I wasn't able to watch—especially ones you recommended to me!
So, I decided to turn that into a positive, and ask you: What reality show do you love that I didn’t cover this year?
The link will take you to a quick and easy form; I'll compile the results and publish them soon.
I can't wait to see what you recommend to each other!
2 recaps, 1 review, and 2 more
I recapped Survivor 45:
Someone please wake up Survivor’s challenge team. And players.
ICYMI: 3 reasons why Survivor 45 is the best season of the new era so far
and The Golden Bachelor:
Golden Bachelor ended by illustrating how cruel this format is. Also: Will the happy couple live until their wedding?!
Earlier: The Golden Bachelor made the case for aging up reality TV
I wrote these behind the scenes looks:
The Great British Bake Off’s time calls are fake. I was quite surprised to learn not just that the bits take place off-camera, but that there's not even a clock in the tent!
And I reviewed:
☃️ Winter reality TV schedules
My new quarterly guides are here! As a reminder, I'll update these constantly throughout the next three months:
💬 Comments of the week
Cristy, on this recap:
Did anyone notice that they used a plus size actor to demonstrate the immunity challenge? I was so excited, I pointed it out to my daughter and even replayed it for her. Imagine my disappointment when they revealed that the challenge was based on body weight! Ugh! Sometimes I really hate this show.
JF, on this review:
I thoroughly enjoyed the first five episodes. I think there was more tension than I've seen on any reality show honestly. There's near constant anxiety about having to eliminate friends or them being eliminated by others. ...
🗞️ Reality TV news
One shark is quitting Shark Tank. Maybe others should follow!
Andy Cohen keeps calling this story "a factually incorrect rehash," but now also says "We’ve addressed each of the things that did happen." 🙄 Pick one, maybe? [Vanity Fair]
And in my November news round-up:
Queer Eye is losing a member
Top Gear is cancelled
Guy Fieri has a new $100 million deal
Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard are still together
The Situation spent $500,000 on opioids during Jersey Shore
🤩 I recommend
This Food Network competition, for the reaction shots
This charity, if you're looking for a place to give this holiday season
This website, which is literally what its domain name says: infinite flowers
I hope you have a great start to this final month of 2023!
I'll have at least two more newsletters this year, before taking a couple weeks of a break at the end of the year.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 363 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 1 December 2023, and it hopes you like the new image format, which works better with this beautiful new e-mail template, allowing me to show off the photo I choose each week while also saving a bit of time