Top Chef joy • Survivor agony • Stormy Daniels • 2 recommendations
Dear newsletter friends,
For the second time in a year, the Hollywood press has breathlessly proclaimed that a new reality show has the biggest! prize! ever!
But they're wrong this time, too. This story is about YouTuber MrBeast's new Amazon show, which will have 1,000 contestants, which strikes me as the more interesting part—in addition to whether MrBeast's shtick will work in television series form.
In other news, this is still making me laugh:
Love is Blind creator Chris Coelen: "We document the real lives and real emotions and real choices of our participants"
Love is Blind: *extra fingers appear on the screen*
📸 3 reviews
Netflix's Homicide: New York is pointless garbage
Bonus! The Best Evidence team and I chatted about this show on their podcast. Listen here, or add The Docket to your podcast player.
Peacock's Stormy has a compelling subject but compromised execution
NatGeo's Photographer tells the stories of people whose images capture—and shape—the world
😭 Recaps
Top Chef
Survivor
I’ve never wanted a Survivor tribe to lose more than I did during this S46 episode
Coming later today: A piece about this debacle of a season, which will be here once it's published
The Traitors UK
Can anyone challenge the charismatic cult leader on The Traitors UK 2? Recaps of episodes 4, 5, and 6.
Coming this weekend: A recap of UK episodes 7, 8, and 9—which I can't wait to see, especially since Michael commented that "Episode 7 is a contender for the best episode of [reality TV] in the last year."
Coming Monday: Your thoughts on what The Traitors should change
Big Brother Canada
Hamsterwatch explored:
And in other recaps:
Episode 7: fallout from the blindside, and the veto comp and meeting
Episode 8: Who got the boot—and went out with a kiss?
Digital Dailies 11: Drama breaks out—“don’t ever tell me to relax!”
Digital Dailies 12 & 13: Victoria’s surprising new target
🧑🍳 2 interviews
I interviewed Top Chef runner-up Casey Thompson about her TOC experience, and she shared so many great behind-the-scenes details. This is a must-read for food competition fans.
I interviewed legendary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman about his new four-hour (!) documentary, and I was not expecting what he said about his process and craft
🔪 True crime
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
This week's reality show premieres include a new season of the great competition Physical: 100; the spin-off House Hunters: All Stars; and new seasons of Buying Beverly Hills and 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?
This week's specials include the two-part Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which Sarah D. Bunting reviewed for us, and Dinner Party Diaries with José Andrés, in which the chef and philanthropist cooks for Jamie Lee Curtis, Bryan Cranston and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
💬 Comments of the week
On this review, Marcella wrote:
I thought the series touched nicely on the camaraderie of the team so I found the series not single-tracked at all but balanced between the poor victims, the perpetrators, and the team. Maybe if you knew of these cases prior then there would be no new information! I think it is one of the better true crime series out there.
On this Survivor recap, SE wrote,
This is the dark side of 90 minute episodes. Completely excruciating to watch. I’m giving this season two more weeks to see if they can tease out some strategic and compelling gameplay, but if not, I give up after watching from the Season 1. What a waste of a Wednesday evening.
🗞️ News
Five people have accused Shangela, aka Darius Jeremy (“DJ”) Pierce, of sexual assault. Shangela's lawyer said the allegations are "false and unsupported by any evidence or reliable witness testimony"and said Shangela “adamantly denies ever engaging in nonconsensual sex.” Separately, a PA for We're Here sued Shangela last year, and that case was dismissed and settled out of court.
Sanya Richards-Ross won't be on The Real Housewives of Atlanta season 16.
Bar Rescue’s Jon Taffer sued a man he claims is pretending to be him, in part because two separate women reported that the man sexually assaulted them while pretending to be Taffer.
···
In true-crime news from Sarah D. Bunting:
Andrew Crispo, alleged inspo for a first-season Law & Order, has died; you can read his obituary at this NYT gift link. I wrote about Crispo, and the larger problem of describing guys like Crispo and their cases as "disgraced" and/or "scandals," last year
🤩 I recommend
This series, now on Hulu and Disney+
This interview and film, which is streaming free and airing on PBS tonight
Thanks for reading all the way to the end, and for reading reality blurred. I hope you enjoy whatever reality TV you watch this weekend and beyond!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 375 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 22 March 2024, and it hopes that when it's 94, it's still as active and creative as Frederick Wiseman