Survivor's GOAT • BB27's fumble • Bake-Off • Love Con Revenge • indie media
The Amazing Race's anniversary; supporting indie media; and lots of reviews, recaps, and recommendations.
Dear newsletter friends,
We’ve arrived at the 24th anniversary of The Amazing Race’s first season, and of “Swing, you fat bastard, swing!”—a line shouted by a contestant on The Amazing Race as his friend flew out over a gorge next to Victoria Falls.
That episode was scheduled to air 24 years ago today, but was postponed because yesterday was 24 years since 9/11.
That very first Amazing Race challenge was itself a challenge, and the story behind it is wild, starting with a producer meeting two random guys installing the first-ever gorge swing next to the canyon.
The behind-the-scenes of that challenge—and everything else in that first season—is in my oral history of The Amazing Race’s first season. It’s something like 16,000 words of every nerdy detail you can imagine.
I’m so proud of having reported and produced that, because it’s the kind of story other places can’t or won’t publish—like my deep dive into Love is Blind’s contract, or my fall reality TV guide, or my dumb recaps. 😂
I’m trying to produce entertaining, informative things you can’t find elsewhere.
As I shared in my podcast this week, that’s getting harder, as things are dire: reality blurred’s traffic and revenue are both down about 60 percent this year, compared to the same time last year. 😔
That drop is mostly due to changes Google made, from AI to depriotizing smaller sites—a true “traffic apocalpyse.”
Most of my revenue comes from ads, and they work best at scale: Every thousand people who see an ad earns me a $1 or $2, and thus all those people who find reality blurred stories to answer a question for them add up, and our cats get fed. 😻
As media consolidates—Paramount now wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery!—a handful of billionaires are controlling most of mass media while politicians dismantle public media and private equity destroys local journalism.
Thankfully, there’s been a rise of independent media to fill in some gaps. Those of us who are indie journalists, writers, and publications rely more and more on our readers to do our work.
That’s why I’m so excited about the Back Indie Media Drive, in which 33 of us have joined together to, well, spread the word about backing indie media. One of my fellow participants, Julia Barton, wrote a fun and informative piece about the history of free in media.
That brings me to the ask: Can you help support my work?
If subscriptions aren’t your thing, here’s a…
Thanks for considering it—and thank you to all those who already support!
You’re awesome, and I love this community. 💜
🌊 Reviews
100 Foot Wave on HBO Max
Love Con Revenge on Netflix
Only Murders In The Building on Hulu
🍰 Recaps
Survivor
Big Brother
The Great British Bake-Off
Episode 1: New bakers create magic from messes
Below Deck
Episode 15: The final charter—and final crushes—begin
Project Runway
I skipped it last week. I didn’t even watch! I didn’t miss it. I’ll probably return to it? 🤷♂️
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
This week’s reality premieres include Little Women stars reuniting for a new series, The Little Reunion, as Brandon TV makes good on its promise, and Dance Moms: A New Era, with Lifetime turning a new group of monstrous parents into stars.
Also: Love is Blind: Brazil, which has people over the age of 50 (!) and Love is Blind: France; Sacred Planet, which explores how faith communities are responding to climate change; and new seasons of Cold Justice, 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, and Big Cats 24/7—which is streaming its first season premiere free.
This week’s docs and specials focus on subjects including: TV’s Black artists and creators; Thurgood Marshall; a lip-syncing TikToker who became an obsession for his fansl and industrial farming poisoning water and causing children to die of leukemia.
💬 Comments of the week: Big Brother twist edition
Never been a Rachel fan but have to admit that without her there, the rest of the season will be one big yawn-fest. She at least played the games, and played it well, vs the rest of the cast that have literally zero personality.
I don’t have as much of an issue with this as some of the other twists they’ve done: I absolutely hated the Invisible HOH twist a couple of years back- not because Jag won it, because it was vastly overpowered since he was eligible for (and ended up winning) the following HOH…
I think most of the vitriol is because this has been a very weak cast, and Rachel was one of the best (if not the best) players and to have someone so popular with the audience get eliminated because of a twist and not in the normal way upset a lot of people (for the record, I think she was going to get evicted at a double eviction night anyway as a "safe" second boot/resume builder for someone)
and Brekkie wrote:
Been an absolute overreaction from sections of the fanbase to this but producers invited it by holding back broadcast for 5 days. Should have aired it Friday night.
This format was the standout moment from Reindeer Games and works really well as a twist. Yes, it’s not the regular format but it still relies on competitiveness and strategy and shakes things up. It’s an ideal twist.
🗞️ Reality TV news
Show news:
A wild statistic: Among all Emmy-nominated TV shows—drama, comedy, limited series, and reality—Survivor had "more than twice as many viewing hours during this year’s Emmy eligibility period (June 1, 2024-May 31, 2025) than any other nominee."
Rick Porter reports that was "462.4 million hours’ worth of the series during those 12 months, according to Nielsen. No other show in any of the three categories had more than 211 million hours."
Alas, Survivor will most likely win zero Emmys this season; the last remaining reality TV Emmy is for competition series, and based on other wins, I think that's easily The Traitors’ to lose.
Are You The One? ended on MTV in 2019, and then aired one more season on Paramount+ in 2023. The format also aired two seasons as Are You the One? El Match Perfecto on MTV Latin America, ending in 2018.
The Spanish-language version returned in late August, though, as a reader spotted: Are You The One? El Match Perfecto season two is on Unimás. Watch its trailer here.
People news:
Taylor Frankie Paul from the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is the next star of The Bachelorette, which will air in the spring and replace The Bachelor. Disney synergy for the win!
It's a tough time for reality TV stars: Catfish host Nev Schulman is now selling real estate in New York.
✅ Recommendations, Indie Media Drive edition
L.A. Taco: “independent local journalism that celebrates, defends, and documents Los Angeles through food, culture, and hard-hitting reporting you won’t find anywhere else”
Well Beings News: “queer trans health + wellness for people who care”
The Food Section: “Covering food and drink across the American South as though it mattered as much as crime and politics (because it does)”
Kineticist: “for the pinball and physical gaming communities (like arcade gaming, air hockey, skee-ball, retro gaming, and tabletop gaming)”
🤩 I recommend
This Emmy-winning show on HBO Max
This piece on Jeopardy, which is now streaming on both Peacock and Hulu
I hope those reviews, recaps, and recs offer some diversion and entertainment for you this weekend and in the week ahead, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 435 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 12 Sept. 2025, and it appreciates you just reading all the way to the end! Thank you.