A must-watch murder mystery TV show, and a Survivor mystery, solved
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday, and happy October! 🍂
Let’s start with a quick survey. As my inbox fills with more and more newsletters by writers, journalists, and creators, I’m curious about your own consumption of newsletters.
Specifically: Do you prefer this format, where I link to longer pieces, or if you like reading the full story in your inbox? Vote by clicking!
Just to be clear, because I still need the revenue that comes from ads on my website, I definitely won’t be shifting to newsletter-only.
However, I might experiment with excerpts, or the occasional newsletter-exclusive sneak peek, that kind of thing. So stay tuned for experiments based on your feedback!
🚚 Speaking of longer pieces: One I wrote this week was a deep-dive with a producer who got started on Survivor, and has just revived a fan-favorite, History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers.
What was most interesting to me was learning about his vision for the show—and realizing I’d noticed some of that while watching.
Read it here—and more to read below! 🙂
⛲️ Reviews and interviews
A review:
Netflix’s Crime Scene Zero, the first show I’ve given an A+ to in a while!
An interview (or two):
A kinda interview:
That Survivor spit? There’s a wild twist—and Jeremiah answered my questions about it!
🚂 Recaps
🕺🏽 Dancing with the Stars
Episode 3: Why bad—and bawdy—beat boring yet again
🥞 The Great British Baking Show
Episode 4: Back to School week was tricky for this American. But at least I now know what a flapjack is!
🇪🇸 Below Deck Med
🚄 The Amazing Race
Episode 2 got more dramatic mileage from transit than challenges—woo hoo!
🥥 Survivor
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
Reality TV premieres this week include new seasons of Drag Race España, Love is Blind, and Sister Wives; plus more of FACEOFF: Inside the NHL and America’s Funniest Home Videos.
New docs and specials include The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Halloween, with Patton Oswalt, Rachel Dratch, Leslie Jones, and Adam Pally; The start of The Real Housewives of Miami reunion; Peacock’s definitely-not-an-ad Epic Ride: The Story of Universal Theme Parks; and Porcelain War, which follows three artists in Ukraine.
💬 Comments of the week
On my Below Deck recap, Alyr wrote, simply:
Bitcoin is not a scam, dummy.
On my Bake-Off recap, Michael Harmstone shared this insight:
A few things from a Brit:
It’s tombola, not tombala (probably an accent thing!)
The Golden Syrup logo is actually changing this year to remove the dead lion after 100+ years. Cowards.
Pretty much no one makes custard from scratch – you can get custard powder which makes it a lot easier
On my Amazing Race recap, there was a lot of discussion about the presence of Big Brother players! Don wrote:
First time in many years that I thought the Survivor premiere was better than Amazing Race. I’m not a fan of Big Brother and the BB personalities were way too over the top for me. Hopefully as the race goes on, and weariness sets in, the screaming, yelling and crying will ease up a bit. The race staying in Europe doesn’t bother me. Europe has so many beautiful locations and diverse cultures that it should be fun.
🗞️ Reality TV news
Show news:
Netflix cancelled The Ultimatum: Queer Love, a terrible show but also its only queer dating show among its pile of regressive, patriarchal dating series. The Ultimatum, straight edition, remains, along with Love is Blind and fan-favorites like A Wedding Will Fix It and Take My Daughter and Give Me Grandkids.
Wheel of Fortune had its fifth million-dollar winner
Drag Race season 19 and Drag Race UK season 8 are both casting
Bless Tara Ariano for watching and analyzing Jimmy Fallon's latest drivel, On Brand with Jimmy Fallon, as I just didn't have the stomach for it this week.
Skip the show but don't miss Tara's review: ‘On Brand With Jimmy Fallon’ Is Very On Brand for Jimmy Fallon, and this accompanying piece: Here’s Every Single Dull and Inane Thing Jimmy Fallon Says in the First Episode.
People news:
Rachel Reilly is applying for Survivor
Road Rules star turned super-successful MAGA-ish podcaster Theo Von filmed a Netflix stand-up special this weekend, and those who were there say it did not go well: reviews range from "jittery" to "worst set I've ever seen," with audience members walking out and Theo reassuring people that he wasn't a danger to himself afterwards.
🤩 I recommend
This show, if you like Clue or escape rooms or just great reality TV!
This story/song about Facebook Marketplace, which makes me think Facebook Marketplace should be a reality TV show—maybe one of those A&E horror story clip shows?
This piece, which explains the reality behind all-too-common news in the U.S.
That’s everything for today. Thanks for reading to the end and giving me space in your inbox and web browser.
Have a wonderful weekend!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 438 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 3 Oct. 2025, and it’s been trying to type for 10 minutes but a cat who still thinks she’s the size of a kitten climbed up, started purring, and fell asleep. 😻