Reality TV recap bonanza • my Parvati interview • Amazing Race news & more!
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday! This week has been long, and I cannot come up with an insightful or clever intro, so I will instead just send you on your way to the lists of everything I wrote—and reality blurred published—this week! 😄
🌏 Recaps
🎭 Survivor 48: what deft, devious game play!
🌏 Amazing Race 37: Tough tasks bring out the worst in some couples
💼 Deal or No Deal Island: losers pick the winner—we already know they won!
🛳️ Below Deck Down Under: a bosun bungles and a hero arises
😩 Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: MomTok faces misogyny
🇨🇦 Top Chef: I wish Top Chef would spend more time at Judges' Table
🏝️ An interview
Coming later today: My interview with Shark Tank guest shark Rashaun Williams
🙂 Two reviews
Paramount+’s Happy Face Killer series
Last Take: A doc about Alec Baldwin killing a cinematographer
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
This week’s premieres include a show following former Bring It! dancers; new crime shows Stadium Lockup and Booked: First Day In; and new seasons of Farmer Wants a Wife, Love After Lockup, and Accused: Guilty or Innocent?
Documentary premieres this week focus on the L.A. fires, The Joplin tornado, the Grand Ole Opry, and the murder of a Boston police officer found dead on the lawn of a fellow officer.
💬 Comments of the week
Chris had this suggestion for Survivor:
Had a thought – instead of EVERYONE dropping their buffs to form 3 new tribes – since it was only 1 tribe who was down by 3 people – – – the 2 tribes who had 6 people could have been told on the spot – they had to vote out 1 member out of their tribe to go the green team of 3! Then all 3 teams would be an equal 5 people and the 1 person from each of those 2 tribes would have had a great vendetta to fulfill!
Aria responded to an argument I made in my Amazing Race recap:
It’s not just any old tower or bridge for those clues – Tsuutenkaku and Ebisu Bridge (especially the Glico Running Man you can see behind some of the teams as they get that clue) are landmarks of Osaka.
As for the sumo judge, one of this season’s Racers shared his name and a few facts about him – his name is Yamamotoyama Ryuuta (last name, then first name), he played the sumo assassin in John Wick 2 and he’s thought to be the heaviest Japanese person ever.
🗞️ News
Amazing Race 38 is filming with these Big Brother alum
RuPaul's Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne "died from a cardiac arrest caused by the effects of taking ketamine," BBC News reported.
Bob the Drag Queen’s novel comes out on Tuesday—if you’re inclined to buy it, pre-ordering really does help authors!
Entertainment Weekly “partnered with beauty brand Milani to celebrate the early 2000s with our Reality Rewind Issue”. I’m excited to read some of those stories; I have no idea what the brand has to do with it—well, other than money.
The Traitors US stars "are paid a 'one-time appearance fee' that is 'significantly higher' than the pay CBS, MTV and other networks give the players," The Sun reported, with that source claiming it ranges between $75,000 and $300,000 per person.
Former reality TV stars turned podcasters Joe Rogan and Theo Von are both "now playing footsie with antisemites," Will Sommer reported. They've both "hosted a series of antisemitic conspiracy theorists for friendly interviews"—which was so shocking, even for them, that it led to "some pushback on the right."
🤩 I recommend
House of Knives on Food Network, which I’ll review soon
Survivor and Amazing Race, which are both having great starts to their seasons! 🎉
This clip of a Wisconsin man testifying at a hearing
FreeTaxUSA, if you’re in the U.S. and need to do your taxes and hate TurboTax (this is not an ad—I just love them!)
That’s everything! Thanks for reading all this way, and for reading reality blurred. Have a delightful weekend!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 411 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 21 March 2025, and it needs a nap.