Sandra will play Survivor again! Plus: three shows I recommend, a Nailed It challenge, and much more
Dear newsletter friends,
I took a few days last week to unplug—I didn’t look at my computer or watch any TV—and that was the second time I’ve done that this year, and it’s clear that I should do it more often. Like, weekly!
But there’s also so much great TV to watch. So let’s get to that.
These past two weeks, I:
answered 13 questions about The Great British Baking Show—or more accurately, updated that to reflect the most-recent seasons.
answered two questions about Masked Singer’s audience and Naked and Afraid’s pay—and also asked for your help for a reader who’s looking for a specific 9/11-focused documentary.
I reviewed and highly recommend both:
Baking Impossible on Netflix and
Squeaky Clean, a Leslie Jordan-hosted competition, which is free to watch and stream
At the bottom of those two reviews, and other recent reviews, you may have noticed something new I’ve added, and I wrote about that, too:
I also gave away two copies of the new Nailed It! cookbook, and I published a full recipe from the book here if you want to try to nail one of the show’s challenges in your own kitchen.
Survivor stuff
The big Survivor news this week: Sandra Diaz-Twine is returning to play the game!
I also recapped the two latest CBS episodes:
Yes, this season is quickly losing its way in a downpour of advantages.
Thankfully, right after Survivor, Phil Keoghan’s Tough As Nails returned for season 3, and it is great and you should watch it.
Also, at this point, as a fan of both shows, I would not mind if Tough As Nails just replaced Survivor, which needs to actually be rebooted, because season 41 is not a new game.
Reality TV news
Producers of reality TV are sharing their salaries and working conditions—and calling out both shows and production companies—on @nonfictionunite.
Chopped Junior winner and Top Chef Junior contestant Fuller Goldsmith died at age 17. In February, the four-time cancer survivor announced that leukemia had returned.
Bobby Flay will apparently leave Food Network after he and the network couldn’t come to contract renewal terms
After Padma Lakshmi previously defended filming Top Chef in Texas, and Gail Simmons, Padma, and Tom Colicchio all participated in an abortion rights rally, and Gail spoke at the rally and said “you can imagine, I had mixed feelings” about filming Top Chef in Houston.
⭐️ I recommend
This Leslie Jordan-hosted competition, which was on Quibi but is now streaming free
This Reddit thread, where a cast member on Halloween Wars shares insight about this current season
This interview with Sutton Stracke, Garcelle Beauvais, and Crystal Kung Minkoff about RHOBH
That’s everything from the past two weeks! Have a great rest of your week.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 262, first sent Oct. 7, 2021, and it has not yet watched Squid Game.
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📷 Photo of the Blue Mountains in Canada by Alaeddin Hallak