Shark Tank's worst shark, Survivor's car curse, Bethenny's Apprentice, Challenge and AYTO's shutdowns, and more
Dear newsletter subscribers,
We’ve made it to the last day of the week, and the last day of April. The week brought a pink moon and the premiere of Bethenny Frankel’s new show, plus the arrest of former reality TV star.
For me, it also brought the end of the semester at the end of a long, challenging year of teaching—and I know that, in being able to teach from home, I was very fortunate, especially compared to so many teachers, never mind all other essential workers.
Still, I’m basically this GIF, which I’ve gotten a lot of use out of these past few months:
Survivor & Naked and Afraid
I suppose there’s a spoiler in my recap of the penultimate episode of Survivor: The Australian Outback, if 20-year-old reality TV can be spoiled (it can’t):
In this week’s Ask Andy, I answered this question:
I reviewed:
Big Shot with Bethenny, her Apprentice-like, Mark Burnett-produced HBO Max show. Alas, it’s a mess!
Kevin O’Leary’s awful behavior on Shark Tank
In the news:
Challenge 37 and Are You the One 9 have both shut down production, but for very different reasons
Josh Duggar was arrested yesterday by U.S. Marshals but it’s unclear why. (You may remember Josh from when he was investigated for molesting five girls when he was a teenager, including two of his own sisters. Here’s what happened back then.)
Here is The Real Housewives all-stars cast
Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette wrapped filming one week early
After Bachelor spoiler Reality Steve apologized for past writing, Bachelor star Demi Burnett shared these texts from him, and other Bachelor alum have come forward to share stories about inappropriate messages Steve sent them. He responded in a column and podcast episode saying he won’t pursue “any sort of personal relationship” with contestants because he’s now aware of the “power dynamic.”
⭐️ I recommended
This show, which I’ll keep recommending during its run because it’s so damn good. Catch up for free on PBS.org or PBS’s apps.
This easter egg (not Hunter; the two ceramic pigs having sex in the background of Guy’s Grocery Games)
This review of Sasquatch, the three-episode Hulu series
This article about “languishing,” a great term for pandemic fatigue/exhaustion
At least checking out this Discovery+ show, which is so weird I can’t describe it except to say that it has Duff Goldman cooking while Jim Henson Company Muppets watch and comment. It was one of this week’s reality TV premieres.
That’s everything I have this week! Hope you have a great weekend.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 241, first sent April 30, 2021, and it did not win a car or Survivor.
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📷 Photo of the moon by Alexander Andrews