Survivor 🥹😭 • A fantastic Traitors clone • new TAR twist • DONDI interviews
Dear newsletter friends,
From that spectacular and moving Survivor episode to the news that Tim Gunn got screwed once again, it’s been quite a week in reality TV.
I have recaps and reviews and recommendations for you, and other information that doesn’t start with R, so let’s get to that, right after…
A note for Yahoo Mail and AOL folks
Welcome back! I’m sorry you haven’t received newsletters this month.
What happened: When my first March newsletter went out, Yahoo’s servers shit a brick, rejecting it. My e-mail provider, Buttondown, automatically re-tried, and when Yahoo’s servers kept rejecting, Buttondown stopped sending— and marked your e-mail addresses as unsendable, so as not to piss off Yahoo. E-mail servers are temperamental!
Thankfully, whatever Yahoo was doing was temporary, so welcome back! Here’s what you missed:
March 7: Traitors ends! Survivor & TAR start • Spring premieres • 12+ reviews & recaps
March 14: Top Chef's back • a 🤯 Survivor • Matt Paxton's latest • recaps and recs!
March 21: Reality TV recap bonanza • my Parvati interview • Amazing Race news & more!
🏝️ Deal or No Deal Island finale
My interviews with the winner and runner-up
A few highlights:
"…Australian Survivor … Probst had it removed from Paramount Plus" 👀
"The social and the strategic game on Deal or No Deal Island is way, way elevated above Survivor"
David told Parvati, "I would be happy to spend the rest of my life watching you make oatmeal" 😳
🥹 Recaps
The Amazing Race
Episode 4: This new twist became dependent on cabs, ugh
Episode 3, which had a broken link last newsletter, sorry! Tough tasks bring out the worst in some couples and the best in others
Survivor 48:
Below Deck Down Under
Episode 8: Wihan finds more ways to be the worst
💰 Three reviews and one interview
Reviews:
House of Knives is a peculiar Game of Thrones and Food Network mash-up
Netflix’s Million Dollar Secret effectively knocks off The Traitors with a clever format
Interview:
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
This week’s premieres True-crime shows Bad Romance, Hollywood Demons, and Accused: Did I Do It?; David Blaine traveling and meeting other illusionists and stunt performers; and the Jake and Logan Paul show, which I will ignore.
Documentary premieres this week include the Southern Charm season 10 reunion; Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure, a Netflix mini-series following people looking for gold in the Rocky Mountains hidden there by a man; and two documentaries about Black actors and actresses.
😍 If you’d like to support my work in this newsletter and on reality blurred, there’s a brand-new support page with options! 😍
💬 Comments of the week
We’re discussing about how moved we all were by Survivor.
Meanwhile, Chuck and Melissa have me convinced to watch the end of The Joe Schmo Show (which I didn’t love). Chuck wrote:
I have enjoyed the season immensely. Being from Baltimore, I love Ben representing. He's so sweet. I've watched all the previous versions and have enjoyed this just as much.
I just finished the finale and I LOVED it SO much!!! Ben is amazing; they absolutely got it right when they chose him.
🗞️ News
Project Runway announced its new/returning judges
Bobby's Triple Threat stars Bobby Flay and Brooke Williamson are dating.
Justin from Survivor 48 is selling his PIZZA t-shirt that he wore on the show—the same shirt he wears at Luigi's, his family pizza shop in Massachusetts. He wrote that "A portion of every sale will be donated in my mothe[r]’s name to Caring for a Cure" at Mass General.
Netflix is now casting for its Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory reality TV series. The show comes from the producers of Holey Moley, Eureka Productions, and Netflix says players "must withstand games, tests, and temptations designed to prove their instincts, resilience, and ability to thrive in the chaos of a retro-futuristic dreamscape."
More news:
A Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning No Other Land, Hamdan Ballal, was attacked by Israeli settlers and arrested by Israeli Police, and "held at an army base, blindfolded, for 24 hours and forced to sleep under a freezing air conditioner," he said after his release.
HBO's Leaving Neverland now has a short sequel on YouTube. But the original, in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck detail sexual abuse by Michael Jackson, is not on Max. That's because, as Slate reports, "Relying on a nondisparagement clause in a deal to air a 1992 concert, Jackson’s estate sued HBO for breach of contract, and after five years in court, the network agreed to a settlement that included permanently removing the movie from its Max streaming platform."
Vivian Jenna Wilson—Elon Musk's estranged daughter, who Musk pretends is dead, "killed by the woke mind virus"—was profiled by Teen Vogue, and said, "It is my absolute dream to be on a reality show, which I know is absolutely pathetic. As an overdramatic little queer, reality shows are something I adore beyond belief.”
Okay, production companies and networks, who's going to step up here to enrage Elon Musk?!
🤩 I recommend
Million Dollar Secret on Netflix
This fake Netflix doc series trailer; I’d totally watch that!
Thanks for reading this, and any stories you clicked on and read. You’re the best!
Have a terrific weekend, and I’ll see you next week in your inbox.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 412 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 28 March 2025, and it does not have the million dollars.