The Mole 🎉 • Real Love Boat sinks and stinks • Survivor & Amazing Race recaps • Amazing Race book excerpt • much more
Dear newsletter subscribers,
It's finally here! Almost a year and a half after I reported that Netflix was reviving it, The Mole is back on American TV today.
Netflix dropped five (!) hours/episodes—that's half the season—early this morning. So here's:
- My spoiler-free review, which breaks down the show itself. Is it worthy of the name The Mole?
Next, I'll be writing a recap with spoilers so we can discuss all the twists and turns. Look for that by Monday.
In the meantime, I'll be anxious to hear what you think, whether you're an original Mole fan or brand-new to the franchise. Join the conversation here.
And especially if you loved the original, don't miss:
- My oral history of The Mole's early seasons, which has so many juicy details and fun facts!
A review and interview
I reviewed (and recommend!):
I interviewed:
- Cold Justice's composer. The show just reached its 100th episode, and he's composed all of its ‘suspense twang’ music.
Also, here are:
- This week’s reality TV premieres and documentaries airing on TV
Survivor, Amazing Race, and 🛳💩
My weekly recaps, which in the case of Amazing Race, includes my thoughts about The Real Love Boat:
Also this week, I published an exclusive excerpt from Amazing Race co-creator Elise Doginieri's brand-new book:
Reality TV news
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Bethenny Frankel sued TikTok, claiming it "failed to crack down on scam ads that used her videos to promote counterfeit products," as The Washington Post reported.
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MTV announced it's renaming Siesta Key to Siesta Key: Miami Moves, which—wait for it—will follow some of Siesta Key’s cast as they move to Miami.
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The Great British Bake-Off used racist tropes during "Mexico Week," just as it did during "Japanese Week" two years ago.
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Kim Kardashian will pay $1.26 million in penalties for posting on Instagram about a cryptocurrency without revealing she was paid $250,000 to promote it.
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Kim Kardashian's new true-crime Spotify thing* is out. Because this is not at all about her, it's titled "Kim Kardashian's The System: The Case of Kevin Keith." (You can read about his case here.) *I won't call it a podcast because it only lives on Spotify, which is antithetical to the nature of podcasts.
🤩 Recommended
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This show, which is not yet perfect but is great
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This show, especially if you love Blown Away
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This soundtrack, which I desperately miss.
That's everything I've written this week—which I suddenly realize is quite a lot, especially that 14,000-word Mole piece! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and look forward to chatting about the new Mole.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is reality blurred's Reality in Focus issue 306, first sent Oct. 7, 2022, and it thinks it knows who the mole is, even though the person it thought was the mole was eliminated.
💻 This newsletter is hand-crafted in Florida by me, Andy Dehnart, using Buttondown.
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📷 Photo of a front porch decorated for fall by Erica Marsland Huynh