TOC exclusive • new Drag Race format • milk muscles • tiny penguins • reviews & recs
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday! We’ve come to the end of another week and (almost) another month, never mind the first third of a wild and rocky year.
I have a bunch of news, reviews, recaps, and recommendations for you, so I’ll get to that after saying: I’m grateful we’re together in this space, and in community around reality TV.
That seems silly, but pop culture brings us together, and provides everything from entertainment to education—and often, distraction!
So I hope this newsletter and the stories within bring some of that to you. 💜
🏆 Tournament of Champions & Top Chef
TOC:
My interview with Antonia Lofaso, who was again in the final four this year
Top Chef:
🐎 Reviews
Mary Beth Ellis reviewed:
Sarah D. Bunting discusses:
Susan Howard predicted:
🥛 Recaps
Survivor 48:
Below Deck Down Under:
Episode 12: Lara’s queen bee campaign stings Tzarina
Amazing Race:
Episode 7: an unnecessary U-Turn screws a team
Episode 8: a triumphant return to navigation and clue-reading
Phil Keoghan shared the behind-the-scenes of getting a quick shot for an earlier episode
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
New and returning shows coming this week included Netflix’s attempt at The Challenge, which is called Battle Camp, plus the return of Vanderpump Villa, a new season of Morimoto’s Sushi Master (here’s my season one review), the new Love It or List It, with new designer Page Turner; a Dr. Pimple Popper spin-off; and the return of The Rehearsal, which I may review, or not (or explore why I’m so resistent to this show!).
This week’s documentary premieres focus on penguins, the restoration of a river, and a community fighting back against the government.
💬 Comments of the week
After this week’s Survivor, Christopher wrote,
My kink is watching people that have always been first in everything picked last or voted out (first preferably). David and Mossimo didn’t let me down this week.
On Mary Beth Elli’s review of Race for the Crown, HHFormerHunterJumper wrote:
Your take on the show is so spot-on. One thing that not only wasn’t glossed over, but completely ignored, is the toll the sport takes on the athletes themselves – the horses. I didn’t need to see a PETA-worthy documentary, but I would have liked some acknowledgement of the number of horses injured and killed for this sport.
🗞️ News
Show news:
Paramount+’s RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 10 will change its format to a bracketed competition: 18 queens competing in three groups of six over three episodes each, with the top three in each competing in the semi-finals.
The cast: Acid Betty, Aja, Alyssa Hunter, Bosco, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Daya Betty, DeJa Skye, Denali, Ginger Minj, Irene the Alien, Jorgeous, Kerri Colby, Lydia B. Kollins, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Nicole Paige Brooks, Olivia Lux, Phoenix, and Tina Burner.
The Summit won't get a second season on CBS, alas; the network canceled it, according to a suddenly flurry of trade reports that don't cite any sources.
However, TV Series Finale notes that The Summit "the network’s least-watched series of the current season" among total viewers, though Raid the Cage has even fewer young viewers this season on CBS.
Fox is getting in The Traitors game with its own lying-centered reality TV format, The Snake. Jim Jefferies will host the show, which Fox says "assembles 15 masters of manipulation from various persuasive professions with unique skill sets to compete in an outrageous array of challenges and twists."
Peacock will follow Love Island USA "around Los Angeles as they navigate new careers, evolving friendships, newfound fame and complex relationships outside of the Love Island villa" for a new series, Love Island: Beyond the Villa. Will anyone care to watch Islanders while they're wearing clothes?
Reality star news:
The Golden Bachelor will return with Mel Owens, 66, as its star; he's a divorced former NFL player turned lawyer.
TOC winner and sideline reporter Tiffani Faison said a man came into her Boston restaurant and tore down its pride flag. “We’re a proudly queer-owned business, we’ve been in this neighborhood for 13+ years and nothing like this has ever happened,” she wrote on Instagram. “It was unnerving to say the least. It’s almost like there’s something in the air that makes people feel like this is acceptable behavior. It’s not. We’re not less queer, not less proud and not going to cower.” Mustache Joe Sasto responded in the comments saying, “we got your back.”
Drag Race star Jasmine Kennedie posted a video of a man she said "harassed and followed" and said, "trans women are being targeted with hate and they are trying to stoke fear into us. I will never allow someone to make me coward, make me feel insignificant."
The man was identified and fired from his job, and Jasmine told Pride, "A job loss is horrible for anybody, but if you’re working for an LGBTQ+ friendly gym, I don’t think that’s the type of rhetoric that should be spewed around by one of the employees."
🤩 I recommend
This Netflix series, Race for the Crown, which Mary Beth Ellis writes is great for those of us new to the sport
The finale of Tournament of Champions, which was thrilling
This amazing interview, which I won’t explain in case you haven’t seen it yet
If you have seen it, the sisters run a bird and pelican rescue
📚 Shopping at a local bookstore on Independent Bookstore Day: Saturday, April 26—and every day!
Check out Sarah D. Bunting’s Exhibit B. Books, which is giving you 20 percent off all paperbacks 🎉
You made it to the end! Thanks for reading, and commenting, and sharing, and watching with me. Have a delightful weekend!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 416 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 25 April 2025, and it would have been thrilled with any of the four final TOC chefs winning.