What Survivor secrets do you want to know? • 2 interviews, 4 recaps, 1 review
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday! This week, we learned how reality TV affects us, heard great news from Shirley Chung, and saw Max quietly delete hundreds of reality TV seasons.
I find that trend of deletion—whether it’s on streaming platforms, on websites, or in the government—to be disturbing, though, of course, to varying degrees. And that’s what I talked about on my podcast.
As a preview of next week’s episode, I’ll be sharing an update on my book. 🥳
And related to that, I’m asking for your help:
I’m finishing the second draft, which includes several chapters about my time covering Survivor on location.
But I have three full notebooks and dozens of audio recordings, and not all of that can—or should!—fit.
So, please tell me what you want to know from behind the scenes! And thanks. 😀
🗽 Two interviews + one review
One of my favorite shows so far this year, Got to Get Out, had secret challenges that were edited out.
That’s one of many things I learned from Rob Roman, who appeared on two brand-new competitions in the last year and a half—after being originally cast for The Traitors!
I also interviewed the author of a fascinating new book, who did detailed studies to discover how reality TV makes us more likely to believe in the American Dream. That’s true regardless of show and political party.
Read the interview, and also check out the book: The American Mirage: How Reality TV Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy.
Finally, for Best Evidence:
Eve reviewed Dark Side of the Ring’s premiere, finding it to be “An accessible introduction to an unfamiliar-to-many world (pro wrestling, that is).”
🎪 Recaps
Amazing Race:
Survivor 48:
Below Deck Down Under:
Top Chef Destination Canada:
🗓️ Reality TV premieres
New and returning shows coming this week include the return of the great competition The Devil’s Plan RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and its new format; PBS’s Bugs that Rule the World; and new seasons of Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan, Conan O’Brien Must Go, Long Way Home, and The Playboy Murders
Documentary’s premiering this week focus on people living with Alzheimer’s disease, hummingbirds, octopuses, and threats people “and their families face as they seek to expose the actions of the Kremlin to the world.”
🥰 If you like what you’re reading, and have the means, here are…
💬 Comments of the week
First, apologies for the broken links last week!
In the interface I use to browse comments, I have three links I can copy—one to the article, one to the comment, and one that allows me to edit the article. I accidentally used #3 last week for the article links, oops!
On this Below Deck recap, Michelle wrote:
Lara is Regina George on steroids.
On last week’s Amazing Race recap, SE wrote:
Having been to Naples recently, I wasn’t surprised at all by them having a driver. Driving to the old town was the most harrowing experience I’ve ever had in a car—and we were in a taxi. Just absolutely crazy driving and tiny narrow streets. And the cab driver we had was decidedly in the fleece-the-tourists mindset. Hired drivers—very sensible choice!
On my recap of the latest Amazing Race episode, Suz & Jim wrote:
Omg thank goodness someone has the kahunas to call out Jonathan! Watching this episode was cringe worthy and I would agree that his verbal abuse should not only NOT be rewarded he should be turfed off the show for spousal abuse. He is exhibiting all the characteristics of a narcissist. If he wins the show we will never watch another season.
🗞️ Reality TV news
Cast members:
Shirley Chung is in remission! 🎉 She wrote on Instagram that after "9 weeks, 27 chemos, then 10 weeks 50 radiation and 24 hour chemo drip," her six-month scans show "no cancer cell was detected in my body, I am in 100% Remission!!"
And for that to happen the same week as this? Go Shirley! (Here’s more on her cancer journey.)
Survivor Samoa player John Fincher "has stage IV colorectal cancer," according to a GoFundMe fundraiser, which says "John’s been through hell" over the past five years, including " 19 rounds of chemotherapy, 9 rounds of radiation, 2 surgeries, And now, it's spread to his lungs."
John Elway’s agent, Jeff Sperbeck, died after falling out of a golf cart—and reality TV's own Johnny Bananas was right next to him, and tried to help.
Survivor: The Australian Outback’s Nick Brown is now Washington state attorney general, and the Seattle Times profiled him and his work—including lawsuits that target "obviously illegal or unconstitutional" actions from Donald Trump.
Dolly Parton said she's been asked to judge singing shows, but said no: "I've been asked to do that a lot of times It's too hard for me. That's why I don't accept it, because I know how sincere everybody is. Even if they're not that good, they believe they are. And I just can't hurt people." 🥹
Shows:
Max purged 150+ Food Network, Discovery, TLC shows and seasons
Bravo just announced four new shows for this year: Wife Swap: The Real Housewives, which totally sounds like AI came up with it, plus The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, Ladies of London, and The Valley: Persian Style.
Shows that were renewed include those already scheduled, plus: Below Deck Med (season 10), Below Deck Down Under (season 4), Married to Medicine (season 12), Southern Charm (season 11), Southern Hospitality (season 4), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (season 15), The Real Housewives of Orange County (season 19), The Real Housewives of Potomac (season 10), and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (season 6).
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under contestant Ashley Madison redesigned the Drag Race All Stars poster, and it's a massive improvement. Also wild how bad the original is!
Love on the Spectrum star Abbey Romeo's song "Boyfriend Forever," which she performed on the season three finale, has been submitted for Emmy consideration.
Variety’s Clayton Davis notes that it's "a quiet but powerful rebuke to inflammatory rhetoric like that of Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claimed in a controversial tirade that children with autism would 'never pay taxes, never hold a job, never use a toilet unassisted,'" while her time on the show "is a deeply human counterpoint: an autistic woman not only building a romantic relationship but creating original art now being considered for television’s highest honors."
I have a more nuanced take: Fuck you, RFK, and fuck every senator who voted for that incompetent clown!
🤩 I recommend
The Devil’s Plan on Netflix, which just dropped season two
The new season of Dark Side of the Ring, which Eve Batey writes is the rare show that “lets me chew over a case and come to my own conclusions.”
This wild job interview, which is a great illustration of how AI is not the shit, just 💩
You’ve made it to the end! Thanks for reading, subscribing, and just being you.
Have a fantastic weekend, and I’ll talk to you next Friday in your inbox!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 418 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 9 May 2025, and it’s got fun betrale.