2 recaps, 2 reviews • Love is Blind b.s. • Shark Week • Love Island • much more!

Dear newsletter friends,

It’s the 300th edition of this newsletter, or at least the hand-crafted version. (Its previous life was just an automated list of links, which some of you may have subscribed to back in the day!)

Thanks for giving me some space in your inbox every week, whether you’ve been here 300+ weeks or receiving your first newsletter today.

I know the deluge of e-mail can be overwhelming, so I appreciate being able to share my work with you—and share our love of this genre.

Speaking of, on to the reality shows!

Two recaps:

I recapped:

• Claim to Fame, on which alliances lead to a thrown challenge, lies, and blindsides. It’s great!

• The Challenge: USA, where one of the winners was finally targeted. Was it strategy and/or spite?

Two reviews

I reviewed:

• USA Network’s Snake in the Grass, which is a promising Mole, but in its preview episode on NBC, didn’t give its Survivor alum enough game to play

• Peacock’s Love Island USA, which is is blander, not spicier 🥵 so far

Agree? Disagree? Join us in conversation in the comments on each story!

Reality TV news

• Love is Blind host Vanessa Lachey said some really stupid shit about some of the show’s cast

• During a TCA press conference, I asked PBS CEO Paula Kerger about their new competition The Great American Recipe; she said it’s bringing younger viewers to PBS, and while they’re not yet ready to renew it, the show “was not intended to be a one-and-done.” 🤔

Added recently to my July reality TV news round-up:

• Top Chef Miami’s Howie died

• Jeopardy!’s new (old) permanent hosts

• HBO Max’s reality TV future

• American Idol’s judges and host are returning

• A profile of Drag Race’s Jinkx Monsoon

• All those and more are here

  .

🦈 Shark Week

It’s Shark Week! Which means it’s time for shark appreciation, and, alas, misinformation.

So here are some looks at Shark Week’s sketchy history:

• Scientists watched 32 years of Shark Week. Here’s what they discovered.

• Why does Shark Week ignore so many shark experts, and why does it matter?

Also on TV this week:

1. Here are this week’s reality show premieres

2. And all the docs and specials premiering

🤩 I recommend

• This show, which is getting better and better

• This new show, which I hope will get better

• This new newsletter, reported by my friend Mary-Beth Ellis, which is “for people dedicated to the idea that the US domestic conflict could be better.”

I hope you enjoy reading some of the above, and watching some great reality TV. Have a terrific rest of your week!

—Andy

---

🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 300, first sent 29 July 2022, and it is not the snake.

💻 This newsletter is hand-crafted in Florida by me, Andy Dehnart, and is supported in part by reality blurred patrons and paid subscribers to this newsletter. I’m grateful for them. If you can—or have a healthy expense account!—consider becoming a patron or upgrading your newsletter subscription.

💌 If you like this newsletter, forward it to a friend! If you're that friend, you can subscribe here!

✅ Bookmark realityblurred.com and visit daily for the latest of my reality TV news analysis, reviews, and commentary.

📷 Photo of trees in Muir Woods National Monument by Eric Ward