Survivor 49 recap: the greatest exit exchange ever!
DWTS recap: Halloween night scores were a goblet of gaslights
Amazing Race 38 recap: teams couldn’t escape the last leg
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How one person kept fans connected after Disney cancelled a reality TV show
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Yellowstone producers to take on JonBenét Ramsey case
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Old-school spiritualist scams; New York cold cases
Plus Jim McGreevey, the Kingfish, and more Halloween true-crime reads.
Amazing Race 38 recap: teams couldn’t escape the last leg
The Amazing Race 38 episode 6, a rather dull episode, was effectively a continuation of the last episode, and a perfect opportunity for a non-elimination.
Survivor 49 recap: the greatest exit exchange ever!
Survivor 49 divided back into tiny tribes—why not 12 tribes of two?!—with the potential of screwing three players. Instead, we got amazing TV from a duo I won’t forget, at least not until next week.
What do Amazing Race teams do after elimination and at pit stops?
What happens at The Amazing Race pit stops? What is Sequesterville? Why don’t teams still mingle with each other? Those and other TAR questions, answered!
DWTS recap: Halloween night scores were a goblet of gaslights
For Dancing with the Stars 34 episode 7, Halloween Night, the dancers were all in costumes, and the judges were all over the place yet again. Marshal Knight recaps the scary mess!
How one person kept fans connected after Disney cancelled a reality TV show
This week: The behind-the-scenes of a recent interview with a producer who single-handedly revived a reality TV show after it was cancelled by Disney, and the lesson in it for me and other writers/creators.
Finding Mr. Christmas is a holiday hoot and a half—and Hallmark’s own Drag Race
The Hallmark hunk competition Finding Mr. Christmas is back for season two, and has a lot in common with Drag Race, from the challenges to the gay gasps.
Below Deck Med recap: clown jump scares and familiar eyebrows return
Who did Nathan fire on Below Deck Med season 10, episode 5, Christian or Tessa? Why did the vegan get so mad at chef Josh? And why do we keep having to see him in clown makeup?
Don’t Date Brandon is an engaging look at female solidarity and toxic masculinity
New true crime series Don’t Date Brandon on Paramount+ turns the standard love fraud narrative tropes on its head.
Port Protection Alaska lives on thanks to one producer’s brilliant idea and work
Producer Mickey Ramos on how she built an audience from fans abandoned by NatGeo when they cancelled Port Protection, and is now producing a show from Alaska by herself.
News & updates
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Rubina and Tucker broke up after Amazing Race 38. Rubina said, "We were so green in our relationship. We might have spent one-on-one time before that for a couple of days. It was helpful and hurtful — let's be real to the relationship. But to the race, it was easy to stay focused and just be in it with my sister."
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Holey Moley producers Eureka Productions just started production on The Golden Ticket for Netflix. The Willy Wonka reality TV show is being filmed in Australia, at the Village Roadshow Studios in the Gold Coast, and Netflix said the game "will challenge players not just physically, but mentally as they navigate games, tests, and temptations designed to probe their instincts, resilience, and ability to thrive in chaos."
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American Idol 24 is moving its Hollywood week to Nashville, and yet still calling it Hollywood week. 🤨 ABC says "'Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover' will feature one round only as the hopefuls from all musical genres take the stage for a make-or-break performance, facing the biggest Hollywood Week cut in Idol history."
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Paid subscribers to Best Evidence got my review of Virginia Roberts Giuffre's posthumous crimoir, Nobody's Girl. If you were on the fence about buying or reading the book, upgrade your sub and see my recommendation.
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On his podcast, Jeff Probst asked his co-host, Survivor: Cambodia winner Jeremy Collins, "Jeremy, I'm going to put you on the spot—and I mean this as a legit question: In the Survivor world, does Parvati winning Survivor Australia count in the same way that winning this Survivor does?"
I guess it's easier to shit on Parvati than just saying I'm jealous of Australian Survivor.
Jeremy said, "I don't think so. In in my Survivor world, I say she has one and a half wins. It's a good win, Survivor Australia is a good win, but it's not the same as Survivor US. It's not the same."
That's 1) dumb, because of course it does, and 2) if Parvati's win doesn't count, neither do all the 26-day season winners because they played shorter games than the 39-day winners.
Parvati replied in an Instagram comment, "A couple of straight men trying to discredit a woman… get a new move boys".
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A couple of bold-type sports-world headlines from the last couple of days...
Billups, Rozier, Jones arrested in betting, poker schemes // Live updates at The Athletic on the latest movement in a federal probe investigating prop bets and poker rings. Portland coach Chauncey Billups, current Miami player Terry Rozier, and former Cleveland coach/LeBron James associate Damon Jones were arrested today.
Angels' Mike Trout testifies he never saw signs of drug use from late teammate Tyler Skaggs // Skaggs's family is trying to have the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim held responsible for Skaggs's overdose death in 2019. CW around some of the details regarding "dares" and Eric Kay, whose part in this sad saga has already been adjudicated, are deeply disgusting -- and pitiable.
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The Amazing Race season one cast member Dave Groark, who ran the race with his wife Margaretta, died Aug. 13, 2025, at age 89. His obituary notes that Margaretta died before him, back in 2008.
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So You Think You Can Dance season 4 winner Joshua Allen died earlier this month after being hit by a train. He was 36. Family friends have set up a GoFundMe that will be used for "covering funeral and burial costs, as well as providing short-term support for" his parents, the page says.
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President Trump announced that he has commuted the sentence of George Santos. It's a good thing there aren't tariffs on eye-roll emojis because [18,284 eye-roll emojis].
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Pop Culture Jeopardy—the one with teams of three—is coming back for a second season, but on Netflix, not Amazon.
Not mentioned in the press release: Colin Jost. Probably cheaper and better TV to just put a cardboard cutout behind the host stand.
recent comments
That’s Tucker, and it looks like a different company. But that would have been wild!
Phil is finally starting to sound like himself again, thank goodness. Eric said that he was a food scientist for the world’s first frozen protein bar company. I wonder if it’s this company that was on Shark Tank…
I hope fox will take tough as nails season 6
If I had a girlfriend and she said she wanted somebody else to win, I would find me a new girlfriend. It was interesting to see Taylor’s reaction during the memory & maze roadblock. She’s normally very in…
Me too!
When I saw Izzy kick the wheelbarrow, I thought that there would be a medic call afterwards and she would have a broken ankle or something.
Thank you VERY much for answering my questions! It’s been so long since those beginning seasons that I forgot they did get to mingle during a pit stop.
I like the tribe swap after every tribal council idea.
Sage has been such a god-send this season. I think that if Jeff is going to go with all of these tribe swaps, he should take it up a notch and do a tribe swap after every single…
From the archives
Recommended reality TV shows
Last Bite Hotel adds eerie vibes—and a bit of strategy—to a typical Food Network show
The Floor’s clever visual duels separate it from typical game shows
Why Drag Race UK proved to be a ‘much betta’ version
Race to the Center of the Earth is Amazing Race without its worst features
True crime reviews
Lady of the Dunes is ALMOST interesting, by accident
Carrie Carolyn Coco isn’t a conventional crimoir
From the archives: The Best Evidence Watergate reader
Darn it, I knew I was going to get them mixed up! Thanks for checking.