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reality TV reviews, news, and analysis since 2000
Three people standing behind a Volkswagen Bug that has been painted green and has scales like a dinosaur

Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge is an empty, Frankensteined mess

NBC's Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge is ultimately just a soulless, corporate reality competition that rarely makes any sense.

The Hollywood sign in stylized black and white ‘It’s not inevitable that the powerful have to abuse their power’
A man in a white chef's coat gesturing angrily; a pencil is behind his ear Gordon Ramsay clashed with Hell’s Kitchen’s producer during the very first dinner service
A person smiling and tilting their head back Padma Lakshmi is quitting Top Chef
Two drag queens and a man in a suit press a castle-shaped beach toy into a cake on a table covered with cooking items Drag Me To Dinner: Hulu’s drag show is too often a drag

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Updates

  • Monday: Bling Empire star Anna Shay died after a stroke. She was 62.
  • Monday: Changed my mind about Top Chef: I'll recap last week's episode with this week's finale. Coming tonight: a review of Stars on Mars.
  • Friday: My Top Chef recap will come later this weekend, probably Sunday.
  • Tuesday: My dad died last night, so this week is a little *shrug emoji* for me in terms of updates here. I do hope to have some reviews up soon, but we'll see. Hug your loved ones/pets/pillows for me!
  • Sunday: Why doesn't Netflix do two or three Barbecue Showdowns every year? It has two of the best judges on reality TV today—more, please!
  • Monday: My Top Chef recap is coming later today!
  • Thursday: The latest Jeff Probst podcast episode is a total waste of time—except there is one fascinating reveal. My recap covers that for you!
  • Monday: Netflix's Outlast, which shocked with its lack of rules and turned one of its players into a villain, will return for a second season.
  • Monday: The Real Housewives of New York City "legacy" cast will go on vacation to Saint Barthélemy together on Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, rather than hanging out in New York City. The cast: Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Dorinda Medley, Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer, and Kristen Taekman.
  • Friday, May 12: Jeff Probst says: "I’d rather [Survivor] died because [I] went too far." Read my latest recap of his podcast for more.
  • Sunday, May 7: I made a Traitors fan t-shirt!
  • This is the primary place I post updates about reality blurred, but you can also find me on Instagram (@andydehnart) and on Mastodon (mastodon.social/@realityblurred).
  • More →

Don't Miss → My weekly recaps of Jeff Probst's podcast • How Tournament of Champions works • How Survivor players are costumed

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Featured comment

"We get so focused on winners and losers that we sometimes miss the point of the show, which is to witness the joy of the contestants just being there.
They say no one ever remembers who came in second, but we will definitely remember these bakers. In the end we know who WE think is better. We don’t need the judges to tell us that." —Abbie, on this story

Recent discussions

  4. I have just watched the first 2 episodes of Late Night Lockup and it's really damn funny! Spoiler alert: there are many farts in episode 2. 😂

Recent reality TV reviews

Three people standing behind a Volkswagen Bug that has been painted green and has scales like a dinosaur Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge is an empty, Frankensteined mess
People in white space jumpsuits sitting around on couches in a space with gray walls and numbers written on the wall Stars on Mars, Fox’s celebrity Big Brother in space, is thinner than Mars’ atmosphere
Two drag queens and a man in a suit press a castle-shaped beach toy into a cake on a table covered with cooking items Drag Me To Dinner: Hulu’s drag show is too often a drag
Two people at a table looking down at their food Winner aside, Ciao House’s fatal flaw kept it from being fantastico
A person holding a piece of raw meat and a large crab; another person looks on Netflix’s Barbecue Showdown is even more succulent in season 2
Three people at game show podiums, which say 37,600 & 3, 0 & 0, and 9,800 & 1 Jeopardy! Masters is the game show at its best in the post-Alex Trebek era

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Deep dives

Amazing Race behind the scenes

Trading Spaces

What happened behind the scenes

The Mole

An oral history of the Anderson Cooper and ABC years

random recommended reality

A painter wearing an apron, with paintings on two easels and paint on the table in front of her MTV’s The Exhibit is worth a look thanks to the strength of its modern artists
John Leonard and Todd Hoffman today, as seen in Netflix's Pepsi, Where's My Jet? Why Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? is irresistible—and should be Netflix’s new true-crime model
Kristen Bell, Coy Middlebrook, Encore, ABC Encore, Kristen Bell’s reunion of high school theater classmates, needs to be a full series immediately

“Television can be such a fabulous teacher”

– Mister Rogers

Fred Rogers, Won't You Be My Neighbor