Survivor: Borneo premiered 20 years ago. I’m going to spend the summer rewatching and doing what I didn’t do back in 2000: writing recaps analyzing the reality show that changed everything.
recaps
Recaps and analysis of reality TV show episodes, including nearly every episode of CBS' Survivor.
Survivor Winners at War: a great finale, but not the greatest season
Survivor: Winners at War’s emotional and dramatic finale ended with a deserving winner (and final three), and closed a chapter in the show’s early history.
Worst Cooks’ reality stars—Sonja, Bananas, Wells—perk up Food Network’s worst show
On Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition’s premiere, Johnny Bananas made drinks for Sonja Morgan while Wells Adams whined and Dave Coulier made dad jokes. It was amazing.
Top Chef All Stars LA’s Restaurant Wars: two outstanding episodes
Between its family visit episode and now its modified version of Restaurant Wars, Top Chef All Stars LA has been on fire.
Survivor: Will the ‘100 percent together’ alliance be the final three?
Survivor: Winners at War’s penultimate episode was pretty padded, despite having two Tribal Councils, an Edge challenge, and several extended recaps and previews.
Why are voted-out Survivor winners playing harder than those in the game?
Faced with challenges, one group of Survivor winners gave up, and the other pushed through. It was a disappointing turn of events.
Making the Cut’s winner and runner-up interviews, and final thoughts about the season
Esther Perbandt, Jonny Cota, and Sander Bos were Making the Cut’s final three. I interviewed the winner and runner-up about the judges’ decision, how the show has affected them, and much more.
Survivor becomes The Tony Vlachos show, for better and worse
A roller coaster of Tony took us on a wild ride, and made it easy to forget one of the worst ideas to make its way into Survivor.
Lego Masters’ winners and finale were so unsatisfying
Lego Masters season 1 ended with three teams competing for the $100,000 prize, including a team that should have been eliminated in the previous episode.
Survivor winners’ war paused for family visits, then fast-forwards into an insane Tribal Council
Survivor spent half of its episode on a super-sized loved ones visit, leaving a lot of game play—and advantage playing—for the very end of the episode.
HGTV’s Celebrity IOU brings A-list celebrities to cable reality TV
Actual Brad Pitt was on HGTV with the Property Brothers, on a new show that has the Property Brothers do makeovers alongside actual A-list stars.
In Tokyo, Making the Cut cut two winning designers: interviews and a recap
Making the Cut’s designers flew from Paris to Tokyo, where designers who won challenges were promptly eliminated by a judging panel that’d changed, though was still frustrating.
Survivor’s ‘most chaotic day ever’ ends with one of Survivor’s funniest moments ever
There was high comedy at Tribal Council, and a lot of chaos. Plus: an actual reward challenge! With fortune cookies!
Making the Cut’s team challenge and surprise one-day challenge: interviews and a recap
Making the Cut lost its nerve and became a more conventional fashion design competition in episodes three and four. Interviews with the challenges’ winners about the two biggest twists so far.
The Survivor queen has one final power move before the last pre-merge vote
Survivor: Winners at War had its final pre-merge episode, with one more person sent to the Edge of Extinction—where the newest resident, Sandra, did something no one else has done.