Lauren and Michele are joined by one of the great minds of reality TV analysis, Andy Dehnart, whose website www.realityblurred.com has delivered 26 years of excellence in reality TV reporting, interviews, behind the scenes breakdowns, and recaps!
You can follow him on IG, Tiktok and Threads @andydehnart
Listen to his podcast, "Made for Humans: How Reality Becomes TV" wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to the weekly Reality Blurred newsletter for updates on everything you should know and be watching in the Reality TV-sphere!
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0:01 — Intro
0:27 — Andy introduced as Reality Blurred creator
1:15 — Threads discussion and reality TV media literacy
3:53 — Why Andy keeps writing about reality TV
4:19 — “Reality TV is fake” is too reductive
6:29 — Big Brother live feeds and production craft
7:21 — Reality TV production as freelance labor
8:29 — Reality TV labor, unions, and cast protections
10:09 — Love Is Blind employment and treatment concerns
12:19 — How edits can distort reality TV cast members
13:37 — Social media’s impact on reality TV
15:45 — Tyra Banks / America’s Next Top Model lawsuit discussion
18:23 — Contract protections in documentary interviews
21:33 — Leah McSweeney / Bravo lawsuit mention
23:24 — Luke Parker and non-disparagement clauses
25:24 — Bachelorette / Taylor Frankie Paul season discussion
29:54 — Reality stars as talent and “star” development
31:35 — NBC/Bravo casting talent pipeline
37:53 — The Traitors civilian version discussion
41:44 — Housewives on The Traitors debate
45:40 — RuPaul’s Drag Race queens on other shows
46:23 — Big Brother and homophobia discussion
49:13 — Plane Jane / Project Runway criticism
52:30 — Reality TV Mount Rushmore question
54:02 — Andy’s picks: Lance Loud and Pedro Zamora
58:13 — Where to find Andy online Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.