Ep. 194- Pop Culture Episode with Andy Dehnart

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! Please like, rate 5 stars, and review us! 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.