u/realityblurred

I interviewed Anthony Carbone, the showrunner of Fox's The Floor, who answered all my questions about what happens behind the scenes. I hope it answers some of yours, too!

Among other things, I was surprised to learn:

• no other edition of The Floor films in Ireland on Fox's set. Instead, Talpa (which owns the format) built a replica of Fox's set in the Netherlands, and international productions use that
• players are given a list of all 100 categories—and how they'll be played, e.g. they know the Bobbleheads category is actually historical figures—before they learn their own category just before filming
• there's just one guy whose job it is to judge answers, but he's working from a list (including alts) that the creative team created before they even chose images.

I think Antonia's great, so I was really disappointed by this show—and while reviewing it, I realized that was because of how little time the episodes give to Antonia actually teaching.

I loved the scene in the second episode with her showing servers how to use a tray. But I timed it: that was about one minute of 43.

Am I the only one who'd rather watch 40 minutes of her working with staffs and three minutes of surveillance footage? (If we must have surveillance footage!)

Like a lot of you, I really enjoyed this new version of Restaurant Impossible! Fewer theatrics, more realism about what can be accomplished by a reality TV show in two or three days.

I was very surprised to see it was not only filmed in Canada, but by a Canadian production company (female-owned and operated) and for Rogers. Since Warner Bros. Discovery owns the format, I'm sure Food Network had input, but maybe this works in part because it's more Canadian, less American?

I've been checking in on the Love is Blind season 5 lawsuit, where a cast member sued producers and another cast member for, among other things, sexual assault and false imprisonment. And I was surprised to see that it was settled, which the judge approved earlier this month.

Kinetic Content spent years fighting it, including arguing that they had nothing to do with the show, and that it was the responsibility of Delirium TV LLC, a company that shared an address in LA with Kinetic. Oh, and e-mail to cast came from people with Kinetic e-mail addresses.

Anyway: After the judge ruled that two EPs were to be deposed, ordered Kinetic to disclose all the camera operators' names, and ruled on which topics its representative would have to be deposed about, the parties settled.

You can read all the court docs, and I also listed the topics, including:

• "All actions taken by the company in response to Plaintiff's complaints) and/or reports of harassment." (Limited to season 5)
• "Any remedial steps taken following Plaintiff's complaint (training, discipline, policy revision, etc.)." (Limited to season 5)
• "The extent to which the Corporate Defendants' anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, and anti-retaliation policies in effect for Love is Blind are the same as, or differ from, those policies for other Kinetic Shows."

I was curious what kind of risk there is from semen on sheets, thanks to Luke's Below Deck Med deposit on Nathan's bed. And I couldn't find good information—especially not Us Weekly interviewing Joe Bradley (!!) as if he's an expert.

So I asked a UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine Professor of Medicine who works in infectious diseases and specializes in the treatment and prevention of STIs and HIV.

His detailed insight is in the story, but basically: it's unlikely that traditional STIs could be transmitted that way, but monkeypox and staph could be.

When I've been watching Chopped: Castaways, I've been thinking about how weird parts of it are—but nowhere near as weird as some of the original creative that was propsed for the show! Can you imagine Ted Allen feeding the losers' food to a dog every round? 😅

Since TOC has The Randomizer, can we call 100 Cooks selection process the Ball Dropper? Because Terry Crews just has to stand there and just wait for his balls to drop.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Lee Anne after her much-deserved win.

Lots of fun details here, including that Jonathan Sawyer recommended she bring extra socks to change into every few hours, and also that 24 hours is actually 27 or so because they stop the clock to bring in judges or clear the stations. That makes it seem even more impossible to me!

In this recap, Marshal Knight writes that the AS11 E5 maxi challenge is “another entry into Drag Race’s laundry list of ‘What is the actual goal here?’ challenges,” and it’s a “total crapshoot” what the judges want: “pure comedy or genuine instruction or intricate line delivery”?

And that got me thinking: Is it better to be given a wide-open challenge so the queens can do their thing? Or is it better to get a very narrow set of criteria so the queens can deliver what the judges want?