Escaping Reality

We have arrived at the finale of season 43! And honestly, we want a do-over. Congrats to Gabler on his entirely unexpected win, but we do have to discuss our issues with the edit that got us here. We break down the last few challenges, the gut-wrenching fire-making, and the final tribal performances. Plus we share some thoughts on ways to improve future seasons, and basically make sure we never ha...

This week was a big one - we saw the demise of one of the core relationships of the season and had a lot of intricate details about the player and their paths to the end woven into the episode. It was the first episode of the season that we all actually really enjoyed and now we're all actually so excited for this week. We're breaking down every minute for you today.  We get super excited for...

We're getting down to the wire, and somehow Jesse and Cody are still not up for being voted out (either by advantage circumstance or skillful hiding), and we are baffled. With a historic end to an LONG immunity challenge, we were excited to see Karla and Owen grab another immunity. Between the advantage search/scramble in the woods and 12 minutes of the challenge, we felt this episode had a lot go...

Can you believe that we're only a few episodes away from the finale on Survivor Season 43 + we still don't know how we feel about this season? Lucky for you, we're breaking down the feelings we do understand + posing a lot of questions about the things we don't.  Is a Winner's edit really a Winner's edit if it's too obvious? How much inspiration is so much inspiration that it becomes  in...

It appears Jeff and the producers listen to our podcast because they are FINALLY giving us what we want! We dig into this deeper in this week's episode. We are also talking appropriate bread thickness for a PB&J, what makes a Tribal Council enjoyable, the Owen/James debacle, and what the heck Ryan is doing with *thirty pounds* of clams on his person. And on a more serious note we share our tho...

Can we just ask? What the HECK is going on with Survivor this season? We're confused and unhappy. But, of course, we're having an absolute riot talking about it - go figure! Despite this maybe being our least favorite episode to watch so far, it was one of our most hilarious podcast episodes to record. In chaos, there is joy.  We're breaking down the lack of gameplay from the castaways, the c...

Well, fam, Survivor 43 is doing something different this week, but we're on the fence about whether or not we are loving it. It was a divisive episode for all of us, so follow along as Agie tries to sort out her feelings about the amount of Gabler content she was force fed this episode. We're breaking down every moment, and good, bad, or ugly there's a lot to talk about.  As a bonus, Anna is...

It's the merge episode, BYOB!!! For this episode, Stacey and Agie are holding down the fort, and we're having a grand ol' time. We share our thoughts on the merge challenge, the merge feat, and which players seem ready to get down to business. We also discuss the long-awaited Baka implosion and where we think it leaves the rest of their group. And of course, we have our castaways of the week, Fans...

Is it just us or did a lot of this episode feel like a repeat of last week? That déjà vu was hitting the Escaping Reality team as they began to make their way through the episode. There's a lot to unpack in this episode -- which all 3 of us deemed as the best episode of the season so far, so it's onwards and upwards, fam. Let's keep this momentum going next week, shall we? We debate whether or not...

We're back with our usual Survivor Season 43 episode recap & quite honestly this show needs to get it together. As our episode title suggests: 8.5 is not a good score out of 100. You could listen for context, or you could semi-accurately assume that's our rating for this season so far. Jokes! but maybe with a little truth to it....  We're breaking down the latest episode -- talking challe...

We’re coming at ya hot with our recap of Survivor 43 episode 3! Tune in to hear our critiques, questions, and concerns. We were quite critical, but don’t worry it's all out of love. As always we have our rapid fire questions and vibe checks for Jeff as well.  Be sure to give us a follow on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please...

We're easing into this new season of Survivor. And by 'easing,' I mean: we're going all in with SO much to unpack. This episode -- all 90 minutes of it -- gave us so many goodies to chat about. Not only did we get a new twist on an old advantage, but we continued to get a ton of player backstory, relationship building, and alliance discussion.  Jeff is on one during the challenge, but we have...

NEW SEASON OF SURVIVOR, can I get an ✨AMEN✨ up in here? In a twist, Jeff has decided to explain the third season of this "new era" as if it were the first. We break down all the ways in which this man should potentially be vibe checked as well as the actual gameplay of Episode 1: "LIVIN" for you in this episode. Anna, Stacey, and Agie had a grand time talking through all the challenges, str...

We made it to TJ's Final! We talk about our thoughts on the shocking 5 part final and our main takeaway is, what even are the rules?! Plus we dive into the editing of this season, the controversial DQ's and the eventual winners. Congrats to the winners who will represent Team USA in the World Competition. Not sure if we'll be watching yet, as we would like a guarantee that rules will be provided f...

It's almost time to bring back Survivor, Babyyyy! Despite some raspy voices, the Escaping Reality team is extremely excited to be back talking about out favorite show. In anticipation of the new season premiere, we're sitting down to discuss our overall feelings & expectations for Season 43 -- which includes an individual assessment of each new castaway based on their promo videos, Entertainme...

After this recap episode there is only one episode left until we are able to find a winner of The Challenge: USA and definitely we can say who ran TJ's final the best. It's been a long journey to get here and we're breaking down the most recent two episodes for you so that you can be mentally and spiritually prepared for the final this week.  Who do you think has it in the bag? We have a few...

It's been a while since we talked Survivor, and with S43 right around the corner we thought it was time to bring another Survivor Alum to the pod! We were extremely grateful to sit down with Naseer Muttalif (S41) to talk about his Survivor experience, what he does to escape reality, and his thoughts on the upcoming season. Some of us might have even teared up hearing his positive attitude on Survi...

We're hitting our Challenge: USA stride! Its episode recap time & we've finally come to the individual game. With this turning point comes a renewed enthusiasm for the players AND for us. It's all coming together now.  We're talking through how this shift in the game will affect strategies, challenges, and alliances; Who we're still enjoying & who is clearly not an editor's favorite;...

It's that time of the week! A new episode to catch up on The Challenge USA! We're recapping episodes 5 + 6 on this one &, not gonna lie, we're feeling a bit of a lull in the season. So, naturally, we're unpacking all the reasons we're maybe feeling a bit bored by the gameplay. But, we're obviously including all the parts & players we're still fully obsessed with. We're looking at TJ under...

We're back, back, back again, and this time we're here to break down 2 episodes of The Challenge: USA (on CBS). With Nick out this week, Stacey, Anna, and Agie were joined by none other than fellow reality TV aficionado and podcast co-host Donny Hadfield-Smith ( @realdonnywood )! He is the co-host of I Am The Cute One: A Nostalgia Podcast which recaps a lot of your favorite shows and movies from y...

The whole crew is here this week to talk about a new show, The Challenge USA! We talk about our past Challenge watching histories, which players we have our eyes on—both for gameplay and just cause they are easy on the eyes—and our thoughts on playing with your ex. And of course we vibe check TJ Lavin because no reality tv show host is exempt from a good vibe check.  Be sure to give us a foll...

We're back to talk about the latest season of The Circle! The Circle season 4 is out now on Netflix & since (most of us) enjoyed covering the previous seasons, we couldn't wait to chat through this new one! What is the show still doing right? where can it continue to improve? does it need a host at all!? All questions that will be answered.  Without totally beating a dead horse... we're r...

The time has come to say goodbye to Survivor Season 42, and we're not letting it go without giving you ALL our feelings on the final episode. The Escaping Reality gals are back this week to talk from final five to final tribal (and beyond... to the pizza party) and WOW do we have a lot to say.  While the episode gave us an immaculate winner, the events of the episode weren't all that groundbr...

The girls are back and recapping the penultimate episode of S42!  We chat about the fall of Omar and the rise of Maryanne, as well as the ways Romeo may be playing more than it seems. And of course we give our predictions for the winner.  Plus, some great discourse on how Jeff maybe gets his inspiration from his Peloton bike.  Our show is about escaping the chaos of this world, but...

It's Agie, Stacey, and Anna in the chat today, and we had a doozy of a time trying to get this recorded for y'all. From technical difficulties to laugh breaks, we had so much fun talking about Episode 11 and can't wait to hear your thoughts. There is so much to unpack from the "Do or Die" to comparing this week's challenge to its previous iterations in previous seasons. We also are talking editing...