Escaping Reality

Can you believe that we've made it to final 8? The game is really heating up and with only 3 episodes left after this one, there's still a lot of game left to play. Listen to us break down all the things that we think are going to be important as we enter the final stages of this game: who has what it takes to win and who is just superfluous at this point? Nick is back to help us talk about the ep...

Settle in for our recap of a hugely important episode. We always appreciate when diversity is addressed in Survivor, so you already know we had MANY thoughts about this episode. Listen for our takes on representation, allyship, white fragility, straight men being...straight men, and TV shows that the disgruntled Survivor 'fans' should consider watching instead of Survivor (cause you’ve got other o...

We're post-merge and knee-deep in some seriously good Survivor, my dudes. Season 42, Episode 7 was littered with goodies and we're talking through it all!  Not only did this episode give us a new take on the Beware Advantage, it gave us a million more reasons to BEWARE of Jeff. We're unpacking all of the completely out of pocket Jeff moments, and all of the continued strategies that caught us...

It's Merge time, Baby!! Well... almost. We've got a few hoops to jump through first.  We're back with our coverage of the latest episode in Season 42 of Survivor! Episode 6 finds us finally at the individual game, after a few lackluster weeks, it comes much anticipated. Since we all watched Season 41, we knew much of what to expect with this episodes twist, but, as Jeff intended, the decision...

Talk about "turning back time"--another Survivor episode in which not that much happened yet the girls had a grand ole time recapping. And we pinky promise Nick will be back soon! We chat about Jonathan’s waning patience, Lydia’s body positivity moment, confusing voting choices, and much more. Plus, some of our best vibe checks of the season for "Mr. Jeff". Don’t miss this riveting recap of Surviv...

Wow, for an episode in which not that much happened, Agie, Anna, and Stacey had a ton of fun breaking down this episode. Nick is away so the girlies will play. We had a few chuckles along the way as we break down each and every moment from the episode. Do we think Daniel is out of time? Do we love Taku and Jonathan more than we originally thought? Who are we actually rooting for leading up to the...

We thought we were still in the early doldrums of a new Survivor season, and WOW we were underprepared for the season's 3rd episode to come out swinging so hard! We were absolutely gripped to our tvs for this one. Between the insane and dangerous challenge sequence right through the most chaotic tribal council, this one left us with SO much to discuss.  So we're doing just that! Talking all t...

Let's talk episode 2 of Survivor 42! And this week we have a special guest--welcome back to the pod, Alex from Speaking Llama: A Survivor Podcast!  In this episode we discuss the players who have pleasantly surprised us and reminded us to never judge a book by its cover. We also discuss the infamous Maryanne/Zach 'budding romance' and Jeff’s audition for host of The Bachelor. Speaking of love...

IT'S BACK! Survivor is BACK with a brand new season and a stunning 2 hr episode to kick it off! We're stoked to be covering a season of Survivor once again in real time + we hope you're excited to join us!  Not only are we hitting all the key points of ANY new season discussion (castaways, what to expect this season, overall vibes), but we're bringing back all of our favorite segments-- VIBE...

Welcome back, Escaping Reality Fam! Can you believe it's time for another season of Survivor already!? We hardly can, but we're so ready for it.  We're doing something new (for us) this time around & giving our first impressions of the Season 42 castaways -- based on the CBS cast bios, social media content, + other preview interviews/media. We're loving these castaways so far & are so...

Welcome back to another episode of Escaping Reality! Have you found yourself thinking: what’s one type of reality competition show we haven’t covered yet by in our 100+ episodes? Well, the answer would be: A singing competition! And while we aren’t watching a specific singing competition for the pod just yet, we thought it would be fun to have a chat about a the singing competition show genre. We...

Welcome back to Escaping Reality! After some much needed New Year's rest, we're back! While we wait out the weeks until the next new season of Survivor... we thought it would be fun to have a more general conversation about a genre of reality competition show, rather than focus on one show in particular. Since it's Valentine's weekend, we thought the perfect type of show to discuss would be the in...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to our favorite listeners, the Escaping Reality Fam! From us to you, we cannot begin to describe how grateful we are to spend another holiday season with you all. 🎄🎅🏻 That being said, we wanted to find a way to bring some holiday cheer to both our December and yours so we decided to watch Season 1 of 12 Dates of Christmas, available on HBOMax. And, what a joyf...

We did it, fam! we've come to the end of this much-anticipated and historic season of Survivor. We were so excited to discuss it, but so sad to see it come to an end! With a 3 hr finale episode, we had LOADS to get through - yet somehow managed to distill all our thoughts into a comprehensive recap. Of course we're talking about the journey to the final vote & our feelings on everything that happe...

The penultimate episode of Survivor Season 41 has come and gone & we're giving you ALL of our thoughts as usual! This episode is particularly exciting, as we get to share our final thoughts and predictions before knowing how it all wraps up!  We're discussing the multiple ways in which we could see the finale playing out, our increased love for Erika's game & how the editors owe her a serious apol...

This season just keeps delivering! Episode 11 of Survivor Season 41 was a powerful one & we had a great time discussing all of its aspects this week.  From a new & 'dangerous' twist (Jeff's words, not ours) to a emotional & impactful tribal council, this episode had us on the edges of our seats the whole way through. With the added context and perspective from our recent interview with Wendell Hol...

Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from RuPaul Charles and the entire DragRace UK Season 3 cast! And, wow, what a fun episode theme we had this week. It's finally finale time and we're going to crown our winner of UK Season 3. Agie and Nick may not have originally agreed with Ru's pick, but we had a lot of fun trying to sort through our feelings on the air. And, you get to try and figure...

We're beyond excited to share this episode with you all! We had the absolute delight of welcoming Wendell Holland to this special episode of Escaping Reality! Wendell (winner of Survivor S36 Ghost Island + returning player on S40 Winners at War) is the first winner we've had on the pod & we could not be more grateful for the stories & perspective he shared with us.  In addition to being a prominen...

With the finale of Survivor Season 41 just weeks away, we're getting some beautiful ends to the storylines that won't make it to the final episode. This episode was full of emotional moments and big moves -- and we LOVE to see it.  We're talking all things narrative arc, representation, and the importance of the edit painting a well-rounded picture of the castaways. Plus, who is playing a solid ga...

Happy Thanksgiving Escaping Reality Fam! 🦃🍽 From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for coming on this journey with us, and letting us take you on a reality competition show roller coaster for over 1 year! What an exciting thought for us! So, genuinely, thank you for coming along with us and supporting us.  As a thank you, we decided to record a special Thanksgiving episode that talks ab...

We're back (1 day early!) with our recap of the second-to-last episode of RuPaul's DragRace UK, Season 3. With Episode 9, we have an in-depth discussion of the roast and a full conversation about how this has maybe become a two-person competition. We also are discussing the rest of the roast prep, or lack thereof, before the most exciting "Oh My Goddess" Runway.  We also touch on the idea of mini...

We're slowly but surely inching toward the end of the season, and with this latest episode things are getting...questionable. This week, we've got a double elimination that has us wondering: where do we go from here?  We're breaking down the events of episode 9 and chatting through where we stand: What's going on within the Black players alliance, how are the editors shaping certain players narrat...

We've got a quick recap for you this week because with only 4 contestants left and everyone absolutely CRUSHING IT, Nick and Agie didn't have that much to argue about! What an exciting development for our RuPaul's DragRace UK Season 3. Don't worry, we're still basically a combination Ella Vaday/Kitty Scott-Claus stan podcast, but we promise to share all our thoughts. We're breaking down the entire...

Welcome back, Besties! We're coming at you with a speed-round recap of Survivor Season 41 episode 8. We jump right in discussing the pace of the episode within the season, the shifting relationships, & the absolutely unacceptable vibes Jeff is exuding.  As this episode transitions us fully from pre-merge to post-merge game, we're pointing out who we're appreciating more and what we think the story...

Let's get fugly -- cause "Friend, you gotta love yourself!" Immediate vibe check for RuPaul saying that when she was explaining the theme of this week's episode. But, in spite of a weird start, this was an ✨amazing✨ episode of RuPaul's DragRace UK, Season 3. We're nixing the mini challenge and jumping right into our "Fugly Beauty Pageant" with 3 rounds of basically rapid drag with a new theme ea...