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Andy Dehnart

writer, TV critic, teacher, improviser

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about me

Andy Dehnart > about me

I’m Andy Dehnart, a writer and teacher who obsessively and critically covers reality TV and unscripted entertainment, focusing on how it’s made and what it means.

I’ve been fascinated by the intersection of entertainment and real life ever since Mister Rogers broke the fourth wall and explained how his show was created. When I discovered The Real World in high school, I realized that unscripted entertainment could connect me to other people and help me learn more about the world.

On reality blurred, which I created 20 years ago as a place to collect interesting links I found, I now review and recommend reality shows, documentaries, and nonfiction entertainment; analyze news and report from behind the scenes; and interview people who create and star in reality TV shows.

My goal, as a writer and teacher, is to gather as much information as I can and share that with other curious and passionate people. I learn by discussing or debating, so I offer criticism and analysis to start a conversation. 

I believe pop culture can both entertain and affect us, and so I try to amplify the best and hold the worst accountable. In other words, I’m here to call it out when it sucks and celebrate it when it’s amazing.

My work has taken me to Gabon, Brazil, and Samoa, where I reported on Survivor, and the Faroe Islands, where I reported on the collision of activism, culture, and documentary filmmaking. (That story won a Society for Professional Journalists award and gave me an accidental cameo on Whale Wars.) I often report from my couch.

I’m a member of the Television Critics Association, and was elected to its board of directors in 2018, and now serve as secretary. As a TV critic and journalist, I’ve written about everything from startups to sitcoms, and my work has been broadcast on NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition, and published in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Vulture, Playboy, Pacific Standard, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, The Daily Beast, Salon, Wired, and other publications.

I teach creative writing and journalism at Stetson University, and love sharing my knowledge and exchanging ideas, whether that’s with students in my classes, talking to attendees at a conference, or being interviewed on a podcast. As an improviser who hosts and performs in shows at SAK Comedy Lab in Orlando, I get to play on stage with my friends and—like I do with reality TV—connect with other people through a joyful art form.

While I was born in Wisconsin, lived in Chicago for a few years after college, and earned my MFA in nonfiction writing and literature at Bennington College in Vermont, I basically grew up in Florida. Now I live in this amazingly weird state with my husband and our cat.

I wish I could start or end every day on a roller coaster or thrill ride. I re-read Calvin and Hobbes and re-watch The Golden Girls whenever I can. I can easily get lost browsing the Internet or the aisles of Target, and do my best to try new things, travel to places I’ve never been, and become a better person. 

I spend a considerable amount of time staring at my laptop, which is why I like adventures and, most importantly, spending time with people I care about.

I’m available for interviews, media appearances, speaking engagements, pitches, or just a hello! 

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Andy Dehnart, photographed by Kellie Warren, March 2019

Hi! I'm Andy, a writer and teacher who obsessively and critically covers reality TV and unscripted entertainment, focusing on how it’s made and what it means. Learn more about me.

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RSS recent writing on reality blurred

  • Mikey Eyebrows left Tough As Nails after a dramatic episode that also sent Tara home
  • Road Rules is returning! Drag Race All Stars is leaving VH1! And other Paramount+ shows
  • Design Star Next Gen isn’t just great, it’s better than HGTV’s Design Star
  • How Name That Tune was produced and filmed (in Australia!)
  • Holey Moley is returning, and Frogger is on the way!
  • Magical Elves reveal what TV networks want from reality TV today
  • Design Star returns, Below Deck reunites, and Tim Allen judges: this week in reality TV
  • Survivor’s first deadlocked vote, a pig stabbing, and actual strategizing
  • Who won two different reality shows? Will Race to the Center of the Earth air in Canada?
  • What a Real World cast member’s identity crisis revealed

what I’ve been doing

  • Me and my writing, in your inbox October 24, 2019
  • I asked CBS executives about their reality shows’ problems with race. Here’s what happened. August 16, 2019
  • An anniversary, and three recommendations, plus a way to really stay up to date July 15, 2019
  • Three magazine articles, one cheesy appearance September 20, 2018
  • The return of Jersey Shore, and cake wrecks worth watching April 5, 2018

“It’s good to be curious about many things.”

—Mister Rogers

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RSS recent reality blurred stories

  • Mikey Eyebrows left Tough As Nails after a dramatic episode that also sent Tara home
  • Road Rules is returning! Drag Race All Stars is leaving VH1! And other Paramount+ shows
  • Design Star Next Gen isn’t just great, it’s better than HGTV’s Design Star
  • How Name That Tune was produced and filmed (in Australia!)
  • Holey Moley is returning, and Frogger is on the way!

let’s connect

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