writing

Chef Evan Funke travels to Italy to learn how to make rare shapes of pasta by hand, a tradition that’s dying. I interviewed him and the producers of this new Quibi documentary show.

Sea Shepherd activists went to the Faroe Islands to try to stop whaling, a tradition that goes back centuries. Aboard their ship was an Animal Planet film crew.

This piece won the Society for Professional Journalists’ Sunshine State Award for magazine feature reporting.

I traveled to Indiana to profile one of the stars of 1990s television: Double Dare host Marc Summers. He was performing in an autobiographical play that told stories from his life I wasn't aware of, a performance that I wrote was "both biography and a triumph of vulnerability, a very public rejection of the fear of being stigmatized after sharing his OCD diagnosis."

In this essay in Vulture, I explored Survivor’s clear, unambiguous illustration of sexual harassment, and the show's many failures in its handling and presentation of real-life events.

The Biggest Loser returned, promising that it had changed. I investigated whether or not its formula and format was still causing harm to its participants and the public.

On location in Samoa, I explored for All Things Considered about what it takes to create a reality TV challenge.

I reported on Food Network, which has evolved into a home for reality TV competitions and personalities, not instructional cooking—and whether Netflix's food shows represent an existential threat.

In my review of The Real World: Atlanta, a rebooted version of the show produced for Facebook, I looked at the show's history, from seminal unscripted TV show to drunken mess.