Game of Roses

Can Alex Cooper Make Reality TV? Love Overboard vs Unwell Winter Games

·1 hr 4 min·5 clips
Alex Cooper, host of Call Her Daddy, is attempting to create reality TV shows after securing massive podcast deals.
The episode begins by introducing Alex Cooper, host of the mega-popular podcast Call Her Daddy, and her unprecedented move into creating and producing reality television. The hosts note her massive influence, highlighted by interviews with figures like Kamala Harris and recent Bachelorettes. They frame the central question: can Alex Cooper make good reality TV? The analysis is split into two parts, covering her first two shows. Love Overboard, a dating show set on a yacht anchored off Malta, is thoroughly critiqued. The hosts detail its failures: confusing game mechanics that punish players for going on dates, poor editing that fails to build narrative or character, terrible shooting and sound, and a misuse of host Gabby Windey. They highlight a few bright spots, like standout player Bella and a dramatic love triangle involving a player named David, but conclude the show is a disaster unlikely to get a second season. The discussion then shifts to Unwell Winter Games, a YouTube series filmed in Park City, Utah. The hosts praise its impeccable production, fast-paced editing, and casting of heavy-hitter reality stars. However, they heavily criticize the decision to include Dakota Mortensen, who is embroiled in domestic violence allegations and linked to the scuttling of Taylor Frankie Paul's Bachelorette season, a fact the show ignores. They also note the inclusion of other controversial figures like Huda Mustafa. The hosts contrast the two shows, finding one technically terrible and the other technically proficient but tonally problematic. They express lingering hope for Cooper's upcoming Netflix show with Harry Jowsey but conclude her first two attempts are not successful pushes for the reality TV genre. The episode ends by teasing a future discussion on the ongoing dry spell of Bachelor content.

As heard by us

A sharp reality-TV autopsy ties Alex Cooper's reach to Love Overboard's muddled mechanics and flat production choices.

The episode uses Alex Cooper's podcast pull as a way to measure how far The Bachelorette has drifted from the center of the conversation. Pace Case and Bachelor Clues move from her interview orbit around Jen Tran, Taylor Frankie Paul, Kamala Harris, Miley Cyrus, Hailey Bieber,…

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Why you'd press play

You get Alex Cooper at the top of the podcast mountain, a super-yacht dating show that somehow fumbles an easy premise, and a plank ceremony begging for smarter cameras.

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