In today’s newsletter, a reality TV academic – and former Bachelor contestant – speaks with us about the attachments we form with romance reality participants in the wake of a domestic violence charge against a former star. We also recommend Troye Sivan’s new album, a five-star play and some excellent reads

Good morning. This week my social media feed has been filled with people expressing shock and even betrayal following the news that fitness influencer and former Bachelor star Sam Wood has been charged with domestic violence. His lawyer said in court on Thursday that Wood denied the allegations. To understand the specific attachment we form with romance reality stars, I’ve spoken with Dr Rebecca Trelease – Alyx

10 Chaotic Questions with Juliet Stevenson: ‘Do I have a nemesis? Where do we start? Putin, Musk, Trump, Erdoğan, Modi, Netanyahu’

Moment I knew: We were babysitting my younger siblings and he wore a tutu to make them laugh

Leading questions: A good friend brings her dogs when she stays with me. I kind of dread it. What can I do?

Headline act: ‘You think you’re invincible, and you’re not’: Gretta Ray on sickness, surviving and finding her new sound

What to watch | Speaking of reality TV, Wendy Syfret’s Stream Team column on House of Stassi (Disney+) had me so immediately addicted to the Vanderpump Rules spin-off – about insanely watchable hyper-villain Stassi Schroeder – that I almost took a fake day off to binge it. “You don’t need to be a reality TV producer to understand what this show was supposed to be,” Syfret writes. Reader: it does not go well – Steph Harmon, culture editor

What to play | “There seems no reason whatsoever why Troye Sivan [pictured above] should still be a relative cult figure within pop, rather than an actual multiplatinum star,” writes Alexis Petridis, in his rave review of Sivan’s latest album She’s the Best, which is responsible for the worst lyrics and best film clip of the year. But counterpoint: “If he were a huge star, would he be allowed to be as loudly, unapologetically queer?” – Steph

What to read | How about the behind-the-scenes account of one of the greatest love stories of our time? That’s right, Niles and Daphne from Frasier. Actors Jane Leeves and David Hyde Pierce spoke to Hollie Richardson about shaping the best romance to grace a sitcom and how they both landed hot husbands in real life. She calls him “devastatingly sexy”; he calls her “the best loon in the business”. It is everything you could want – Sian Cain, deputy culture editor

What to cook | There’s no stirring, barely any chopping and cheeses in the plural. Which is to say, Alice Zaslavsky’s shortcut beetroot risotto will have you tickled pink – Yvonne C Lam, deputy lifestyle editor

What to book | It’s not every day our theatre critic Cassie Tongue goes with a full five stars – but A Room with a View, adapted by Grace Chapple and directed by Hannah Goodwin for Belvoir St theatre in Sydney, “touches the divine”. “This play is alive, and it’s a gift,” she writes – and it’s on in Sydney until 1 November, when it transfers to Melbourne on 14 November, and heads to Perth from 5 March – Steph