Pod Insights Normal Gossip A United Nations of Red Flags with Sam Sanders About this episode Sam Sanders returns for some gossip about a case of "accidental" love-bombing in a hostel. Follow Sam on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/samsanders/?hl=en and check out The Sam Sanders Show for more hot takes on entertainment and culture. We recommend you start here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sam-sanders-show/id1771084688?i=1000706947798.
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Transcript 0:06 Speaker 00 Hello and welcome to Normal Gossip. I'm your host, Rachel Hampton, and in each episode of this podcast, we're gonna bring you an anonymous morsel of gossip from the real world. Welcome to episode seven, y'all. We've only got three more episodes of season eight after this week, if you can believe it. But have no fear, if you want more normal gossip in your life, then I have got some incredibly exciting news. This September, Ciara and I are bringing normal gossip to nine different cities. We are stopping in New York, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Denver, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Tickets went on sale to the public on Friday, May 9th, so that means if you are listening right now
0:48 Speaker 00 and live in any of those cities, you can go buy a ticket immediately at normalgossiplive.com. Every show has exclusive VIP tickets that include a meet and greet with Ciara and I, so I hope you're all planning what delicious little morsels of gossip you're gonna be bringing us. That is all the housekeeping for today's show. Now, on to the gossip. Today, I am so excited to have none other than Sam Sanders joining me for the first repeat performance of this season. Sam was on the very first season of Normal Gossip in an episode called "Dignitas." Sam is a multi-hyphenate. You might know him from any of the many shows he has created and hosted. Currently, though, you can hear him on Vibe Check with Sayyid
1:33 Speaker 00 Jones and Zach Stafford, and also you can, of course, hear Sam Sanders on The Sam Sanders Show on KRCW. Hi, Sam. Thank you so much for joining me and welcome back.
1:45 Speaker 01 It is so good to be here. I remember being on an episode in season one, and I had so much fun, because I remember it being about a straight male bartender who was messy. And I remember saying, "Aren't all straight male bartenders messy?"
2:04 Speaker 00 You did. You did. You set the red flag was that he was tall, that he was cute, and that he was a bartender. And ever since then, whenever I see a tall, cute bartender, I say- I shouldn't.
2:16 Speaker 01 Molly, you in danger, girl.
2:19 Speaker 00 Exactly. We, me and you are part of a very exclusive group, which is the people who were guests on the very first season of Normal Gossip. We were on the train before everyone else. How does it feel to be a Normal Gossip hipster?
2:32 Speaker 01 Listen, what do I feel like knowing that I was an OG?
2:37 Speaker 00 Yeah.
2:37 Speaker 01 It feels good. It feels iconic. And I don't want to be one of those gatekeepers. All are welcome in. Just know.
2:46 Speaker 00 We had good taste first.
2:47 Speaker 01 Yes, there you go.
2:48 Speaker 00 Exactly.
2:49 Speaker 01 Pay respect to your elders.
2:52 Speaker 00 No exclusion here. Just recognize who paved the way. Recognize who saw the vision. It was Kelsey and then it was us.
2:59 Speaker 01 Come on, come on. This is us.
3:04 Speaker 00 You've obviously already answered the question of what your relationship to gossip is. You said that gossip is a check on making sure that group norms are followed, which I love, but I wanted to ask, do you feel like your relationship to gossip has changed at all since 2022?
3:20 Speaker 01 It has, and I'll tell you how. It's gonna get a little deep, but trust me, it's not too deep. Your team reached out and they were like, we want to talk to you about what kind of gossip you're experiencing now. And I have been having a lot of moments gossiping about the dead.
3:39 Speaker 00 Oh.
3:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, and I never considered talking about the dead to be gossip, but like, it is. The definition of gossip is talking about someone who isn't there, making them the third person. And I've been doing that a lot with my mother. She passed away maybe two years ago. She'd been sick for a while. It was time. We're glad she's at rest. But as soon as she died, people began to tell me stories about her that I'd never heard before.
4:06 Speaker 00 Oh my God.
4:08 Speaker 01 Most of it good, a little bit messy. But I was like, oh, this is gossip? And it's like. I believe, once someone close to us dies, we have this special ability to imagine them in many ways after they're gone, and make versions of them that help us and speak to us throughout our lives. And the gossip about my mother is helping me do that.
4:33 Speaker 00 Yeah, I imagine. I feel like you're getting a new view on her that you didn't have before, like a new perspective, like a piece of a puzzle is being filled.
4:43 Speaker 01 Exactly. I will give you an example that's really funny.
4:45 Speaker 00 Please.
4:46 Speaker 01 Well, first, for starters, after my dad died many years ago, I'll never forget, the gossip started then. In the limo to the cemetery after my dad died, a member of my family told me, "Oh, that person you think that is this kind of relative? They're actually that kind of relative. Their mama wasn't their mama." Like, literally.
5:06 Speaker 00 I know it's messy, but I love that kind of gossip. Give it to me. Someone's father is their father. Tell me immediately.
5:15 Speaker 01 Yes.
5:16 Speaker 00 Who's the father?
5:17 Speaker 01 Exactly. So, this gossip from my mother, my favorite bit of dead mom gossip recently. I was out with some friends at a mall in LA. And a lot of malls in LA are really cute, really sheeshy, but like indoor/outdoor. So, it's kind of open air. There are water fountains and fixtures, and you can walk in the sun, which also means that like kids can just run and be a mess.
5:44 Speaker 00 Yeah.
5:45 Speaker 01 Even more so than they could in like a normal mall. And I remember seeing this young boy acting a fool. And I called my Aunt Betty later that day, and I said, "You know, Betty, they don't make them like they used to. These kids are a mess. They're not raising them right. No home training. Oh, my God." And I said, "I guarantee you, I know for sure, my mama, your sister, didn't raise me that way. She didn't raise me and my brother that way."
6:11 Speaker 00 Yeah.
6:12 Speaker 01 And my Aunt Betty pauses. She starts laughing. And she says, "That is so not true. Y'all were Bay Bay's kids." And I was like, excuse me, miss? And she goes, y'all were Bebe's kids. And I said, what makes you say that? And she says, I'll never forget, Sam. You and your brother were maybe like six or seven. My Aunt Betty had come to visit her sister, my mother and all of us. And we all were out shopping. My mother was in a store that she likes. My Aunt Betty was with her and my brother and I, who were little banshees, were running around like crazy, my aunt tells me. And she's like, y'all were playing hide and go seek in the racks of the clothes.
6:52 Speaker 00 I can see it.
6:52 Speaker 01 Running up and down the escalators, just being a fool.
6:56 Speaker 00 Mm hmm.
6:57 Speaker 01 And so my Aunt Betty says, she goes, I'll go to your mother and my sister. And I say, Regina, catch your kids. What are they doing? This is bad. Sit them down. And then Betty says, my mother puts down the dress she's looking at, looks at my Aunt Betty. And she says, as much money as I'm about to spend in this store, my little black boys can cut up as much as the white kids. And then my Aunt Betty sat her ass down. And that was that. But it revealed to me that like this version of my mother that I had created, this strict disciplinarian.
7:33 Speaker 00 Yeah.
7:34 Speaker 01 Not quite.
7:35 Speaker 00 Didn't exist. Oh, my God. Okay. Iconic line from your mother.
7:41 Speaker 01 Iconic.
7:42 Speaker 00 Obsessed?
7:43 Speaker 01 Yeah.
7:44 Speaker 00 I feel like one of the things that happens as you get older is that you start seeing your parents as people rather than just your parents.
7:51 Speaker 01 And you realize that they were fully formed humans before you even showed up.
7:54 Speaker 00 Before you existed and that they had whole lives that don't include you. And it's like, oh, that's wild. I don't know how I feel about that.
8:02 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
8:02 Speaker 00 But then for that process to continue with like, your mom's gone, but you're still learning about her.
8:09 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
8:09 Speaker 00 Like, that's so beautiful. Yeah.
8:11 Speaker 01 And like, you know, a lot of times gossip amongst the living can be combative. It can be reductive. It can be messy. Gossip about the dead is usually expansive. And in my case, it's been mostly joyful.
8:27 Speaker 00 Yeah.
8:28 Speaker 01 And I am at the age now where like, these words pop up on the internet and I'm not quite sure what they mean. And I'm past the point of like going to urban dictionary.com to find out. But I keep seeing the word lore manifest online.
8:41 Speaker 00 Oh, yes.
8:42 Speaker 01 And I was thinking to myself, I was like, you know what? When they're alive and you're talking about them, it's gossip. But when they're dead, it's lore.
8:49 Speaker 00 No, you're right.
8:50 Speaker 01 It's a beautiful thing.
8:51 Speaker 00 I love that. Wow, Sam, that was a gorgeous piece of gossip.
8:57 Speaker 01 Listen, Regina Sanders.
9:00 Speaker 00 Also, the phrase dead mom gossip is a book title.
9:04 Speaker 01 Dead mom gossip, girl.
9:05 Speaker 00 There you go.
9:06 Speaker 01 Dead mom gossip. Let's write it.
9:08 Speaker 00 By Sam Sanders. I want to buy it.
9:10 Speaker 01 Done.
9:10 Speaker 00 I'm buying it right now. Bookshop.org.
9:12 Speaker 01 Yes.
9:14 Speaker 00 Sam, that was a beautiful piece of gossip. Maybe one of the most beautiful.
9:18 Speaker 01 Aw, thank you.
9:20 Speaker 00 Now I have some for you.
9:22 Speaker 01 I love it. Let's dedicate this telling of gossip to my messy mama, Regina Sanders.
9:28 Speaker 00 Uh, to Regina Sanders.
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10:40 Speaker 00 I'm gonna admit something embarrassing. I know, shocker. I have not had a bedside lamp for an undisclosed amount of months, long enough that I basically haven't read before bed for a really long time. And I only realized this because I'm hosting a friend and I was like, wow, they deserve to have a light by their bed at night. I don't. But this finally inspired me to find the perfect bedside lamp. And I had a vision in mind, Wayfair. They had exactly what I need, which is one of those library style lights with like the green lampshade and little pull cord. I have been having this image in my mind of having one. And now I have one because of course Wayfair had it.
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11:52 Speaker 00 Today, our friend of a friend is named Drew. And Drew is in his mid 30s. He's British. And he's
12:03 Speaker 01 Let me tell you something.
12:06 Speaker 01 Brits pretend to be drama free, but they're messy. The accent fools you.
12:12 Speaker 00 Are you psychic?
12:13 Speaker 01 I might be. You hear the accent, you're like, oh, they got their shit together.
12:22 Speaker 00 Well, Drew has just finished his third year of teaching literature at a university at the UK. And he is setting out on his annual vacation. Sam, do you know the kind of guy who's like most defining characteristic is that they love to travel?
12:38 Speaker 01 Yeah.
12:41 Speaker 01 Yeah. And you never know how they get all that damn money. You never know.
12:46 Speaker 00 It's always a mystery. It's always a mystery. Drew is one of those kinds of guys.
12:52 Speaker 01 Okay.
12:53 Speaker 00 Part of the reason he'd actually ended up in academia was because he loved that they had, you know, mandated breaks in a school year.
13:00 Speaker 01 And he could travel.
13:02 Speaker 00 Exactly. I'm gonna be honest, I'm a girl who won't travel unless it's in comfort.
13:08 Speaker 01 Um, yeah.
13:09 Speaker 00 I will not be backpacking.
13:10 Speaker 01 There you go.
13:11 Speaker 00 I will not be sharing a bathroom with strangers.
13:14 Speaker 01 I will not have an itinerary.
13:16 Speaker 00 I will not be wearing shower shoes.
13:17 Speaker 01 I'mma wake up, see how I feel.
13:19 Speaker 00 Exactly.
13:20 Speaker 01 There's no like laundry list of things to get to. We're not climbing mountains. We're not, no, no. Yeah.
13:27 Speaker 00 Yeah, yeah. What this means for me is that I don't travel a lot because the way I travel is very expensive and I would rather have an oat vanilla latte whenever I'm sad.
13:36 Speaker 01 I get that. I get that.
13:38 Speaker 00 Drew is not like this. He will forego a little treat so that he can spend at least three months a year traveling.
13:45 Speaker 01 Three months?
13:46 Speaker 00 Three months.
13:47 Speaker 01 Okay.
13:49 Speaker 00 How do you feel about hostels?
13:51 Speaker 01 Let me tell you something.
13:54 Speaker 00 I can't describe your face, but I'm gonna need you to describe the emotion that provoked that face.
14:00 Speaker 01 I wasn't always making decent money. I was broke a large portion of my twenties.
14:06 Speaker 00 Yeah.
14:07 Speaker 01 And one thing I never let myself do was stay at a hostel. I will say, the one time I went into a hostel.
14:14 Speaker 00 Into what?
14:15 Speaker 01 Was to have relations with a man.
14:18 Speaker 01 And I finished and I left and I said, never again to the man or the idea of a hostel. Never again.
14:25 Speaker 00 Yeah, we're on the same page. Unfortunately, our friend of a friend Drew is not. He, despite being in his thirties, loves staying in hostels.
14:36 Speaker 00 Partially because they're cheap, but also Drew feels like it's the easiest way to meet interesting people when solo traveling, which she does a lot of.
14:44 Speaker 01 I don't need to meet any more new people.
14:49 Speaker 00 Yeah, I've stayed in a hostel exactly once, I have to admit, in London for two nights. And I said, never again. I was nineteen. I was like, I'm good. Not Drew, not Drew.
15:03 Speaker 01 Drew is in it.
15:04 Speaker 00 For this year's vacation, he is backpacking through South and Central America for two whole months and staying in hostels the entire time.
15:12 Speaker 01 Wow.
15:13 Speaker 00 First, he's going to Havana, then to Mexico City, before ending his trip in Cartagena.
15:19 Speaker 01 Okay, that's a lot.
15:21 Speaker 00 Isn't it?
15:22 Speaker 01 Yeah.
15:23 Speaker 00 In two months, Drew found his hostels through his absolute favorite app, the Hostelworld app. This is a real app, by the way. It has a 4.9 rating on the Apple Store, Sam, which surprised me. I don't know why.
15:38 Speaker 01 I don't like that.
15:41 Speaker 00 Not only can you find and book hostels through the Hostelworld app, you can also connect with other Hostelworld users nearby and meet up for excursions and even DM people.
15:52 Speaker 01 None of this appeals to me.
15:54 Speaker 00 Same, same. But it appeals to Drew because his motto for this trip is basically do it for the plot.
16:00 Speaker 01 Oh, Drew's a mess. Drew's an agent of chaos.
16:05 Speaker 00 So I am not like a do it for the plot ass bitch. Like, I love a five-year plan.
16:11 Speaker 01 You know what the plot is? The plot is my bills and my job.
16:17 Speaker 00 The plot is me living in comfort.
16:18 Speaker 01 Come on. Yeah.
16:21 Speaker 00 Yeah, so one more important thing to know about Drew, besides the fact that he is a do it for the plot ass bitch, is that our friend of a friend has what I call boyfriend energy.
16:32 Speaker 01 Define that for me.
16:34 Speaker 00 So flirting comes as naturally to Drew as breathing. He holds really good eye contact. When he's talking to you, it feels like you're the only person in the room. He knows how to ask follow-up questions. Like, when he makes you laugh, he like touches your arm a little bit.
16:51 Speaker 01 Do you know who he sounds like?
16:53 Speaker 00 Who?
16:53 Speaker 01 Bill Clinton.
16:56 Speaker 01 I remember they used to say, back in the day, whenever Bill Clinton was talking to you, it was like no one else existed. And we know what happened there.
17:05 Speaker 00 I was gonna ask, have you encountered boyfriend energy in the wild? But it sounds like I'm asking, have you met Bill Clinton?
17:13 Speaker 01 Never met Bill, never met Bill.
17:18 Speaker 00 I will say, one of my best friends, who is not Bill Clinton, has boyfriend energy. Luckily, this friend has a boyfriend himself now, but when he was single, it was actually really wild to witness.
17:28 Speaker 01 Really?
17:29 Speaker 00 People would just fall in love with him. To a point where I would be mad because people weren't falling in love with me. But at times, it really did start to seem like a really big hassle because he would be trying to have like a chill fling. And then three or four dates in, he's getting questions about like commitment and attachment styles.
17:46 Speaker 01 I think there was a phase in my youth where I probably attempted that kind of energy. And then I realized I'm a little bit too neurotic and self-centered. So it's not gonna work. Now I just mind my business.
17:59 Speaker 00 So this is Drew's play, and it's a play if you don't want to be a boyfriend. But if I learned anything by staying at a hostel for two days in London, is that hostels are a perfect place to not find a boyfriend.
18:13 Speaker 01 Yeah.
18:13 Speaker 00 So Drew was setting off on his vacation with peace of mind. Mexico City and Havana are both incredible. So when Drew touches down in Cartagena, he's on a high and he is just really, really looking forward to a kayak tour that he's already booked on. You guessed it, Hostelworld.
18:31 Speaker 01 Girl, that's work. That is not vacation.
18:34 Speaker 00 See, I was gonna ask, are you an activities person on vacation? But I'm getting a subtle hint that you're not.
18:40 Speaker 01 I love to be outside. I like to be physically active, hiking, running, all of that.
18:49 Speaker 00 Yeah.
18:49 Speaker 01 If I'm gonna get in the water, it's gonna be for about 10, 15 minutes. And then I'm gonna sit by the water, preferably with a drink.
18:58 Speaker 00 Yes.
18:58 Speaker 01 And if I get on a boat, it needs to have a motor. Someone else needs to be driving it. And I better have a life jacket. And I would love for there to be a bathroom on board.
19:08 Speaker 00 No arm workout. I do biceps at home.
19:10 Speaker 01 There you go.
19:11 Speaker 00 Drew loves a little tour. This little tour, departing from the beach at eight in the morning.
19:17 Speaker 01 See, stop.
19:19 Speaker 01 You out your goddamn mind? Eight in the morning.
19:23 Speaker 00 They're kayaking to a nearby island that apparently has a breathtaking view of the city. And then they're gonna eat breakfast on the island and then they're gonna return to Cartagena before noon. So they can beat the afternoon heat. There are three other people who get up at this time for this tour. There are a pair of girls from Denmark, who will be referred to as the Danish Girls. And a guy from Australia named Oliver. Technically, there are four, if you count the guy, but we don't really care about the guy. So they're not important.
19:53 Speaker 01 Okay, okay.
19:55 Speaker 00 The Danish Girls are in one kayak and Oliver and Drew are in another. And Drew can't help noticing that as they're chatting and paddling that Oliver keeps winking at him.
20:08 Speaker 01 Is Drew straight or gay?
20:10 Speaker 00 Drew is bisexual.
20:11 Speaker 01 And I'm gonna be quiet.
20:16 Speaker 00 Drew also can't help noticing that Oliver can't actually wink that well. So he just keeps emphatically blinking. But Drew's like, okay, I think I know what's going on. And when Oliver mentions his ex-boyfriend with an emphasis on boy, Drew's like, okay, I definitely know what's going on.
20:36 Speaker 01 I get it. But you know what, though? How are you gonna like run game and Mac on someone and be hot when half your body is inserted into a kayak?
20:47 Speaker 01 I can't spit game in a kayak.
20:49 Speaker 00 Well, somehow Drew manages to notice that Oliver is cute despite only being able to see the upper part of his body in like a very stereotypically Australian way, like very tan, very blonde, very friendly. How are you feeling so far?
21:06 Speaker 01 I am wishing we could have given this script to Mike White for season three of The White Lotus.
21:12 Speaker 00 Oh, yeah. Let's not talk about that last episode.
21:17 Speaker 01 Girl, see, anyhow.
21:19 Speaker 00 Drew actually hasn't experienced a whole lot of romance on this trip, besides like a dance floor makeout in Mexico City. And Drew's like, we need further plot development. So this is all working in his favor.
21:32 Speaker 01 Okay.
21:33 Speaker 00 So kayakers get to the island and they have a lovely breakfast. Everyone's like, isn't this the best fruit you've ever seen in your entire life? Like, they see some beautiful views. And it's when they're heading back to the island and Drew is getting into the kayak, that his foot slips.
21:49 Speaker 01 Oh.
21:50 Speaker 00 And he feels his calves scrape against the wooden edge of the dock before he falls into the ocean.
21:58 Speaker 01 See now, it's bound to happen.
22:03 Speaker 00 You called it.
22:04 Speaker 01 Listen, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
22:09 Speaker 00 Luckily Drew is not me and he is a strong swimmer. So it wasn't too hard for him to get back to shore. But Drew is like, I have tripped very dramatically in front of a cute guy. My clothes are soaked and my leg is bleeding profusely.
22:26 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah, yeah.
22:28 Speaker 00 What do you do?
22:29 Speaker 01 I mean, and at this point, they're still on the island, so they gotta get back.
22:33 Speaker 00 Yeah.
22:34 Speaker 01 Years ago, when I was a breaking news reporter, my newsroom at the time sent me out to hostile environment training, where you learn what to do if you're like in some shit. And the only thing I remember is tourniquet. Make a tourniquet, make a tourniquet, make a tourniquet.
22:51 Speaker 00 Make a tourniquet.
22:52 Speaker 01 Make a tourniquet.
22:53 Speaker 00 Yes.
22:53 Speaker 01 So maybe he could have flipped it up and made it hot again. If he ripped his shirt off, showed his muscles, and then tourniqueted his leg. That might be hot.
23:05 Speaker 00 Sam, I swear you're psychic.
23:10 Speaker 00 Drew doesn't have a chance to do that because Oliver immediately rushes over to help. And Oliver takes off his shirt and applies pressure to Drew's bleeding leg.
23:22 Speaker 01 You know what? Maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe I need to go to a foreign country, get on a kayak, and wait for a hot man to tourniquet me.
23:32 Speaker 00 Drew can't help noticing Oliver is very muscular.
23:38 Speaker 01 What are the Danish girls doing in the midst of all this?
23:42 Speaker 00 They actually went to go find a first aid kit. Oliver tells Drew this as he is like, are you okay? That looked like it hurt pretty badly. And Drew thinks he sounds very brave when he's like, it's not that bad. It is that bad.
23:58 Speaker 01 Wait, really?
23:59 Speaker 00 It hurt like a bitch and honestly probably could have used stitches.
24:03 Speaker 01 Oh, no.
24:04 Speaker 00 The thing is, though, Drew doesn't feel like navigating a healthcare system in a country he doesn't live in.
24:09 Speaker 01 Same.
24:10 Speaker 00 So they get back to the city and once they're back, Drew goes to a pharmacy to stock up on like bandages and disinfectants. And since he only has a few days left in Colombia, he's like, I'll just keep it clean. I'll take it easy.
24:24 Speaker 01 Yeah.
24:25 Speaker 00 I'll probably be home by the time anything goes wrong, if anything goes wrong, which it probably won't.
24:30 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
24:32 Speaker 00 Do you think this is wise?
24:33 Speaker 01 No, he probably got an infection.
24:35 Speaker 00 That is a fair concern, but Drew's not really pressed at the moment. Like by the time he finishes bandaging his leg, his primary thought is time to get back to the plot. He shoots Oliver a DM on Hostile World.
24:51 Speaker 01 Girl, you can DM on Hostile World?
24:53 Speaker 00 You can DM on Hostile World.
24:56 Speaker 01 Listen, it's like hipster tourist grinder.
24:59 Speaker 00 That low key seems to be what it's giving. Yes. So Drew DMs Oliver like, I owe you for taking such good care of me. Dinner tonight on me.
25:12 Speaker 01 Okay.
25:13 Speaker 00 So Drew hears a little notification sound from Hostile World and Oliver responds like, I'd love to with a little smiley face. Just name the time and place.
25:25 Speaker 00 So a few hours later, Oliver and Drew meet up in the historic center of Cartagena at a restaurant that has like linens on the table and low music playing and candles lit. Like everything is screaming date in capital letters.
25:41 Speaker 01 Yeah.
25:43 Speaker 00 Including the flirty little banter between Oliver and Drew.
25:47 Speaker 01 Love it.
25:48 Speaker 00 So they continue the night after dinner with a romantic little stroll through the city. They're walking slowly, allegedly because of Drew's fucked up leg. We all know that's not why they're walking slowly.
25:59 Speaker 01 They're falling in love.
26:01 Speaker 00 Drew's like, this is low key giving Florence Nightingale, but a plot's a plot.
26:08 Speaker 01 Plot's a plot.
26:09 Speaker 00 Plot's a plot. Eventually they find a bench by the beach again, allegedly to rest Drew's fucked up leg. But again, we all know what's really going on here. Drew is at the point where he's starting to feel like a little bit grateful for his fucked up leg.
26:27 Speaker 01 That leg is helping erase hundreds of years of historical bad blood between the Brits and the Australians. Cause we know their history.
26:36 Speaker 00 This is a peace mission. The mission starts going even more successfully because Oliver kisses Drew.
26:43 Speaker 01 Oh.
26:45 Speaker 00 You're staying in a bunk room in a hostel. Do you try to hook up?
26:50 Speaker 01 No, no. At this point, you max out your credit card and get a hotel room.
26:55 Speaker 00 Drew is like, my leg's honestly starting to hurt a little bit and I'm not taking you back to my bunk room in a hostel. So they just end their night with a cute little make out and make plans to meet up the following morning for breakfast. Well, something I forgot to mention about Drew is that he has boyfriend energy, but he's also kind of a hopeless romantic. He's just a little too into Lord Byron.
27:23 Speaker 01 Yeah, no, no.
27:25 Speaker 00 He loves a grand gesture.
27:27 Speaker 01 He does handwritten letters, I bet you.
27:29 Speaker 00 Well, his friends have told him that he can accidentally love bomb people.
27:33 Speaker 01 It's never an accident.
27:36 Speaker 00 Well, Drew's like, it's just because the bar for romance is so low these days.
27:41 Speaker 01 Drew, Drew, Drew, Drew, Drew. Drew's one of those guys who was always the mess, but never thinks he's the mess. That's Drew. I'm feeling that. I'm starting to feel that. Let me not judge too early, but I'm starting to feel that.
27:53 Speaker 00 That's the name of the game here. Judge early and often.
27:56 Speaker 01 Okay, okay, I'm in.
27:58 Speaker 00 The morning after Drew and Oliver's make out on the bench, Drew like hobbles his way around the neighborhood to prep a little breakfast picnic for the two of them. He buys some jam and fresh bread. When he sees a little bouquet of flowers, he's like, why not? Let's set the mood.
28:14 Speaker 01 Oh, Drew is love bombing. Okay, Drew.
28:17 Speaker 00 If someone did this for me, I would be like, you wanna get married?
28:20 Speaker 01 Exactly.
28:20 Speaker 00 You wanna have children with me?
28:22 Speaker 01 Show me, like, what kind of green card do you need? You're coming home with me.
28:26 Speaker 00 With me. Immediately we'll start that paperwork right now.
28:28 Speaker 01 Yeah. My auntie's on FaceTime. She wants to meet you. Like, it's happening.
28:35 Speaker 00 Yeah, when Oliver sees Drew with all of his picnic supplies, Oliver is like the shocked Pikachu meme. Just like eyes wide open.
28:44 Speaker 01 It's too much.
28:46 Speaker 00 Drew's a little bit like, damn bitch, you live like this? He's like, this is the bare minimum. You deserve better than this.
28:54 Speaker 00 Oliver gives him one of his little fucked up winks. It's not really a wink.
28:58 Speaker 01 The blink, the blink.
29:02 Speaker 00 And he's like, I'm starting to think I do deserve better. They go have their little picnic and they're resuming their flirty little banter. They're talking about their travels and their zodiac signs. Oliver is a Pisces. Drew is a Sagittarius.
29:17 Speaker 01 Okay.
29:19 Speaker 00 Oliver is telling Drew about his Venus and Cancer when he's like, yeah, I can get attached to people a little bit too easily.
29:32 Speaker 00 And then Oliver is like, and I definitely absolutely believe in love at first sight.
29:37 Speaker 01 Oh, God. See, I almost wanted to be rooting for both of them.
29:44 Speaker 00 Yeah.
29:45 Speaker 01 And now I take it back.
29:48 Speaker 01 They deserve whatever mess befalls them.
29:50 Speaker 00 Drew's like, okay.
29:53 Speaker 01 So now Drew is freaked out.
29:55 Speaker 00 Well, then Oliver turns to him and is like, what if I told you that I love you?
30:00 Speaker 01 Wow.
30:02 Speaker 00 A man you have known for 30 hours has just asked you, what if I told you that I love you? What do you do?
30:10 Speaker 01 If I'm getting all these pick me vibes, love bomb vibes, what we're going to do is hook up.
30:19 Speaker 01 And then I'm gonna like, slow walk you for a few days, assess how I feel, and then reengage.
30:27 Speaker 00 Yeah.
30:27 Speaker 01 Cause I am, let me try the milk.
30:33 Speaker 00 You're like, alright.
30:34 Speaker 01 Yeah, let me try the milk, see how it runs through my system, and then reassess. But there will be no saying, I think I love you.
30:42 Speaker 00 Well, Drew is like, since we met yesterday, I would probably say I don't love you back.
30:49 Speaker 01 Yep.
30:50 Speaker 00 And Oliver sort of laughs and is like, yeah, you're right. It would be crazy if I said something like that. And then Oliver's like, but you know, hypothetically, how do you feel about long distance?
31:01 Speaker 01 Girl.
31:06 Speaker 00 So Drew chokes on a passion fruit seed.
31:12 Speaker 01 The symbolism there, choking on passion. Wow. Wow.
31:17 Speaker 00 Beautiful. He's like, my last relationship was long distance and it really didn't work, which is a lie. Do you think that this answer that Drew has given Oliver will satisfy Oliver?
31:32 Speaker 01 I bet you Oliver's like, well, we can do it better this time.
31:37 Speaker 01 I can beat that.
31:39 Speaker 00 Yeah. Drew is like, I don't even really want to give him the chance to respond. So to distract Oliver, he starts making out with him.
31:48 Speaker 00 A flawless plan. That works.
31:50 Speaker 01 Okay, okay. Just shut up and kiss me, literally.
31:55 Speaker 00 He manages to keep things light until they get back to the hostel and Oliver's like, let me know your plans for tomorrow. And Drew's like, mhm, yep, I'll keep you posted. Bye.
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33:37 Speaker 00 So Drew has just escaped Oliver. He gets back to his bunk room and he meets two new people who have moved in.
33:45 Speaker 01 Drew, stop meeting people.
33:49 Speaker 01 I think you're good.
33:51 Speaker 00 You're good on friends.
33:52 Speaker 01 You're good on friends.
33:53 Speaker 00 These two new people will be referred to as the Canadians because they are from Canada. Drew and the Canadians vibe pretty well, so when the Canadians ask Drew if he wants to join them for a night out on the town, he immediately says yes.
34:07 Speaker 01 With that leg? Girl.
34:10 Speaker 00 But the plan for the night is to bar hop, so he feels optimistic that he'll be able to find-
34:14 Speaker 01 Hopping on one leg?
34:16 Speaker 00 He's like, "I'll be able to find a seat."
34:18 Speaker 01 Oh my god.
34:20 Speaker 00 How do you feel about karaoke?
34:22 Speaker 01 You know what, actually, I fucking love it. It brings the people together.
34:27 Speaker 00 It does. Drew takes karaoke extremely seriously, but not in the annoying way, not in the annoying way.
34:33 Speaker 01 Not in the Bohemian Rhapsody way.
34:35 Speaker 00 Exactly.
34:36 Speaker 01 That song is too goddamn long. Don't do it. And you can't hit the notes.
34:40 Speaker 00 No.
34:41 Speaker 01 My go-to karaoke song, Salt and Peppers, Push It, it's probably like 18 words.
34:47 Speaker 00 And everyone knows them. That's a great choice. Drew also has some staple songs. So he immediately sings With Arms Wide Open by Creed with the Canadians.
34:58 Speaker 01 Honestly, I have done Creed's higher at karaoke. It works.
35:05 Speaker 00 Yes. So they've just finished singing With Arms Wide Open.
35:09 Speaker 01 I take it back. I love this story now.
35:12 Speaker 01 They sang With Arms Wide Open.
35:14 Speaker 00 But then into the bar walks none other than Oliver.
35:21 Speaker 00 The Canadians had been too friendly and had apparently posted about their karaoke night on the Hostelworld app.
35:27 Speaker 01 This is a problem.
35:29 Speaker 00 Drew's like, I have been betrayed by my one true love, the Hostelworld app.
35:33 Speaker 01 Yeah. Also, gosh, talk about an agent of chaos, the Hostelworld app.
35:39 Speaker 00 I know. 4.9 stars.
35:41 Speaker 01 Oof, oof.
35:43 Speaker 00 I know.
35:43 Speaker 01 Messy, messy, mess, mess.
35:46 Speaker 00 Oliver immediately sidles up to Drew and he's like, you want to sing a song together?
35:53 Speaker 00 Do you sing a song together?
35:54 Speaker 01 Oh, no.
35:56 Speaker 00 No?
35:57 Speaker 01 I'd be like, you know, hitting those notes on that Creed song.
36:01 Speaker 00 I need to rest my voice.
36:02 Speaker 01 Vocal rest, baby, vocal rest.
36:06 Speaker 00 Drew's like, karaoke is a sacred space where no one can be excluded. So he's like, yeah, sure, fine. He perhaps makes another mistake by letting Oliver pick the song.
36:17 Speaker 01 See, we already know Oliver doesn't make great decisions. Doesn't think before he leaps.
36:23 Speaker 00 So Drew joins Oliver on stage and the opening notes of Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers start playing.
36:32 Speaker 01 Wow. Is that a lot? You know, I know the song and the melody, never dug into the lyrics. Let's see, is it like a love song?
36:38 Speaker 00 Well, I do have some choice lyrics for us. There are, baby, when I met you, there was a peace unknown.
36:48 Speaker 00 And then there's, the message is clear. This could be the year for the real thing.
36:53 Speaker 01 Oh.
36:54 Speaker 00 And we cannot forget. All this love we feel needs no conversation.
36:59 Speaker 01 Oh, no. I follow the lyrics now. There's another line that says, "I set out to get you with a fine-tooth comb." What? "I can't live without you if the love was gone." Oh. "But that won't happen to us, and we got no doubt. Too deep in love, and we got no way out."
37:26 Speaker 00 Oliver is the human embodiment of the hard eyes emoji after this performance. But the thing is, Drew can't even deny that they crushed their performance. They have incredible chemistry.
37:40 Speaker 01 Drew, Drew, Drew, Drew. How are you already that lost in the sauce?
37:46 Speaker 00 Well, Drew retreats into bro mode. He's like, dude, we did so good. He runs away to the bathroom. Did you like my bro voice?
37:54 Speaker 01 I love that. I love that.
37:56 Speaker 00 Thank you.
37:57 Speaker 01 I love that code switch. Yes.
38:01 Speaker 00 So, do you end your night here? Or do you try to keep the night going?
38:05 Speaker 01 I, from the bathroom break, I sneak out. And maybe I don't even go back to the same hostel, because he knows where it is.
38:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, no. No, girl.
38:16 Speaker 00 I think that you're smarter than Drew, because Drew is determined to keep the plot going.
38:22 Speaker 01 Drew, Drew, what is your trauma? Drew.
38:27 Speaker 00 So he gathers the Canadians and is like, I heard about this incredible jazz bar, but the line apparently gets really long after 11, so we should head out. And they make their escape as Oliver is onstage singing "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton.
38:46 Speaker 01 The mess, a mess.
38:48 Speaker 00 They make it to the jazz bar, which is dim and the music's so loud that Drew can like feel it in his bones and it is absolutely free of Australians. So the vibes immaculate.
38:59 Speaker 01 All right.
38:59 Speaker 00 Yeah.
38:59 Speaker 01 Okay.
39:00 Speaker 00 Yeah. Drew and the Canadians stay until 1 a.m. when they get hungry and they're like, let's go find a street cart and they find one. Drew's mouth is watering when he reaches for his fanny pack. And this is the first time that Drew realizes that his fanny pack is no longer around his ways.
39:17 Speaker 01 Girl.
39:20 Speaker 00 Drew's fanny pack that has not just his phone, but his wallet.
39:25 Speaker 01 Oh, no.
39:26 Speaker 00 Drew doesn't go out with his passport, so that's still back at the hostel.
39:28 Speaker 01 Good, good. Thank goodness.
39:29 Speaker 00 But his plane ticket is on his phone.
39:31 Speaker 01 No.
39:31 Speaker 00 And without his wallet, he can't pay for anything.
39:34 Speaker 01 No, Drew.
39:37 Speaker 00 Have you ever been pickpocketed?
39:39 Speaker 01 A, a car that I had years ago got broken into. But what I had was so raggedy, they literally just dropped the bag next to like the parking lot. I kid you not.
39:51 Speaker 00 That's like insult to injury.
39:53 Speaker 01 They were like, we don't want their shit.
39:55 Speaker 00 I'm like, not only did we try to rob you, but we don't even want what you have.
39:58 Speaker 01 Literally, literally. Yeah, yeah.
40:03 Speaker 00 Drew is drunk enough that he's not panicking at this moment yet.
40:06 Speaker 01 Oh, Lord.
40:07 Speaker 00 He hobbles back to the jazz bar, but the fanny pack isn't there and no one has seen it. Drew goes from the jazz bar back to the karaoke bar. Still nothing. And at this point, the Canadians have thankfully lived up to their reputation and they've been very kind. They've like helped Drew go from bar to bar. And at this point, they're like, listen, we'll cover you for the rest of the night and you can use our phones tomorrow to sweat your shit out. We can at least get your plane ticket, like you can print it out.
40:35 Speaker 01 Listen, when in doubt, call a Canadian.
40:38 Speaker 00 Except Drake, not that one.
40:39 Speaker 01 Yeah, he don't count no more.
40:42 Speaker 00 Yeah. So Drew's like, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And the Canadians are like, you want to go to another bar?
40:48 Speaker 01 Girl.
40:50 Speaker 01 You might need to call it Drew. No, no, no.
40:53 Speaker 00 Yeah, I feel like you would have gone home like two bars ago.
40:56 Speaker 01 You know me. You know me very well. Yeah.
41:01 Speaker 00 Well, at this point Drew's like, what else could go wrong? My leg is fucked up. My phone and wallet are gone. I have an Australian who is stalking me. So like, fuck it. We ball. Let's go.
41:16 Speaker 01 Wait, but you gotta say it in Drew's love bombing British accent. Bollocks, we ball. I don't know. That was bad.
41:23 Speaker 00 That was beautiful. We're keeping that.
41:26 Speaker 01 Keep it.
41:28 Speaker 00 So Drew and the Canadians, they find another bar. The Canadians stay true to their word and they cover Drew's tab. And they're not stingy either. So everyone's feeling real good. And Drew's almost forgotten about his lost fanny pack.
41:43 Speaker 01 He's working through. He's working through.
41:47 Speaker 00 And then into the bar walks Oliver.
41:51 Speaker 01 He's stalking him. The Australian is doing something suspect. The town ain't that small.
42:00 Speaker 00 At what point do coincidences count as stalking?
42:03 Speaker 01 Listen, listen. Is it coincidence or is it stalking? Is it anxiety or is it intuition? I say yet again, Mala, you in danger, girl.
42:16 Speaker 00 At this point, you and Drew are now on the same wavelength. Because Drew's like, I'm done with this shit.
42:21 Speaker 01 Yeah.
42:22 Speaker 00 And he finally just tells the Canadians what's going on. He's like, you see that guy over there who looks like really Australian? He told me he loved me 24 hours after we met.
42:33 Speaker 01 I bet you when I'm gonna call it right now, Australian has a fanny pack. See, now I'm going full White Lotus.
42:39 Speaker 00 As you should. I'm Mike White.
42:45 Speaker 00 And then Drew's like, I can't deal with this right now. Can we just leave? And the Canadians are rational people and they're like, yeah.
42:52 Speaker 01 Yeah.
42:52 Speaker 00 Let's go.
42:53 Speaker 01 Let's go.
42:54 Speaker 00 Let's get out of here.
42:55 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
42:55 Speaker 00 And they hustle Drew out of the bar before Oliver even gets a drink.
42:59 Speaker 01 Okay, okay.
43:01 Speaker 00 So Drew's leg is hurting pretty badly at this point.
43:04 Speaker 01 Cause he's been walking on it all night, singing karaoke, like, come on dude.
43:08 Speaker 00 But he also wants to see the ocean one more time before he leaves.
43:13 Speaker 01 Every time I think I like Drew.
43:17 Speaker 01 Every time I think I like Drew, he does some bunk ass shit like this.
43:24 Speaker 00 What's a better place for an open wound than a place with sand?
43:27 Speaker 01 The ocean at night?
43:29 Speaker 00 I will say it's a beautiful night. There's like a crescent moon in the sky.
43:33 Speaker 01 All nights are beautiful. I'm not always, I mean, come on.
43:37 Speaker 00 I don't need to see them.
43:38 Speaker 01 I don't need to see it. I don't need to see it.
43:42 Speaker 00 Yeah, so they've just sat down on the beach when Drew sees someone sitting on a bench in the distance.
43:49 Speaker 01 Girl, it better not be.
43:52 Speaker 00 Someone blonde, someone muscular.
43:56 Speaker 01 Nah, you better stop.
43:58 Speaker 00 Someone who looks Australian.
44:03 Speaker 01 This is an erotic thriller.
44:08 Speaker 00 Fatal Attraction.
44:09 Speaker 01 Was this a film released in the early to mid nineties starring Mickey Rourke? Oh my God.
44:19 Speaker 00 Do you tell Oliver to go stop stalking you?
44:21 Speaker 01 See now, one, I would not have put myself in this situation.
44:27 Speaker 00 Yeah, so it's three in the morning.
44:29 Speaker 01 Every second of this story, they are straying further from God's light.
44:35 Speaker 00 And Drew continues straying because he's like, I'm drunk, I'm in pain.
44:40 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
44:40 Speaker 00 I've been robbed.
44:41 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
44:42 Speaker 00 The sanctity of karaoke has been taken from me and I am sick of this boyfriend energy curse.
44:48 Speaker 01 Yeah.
44:49 Speaker 00 Drew's like, fuck this, I'm gonna go tell him off.
44:51 Speaker 01 Tell him off.
44:53 Speaker 00 So Drew makes his way up the beach very slowly because again, he's drunk and in pain.
44:59 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:00 Speaker 00 And in fact, Drew's going slowly enough that he has a chance to realize that the person on the bench is not Oliver.
45:10 Speaker 00 He's not even blonde. He's just sitting under a streetlight.
45:14 Speaker 01 Oh, no.
45:17 Speaker 00 Drew stops and he's like, fuck, that could have been a disaster.
45:20 Speaker 01 It could have been a disaster.
45:23 Speaker 00 And he's about to turn around to return to the Canadians when he hears like a really familiar sound.
45:29 Speaker 00 Again, Drew's drunk, so he can't quite place the sound. So he just kind of looks really closely at the man on the bench who is sitting next to a jacket that looks to be draped over something.
45:40 Speaker 00 Drew's like, am I plastered or is that guy sitting suspiciously? Drew's like, who the fuck says crisscross applesauce on a bench at three in the morning?
45:51 Speaker 01 Yeah, something's going on. Something's going on. And of course Drew walks closer, I bet you. Oh, my God.
45:59 Speaker 00 Just he's having this thought, the jacket makes that familiar sound again. And Drew was finally like, oh, it's the DM notification sound from the Hostelworld app.
46:08 Speaker 01 The real villain is the Hostel app.
46:13 Speaker 00 Ban it from the Apple Store.
46:14 Speaker 01 Literally.
46:16 Speaker 00 Drew is suddenly possessed by that sort of like blinding conviction that only really, really drunk people have. Like, he literally told us in his email, I don't know how I thought this in my drunk brain, but I thought my bag is under that jacket.
46:36 Speaker 01 Oh, main character energy.
46:38 Speaker 00 What do you do?
46:39 Speaker 01 I mean, what if it's just the guy on the bench's bag?
46:46 Speaker 00 What if he has the Hostelworld app?
46:47 Speaker 01 Thank you. Because I mean, it seems like all the kids in this town do. Um, I'm gonna tell you what I would have done, which has never gotten into this situation. But I'm gonna predict what Drew is gonna do, and that is confront this stranger with his Canadians who deserve better.
47:06 Speaker 00 It's justice for the Canadians.
47:08 Speaker 01 Yeah, they ain't do nothing wrong.
47:11 Speaker 00 It's true.
47:11 Speaker 01 They're just trying to help.
47:12 Speaker 00 Yeah, so the DM notification sound comes again.
47:19 Speaker 00 And Drew just doesn't think. He grabs the jacket.
47:22 Speaker 01 He goes to this man on the bench who he does not know.
47:25 Speaker 00 Does not know, a complete stranger. He just grabs the jacket with that drunken conviction. But there, lying on the bench, is his fanny pack.
47:36 Speaker 01 What? Is there a crime syndicate off the Hostel app?
47:42 Speaker 00 Drew does not have time to think about that. He throws the jacket in the face of a guy who looks just as shocked as Drew does.
47:49 Speaker 01 Yeah.
47:50 Speaker 00 He grabs his fanny pack and then he runs as fast as he possibly can.
47:56 Speaker 01 What?
47:57 Speaker 00 Which is not very fast because his leg is fucked up. But the Canadians, who have done nothing wrong and everything right, have already come to look for him. So they meet him halfway down the beach and they're like, where did you go? What just happened? Who is that guy?
48:13 Speaker 00 And Drew's like, I just experienced a miracle, is what happened.
48:18 Speaker 01 Wow. I need to know so many things. And I'm feeling like we might end this conversation with still some unanswered questions.
48:29 Speaker 00 And that's the normal gossip promise is an unanswered question.
48:35 Speaker 01 Oh, what a ride.
48:38 Speaker 00 So Drew tells the Canadians what happened and they're like, wait, so who was DMing you so much? Like, what was going on? And Drew's like, oh, my God, I was so caught up in the moment. I haven't even checked my inbox.
48:48 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
48:50 Speaker 00 Who do you think was DMing you?
48:51 Speaker 01 I was Australian. Baby, I can't live without you. Come back. We'll live in Perth.
48:59 Speaker 00 Melbourne.
49:02 Speaker 00 He opens the Hostelworld app, opens his inbox and is greeted by a series of increasingly drunken messages from none other than Oliver that are all like, hey, babe.
49:14 Speaker 01 Babe.
49:15 Speaker 00 Beach tonight, my love.
49:17 Speaker 01 Beach tonight?
49:18 Speaker 00 I mean, in a way, Oliver was Drew's miracle.
49:22 Speaker 01 I mean, none of them feel like miracles right now.
49:27 Speaker 01 This is wild.
49:29 Speaker 00 Drew has incredible luck in a way that astonished me when I read this email.
49:34 Speaker 01 Yes. Drew, you're lucky to be alive. What does Drew end up doing with all these DMs from the Australian?
49:41 Speaker 00 Well, the next morning Drew runs into Oliver at breakfast.
49:44 Speaker 01 Girl.
49:46 Speaker 00 Do you talk to him?
49:47 Speaker 01 No!
49:50 Speaker 01 No, you cannot talk to him under these circumstances. No.
49:56 Speaker 00 Well.
49:58 Speaker 01 Oh my god.
50:00 Speaker 00 Drew's grateful enough to have his phone back that he tells Oliver the whole story and Oliver is shocked.
50:07 Speaker 01 Well, and Oliver's definitely like, oh, I'm in now.
50:09 Speaker 00 And then he's like, sounds like I should keep blowing your phone up.
50:15 Speaker 01 Girl.
50:17 Speaker 01 And what does Drew say to this? This is wild.
50:21 Speaker 00 Drew's like, ah, and then makes his escape.
50:27 Speaker 00 And that's basically the end of our story. Do you block Oliver on Instagram when he inevitably sends you a follow request after this?
50:35 Speaker 01 I know Drew didn't.
50:37 Speaker 01 I know Drew didn't. So many red flags and so many people waving them with joy.
50:46 Speaker 00 Just an army of red flags.
50:48 Speaker 01 An army of red flags.
50:49 Speaker 00 A United Nations of red flags.
50:51 Speaker 01 Come on. So Drew made it okay?
50:54 Speaker 00 Yes, Drew made it home okay. He did not have gangrene. He got his legs seen too.
50:59 Speaker 01 Okay.
50:59 Speaker 00 So he's okay.
51:00 Speaker 01 I gotta go have a cigarette. I gotta bring myself down. Y'all got me riled up. Drew, we're here to help. Drew.
51:12 Speaker 00 No, write into us. We can help you.
51:15 Speaker 01 I'm gonna send you a note to send to Drew.
51:17 Speaker 00 Okay.
51:18 Speaker 01 It's about self-care. It's about boundaries. It's about a lot. Oh, Drew.
51:26 Speaker 00 Well, pass it along. That'll be the first time that's happened.
51:35 Speaker 00 Thank you for listening to Normal Gossip. If you have a gossip story to share with us, email us at [email protected] , or you can leave us a voicemail at 2679 gossip. If you love this podcast and want to support us, become a friend or a friend of a friend at supportnormalgossip.com. You can follow the show on Instagram and TikTok at Normal Gossip. You can follow me on all social media at HeyDnA, H-E-Y-Y-D-N-A-E. This podcast was produced by Sarah Spragley-Ritz and Jay Tolviera. Thank you to Samantha Gatzic, our audio engineer, and thank you to Danielle Hewitt for your additional production help this season. The co-creators and Dowager Queens Normal Gossip are Alex Dujong Loughlin
52:19 Speaker 00 and Kelston McKinney. Justin Ellis is Defector's projects editor. Jasper Wang and Sean Kuhn are Defector's business guys. Alex Dujong Loughlin is Defector's supervising producer. Tom Lay is our editor in chief. Dan McQuade runs our merch store, which you can find at normalgossip.store. Tara Jacoby designed our show art. Thank you to Catherine Chu, Brandy Jensen, Louise Paez-Pumar, Chris Thompson, Jasper Wang, Sabrina Embler, Dave McKenna, Patrick Redford, and Ray Rado for all your help on this season. Thank you to the rest of the Defector staff. Defector Media is a collectively owned subscriber-based media company. Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radiotopia. I'm your host, Rachel Hampton, and remember, you didn't hear this from me.
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