Endless Thread - Extraordinary vs. Extra Ordinary

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Ben and Amory take a hike with producer Grace, following the digital trail of  "Ridiculoubs" — a mysterious climber who traverses the world's peaks in striking footwear. Then, Amory celebrates the beauty of daily life with the Dull Women's Club, a Facebook group with nearly 1.6 million members. Show notes: "Ridiculoubs" Reviews (Google Maps) Ridiculoubs (Instagram) Dull Women’s Club (Facebook) Dull Women’s Club celebrating the ordinary   Sponsor message: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/ENDLESS Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee

Support for endless thread comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink Software, to design and develop engineered systems, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com. Support for WBUR comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Marotra Institute at Boston University that explores questions like, why is innovation in healthcare so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? of course, is business broken? Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. WBUR Podcasts, Boston. Producer Grace Tatter, how are you doing? Grace. Host Amarie Sievertson and Ben Brock Johnson. I'm doing great because I got to follow a tip that one of our listeners gave us. So you might remember this email. It's from a while ago, but it was from a listener named Jordan Sewell.

And Jordan had written to tell us about how he and his wife were traveling around Iceland a couple of years ago. Best place. I know. I'm jealous. Have you been? I have. You must go. You will go. Someday. Someday. For now, though, I'm living vicariously through Jordan and his wife, who were doing lots of hiking too during their trip a couple of years ago. So every evening, they check Google Maps.

plan the next part of their road trip. And almost always, a person going by the name of Ridiculubes had reviewed the next few hikes on their route. Huh. So I'm going to send you one of Ridiculubes' reviews from that trip. Okay. I see a picture of somebody in a dress. And they're also in quite remarkable scenery, right, against a quite staggering backdrop. And it's, They're wearing those shoes. What are those shoes? Valentinos? Is that a thing?

Nice try. You're close. You're close. That was a real shot in the dark. Those are lubitons. Oh, lubitons, of course. Which is where I think we can assume Ridiculub gets their screen name from Ridiculubes, L-O-U-B.

Yes. And can I say, I've seen these shoes before. I've heard of lubitons. I have seen these shoes before. I have never put. the two together. Like, I didn't know what a lute... Gun to my head, I couldn't have told you

what a lubaton looked like. But it's the black shoe with the bright red heel, like stiletto, the black stiletto with the bright red bottom to the shoe. So for anyone who needed a visual, just because I didn't know. And now I do.

And they're very high, very skinny. They look like a weapon. The heel looks like a weapon. Okay. I haven't seen them that up close, but I believe you. Yeah, it's like a red mouth with one very long sharp tooth. Yes. Yes.

Yes. And they also look very hard to walk in. So this review of this person wearing these very high heels in gorgeous, mountainous places, it turns out this is not an anomaly. Because fast forward two years, and Jordan and his wife are in the Dolomites in Italy. and once again, Ridiculubes has been on the trail. And once again, Ridicubes has been wearing

their signature lubotons. How is Ridiculubes always just one loop step ahead of them? I don't know. And how are they walking on this terrain in those shoes that I could not walk on a flat wooden floor in? They're crunching around on the snow.

They're up. Is it okay that I'm forwarding through these photos? Yeah, I was going to say, scroll through the photos, but also like some of the reviews, yeah. These are like your classic hiking photos where you're on the top of X Mountain or you're on the, you know, you're amid the incredible landscape except this person is doing it in some form of a dress or skirt and these ridiculously high heels. Yeah.

It's very surrealist, I feel, like, in a way or like vaguely surrealist where it's like, oh, this person is wearing an outfit that does not make sense in this location, but it's very striking. So lots of questions here. Right. Precurious places, precarious shoes. So like you all, like me, Jordan, our listener, wanted to know why. Why, if you're going to these, like, beautiful but very rocky, steep places, are you wearing such high heels? And why Google Maps? Why post these pictures on Google Maps reviews? Because you're only going to come across these reviews if you're traveling to these places, right? It's not like they're going to get a lot of attention inherently. So why are they doing this? Are they trying to become a meme? Are they hiding little Easter eggs across Google Maps? Just so fellow hikers like Jordan will stumble across them. And also, how are they doing this?

Like, these are serious hikes with, like, tables and stuff. Have they modified the salettos with gripper spikes to make them all terrain? Like, how are they getting up there? That was what I was, that was my big question to you is like, is there a little, is there a little backpack with their other clothes just outside the frame? Because Loob's looks pretty pristine in these photos. Like, I don't, I'm not seeing the dust of the hike on Loeb's outfits here. Well, fortunately, I talked to Ridiculubes. And they were down.

What? Ridiculubes was down to reveal all. Lobs? You could talk to Lobs? I sure did. All right, Grace. Tell us more. Okay.

So Ridiclobs signs his emails as Ritty. Loves is a great nickname, Ben. But Ritty is how he signs those emails, which is a little less of a mouthful than Ridiculbs. Riddi first discovered women's fashion when he was a little kid. I'm a guy, but I'm a guy. I like dressing up. This is an aspect of Ritty's life he doesn't always share with everyone, so that's why

we agreed to use his nickname. Around 20 years ago, he started dressing up sometimes when he was out of the house. Forced back then, the social climate was a bit different. But every time I went out, I took some photos as photographic evidence, and that started a trend. And eventually, I built up my confidence, started going out during daytime in different places, in public. And, yeah, it was a process of getting here.

used to the looks that you might get, and, you know, some of the looks may not be so charitable. Ritty developed his confidence in style over time. He started collecting lubitons. He now owns about 20 pairs. I would say I'm jealous, but I really don't think I could walk in them, so I guess that's fine. At the same time, as he's developing his new sense of style and gaining the confidence to go out and about more dressed up, he's also developing a passion for nature and the outdoors. Riddie can work remotely, so he regularly travels to hike and camp in some of the world's most scenic places. I was driving through Austria at one point. So I was thinking around Easter time.

And there's still snow in the ground. And I decided, oh, I haven't dressed up while being on snow and on a snowy path. And I did that. And that was one of the earlier explorations, I suppose. It kind of became a thing because I looked at it. oh, this is actually quite nice. It's just worked out because these are things that I love and I can do both at the same time. Riddey doesn't have a photography assistant. He uses drones to capture these images. He tries to pick times of day when there aren't other hikers around. So he doesn't

disturb them with drone noises. And he does not wear stilettos for the entire hike, usually. There are moments where I'm just like, okay, I'm just going to take this video and I can massage my feet a little later. But wearing stilettos is not without its risks, especially in nature, which Riddey was reminded of one day when he was setting up for a photo in a beautiful but remote location. I stepped out into the rock in order to get to the spot where I think, okay, this would look nice. As I stepped out, I slipped. I couldn't stop myself.

I kept sliding and sliding, and I looked ahead, and in about, like, five feet, there was a drop-off. And I, internally, I'm panicking, but I was still trying to look for a way out, and I kept trying to stop myself with my legs and my hands, and it wasn't working. Fortunately, Ritty saw a tree branch. I went up and grabbed it. I hung on to it and it helped my weight. And thanks to it, I was able to get out safely. Nobody was there. I didn't see anyone. He also didn't have any cell phone service.

So if something has happened, if I broken my leg or hit my head and gotten conscious, then I have no recourse except to just drag myself out. When Ritty leaves a Google review, it's not just so he can post his picture. He's also sharing detailed information about these hikes because he actually uses Google reviews. In addition to Google Maps, Riddie posts his pictures on Instagram, also under the name Ridiculubs. He hasn't gone viral. He's not really trying to become a meme. He genuinely enjoys dressing up, taking pictures and hiking just for himself. But he was delighted that Jordan had seen his reviews more than once.

Wow, it feels great to actually have people notice. And the fact that your listener had traveled to the same places I have, I feel like there's a lot of kindred spirits out there. So yeah, that's ridiculous. I'm personally manifesting a trail run-in between Jordan and Ritty. I think that would be very fun for everyone. Oh, man. Maybe Jordan and his wife can become the human support team.

Like the drone pictures. Yeah, hike together. Yeah, you can't argue with some of them. of these drone shots and how high up they are and the perspective that they offer. But I do, for Ritty's safety, want him to have some hiking buddies along these trips. So as long as we don't hear some horrible news headline about Ritty falling to his death, I love the spirit of this. Yeah, respect to Ritty for taking something that he loves and another thing that he loves. And another thing he loves and putting them together in a way that a lot of people probably wouldn't think about.

And that also gives other people joy. That also gives other people something to love. Exactly. Following his journey, yeah. I love it. Well, thanks, Grace. Thank you. Safe trails. Happy trails. Indeed. Okay, Ben. So that was nothing short of extraordinary.

But when we come back, I'm going to tell you about a different corner of the internet. that is utterly ordinary. Can't wait. This episode is brought to you by L'Oreal Group. Beauty is a powerful force that moves us. That's why L'Oreal Group has built a business that is inclusive at its heart with 100% of its brands, championing diversity.

With 25,000 professional opportunities for people under 30 worldwide and 54% of leading positions held by women, diversity is a strength that helps L'Oreal Group create the best beauty products for all people. Visit laurel.com to learn more. I'm Dean Russell, co-creator of WBUR's new family-friendly podcast, The Midnight Rebellion. This story transports you to a future shaped by climate change.

The water is high, seaweed is everywhere, and the city is ruled by salty robots. The good news, you choose what happens. The decisions you make can turn the tide. All episodes are out now. This summer, find your next great adventure at W&EWROWS. W-B-U-R-D-R-R-S-Mindnight or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, we're back. And Ben, I'm going to send you a few Facebook posts for you to take a look at.

Oh, boy. Oh, boy. All right. Headed back to Facebook, the place I try to avoid at all costs and barely know how to log into anymore. Fair enough. I log in so you don't have to. How about that? Perfect.

All right. Perfect. Okay. Why don't we start with this one? Wait, are these brussels the same size as avocados? Yes. What is happening right now?

Look at these giant Brussels sprouts. Would you look at that? Or do you mean tiny avocados? Ooh, we can't know, can we? We've only got an avocado for scale. You need a banana for scale. I'm sorry. Send it back.

Okay. Send it back. Hold your horses. We'll get to bananas. Bananas for scale. will come into play here. Here's another post I want you to take a look at. Okay, this one's a little more complex. This is it. The very last drops of my preferred smell of Blue Dawn. They changed the scent a little over a year ago, and it's just not the same.

The old one, this one, was clean and fresh. The new one is perfumed and just not the right one. This is relatable, right? When you just, she's talking about Don Dish-Lish-List. and the scent changing. And I feel like we've all had that product in our life where something that you think you can rely on one day. Yeah. For me, that's just pants generally. Pants are so hard. You get a pair of pants.

You're like, damn, these is good pants. And then you go back and they're like, no, it's all bell bottoms now. And you're like, really? This is, we're doing this again? You know what I mean? That's how I feel. I'm not, I am not taking a bite of that apple. I'm not on the bell bottom train.

My legs are my best trait. So, like, I got to show off them stems, you know what I mean? And, like, if I'm going back to boxy pants, that doesn't help me. Your elaboration on this is really tapping into something that is quite relevant. We are dancing around the topic. But do you have any guess as to what shared space on the internet these posts were made in? They belong to one particular group. The not interesting subreddit?

Essentially, yes. These were all made in something called the Dull Women's Club. Oh, the Dull Women's Club. Okay, fair. Which is a place on the internet to post about... Ordinary Life, just celebrating the Aldermy, really. So this is self-proclaimed dull woman, Sarah Jones Green. And she created the Dull Women's Club group on Facebook.

She works as an actor and a singer in London. I'm a shoe size eight. And Sarah wants you to know that she wears size eight shoes because most posts in this group include the poster's shoe size. And that can be traced back to the Dull Men's Club, which started as a website in the mid-90s. but now also has a Facebook group. So perhaps the shoe size thing is a reference to the male anatomy,

I suggested to Sarah. Had you thought of this? No. I'm quite, the thing is I'm quite interesting as well. I don't always get these jokes. People also often post a picture of a banana, which, as you said, banana for scale, that's also just become part of the bit now.

But the idea for the Dull Women's Club started with the Dull Man in Sarah's life, or at least a member of the Dull Men's Club, her husband, who was scrolling through that particular Facebook group one night. We were on a night out, and he was drinking the beer, and I was drinking hot chocolate. And I said, I'm a dull woman. And I thought, well, I know women can join this page, but women want their own page. So, yeah, I set out for Dull Women's Club. Sarah has also said that she came across an article about a couple who met as a result of the Dull Men's Club. So that was further motivation to set up a similar page for women. So, Ben, you've

gotten a sense of the kinds of posts that are made in this Facebook group. But I asked Sarah what being a dull woman means to her. And she said, it's someone who likes their creature comforts and wants to celebrate the simple joys of life. And in that way, it's kind of the opposite of ridiculous. You know, it's like the antithesis to the traditional approach to social media, we might say. Yeah, fair. Now, this isn't to say that there aren't some momentous things that happen in the Dull Women's Club Facebook group. Like this post that I just sent you, Ben.

Take a look at this. Okay, okay. Just purchased my first home at 60. It's a nice-looking house, this person bought in what, what we, looks like suburban rural New England. A lot of golden leaves, some jack-a-lanterns, beautiful house. See, what I love about this is like, you know, for some people, they would say, whoa, you're just buying your first home at 60.

And it's like, no, man, she just bought her first home at whatever age, you know. This is the big, this is the big event. This is the big accomplishment. And I think we, um, we, um, we, lie to ourselves so often on social media in accepting that what we are seeing is the whole picture. And this is a space where not only can you post the whole picture, but it's so, it's so relatable, right? It's like what other space on the internet can you post about your favorite dish liquid changing scent and have a bunch of people chime in and go, oh, man, I know. Like it's such a, I hate when that happens. And we don't have a lot of spaces on the internet where we can just commiserate about that and celebrate those things with strangers.

You know, that is an excellent point. When you're in this world of actually having to click buttons to like things and upvote things and comment on things and there's this real kind of, you know, priority placed on like just how much people. people love it and how crazy it is and how it makes you angry or it makes you, blows your mind, you know, like I do like an area of the internet where you can just be like, yeah, this is just a thing. And I like it. And people can be like, that's great without having to like hold you to some like crazy standard of like, oh, well, your post isn't a picture of somebody like chugging an entire jug of oil and then throwing up every. wear. So, you know what I mean? I do like that. I like this as a concept. I'm warming up. I'm warming up. Yeah. And these people know that these posts are otherwise like dull. You know, I just

shared one more with you. The caption is just very dull indeed. My toast was launched so precisely. Okay. This one is my zone. Okay. This is my zone because it's dull, but it's also incredibly unlikely. Yeah. So explain this. Okay, it says, very dull indeed. My toast was launched so precisely. This is one of those vertical toaster ovens where you pop the toasts. I guess it's a toaster. It's not a toaster oven.

And it says, my toast was launched so precisely from the toaster that it landed just so on its platform. And so, like, on top of this toaster, there's a bread standing perfectly vertically on end. If that happened to you in real life, it's a little out of this. It's like, it is dull because it's just. like your toast. It's just like today's piece of toast. But it is also remarkable. Right. Like this is the sort of thing where I would take a picture of

it and I'd probably send it to my husband or I'd send it to you know my family. I might send it I might send it to you and be like look at my toast. But this is a community of 1.6 million strangers around the world

where you can post this and you will find your people who are like man that toast is amazing. How What did that happen? And you'll feel validated. And Sarah says there are about like 200 posts submitted every day that she and five of her friends combed through as moderators. There will be certain crazes where like everyone will start posting pictures of their tattoos or one time people were posting a bunch of close up pictures of their eyes, which I'm not into that. I can't do eye stuff. But there are all these spinoff groups. There's like a dull women's vegan group. that's been served up to me in the algorithm before. There are fake versions of the group because the real one is so popular that other people are trying to sort of like capitalize off of that momentum. So that's shady.

Don't do that. But there is one key rule that Sarah told me about. I can't really allow posts of a political or religious nature just because, well, all the unrest in the world, there's going to be a lot of vows, and this isn't really the place for rowing. This isn't the place for rowing, Ben. No rowing. She's actually had to ban No hullabaloo's. No hullabalus. She's had to ban certain, um, the names of certain American politicians, a particular one that you can probably imagine to minimize rowing. You know what I was going to say. What? They should make merch and it should be make America dull again.

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Please. Let's get a make America doll. had again. Maybe in sad beige. In sad beige. That's right. That's right. Yeah. And I yes, I love that because part of like, part of the essence of dullness is just feeling like comfortable with your dullness. Safe. Safe from being judged and feeling judge and from judging others once you see other people's kinds of posts. And this is like really a point of pride for Sarah. This is what she hopes she has created. Just feeling safe, happy and secure, like a place online that they can call home where they can

be themselves and just celebrate there every day. Ben, did you watch season three of the White Lotus? You want in Thailand? Yeah, of course. So I have to say, in preparing to talk to you about the Dull Women's Club, I was thinking back to this monologue that Carrie Coons' character has at the end of the series where she's talking to her friends, one of whom is like a movie or TV star, another one, you know, has married some wealthy guy and has beautiful children and has this life that Carrie Coons either wants or thought that she wanted. I just feel like as you get older, you have to justify your life, you know, and your choices.

and when I'm with you guys is just so like transparent what my choices were and my mistakes. As I'm thinking about the Dull Women's Club and I'm thinking about this monologue, I was just tearing up because, you know, she says,

her character says, I don't need religion or God to give my life meaning because time gives it meaning. And that it's not, the fabulous things that you've done or places you've gone or the extraordinary accomplishments. It's just the fact that you have lived each day and you've gone through the joys of accomplishing small goals and the frustrations of having your, you know, your dish liquid fragrance change. It's just

like there is value and meaning just in the living and in the passing of time and experiencing what we do just in the everyday dull as it may be. And so that's what I want to leave people with is just, as one writer put it, talking about the Dull Women's Club, like, contentment is seriously underrated. And there's value in that contentment. I like that. And I would say, like, for me, what this makes me think about is akin to that, is, you know, at this period of my life, essentially my happiest times, my times of my feeling

most content, are things that, like, are fundamentally dull in some ways where, like, I, for me, like, going on a walk in the woods with my family, and that's, I feel like, so much of we experience on the internet is sort of, like, curated to be the opposite of that. Like, the most incredible meal. A person hiking in lubitons on the top of a mountain. Sure. Yeah. Sure.

Although, you know, I ain't mad at that either. No, no. There's room for both of that. There's room for both. And I guess like I do, I think where our lives are the most rewarding are in things that are like the sort of like quiet moments, the things that are less likely to be posted on the internet in some ways. And it's a nice reminder that a lot of what fulfills us exists offline. But also there are online places to celebrate those offline moments as well.

Yeah, it's not one or the, like I want ridiculubs and I want the toast person on my internet. And without both things, the internet does not feel like real life. It feels like only a place for the extraordinary. So thank you for going on this journey with me. And absolutely. Send us, and listeners, please send us some dull photos. Yes. What's your dull thing? What, what dull thing have you done or relished in lately? Yeah. Tell us. But always make sure you add a banana for scale. Yeah. And choose size if you want. Or not if you don't. But don't send me your eyeball. I don't want that. I won't receive it Well, and we'll be sure to link to both the Dull Women's Club and Ridiculums, because as we've established, we need both on the internet.

We'll put that in our show notes. Endless Threat is a not dull production of WBUR in Boston. This episode was produced by Kalyani Saxana, hosted by me, Ben Brock Johnson. And me, Amory Severson, and producer Grace Tatter. It was edited by Meg Kramer, mix and sound design by Marquise Neal. The rest of our team is Dean Russell, Chiosna Bernadot, Emily Jankowski, our production manager Paul Vikas, and our managing producer, Samata Joshi. Endless Thread is a show about the blurred lines between your favorite scent of dish soap

and the new one that sucks, and why did they change it? It's terrible. If you have an unsolved mystery and untold history or another wild story from the internet that you want us to tell, you can hit us up. Endless thread at wbUR.org.