Everything Is Content - Rules for life, Bad Boyfriends and worse dates

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Today on Everything Is Content we’re kicking back and sticking the TV on. Is The Perfect Couple worth a binge or shall we just rewatch The White Lotus? Is ITV’s Bad Boyfriends classic reality chaos or an exploitative step back? And WHEN are they getting an HR department on Selling Sunset? We also chat about Dolly Alderton’s rules for life. What did we love and what would we add? Finally, we’re sharing bad date stories after Diane Abbott’s confession that Corbyn took her to a cemetery on a romantic outing. Follow us on Instagram @everythingiscontentpod!BLACKWELL’S - Mrs Dalloway NETFLIX - The Hours THE GUARDIAN- Colin from AccountsTHE GUARDIAN - LOSTBBC - Society of the Snow THE GUARDIAN - Yellowjackets DOLLY ALDERTON - My 58 rules for lifeTHE CUT - 194 Modern Etiquette Rules for Life after COVIDTHE GUARDIAN - 100 tiny changesGOODREADS - The Bell Jar ELIN HILDERBRAND - The Perfect Couple EMMA ROSENBLUM - Bad Summer PeopleCOSMOPOLITAN - Bad BoyfriendsPRESTIGE - Selling Sunset THE GUARDIAN - Diane Abbott on dating Jeremy CorbynDIANE ABBOTT - A Woman Like Me  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beth! Oh, she's actually gone. She's gone. Oh dear. Hello, sorry about that. I don't know what's going on. At least I was in a good mood when I froze. I'm Beth. I'm Rochera. And I'm Anoni.

And this is Everything Is Content. Every week we pick out the juiciest, ripest, pop culture stories from the entertainment news tree and scrutinise them here with each other. We're your armbands in the deep swimming pool of content. Before we get into this week's episode, I've just come back from being on holiday and I would love if you could give us a five-star review wherever you're listening to us right now and give us a follow on Instagram and TikTok at everythingiscontentpod. This week on the the podcast we're talking dolly alderton's rules for life our tv guide and diane abbott's dating disaster girls we turned 40 today i just noticed at the top of the document this is our 40th episode we're 40 happy 40th birthday and thriving chic very chic it's not exciting um anyway what

have you both been loving this week I have been loving a revisit to Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway which I think I read last time probably when I was at university but I did write about this on my sub stack but I watched The Hours uh the 2004 film with Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Claire Danes to name a few a couple of months ago one of the most beautiful films I've ever watched have you guys watched it no I don't even know about this film I stuck it on really recently to re-watch it was one of my favorite films growing up I watched this when it came out way too early. I fell asleep in front of it. But anyway, absolutely love it. Tell me your thoughts.

Well, because I misread it when I watched it. I thought it said Oscar winning 2024 film. I was like, oh my God, I have not seen this. It's Oscar winning 2004 film. Anyway, it is basically, there's three threads. So there is actual Virginia Woolf living her life when she's kind of going through like a mental breakdown and crisis. Then there's Mrs. Dalloway, this like fictionalized version of the Mrs. Dalloway in the book. And then there's like a

modern day one. It's kind of like these three threads. So it's all in different timelines, one set in Virginia Woolf's era, one's in like the 60 like the 60s 60s maybe yeah and then one's like more current days like in the noughties and it's basically like sapphic love stories but it's just it's just one of the most beautiful films i've ever seen and it made me really want to revisit mrs dalloway and um i didn't even realize nicole kibben plays virginia wolf but she's got a prosthetic nose on so i didn't actually realize till at the end of the film when I was looking up the cast that that was her she's exceptional in it so I'm loving Mrs Dalloway but I'm loving Mrs Dalloway because of watching that film oh I love that I've read the book I was obsessed with the book

when I was at uni and it was like you, when you read something that's kind of canon, but you're not reading it in the sense that, oh, this is homework or seminar work. I've just like read it by myself and I'm actually obsessed with it. It makes you feel really smart. That's how I felt with Mrs. Dalloway. I agree. I think all of, whenever I read it, because I, there were so many books that I found, like you said, that just really felt like work and you're enjoying it for the sake of like wanting to sound smart or be on board. But every single thing that I found, like you said, that just really felt like work and you're enjoying it for the sake of like wanting to sound smart or be on board. But every single thing that I read by Virginia Woolf, I just genuinely got so much pleasure out of it.

What have you been loving, Beth? No, wait. Yeah. Yeah, you can ask me. You can ask yourself if you want. What have you been loving, Richa? What have you been loving, Beth? I have been, so I know we're going do a whole tv segment um in a little in a little while but I need to share Colin from accounts have you heard of it and have you

seen it I've heard about this I've yeah people have recommended it to me before and I just haven't got round to watching it so yeah I'm so excited for your review okay so it is a an Australian romantic comedy drama dramedy I guess um I'm watching on BBC iPair at the moment with my parents it's set in Sydney it follows two kind of single not hopeless people but they're kind of like both going through some shit um Ashley who's a sixth year medical student I think and, who owns a microbrewery. She's 29. He's in his 40s. They meet when she's late for work. She crosses the street in front of his car, flashes her tit at him, which causes him to be distracted and run over a dog. And that's their meet-cute. And it follows their force to be in each other's life because they've

got this shared catastrophe. They hit this dog, they take it to the vet this connection ensues and it's really funny it took me a few episodes to be like do I hate this do I love it I think it's maybe Australian humor is really different it's quite dark or like not dark the tone of it but the jokes are quite dark in moments you're like oh fuck me really funny i love the leads i just found out i'm married to each other which is one of my favorite ones yeah which really explains they've got this chemistry where they're really good at being kind of irritated with each other and also like having sexual chemistry on that how are they doing that okay they've probably been married like however many years it's really really charming and um it's on

bbc ipad and i had to recommend it because it's the first time in a long time i've just chosen something completely at random and then was like oh my god this is gorgeous divine so you should watch that i haven't i don't have myth that's passed me by but i want to watch it i think season two now so you've got at least like what's eight times two 16 episodes to watch I think they're all out so it's like god that was really some mental maths um I wouldn't recommend if it was only on season one because I don't do that um but you've got a whole two seasons I think can we Ruchira can we ask you for um I want a double decker I want what you've

been loving this week and also a little holiday recap. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. So for what I've been loving this week, kind of also ties into a holiday recap. Me and my sister just started Lost. And I know recommending Lost is the equivalent of being like, have you ever thought about drinking more water? But like, genuinely, I am so obsessed. I'm'm so like my whole life has been taken over by this bloody show have you have either of you watched it i am obsessed yeah i i watched this when it came out and you have to remind me when it did come out fucking ages ago again i think it was really age inappropriate and i loved it like we would sit down as a family i think watch every wednesday or friday night and adored it adored it

adored it for some reason didn't finish it I don't know why I don't know if that's like ominous to be like oh my god it's really bad didn't finish it I'm now desperate to re-watch how far in did you get because there's a lot of series and it takes on a lot of twists and turns my elder sister used to get the box sets every Christmas she got like the the next season on DVD. Oh, I love that. And we'd get so excited to watch them. And then actually it was maybe like last year or two years ago that I realized I hadn't finished it. And I tried to start from season six or seven. But it's so undulating, the storyline, that I actually just couldn't, I couldn't remember what happened.

Yeah, it's absolutely mental. I just finished season two, two days ago. So I'm like a few episodes into season three, actually, that's where I'm at. And so much life has been happening. And I just found out that they've only lived on the island for 60 days. And I thought it was genuinely two years from like all the storylines that had happened. So you know what, I'm gripped in, I'm ready to go. I'm not going to see anyone for probably like a year now because this is my life can you remind me who the hot who the hot people on there are again I remember Sawyer the kind of dirty blonde man is that him yeah the seven yeah who's the female leads I just

remember it being like so many sexual evangelion lily she was so beautiful like tomb raider-esque aesthetic oh it's so many hot people it's just yeah i found out it's the 20-year anniversary this slash next year so i think it's probably a good time to if you you know haven't caught up with it just jump on the train message me I need people to start watching it so I have someone to talk to about it because my sister now has a life so she's not watching it anymore and I'm alone I don't have a life I'll watch it with you I also don't have life I'm so jealous that you're watching it for the first time because I think it is one of those shows that just completely pulls you in and also I love things we've spoken about this before it's not zombie apocalypse but it is kind of apocalyptic-esque in that they're completely taken away from reality and I love survival things

so hashtag gel yeah and I I think I'm now actually convinced that I could probably live on an island and do it really well I think yeah I never thought that before but I think I could be good at it what's giving you this impression I think I could forage I think I would have some good foraging skills and I also think I would be quite chill about it I think I mean one of them is like setting up a church on the island the other one's like having delusions another one's like I don't know like literally just like killing people on the island by accident so I think I could do a better job than that. The castaway did make me think that I'd be able to like catch fish

by spearing them with like a spear on the end of a stick. I think you could. I don't have any of these like, you know how people say like when like the end of the world comes. I really think I would fall off a cliff day one looking for Wi-Fi.

I would be genuinely, I would be happy to just, I would sunbathe like that gun and last i'd just be sunbathing amongst the wreckage and then i'd let myself i'd eat like a poison berry day two guaranteed and be like oh shit so you know i actually did i had a conversation about this the other day about did you watch the society of the snow the documentary about the football team that got stuck in the andes after that after that the 70s. Guys, do you know what I'm talking about? No, I have no idea.

It's a real story. Dark. So it was a football or rugby team. It's really dark. They were in this really famous plane crash that got stuck in the Andes. They were there for 70 days. And loads of them died in the crash.

And then lots of them died on the mountain. And they ended up eating each other in order to survive. It's a true story. And I was talking to someone about this the other day. He was a man. And I was like, would just die of shock like the minute the plane if i survived the plane crash i think i'd just give up it's the fact they go on living in the most dire situations like their pee is black they're having to eat their friends in order to survive it's amazing feet of survival but i just think i would be like no i'm actually okay i'll just go now you have

watched yellow jacket haven't you yeah only one season maybe okay because this is so this this is so like lost I think we said this at the time so lost-esque survival but just with um teenage girls awesome I actually love this genre of tv I don't think I want to watch a documentary that might be real just fine okay we need a holiday recap yes So I went to Peru on a family trip. We didn't kill each other. So I think that means it went really, really well. And I saw loads of alpacas and me and my sister started lost together. What else? And also me and my sister shared a room and didn't kill each other. So yeah, it was a really good trip. It was really, really good. Thank you you I knew nothing about Peru

I said to my mom I was like we're going to Peru and she went oh Paddington I was like that is God I'm I was like I'm ignorant no yeah in Lima the capital they have this statue of Paddington and apparently the mayor from like I think maybe 20 years ago I don't I didn't even know his name the London mayor um had sent the statue down to Peru because obviously the country doesn't mean anything without our stamp on it that is so funny so on the weekend just past one of our faves Dolly Alderton shared everything she's learned on how to live a good life all the tidbits of advice she'd give especially now that she's just turned 36 and had a very glam birthday i saw from instagram um loads of people over the weekend were resharing

bits of her advice and i feel like it clearly resonated with a lot of people um just for anyone who doesn't know i'm sure all of our listeners lovelly, but she's the writer of the best-selling memoir, Everything I Know About Love, the novels Ghosts and Good Material, and she's also the Sunday Times Style's Agony Aunt. The piece was called Dolly Alderton, My 58 Rules for Life, and one of my personal favourite bits from the whole piece was just something about letting yourself change and not being afraid if that makes you a hypocrite so never kind of wedding yourself to one idea of who you can be and then kind of shaming yourself if you grow out of that or into something new I wanted to know did you girls read the piece and were there any kind of you know bits of advice that especially stood out or resonated with you

I did read it I loved. I shared one of the things on Instagram, which, because I feel like I'm going through this right now as well, but it was said, let go of the life you thought you'd have. Every single one of us will have to do this at some stage. The process is hard and sad, and then it can be easy and liberating. In fact, it's less of a process and more of an art form. It's spectacular to watch someone do it successfully. And I think as you get older, more and more, actually I'm writing something about this at the minute. I'm listening to Sylvia Plath's as well, The Bell Dart.

And there's a bit where she talks about how she sees all the lives she could have lived. And it's like, there's this big fig tree in her garden and the figs keep falling off all the possible things that like could have happened. And I think as you get older, especially as you pass each age, you're like, oh, I thought I was going to do this at 23 oh I thought I was gonna do this at 23 I thought I was gonna do that at 30 and you can either get really bogged down by by being really upset that you didn't reach those milestones

or you can try and learn to adapt and I really liked that thing of like sometimes you do have to grieve a life or something that you thought was going to happen and just make peace with that and I think that that's a really spectacular skill to so I love that bit that was one of my faves yeah I just say Sylvia Plath and what's Mrs Dalloway what he wrote Virginia Woolf it's wellness check needed in an only time oh my god I do love I also do love that quote because I read it and I was oh my god when I was in a really depressed state, I was like, oh my God, you have all the figs

and she's like, they're all rotting around you while you don't juice. And I saw someone else be like, yeah, but you know what? Just grab the fig and fucking eat it. Like just, you know, it's really instructive

or it's depressing depending on where you're coming from. The ones I liked from Dolly's list were the practical ones where she's like floss, because I think just always great advice. Don't make dates over the weekend because you spend time with your family and friends well she's like just she had some

really good like practical ones um the social media do less takeaways as well yeah I really agreed with that did you so surprised by that one I don't know why that one of all of it I felt was like the most controversial to me but you tell me what you think Anoni well I had this realization the other day because I'm broke that I should stop getting to La Veru and then I was like actually sometimes you think you want a takeaway but actually you just want something that's like really low stakes and low effort so I've been having like jacket potatoes with tuna and beans pot noodles just stuff that's really comfort foodie and really easy and it's like actually I think that is kind of what I wanted but we've kind of tricked ourselves into

thinking that because it's delivery it's kind of fancy and you're basically having something which is better value actually the amount of money you have to spend now because I always want to get the free delivery I end up ordering like enough food for four people so I spend more money just to get two pounds fifty off which is really stupid and then it's never as nice as if you're in the restaurant I've got a corner shop honestly about 30 seconds away I've never been so close to a corner shop there is all sorts of little treats in there sometimes just eggs on toast for dinner is better than a pad thai and I read that and I felt really like yeah you're right she's right she is right which is why I hated it because it is shaking me out because I don't live in London anymore so I came back last week and I was like kid in a candy store, just like,

I think I got like three or four in a week in London. It was too much. And I've been, I'm getting kind of radicalized the correct way. People being like, it is ridiculous. You're basically hiring a car service for your burrito every time you get a takeaway. So the reason I hated that one, it was because I knew she was right I'm not ready to hear it yet I'm not ready to to change my ways sorry doll yeah I like the treat vibes of outsourcing just having like a shit day and then feeling as if like some kind of care is happening by outsourcing not having to cook for myself but I mean I think I need to get better at having leftovers and like having them in the freezer

because you're right it's not the actual food it's that for me where it's like the feeling of like I could just do that for myself because I'm acknowledging that like today's been shit so I'm doing x thing and pulling the lever to make myself feel better what else did you have on hers I'll bring back the sleepover can we have a sleepover because I saw that one and I was like oh my god that's so true and I think we often think I've kind of grown out of that and like whatever but actually I think the idea that I've had my last sleepover with someone that's not like a man makes me feel really upset yeah I love that that was like a really nice reminder that I really need to do that more because

even being away and sharing a room with my sister and like starting lost and just like chatting shit and having that shared experience just feels so special. And apart from going away, I feel like as an adult, I haven't really done that. Or like if I visit my friends who don't live in London and then stay with them. But it is the best time,'t it it's just the best I also another one I want to bring up because I've really learned to do this and I think we spoke about this in the Charlie XCX and Lorde episode but about finding a way to when you feel jealous still being kind to people I don't know if that's how it was but this one which says don't withhold compliments not out of shyness and especially not out of jealousy withholding compliments does not make the complimentary thing any less true and I think that's such a good thing like whenever you feel jealousy coming up you're jealous because you want something that someone else has and instead of feeling spiteful or annoyed about it like acknowledge it and be like I really love

your house or I'm really proud that you got that job offer or I'm and it I think it because you're giving them a kindness it turns that little evil spikiness in you and into a warmth loving thing I think that's a really good thing to do yeah I agree I feel like with jealousy jealousy is such an interesting one and I think casting it into the shadow and kind of making it like this like malevolent thing and part of you by just like not wanting to like tackle it head on even with kindness like dolly said and you said i think just makes it so much worse it like breathes whereas i feel like i don't know it just i feel like you just do kill it with kindness and even just like being kind to yourself and just thinking jealousy is a

normal thing i'm just gonna be nice to the person because this is really sick that they've done xyz thing is just gonna make it so much better and nicer as well I am in my jealous era I keep getting very jealous of people and stuff I think just because I'm a bit broken a bit heartbroken so I'm just like the jealousy is jumping out but I'm I'm I'm killing it with kindness I'm killing the jealousy within me by expelling kindness through my mouth. But it is popping up, girls. She's got one of the seven deadly sins and it's envy.

She's turning green. She's hulking out. I think that's a really good one. I missed this one completely when I read the list. And I did read this list quite carefully because I love Dolly's writing. Missed this one completely.

I was just going, I'm flossing. I'm doing what she says. Another one. At the risk of reading um another one at the risk of reading every single one on the list um when she writes about actually asking for help from your friends as well I don't know if that kind of touches on it is that like genuinely not feeling because you give if you ask for help people will ask you for help and if there's one thing we all

need it's some help um and I think that was a very nice one she really oscillates between like the practical ones and then the really ones i was like oh my god that's actually gonna help me live better there was such a good one where she said something that was like if your friends treat you as a therapist that's probably because you're acting like one so stop kind of withholding and i was like oh bird because sometimes you can do that thing where if a friend tells you about loads of their oh i do this i'm not going to generalize sometimes if someone's telling me about their problems i'm suddenly like i guess i can't share mine now because you've done yours and then she was like just do they will respond they're your friends they want to help you and i was like that's so

true because then you can make yourself a martyr in your own head by being like well i've listened to all of their problems but i guess i can't again maybe no one else does this but i just thought that was really clever she's very good she's so good at observing like the minutiae of especially friendships and female friendships she's always on the money that lady yeah I thought that one was so good too she said assert yourself into the friendship because no one else is going to do it for you and it was like a bit it was like the right level of tough love because I think, yeah, I completely agree. I feel like I do that quite a lot. And then I start to feel irritated, but I'm just, I'm not helping myself. If I want to talk about something, I can fucking say something. I don't have to sit there and then

just like, you know, breed in my thoughts of just thinking, well, there's never a good time. And nobody asks me the questions I can just I can speak we all have agency we can do that and I think yeah she's so good at giving you tough love in the right way where it's not being harsh it is just kind of giving you back the ability to assert yourself and also just like kind of acknowledging that we all have power to do things we're not just sitting back and we're not just like allowing things to wash over us and feeling bad because of it see it say it sort it I think what you said which is so true is all about the power thing I was just thinking that it's like it's all about kind of approaching life with this attitude that you can and you should

and you will rather than allowing emotions or feelings or actions to kind of turn you into this negative martyr victim it's all about sort of just like there's so many things in all of them whether it's like turning jealousy into kindness or instead of allowing like passive aggression to build up actually being assertive and it's so true it's so nice to have that reminder because it is a fun slippery slope to go down when you start thinking that the world's up to get you and everyone hates you and it's really fun for a little bit but it's bad for the mental health it's not it's not a good thing to do yeah it's a little bit addictive isn't it but it's not it's not good for you it's very very bad for you why do you think that we love pieces like that, where it's like, you know, 52 ways to improve

your life in very small ways? Or I remember The Cut did, what was it called? It was 194 modern etiquette rules for life after COVID. And I remember it went super viral, it was in February, and they had a load of, you know really far-ranging tips one of them was like you're allowed to cancel plans up until 2 p.m of the day and then like the first one was something crazy like you don't have to read your friend's book if you don't want to but yeah it went super viral why do you why do you think that is so interesting isn't it because I devour them I really and I think I collect a lot of really helpful things from them. I think deep down, or maybe actually quite shallowly, we do want guidance on how to live,

evidence that we're doing it right, or ways that we can be doing it better. To satisfy that little urge that says, everyone else knows what they're doing and you don't, here's some inner wisdom. And I think shared wisdom is the way forward. And we actually have an we have a interview coming out later this month um with an author i won't spoil who we had a really interesting conversation with

her and kind of about this about like how women especially can be better allies to each other and it is like the solidarity is like sharing wisdom it is like it doesn't have to be just in like the huge gestures i think it isn't like sharing little bits of like how to live and I think that's why we love these lists because it is it's like the roadmap we're all piecing together like how best to get through this this thing called life this crazy ride I also think so much of the things that were in Dolly's list I know but I forget because it's so easy to passively move your way through life when you've got so much stuff going on I think that that's when it can be really overwhelming to make these little decisions and just someone really neatly lining up things and you go oh yeah of course I can do that because

if you are really bogged down or dumped down you've got so much on it can be difficult to not slide into those like negative thought patterns I don't know I always love a list I find them very comforting it's just like a little reminder to be like almost to do like a little clear out of your mind and be like remember you can do this what do you think is return yeah no I think you're both right I think it does feel like life feels unwieldy and also scary and if you can break it down into like a numerical this is this is the nice kind way to just get through it all I think that feels so comforting it's kind of like yeah it's kind of like breaking down all the stresses of life into like a bunch of chapters and it's all just like super comforting and really kind and I

also do agree with what you said Anoni I think that's so I think that's so true as well I think it's just I don't know it's like a spring clean for your brain isn't it reading these lists it feels like yeah I'm on top of it again I've like dusted the house and like vacuumed everything but for your brain I feel like it's like we always give really good advice or I think everyone intends to give good advice to their friends and we're doing all the time but we very rarely actually like apply it to ourselves if you're given a problem and you have to find a solution you're able to come up with advice for it because these lists will come to you at a time when you don't necessarily have any active problems and it just it means that you can kind of sort through

little things on it it's not like you're going through something really big and you're having to find advice the advice has just come to you apropos of nothing which is why it feels quite nice to receive it I do remember there was a slightly more controversial list that was I feel it was the guardian it was like curated by lots of different people on how to live better and like the first piece of advice was like just don't set an alarm and everyone's like well I've got to go to fucking work so so it's not always some of them you're like this is for people that are not me but so much of the time you sift through the advice you go there's my little gem in the rough that's that's made just for me to live better throwing all the lists out the door if if i put a gun to your head right now and said what would you put on your like three three i'm giving you three to live and die by

what are your three rules for life should we go around the circle because I'm going to need time in between each one sorry that was that was quite aggressive it just needs to be that aggressive my first one would be learn how to apologize properly and lower your like and accept critique and lower your ego do you know what I mean that'd be my first one because there's no point holding on to argument out of ego. That's such a good one, Anoni. That's such a good one. Thanks. That's wise. I'm going to go less wise. I'm going to say more practical. Always take a phone charger with you and never, whenever you get the chance in life to either pee or charge your phone, take it without an exception ever. Piss, charge your phone. Always agree about peeing that is so true that's so true especially at a festival when you're like oh no i don't need it now and then you just walk and then

it's like oh the next toilet is an hour an hour to walk because of the crowds it doesn't matter where i am how long the tube or train journey is i will always wee before i get on any transport because i'm just terrified of arriving wherever i'm going and being desperate for the loo i know where every public loo is in any vague area of London I've ever been you should draw that map up and share it I think it exists not that there are many because London is um I was gonna say I love how I know these advice quite deep and mine was literally go piss girl well the flossing one was the one that stood out to you at dolly's so that's ringing true um mine comes literally straight from this week where i tried to cook um you know one of those like

stupid healthy desserts and it ended up tasting like soil so mine is literally if you want to have dessert have fucking dessert stop trying to do all the like viral chickpea blondie blah blah because they they it's just crap just don't believe it I always think oh I found the one that's gonna taste delicious and it's gonna be so nutritious and it's gonna taste great it doesn't so that's my piece of advice don't fall for it get a goo pod yeah just do it oh shit I've got to come up with another one i can do my work i've got more practical ones you go you go you go you go i was gonna say a really good one actually is to take lots of photos and videos videos especially of the people you love and when they when someone

you love wants to take lots of photos and videos of you try and let them not to be morbid but actually they're so important later in life and just throughout life videos and photos don't be like oh I don't have this together don't have this together you will cherish the videos the photos when you were not made up just let people and do it a lot yourself it's my advice I agree okay off the off the back of that I thought my second one which would be try try try to never let your body image stop you from doing something because I had so many years when I wouldn't do something because I had so many years when I wouldn't do something because I felt like I didn't look good enough fuck that shit because when you're older when you're infirm you'll be like I can't believe I didn't let my silly young

body go do something because I was embarrassed about it I just thought my second one which I think is going to be self-trust is so important and I think it's so easy being a woman to kind of take on so much projection that you know our opinions aren't right or we need to get things perfect and I think essentially confidence is not getting everything right confidence is just being okay with if something goes wrong I've got it I can handle it so I think learning to trust your gut and learning to trust that you've got it whatever happens is really important and it's worth developing that out when you can if you want to read Dolly's piece we'll put it in the show notes so definitely give it a read if you haven't yet so we have all been medium screaming a lot lately medium screen being tv big screen is cinema and

small screen is your phone but then i don't know where a laptop would be maybe a medium small extra medium tv don't worry about that tv has been tving this month and we've got three shows that we're desperate to talk about. I'm going to start off this TV bonanza with my recent binge of The Perfect Couple, which I watched on Friday night. I did five episodes until I literally couldn't keep my eyes open. I realized I must go to bed. I still haven't watched the last episode, but I don't, I kind of think I don't want it to end, but I think I might watch it tonight. I absolutely loved it. It's like The White Lotus meets Big Little Lies meets something else that I can't think of right now. It's based on Ellen Hildebrand's bestselling novel.

And the series revolves around a high society wedding in Nantucket that takes a shocking turn when a murder disrupts the festivities. Have either of you been watching? No, I have not been watching it so I don't know anything about this you've lost because you've been watching last I have watched it I think I like a lot less than you and Oni I think I I feel like it's it's in that really comfortable groove of like White Lotus the other thing and the other thing but it's just not giving more than that i i wanted more i'm sorry interesting no that's okay i think because i was trying to work out why it's so similar in so many ways white lotus it even is shares megan farhi he was in the last one um

shares a cast member it has nicole kidman of all of these she's always this very uptight very rich woman married to a bad man she loves that role so it's got all of these. She's always this very uptight, very rich woman married to a bad man. She loves that role. So it's got all of these components. It isn't as good as The White Lotus. It feels more sugary, sweet. It feels like a fast food version. I feel like the writing's a bit less subtle.

But maybe that's because I watched it as a binge. I think it is one of those things that you maybe need to like. It's quite on the nose, this show. And I think, Richard, you should watch it. I need to like it's quite on the nose this show and I think Richard you should watch it I I'm treating it like a kind of bath time watch because I watch tv in the bath because I cannot be alone with my thoughts for even a second so I've got it on I'm not giving it my full attention I know I love how I live um but it's kind of because it is so on the

like it's in the nose it's very much like out of town cop no nonsense like terrible rich people it reminds me of a book i wonder if either of you read it called bad summer people which i read over the summer no it's an okay read it's very much around horrible rich people someone ends up dead and you read it and you kind of enjoy it but it's a bit it's a kind of yeah it's a beach read of a tv show um perfect couple i haven't actually finished it I'm five episodes in as well I thought there were a lot more and I was like okay we're at the midpoint now and then I was like oh we're on the penultimate episode so I will finish it one thing I will say is that I feel like I'm getting a bit I'm getting a bit what's next with the um eat the rich formats that are coming out I I feel like they're doing too many.

And I think I'm ready for like another thing. Like even with the White Lotus coming up soon, I really hope that it pivots into, you know, a really kooky direction. And I'm sure it will because it's amazing. But I just think we had too many too soon that I think I'm just not, I'm not itching to watch it. Do you know, for me,

it's like Dakota Fanning is in it. And I think I'm just not I'm not itching to watch it do you know for me it's like Dakota Fanning is in it and I think she's amazing and I haven't seen her in something for ages and I actually watched Uptown Girl not that long ago and because the last thing I watched her and she was seven I'm really enjoying watching her now at 32 and she's just I think she's a brilliant actress also Eve Hewson who is of bad sister's fame which i was obsessed with so it's like is she yeah she's nepo i mean i think she's very good but i found out she was bono's daughter very recently oh my god i didn't know also just great cast everyone's really hot i know what you mean richa i can't even work out what this is is because i was thinking it i guess

it kind of is eat the rich but it's also kind of not it's more just turn on the rich it's kind of a nice reminder not to worship the rich and actually how they get their money is often kind of onto like it i think it sits in that in that frame but it's not i think eat the rich is triangle of sadness it is that is if that's the furthest point this is definitely on on the spectrum yeah I agree I think what's so interesting about it for me was I couldn't believe that it was like based on a book and not I thought they were genuinely trying to actively create a parallel white lotus because it starts off with a body floating in the water which is pretty much white lotus is like remit of every episode isn't it like someone a guest has died um anyway i'm really enjoying it i i do think it's not as nuanced or as incredibly crafted as the white

lotus i think the thing about the white lotus is beyond genre and beyond its type and beyond the characters there are just lines and it's so smart like it's whip smart and so good so the white lotus i think is a piece of tv which feels full of art and like power this does feel like a series which is great to watch but i'm not like wow that one-liner was a singer i mean a la emily and paris famously we don't need every tv show to be art we can also have it be you know a line drawing and that's good enough there is one thing about this TV show that is unlike anything I've seen in a long time and it is the opening credits can you describe them Anoni for anyone who hasn't seen so it's basically like the entire cast of the show um they're all in the outfits that they're wearing the first episode we open with

and they're basically doing what I would call a flash mob on the beach oh god but you never see this in the context of the show so it's not like this flash mob happens at the party and then it's like a bit of that scene it's just randomly all of the guests are like beaming smiling doing like leg kicks on the beach in the opening scene it's obviously meant to be satirical it's quite funny it's really droll like i quite initially it kind of gave me the ick and then i got really into it and just found it it's like they've all learned a tiktok dance on their break yeah i wasn't skipping it i did quite enjoy it but it just i was like oh is that gonna have significance later no no it's just for fun oh so when i saw that video and when i'd heard you know whispers and rumors about that

online i assumed that there was a scene that would make it all make sense i don't think so i don't think there's gonna be one no it's just vibes that was the perfect couple you can watch it on netflix should you so wish i i wish i wish i'll watch it. Go on. Next up, Beth, take it away. So my pick for this little TV segment is a show called Bad Boyfriends, which started airing at the start of this month on ITV2. It's a reality TV show. And I didn't come across this myself. It kind of wasn't in my periphery.

And it was suggested by quite a few of our listeners. I can't name them all. I've lost the DMs. But Soph, I found yours. So thank you for recommending that. Because it's not disappointing so far. I've watched about five episodes. For anyone who hasn't watched the show or even heard of it, let me explain. Eight men from the UK are tricked into believing they're flying out to greek island to take part in a reality tv contest called bro-topia they think it's being hosted by pete wicks of

taui fame and will be all about them proving themselves as the uk's number one bro in reality though they are there because their girlfriends are so fed up with them that so fed up with them being bad boyfriends that they have submitted them to take part in a show called bad boyfriends which is pretty damning um and the actual host is olivia atwood who you may know from quite a few other itv shows but also love island and she is there to kind of challenge the men to reflect and grow and communicate with their partners. And basically, they've hinted that there's a reward at the end of the show. I don't know what it is. And I don't think they do either. And also, to save their relationships, arguably the more important prize. I've watched about half of it. I have really mixed opinions. And I'm not

really sure where I stand on it. and I'm hoping talking to you both will kind of help me clear that up so first off who has watched how much if so and what do we think of this kind of trick tricksy premise of a reality tv show I have watched one episode and that is enough for me I have I have so many thoughts and feelings and I don't even know particularly how to articulate them correctly. It brings me out in hives, first of all. I don't like, the whole idea gives me anxiety. It kind of feels like going through your boyfriend's phone when you know they've done something wrong. It's like, they shouldn't be doing something wrong, but I also think it's an invasion of privacy. I think it's quite weird to do the switch around.

I think the setup is like, they've invited these men to be on a show that's about alpha men they've told them they're going to win money and then they then put them in positions i'm not saying it's right they obviously should be more more loyal but i also think a lot of these women are in relationships with men who've committed like quite bad betrayals against them i'm very much of the school of thought like why why be with them the idea of like rehabilitating them I can't really get quite get behind the premise it brings me up in so much anxiety there's already been like so many lies like barefaced lying when we've just seen the guys doing something and they're like no I didn't do it the women all seem so sweet and I'm sure the men are not like evil people as like Olivia Atwood is kind of at pains to repeat quite a lot these aren't bad people they're

just bad boyfriends and I'm like well I don't know I just it it feels not exploitative and I don't know who's being exploited like everyone's agreed to it just something about it feels very eggy to me and it also just makes me feel anxious it's not something I'm enjoying but I do I can understand why people are sort of enamored by it I would much rather they were all put into like an Esther Perel couples counseling scenario maybe that is where it goes I don't know um my caveat is I haven't watched any of it so I could be talking absolute shit I'm just going to go off what you guys have said um but I hate the I hate the well-trodden stereotype that women you know date men men behave badly but you know you kind of you kind of put up with it or that they can like get better and I guess there's

this like assumed burden that women have of just being like oh you know he was just like sowing his wild oats a bit you know and he he straightened out and then we got married and then we had kids and it just feels like this like horrible cliche or stereotype that I feel like feels quite noughties to me um and I it feels very like old-fashioned that that kind of concept of rehabilitating boyfriends I don't know that's my initial did either of you watch tool academy which is about a decade so it's tool academy for the modern age i don't really know what about it is is different i've got points on both that one and

only you like it's like going through the phones well one of the challenges is they go through the boyfriend's phone so it does actually go to a place of real invasion um and and again yeah ruchira great points i think yeah rutera great point so i think you've you've nailed it i think you've got the premise entirely it is one is yeah treating women as though like a bad man or like an unformed man needs to be rehabilitated by exhausting a woman it's like a woman's 20s are not actually best spent making her boyfriend into a better person. And I think that because Olivia Atwood is painted as the posted girl for this, because she says she went into Love Island to make her ex-boyfriend now husband jealous. And he was a bad boyfriend who is now a

great husband. And I think one, it can happen. Men can improve. But the point of that is, you know, they broke up. He became a good person. Not a good person, sorry. He became a better man, a husband material. And then they go back together. And now they're together versus the labor of it being like solely on her, which is kind of where the show's gone. It seems to be touting itself as progressive and feminist, but actually it's just a lot of like exhausted women

begging their men to not cheat on them, begging them to do the dishes. Some of the stories are actually harrowing. I did go into it thinking, this would be kind of light watching for the end of summer. It's actually quite upsetting, sadly. Everything that you said, Beth,

is kind of what I was imagining was going to happen one of the couples is engaged and in the first episode she talks about how they're booked in to have like IVF in a few weeks I just feel like it feels a bit like which I've spoken about with reality tv before and I know this is how it works but preying on people in quite precarious vulnerable situations where they evidently feel like the trust is broken and that the relationship needs some kind of rehabilitation. And then putting them in these really high stakes, high pressure scenarios where these men who clearly have proclivities towards acting in a way that perhaps isn't the most faithful are going to be tested. I mean, if they're accepting to go on a show called Brotopia and they they're kind of being all they're leaning into their chauvinistic sides and then you're mirroring that with these women who are

clearly feeling quite anxious and insecure in their relationships just to me that format in of itself i know that reality tv relies on that tension and i guess some kind of insecurity that's my thing with reality tv but maybe i've just become really hypersensitive to it whereas conversely i weirdly actually watched a couple of episodes of lovers blind uk that i feel like doesn't feel as kind of voyeuristic or i guess a bit predatory is what i find sometimes with some of these shows yeah no i completely i completely see what you mean and I mean my sympathy isn't just reserved for the women I feel like something about this situation in this setup

I also feel quite bad for the guys like the kind of trickery and the deceit of it and then you know finding out that you're on this like you're the worst boyfriend of all time it sounds like they've done some horrible things so I don't know it seems like they're not acting in the kindest most respectful ways so that is an issue but then like putting them on a game show just also doesn't feel right to me something about that feels like quite sinister and like quite oh I mean it's not like they're going to recover and be kind to people from this process are they it's just for our enjoyment and like some kicks and laughs that's completely it because like it's that punitive model and that like model based on humiliation people actually don't change if you embarrass them into changing if you punish them if you shame them what change is kind of uh born

of experience and like genuine empathy and i think if they were getting loads of experts in if it was like you say an only a triple bluff of a show boys think they're doing brotopia girls think they're on bad boyfriends they're actually on a secret third show that would have been really reassuring but actually what it boils down to is olivia atwood kind of chairing arguments and they don't get resolved they're getting quite angry with each other they're all obviously um a bit embarrassed to be there one of the couples has already left there's some quite sketchy behavior going on between the couples that isn't called out by like something like um married at first sight has a panel of experts and even if you think that's trashy tv which i actually don't i love it i think they're they're hearing some really insight insightful things about like human behavior how relationships

work whereas what this show is it's like look through each other's phone they're getting quite silly tasks where they have to like live in shit caravans it's embarrassing it's it's just not in this age of like modern reality tv shows where we're taking duties of care more seriously I think this just it falls way into like the noughties and we've talked about reality care more seriously I think this just it falls way into like the noughties and we've talked about reality tv show on I think it was our beauty episode no I can't remember what it was we went in deep and I think we just can't we've moved beyond that and that's maybe why we can't stomach this in the way I would have loved this age 21 let me tell you it what I just can't or never understand with these things is

how does it work in terms of what contact have they signed once they find out that they're on um bad boyfriends instead of brotopia do you think they then have to consent to that again or do you think that they must have been something in the show that i always just find it's so duplicitous or are we as the audience being duped do you think they're told at some point beforehand i don't know i feel like i'm such a party pooper but i just honestly i was like this is so anxiety inducing not a fun party i think all of these people you're right you're right richa it is going to be just as damaging for the men it's like people are fallible maybe they're just not ready for a relationship i guess they have concerns to go on it they are adults I just feel like we are all so

hungry to salivate over other people's misfortunes and I'm over it yeah I feel like the real the real show is just like like you said Beth just the women getting a therapist and then like dumping them privately appropriately and then that would be the show they just like come back and then talk about their reflections of like standing up for themselves that would be the show they just like come back and then talk about their reflections of like standing up for themselves that would be the show agreed well if you do want to watch it after all of that you can it is on um itvx or itv2 right now the show that i want to bring to the table is the new series of selling sunset i i feel like i don't need to explain what the show is at this point but for anyone who has been living anyone who's been living under a rock it is the uber

expensive high property selling reality tv show about the Oppenheim group um this series I've just started and I've watched a few episodes and I mean it's just it's the same it's women fighting about houses fighting about wanting to sell more houses getting angry about money and also wearing insane outfits I feel like much like Emily in Paris is very much the vibe of you don't really need to concentrate on this and you know what's going to happen but yeah I'm really there for I'm so into Chrishell and G Flip's relationship I think that after Christine left and Heather I actually really loved Heather a lot of the central characters have gone but I love Chrishell I really like Chelsea I love what Chelsea wears which is a massive bone of contention in this series which I

think maybe we should get into yes it was a bone of contention bone of contention yeah we have to talk about that and a bone of contention I guess because okay so just to set the scene basically Chelsea wears this skort I think it was a skort so it was like a really really short skirt but she had a blazer on and a shirt and I think the blazer was actually probably the offending item because it meant you couldn't necessarily see the back of the hem of the skirt and some of the women at the group kind of got cross with her saying it's revealing which was just making me laugh because they all have football boot football boot football size boob jobs like and they love they love showing the full globe of their breasts like it's so every single episode and she actually looked quite demure very mindful very cutesy

she had like a shirt on with a tie yes her skirt was really short but it was just cracking me up that this was what they took offense to because sometimes they come in and their whole breast bar that areola is out yeah do you know my theory my working theory on this is they've almost desexualized breasts and I think because they've got these massive like tits and they're you know like surgically enhanced I think something about it means that it's like almost, it's almost like an accessory. And like, maybe this is a bizarre thing to say, but I feel like to them, that's not showing skin anymore because it's just like, it's just an accessory.

Whereas something about showing off like coochie and booty were the words they said was like just obscene to them, like completely obscene. But it is really interesting. So misplaced, I think. Cause she, like you said, she was wearing a score. Also they're all dressing for, I know it wasn't a broker's open. obscene to them like completely obscene but it is really interesting so misplaced i think because she yeah let you say she was wearing a score also they're all dressing for i know it wasn't a broker's open what the fuck is that i'm never gonna learn like they are all cutting about los angeles

wearing the most insane stuff i think fully they're dressing for themselves and other people but it's just the most extreme outfits i've ever seen. And I just thought it was ridiculous. I thought, and they had, in the storyline, they had Mary break the news. Oh, like the little men, who are they? The kind of, the two, Tweedledum and Tweedledum. Jason and what's the other one? Brett. Brett and Jason, can't tell them apart, they're twins.

And then they were there and it was all, you know, and she was very, she was like, this is humiliating. You've done this in front of the twin. Anyway, it was all very, I didn't like it for her and I I've been quite protective of her this season I know she doesn't need me to be but I was like it was a bloody scort like you wear at brownies leave her alone my truth is I can tell them apart by the way I can too not to be like I'm not like the other girls but you know you can tell them apart it's because Jason's basically the only one that actually features Brett every now and then they like panned him laughing um my yeah my favorite

bit about that whole scene when chelsea is having this i wouldn't say it's not confrontation but it is just like this really awkward situation where mary who's kind of the unsaid more senior woman in the office is saying I've had multiple people tell me that you're dressed really inappropriately and both of their bosses the two twins are there and then Chelsea understandably gets really annoyed and she's like I don't say anything when you have your tits out and then they pan to the twins and the twins look at each other and they're like oh and they're like flabbergasted that she said tits and she looks like a pair of tits yeah that's true but also she her britishness really came out then because sometimes she has an ever so slightly kind of like international twang and the way she was

saying i don't say anything when you have a tits actually like the london and her really jumped out in that conversation i really enjoyed it i just quickly i do want to go back to what they wear because they wear the most vertiginous heels I've ever seen and pencil skirts and layers of layers of makeup I and it looks I have actually never been to um Hollywood or wherever it is but I imagine it's very hot now the minute it gets over like 21 degrees I can I can just about wear like a bb cream and mascara on a vest top i just get so hot they are always wearing sort of like skin tight beige nothing is sweat wicking shirt like she's wearing a shirt with a blazer and a tie how are they not hot latex do you think they are botoxed from head to toe and all the stuff coming out? Because I just don't understand how they're doing it.

Must be. I think they don't walk around. I think they have, they're just indoor-only women. And I think, yeah. And those famous indoor-only women, like an indoor cat. Yeah, I don't think they're outdoor women. I think they're indoor women. So they just go, like, car to bar bar oh because maybe that you're so right because I was like how it's even when they get out the car and they have to walk up a slope to a house and I'm like I would

not get up that slope in those shoes and it'll be like five meters I think because they're on tv there's someone there probably like mopping and sopping and kind of like dusting them with powder I think that and also uh i think there's the camera trickery people have said that the there's a lot of filters on the cameras because not one of those women has a pore between them so i think there's a lot of stuff going on that is i'm sure they can't be that dry and perfect in real life do you know who the you know the new cast member who actually she dresses normally that actually she looks so weird in the office she's a new cast member she wears like I think quite nice quite normal stuff and I go you freak look at you in a normal outfit

yeah she's really stylish in a way that we think is stylish I don't know what their fashion sense is but I'm obsessed with it it's kind of like girls allowed in 2011 like that kind of that's so true the episode i'm at chris shell's wearing this like hideous tartan two-piece that's like cropped just under her like boobs and then like shorts as well that are like wide shorts but very cropped and she's got like pigtails it's yeah it's very girls allowed coded that's it has she flashed a tit yet not yet i think it was that episode. I just saw that episode. The day that the Oppenheim group

gets an HR department is the day that Selling Sunset ends because these women, they are just in there up to fucking hijinks doing pussy shots or wet pussy shots in the office. Oh, lordy.

Can we just talk about like, if you had a workplace like this, why are you going for drinks after work? Like, why are they all hanging out? It's so ridiculous. Like, they're not friends. They don't even work together very well. They have fake phone calls as somebody on twitter showed they're not actually on their laptops they're just taking pictures outside the brokers open as you said can we pivot to um something somber on setting sunset which is the dog funeral

a moment i haven't actually got this yet i haven't got to this either oh girls because it is you alone it's very sad it's very moving but it's also a very my own funeral will not be as as fancy and i won't do any spoilers but as predicted the girls get into a scrap at the dog funeral and so many people like can't believe they would do that at the dog's funeral and i'm like is there a rule is there an etiquette for the dog's wake it's all very strange perfect selling sunset at a moment I can't wait for you can you text me when you get to that point I need doors so if you haven't caught up with selling sunset yet it's now on Netflix and when you do drop us a message what are you thinking of the dog funeral? What are you thinking of Chelsea's escort?

We want to hear it all. So this week, an excerpt from Diane Abbott's upcoming memoir, A Woman Like Me, was released in The Guardian. And a little detail from her life was noted more than the rest. That detail being her explanation of how her relationship with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reached a natural conclusion. So I didn't know that the two of them had gone out, but I found it thrilling to read about them dating and how it came to a close. So I'm going to summarise

and kind of read this excerpt of the book that really got people talking over the weekend and this week. So to set this up, they've been dating a little while, they've been on holiday together, they've spent some time together. And she says, around that time, I began to realize that realistically, ours was not a match made in heaven. We were too different. I had a range of interests and enjoyed reading and theater, but Jeremy was 99% absorbed in party politics. Once after I lamented our lack of social activity as a couple, he pondered it for a few days and told me we were going out. Feeling excited,

I dressed up nicely and we bundled into the car. I had no idea where we were going. Perhaps a nice wine bar? It turned out Jeremy's idea of a social outing was to drive me to Highgate Cemetery and proudly show me the tomb of Karl Marx. She then says a short while later, unsurprisingly, their relationship came to a friendly but natural end. So I don't want to get into party politics, but I do kind of want to talk a little bit about bad dates. We asked you guys on instagram if you had any stories of like total mismatches shocking dates anything that has become um a funny anecdote so with permission from the group i would like to read out a few submissions which will of course remain anonymous please do

i'm absolutely titillated i'm ready I still I honestly that actually made me well I can't I keep looking up pictures of Jeremy Corbyn and damn Abbott Young and it just he's so pure I'm sorry he's so perfect yeah also I'm surprised he didn't know they went out I feel like any socialist like bro that I've dated has like held those two up as like this is the couple we could be if we made it work vibes it's such law because he basically made her get into the party yeah it was like it was because he was going on about it so much i was like fine who among us has not taken up um god that's so funny and also separately she does tell a story about how they went on this motorbike camping holiday in france

and she gets there thinking like can't wait to go take the brasserie and he's he unveils like dried macaroni for the week anyway it's just so funny actually really want to read her book now um yeah i'm gonna read some disastrous stories we got from you guys on instagram um quite tame one not mine but a friend went on a date with a really pompous dude who was spouting his left wing credentials in a way she knew he would never follow through on so she told him she voted brexit and he left quite bold i think that one oh my god that's so funny she took matters into her own hands there i quite like that one it's actually such a good idea you know i was saying i'm really bad at leaving dates i might just suddenly be like by the way i vote reform oh my god just make them leave that's actually such a good idea and then you don't have to leave you say i'm another drink why not um another girl emailed bless her she was talking about her

first ever boyfriend who'd cocked up valentine's day and like hadn't booked anywhere um and after an hour of walking around she says um he goes oh i know this place we can go i eat i eat there all the time it will have space tell me why we walked 20 minutes out of town to the football stadium and he took me to a kebab shop outside the stadium ordered us a shit margarita pizza and a liter of coca-cola i was baffled safe to say the relationship did not last that is way worse than Karl Marx's tomb i think that's rubbish that's really that is way worse it's heartbreaking um another short one i had a a Zoom date during COVID. Oh my God, I remember these hell. Where he took dental floss out

and fully flossed all his teeth while we talked. I know what Dolly said, but bro. That's revocating. Excuse me? That's so wrong. Isn't that foul? Also, I was cohabiting during COVID. So I have completely blocked out of my mind

that people, poor people, poor you, Beth. and were you dating in lockdown mature no no I was like me and my boyfriend who'd been dating a few months moved in together so we were like I guess technically the turbocharged relationships so no that is mad that you're going on zoom dates I just can't but what to be fair we were doing everything on zoom we haven't drinks over zoom yeah quizzes over zoom yeah we're doing this over zoom not flossing though not flossing sorry i actually got so derailed flossing is right like because also it's private there's some of the smelliest there's some of the smelliest things i've ever smelled are things that have come out of like oh god the cavity you know that that's the point yeah yeah i i find that revolting um I've got another

one when on a tinder date my best friend was horrified to learn I hadn't bothered to find him on instagram so made me stalk him just before going to meet him the topic of conversation moved on to siblings and I took out my phone and opened my instagram to show him a picture of my little brother and sister you can see where this is going and opened on his profile specifically a super old picture of his niece and nephew as babies he wasn't even in the picture i'll never forget the look on his face i'm you wouldn't would you neither of us acknowledged it we left and never spoke again the stuff of nightmares that is hell and horror no that is how i am so bad for like going really far i i will google image reverse search

people if I can't find them on social media I will track them down I will track people down I'll find out where they work I'll find their LinkedIn I'll find their Facebook yeah no I actually feel sick like you know when you get butterflies in your tummy from like secondhand pains I feel sick like oh it's when you have to block someone really quickly because you accidentally like the pictures the only thing you can do is block them then you have to like leave it blocked for a bit so if you unblock them too soon they still get the notification I actually have to do that all the time and it won't even be like someone I just will randomly be talking someone that like I don't know that's like tangentially related to me and

then I just have to block them and then remember remember to like unblock like a couple weeks later I have definitely and this just unlocked a hideous memory for me i requested to follow i didn't realize i'd done this until they accepted my follow i think it was his dad's ex-wife and i was like mary's here and so it's accepted your photo request i was like whom and i went on i was like i'm going to be passing away for personal reasons so it does happen did you see the one in the dms because i forgot to send it to you so i just you'd see it about the girl that dated two guys that were living next door to each other no that's amazing i did see this one actually i did i did i did um

i think i've got it um okay so yes it was the first summer after covid and i was having all the fun on hinge being the queen of efficiency i like to date a couple of people at the same time just in case i've been dating a couple of guys for a few weeks after dinner one evening my date walked with me towards the bus stop i was heading as he lived not far from there i started to panic which one was his house how close could it be as he put his key in the door it dawned on me that the two boys i was dating lived next next door but one to each other in the whole of london how had i chosen to date neighbors at the same time could have been worse that one I will say I've known people who have dated housemates I dated housemates and they were actually non-identical brothers no and they lived

together yes at the same time yes I thought it was funny what do you mean you thought it was funny did you know beforehand no so I dated when I dated one of them and I matched both of them not realizing they were brothers and then after I went on the date with the first one the like brother had come in whilst we were on the date and I was like oh my god this is so weird and then after I came home I was like I'm just gonna message him and be like that was weird messaged him and I was like I wonder who's the better brother to go on a date with and then went on a date with him and that like that was weird messaged him and I was like I wonder who's the better brother to go on a date with and then went on a date with him and that's locked in the bank of my dating stories for life now but wait do you go on any more dates or just just just the one each just the one each

that is amazing I do really respect that that you're like I've got to see this through and I've just got to find out just for science just for the story just for the story that could have been like the beginning of like a porno oh my god I know I was my well just say you're on the date with one brother the other one comes in no actually I'm really anti-porn at the minute do we go from that incest sorry cut this cut cut cut cut okay what was the one that really made you laugh have you read it to us yet yeah. What was the one that really made you laugh? Have you read it to us yet? Yeah, that was actually the one about the niece and the nephew,

because it just really... Oh, yeah. There are so many that we got that I won't read out. They involved men getting nosebleeds on the day. And I've had one of these where they just got a nosebleed. In the middle of the day, I'm like, what's going on with the men of the UK? I've never had that.

Yeah, weird, isn't it? I've never had that. Just spontaneous nosebleeds. Men of the UK the men of the UK? I've never heard that. Yeah, weird, isn't it? I've never heard that. Just spontaneous messages. Men of the UK. Men of the UK. Is the climate quite dry? I don't really know. Anyway.

Is the climate dry? Oh, maybe. Oh, my God. I wonder. Do you think, you know those things, do you ever see them advertised on like QVC and stuff, like the nose,

like they rip out all the nose hairs for men. Maybe they're all like over plucking their noses. Oh, God. Could be that god they're freaking the ladies out um they're bleeding everywhere stick a tampon up there yeah i've had that on a day this nose just started to bleed and i was quite unfazed by this i used to get nosebleeds all the time so i dipped my i dipped a napkin in like a half drunk um like thing of tequila and just like mopped up he was like that was so hot and i was like i was just in nurse mode that was just like no big deal does tequila help a nose bleed probably no but it was sanitary i guess i don't know i have a friend that used to get nose beads and i was really jealous i thought it was quite a cool thing i've never really had it i've

only had like a a nose sort of dribble when i've had like a spot or like a scab i've never really had like an actual they're quite they're very i was saying one of my good friends she was saying the bed with her and it was just soaking wet i was like oh my god she's like i'll put the light on it was just blood everywhere oh my god crazy crazy town i had one flick two hours before i was like i'm gonna be a prune soon two hours yeah I don't think I had any point oh what's the point of a nosebleed who's it for I feel like we're going a very dangerous route into attention seeking territory now suggesting that is true isn't it what do you mean I thought you were you were like what's the nosebleed for who's it for I thought you were like it's just no like what's the point like is there anything sort of like biologically that is achieving or it's just a bit of must clear something out a bad day maybe i feel like nose

beads are like quicksand like you talk about them so much at school i very rarely hear about them these days until now but you are such a truther where's white dog poop gone as well conspiracy yeah it's so true where is it did it ever exist shall i read one more bad date story so we can all go and reflect i'm going to read one from a man because we do have male listeners or at least one male listener of the podcast um i once had a date ask me over at 10 p.m on a monday to fix her bike after a couple weeks of heavy texting i came over with a six pack i think he means beer rather than in his body i was gonna say yeah you confidently talk about your six pack well done i fixed her bike i was asked to leave and then blocked oh that she

he got Thomas Rabbit oh my god okay if women are doing that we can't we're not all angels that's not nice that is that is so funny not funny actually feel bad for him sorry listener man but i have i have heard of people saying this before that like if you if you're a woman who lives on her own you really need some stuff done like get a date in get them to hang your paintings oh my god we're not containing it we're just saying it happens we're just saying just saying so look that was some real i really enjoyed those and thank you to everyone who did write in because it's a vulnerable place but um they really made me laugh and maybe i'll share uh the rest of them anonymously of course on our instagram this well today when the episode's up when they upload up.

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