Normal Gossip - Teenage Cop Camp with Josie Duffy Rice

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

What happens when you send a manic pixie dream girl to CSI summer camp? Journalist, writer, law school graduate, and podcast host Josie Duffy Rice joins us to find out 👀 Check out Josie's... podcast: Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children. You can support Normal Gossip directly by buying merch or becoming a Friend or a Friend-of-Friend at supportnormalgossip.com. Our merch shop is run by Dan McQuade. You can also find all kinds of info about us and how to submit gossip on our Komi page: https://normalgossip.komi.io/ Episode transcript here. Follow the show on Instagram @normalgossip, and if you have gossip, email us at normalgossip@defector.com or leave us a voicemail at 26-79-GOSSIP. Normal Gossip is hosted by Kelsey McKinney (@mckinneykelsey) and produced by Alex Sujong Laughlin (@alexlaughs). Jae Towle Vieira (@jaetowlevieira) is our associate producer. Abigail Segel (@AbigailSegel) is our intern. Justin Ellis is Defector's projects editor. Credits read by Zairé Hilliard. Show art by Tara Jacoby. Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radiotopia.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 From Vogue, The Runthrough, a new weekly podcast featuring the most riveting news in fashion and culture, with Vogue's take on the big stories, fashion in relation to sports, culture and politics, from the red carpets and runways to political and cultural events. Bringing you under told stories from around the globe, with voices rarely accessible and uncommonly authentic. On this season of the run through, Serena Williams, Michaela Cole, Metrua Blasey, and more. The run through with Vogue.
Starting point is 00:00:30 I'm Chloe Matt, I'm Chominaldi, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Hi and welcome to Normal Gossip. I'm Kelsey McKinney. In each episode of this podcast, we're going to bring you an anonymous morsel of gossip from the real world. I am thrilled to have with me today, Josie Duffy-Rais. Josie is a journalist, writer, and podcast host whose work is primarily focused on prosecutors,
Starting point is 00:01:02 prisons, and other criminal justice issues. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Sleet, among others, and her podcast Unreformed is available wherever you're listening to this. Josie, welcome! Kelsey, this is the greatest day of my life. It's the greatest day of my life. I'm so excited you're here.
Starting point is 00:01:22 Truly so happy. Couldn't be happier. Just makes my whole year. Can we tell the listeners about how Eve owned you? Is that forbidden? No, you can totally tell them. Do you want to tell it? No, you tell. Okay, so my understanding of something that happened to you is that you and Eve, you and yes, are like friends. Yes, very good friends. And Eve, as many people know, we had on for the episode about the corkies. She texted me and was like, by the way, guys,
Starting point is 00:01:50 well, she actually texted more than just me. And was like, by the way, guys, I'm on a normal gossip this week. So casual. And I was like, rude. What? We were losing our minds. Like, everybody was like, you're out of your mind.
Starting point is 00:02:02 Like, panicking. It was like 6am. She was like, we're all like signing online to like listen to the episode and then so I was like the one time I've used self-controlled only listened to a little lot of time so I could like enjoy the whole thing. I was like the only example of self-control I've ever experienced and so I'm extremely I was so excited and now I'm following in her footsteps as I'm always trying to do. Thank you for honoring this digression. I'm sorry. I just loved it. It was great. It's great. I loved it. How are you? I'm great. Am I great? I'm fine. All the best. Okay. Okay. All right. You know, good pull back. I like that. Good honesty. I'm like, we were good
Starting point is 00:02:40 media. Not to die. Yeah. things are always a little bit hot here. Yeah, it's normal. Someone told me that you may have brought a gossip story for us, is that true? Okay, I do have a gossip story for you guys, and it's kind of a gossip category. And it's when I've been hearing a lot lately, which is baby name drama. Oh my god, great. Okay, I am like, so licking my seatbelt in, I'm ready. Yes. So I have heard in the past, let's say
Starting point is 00:03:11 six months from three different people, about three different other people. So I don't know any of this. Okay, okay. I'm like lots of friends of friends. Friends of friends. Literally friends of friends. Here are the stories I've heard. One that a woman was naming her child something, I didn't learn the name, but very rare, very old, very unusual name and her friend had a baby two weeks before her and named her baby that name. It's like that episode of Sex in the City. It's so crazy. But like to your knowledge in this friend group, this is a name that like that, that the friend who named their baby first would have heard from the other friends, right?
Starting point is 00:03:47 You about it, it was a family name, and knew about it. And the example of the name, this was not the name, but the example was like, it was a name like, imagine like Winifred, okay. So not a name you've never heard of, but a name that nobody has, and that it's gonna be weird if there are two of them.
Starting point is 00:04:05 Very low in the baby name ranking. Baby, very low in the baby name ranking. Right. And also very weird if it's like within your same friend group. Right. You know, and people play you for stupid, and it's like, yeah. Like it's like, I mean, did you not think
Starting point is 00:04:23 this was gonna be weird, or that we were gonna play it off like, oh, sorry, I forgot, I mean, did you not think this was gonna be weird or that we were gonna play it off? Like, oh, sorry, I forgot. You were, you know, like it just is sort of like, come on. Let's like level with me here, you know? Yeah, I don't think I would change my name though. Like I think that I'm stubborn enough that I would be like, I will also be naming my baby
Starting point is 00:04:39 the name that I came up with and there were. I agree, I agree, and I have to. Our children will fight. I actually have two friends who have the same family baby name and it's forest and they're both cute with it or one is planning to go with it, the other one went with it and they're like fine with it. It's like that's fine.
Starting point is 00:04:56 We talk about it, whatever, great, two forests. That's great. The thing about having a conversation is it can save you from a lot of risks. Yeah, but also don't you sort of feel like whoever does that maybe likes the drama? Yes. Okay, thank you for bringing this baby name drama.
Starting point is 00:05:10 Would you like to hear the gossip that I have? I am so excited. Please tell me everything. Oh my god, okay, so we chose this as a team just for you. Oh my god, I can't wait. We are deep in the woods of the Midwest. Okay. It is not quite dark, but we're at like golden hour.
Starting point is 00:05:49 And you come upon a building that is like lit up. It has stonework outside. There are young people milling about on the stairs. You go in the front door and imagine you're looking at like a desk. It's made of carved wood. There's a computer behind it. Behind that, there are mailboxes stuffed with packages. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:08 Tile floor. Okay. You're not in a receptionist's office. You're not in a doctor's office. We are in the lobby of a dorm. Okay. We're in the lobby of a dorm. I got it.
Starting point is 00:06:19 When you hear this like click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, choose on the tile floor. Uh-huh. Someone comes into the room. Okay. They're dressed in all black. Shiny hat atop their head. A belt loaded with like pepper spray and a baton and all sorts of other stuff. A walkie-talkie. Their hands are red. They're removing badges from their pocket. The lobby is filled with laughter. There are teens all in the lobby and huge groups. They're going, ooo. They watch as this 22-year-old
Starting point is 00:06:59 dressed as a cop hands in a badge and then they begin to chant, kill, Nathan, kill, Nathan, kill, Nathan. Behind the chanting teens, leaning against the side of a column is a young woman. There's a smirk creeping onto her face and this is her story. Oh, my God, I've never been so ready to hear anything in my life. Who's cider you want? Pick a side now.
Starting point is 00:07:25 I'm on the girl side. The girl leaning against the pillar. Yeah, you pick her. I pick her. She sounds cool. She's leaning, she's smirking. She knows something I don't know. She's not dressed as a cop, which is already can't be on that side.
Starting point is 00:07:38 Not on the cop side, you know. So I'm on the girl side. Campion on the same side as a cop. Not at least from minute one at least. You know. To understand what happens, we have to go back in time. Okay. We're going back like four days, five days
Starting point is 00:07:52 to the beginning of this week. Okay. It's a Sunday. It's summer. Our friend of a friend, Aria, is like really on one. Like she just graduated from college, broke up with her boyfriend, moved across the country. Like, she has come all this way in a very like, I'm running away from my problems.
Starting point is 00:08:10 Right. Vibe. And she's in this town. She's in this town. Okay. She's like, feels like childhood, best week of the year. She has headed to camp. Okay.
Starting point is 00:08:21 Did you ever go to camp? I went to mock trial camp. Okay, say more. I went to mock trial camp for a week. And I went to Christian Choir Camp in like fifth and sixth grade. Did you enjoy those camps? Yeah, because I'm a huge loser. You're fucking great. Okay. Okay. I love that.
Starting point is 00:08:48 But, you know, I wouldn't recommend them to people who have like a social life and, you know, and friends and normal interests. No. Arya is here on Sunday because she's here for training. No, that's correct. She's a counselor this year. The training for Arya is basically irrelevant because she went to this camp for three years in high school and high school.
Starting point is 00:09:08 And she's like, been a counselor for several years. So she's like, I'm here for the training because I'm a girl who follows rules, but like, I don't need to be trained. Right. She's like, these are the best three weeks of my year every year. I love it here. She's unloading her car. She's unloading like, you know, her bag full of snacks, her roller bag, right?
Starting point is 00:09:27 She's unloading a box full of stuff. She's unloading a tote bag filled with crime tape. This is not a normal camp with canoeing and fire pits and smores. This is CSI camp. Oh my god. What? Oh my god. What? Oh my god. This is my dream story. This is my dream fucking story. Okay, I'm ready.
Starting point is 00:09:53 Would you like to guess what CSI can't mean? I assume they just traffic in junk science and make people believe that you can tell a murderer by if he looked left twice while you were talking to them or whatever the fuck. I mean, yeah. Yeah, I mean, this is like a huge, it's, this is fun. I was saying it's fucking brilliant idea because the CSI cinematic universe
Starting point is 00:10:16 of making people believe that science is a thing it's completely not, has been incredibly powerful and it makes a lot of money. So I'm glad we're teaching our children up from the world. I'm sure you're going to get the quickest wrongful conviction they possibly can. So this CSI camp is run at a university for high school students. Okay, so the high school students like stay in the dorms for this week long camp. As a counselor, Ari is there for like a month because there's like different weeks of the camp, right? So kids come in and then they leave at the end of the week. Most of these kids, their dream is to pursue a crime scene investigation job.
Starting point is 00:10:57 Like they are like, I love criminal minds. I love to stalk people online. They're like on this, the serial Reddit. Like, they're like, odd non-skilted. Have you seen the way that like, they found the body? And it was, yeah, totally. Yes, exactly. It is like the hair's breadth between like, intrigue
Starting point is 00:11:18 and conspiracy theory. Totally, totally, totally. The way this camp works is it has two parts. It has classroom time, where you learn about shit, and then it has interactive work. Oh my God. By interactive work, I mean fake crime scenes, but we will get to that.
Starting point is 00:11:37 You have to be audible, they can't hear you, Mal, they go, oh my God. I am screaming and I just feel like I want to say thank you right now for giving this away, because there's nothing that aligns with my interest more than a whole bunch of teens believing that they can find the killer. This is so up my alley. Okay, so this cap takes place in this college. It's in the dorm.
Starting point is 00:12:00 Our girl Ariya, she gets there, she checks in, she goes to her room, she's sharing her dorm room with her best friend forever, Hunter. Okay. Hunter's already there. He's got his little bed like all made up, he's tacked a poster of Harry Styles to the wall like he's moved in. Hunter has already checked in, he has all of her stuff for her. He has her polo, which all the counselors wear, which huge news this year after months of fighting the polo's art a nice blue instead of like an ugly yellow. Great.
Starting point is 00:12:31 Great. Hunter also has her walkie-talkie. The walkie-talkie is the lifeblood of the CSI camp. Of course, because everybody's playing a cop, so they gotta have their walkie-talkie. Exactly. So even though all the counselors have cell phones on them, the walkie-talkie is the primary form of communication.
Starting point is 00:12:49 Great. The walkie-talkies have two channels. So channel one is for everyone. Channel two is for direct communication. So let's say that like a kid gets hurt. You might go on to channel one of the walkie-talkie, which is gonna play through everyone's walkie-talkie, and be like, I've got a kid down who's near the nurse.
Starting point is 00:13:09 Okay. And then someone would say like, I'm near the nurse, go to channel two. And then they go to channel two and you work out like the logistics of how to get the kid there and all the things that only the two of you need to know. Right. Could easily be done via voice note on your WhatsApp chat, but that's fine. I love. Yeah. I love getting back to the basics. No sooner has Aria like put her polo on, taken her walkie-talkie from Hunter, clipped it to her belt, then it goes,
Starting point is 00:13:31 shh. Okay. Voice comes on. It's like counselor meeting in 15 minutes, get to know you game done. How many counselors are there? Like, like 20. Like 20. Okay. And do they all kind of know each other? Yes. Okay.
Starting point is 00:13:48 This voice on the Waki Taki, Hunter and Arianna immediately is Nathan's voice. Okay. Hunter and Arianna have been here for three years. They were counselors here. They know everyone. Right. Hunter is like classic Nathan, wasting all our time
Starting point is 00:14:01 with games getting to know you without any fucking purpose. Like, we all know each other. He's like the only, quote unquote, new counselor this year is someone who was a camper last year. Now, is Nathan like the head counselor? Yes. And he loves it. He, he, Nathan is the ultimate cop.
Starting point is 00:14:18 I can, I see him. I know him. Exactly. Yeah. Hunter and Arya show up, they get into the little lobby where everyone is and they see the regular cast of characters, right? Like, here's their enemies, here's their friends, here's their acquaintances, there's Nathan. Right. But the group looks like smaller than it should be. And so Hunter, like, counts. And he's like, this is five few or counselors than we usually have. And additionally,
Starting point is 00:14:43 there is someone new here. And can he immediately tell like who's missing? Like he doesn't know who didn't agree to come back, but he knows that there aren't enough. Okay. And he knows that this girl with braids in her hair, smiling, he has never seen her before. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:14:58 What do you wanna do with this? I would have a lot of questions. Is it vegetarians that they didn't come back? Was there drama? Now I'm trying to go through the past years and be like, who's not here? Why didn't they be tell me they weren't coming back? Like, what are the details?
Starting point is 00:15:12 Hunter and Arya are like, we're gonna go talk to her. They sidle up to this girl. She is chewing gum really rapidly. They're like, what's your name? She's like, oh my name's Brooke. And Hunter's like, Brooke, so nice to meet you. Do you have a lot of CSI experience? And Brooke's like, what?
Starting point is 00:15:32 And Hunter's like, crime scene investigations. The camp that we're at. And Brooke's like, oh, no, but I have a lot of camp experience. I bet she does with those braids. Hunter is like a palt. Arya is like trying to be nice. She's like, oh, like summer camp, right. And Brooks like, yes, Sury.
Starting point is 00:15:55 Hunter and Arya are rolling their eyes. Arya is like, so you just like found this job online? Brooks smacking her gum. She's like, oh, no, no, no. Nathan and I are old family friends. And he said, y'all were short handed, so I volunteered. Mm.
Starting point is 00:16:09 Uh, uh, uh. Nathan, babe, this is not the time to be breaking in some random people we're not familiar with. Hunter and Arya are like, oh my god, that's so great. And then immediately they are side-channeling and they're like, this girl cannot be here. What the fuck? Yeah, totally. At first.
Starting point is 00:16:31 They believe that like CSI camp is something that only seasoned professionals can do, right? They're like, this girl, she is in over her head. I'm just like, look, guys, no one's a seasoned professional here. However, I do understand like the subculture respect feeling of like We're we do this thing. We all take it really seriously even if everybody thinks we're crazy Mm-hmm, and so like respect the space and like flag the situation for me
Starting point is 00:17:00 Tell me you know, oh by the way guys we're down a couple people this year because X, Y, and Z. So we're gonna have someone come in, they don't have a lot of experience but we'll let it. So this is Hunter and Arya's thing too, is there like why didn't you tell us that we were short-handed? Like we know everyone who's been to this camp ever. Like we could have reached out to people
Starting point is 00:17:19 and gotten them to come and hunters like this is a classic like Nathan abdication of duty. He didn't realize we were shortorthanded probably until like yesterday. Interesting. And then he like created this problem. Also, Nathan's like, maybe Nathan's actually just trying to show them what it really is like in police offices. People come in without any qualifications.
Starting point is 00:17:39 And they're in charge now. He's really, maybe this is like the best thing Nathan's ever done. Nathan is like standing up there doing his little introduction, right? He's like, y'all know the rules, like no drugs, no drinking, no relationships, like nothing. He's like, this is a room of basically amateur investigators
Starting point is 00:17:59 act like it, you will get caught. Investigators, Ann Brooke. Yeah, Ann Brooke. He laughs at his own joke, obviously. He's like, am I right? Everyone in this room is rolling their eyes at him. Right. But Brooke, like throughout this whole thing,
Starting point is 00:18:12 keeps saying like, I, I, Captain, and saluting him. Mm. Oh, oh, oh. Oh my God. I'm like, maybe Brooke should kill Nathan, and then everybody can figure out who did it and this is actually really smart plan. No, I love that.
Starting point is 00:18:30 Instead of side eyeing Nathan, everyone is now side eyeing Brooke, right? Because they're like, who is this strange girl? Right. The whole time Brooke is just nodding. She's like, did you ever read the YA novel Star Girl? No, but I think I owned it and started it and didn't finish it. It is like the prototype of the Mianic Pixine Girl movement.
Starting point is 00:18:51 Okay. Movement. Brooks Persona is like Zoey Dationel's character on New Girl Target version. Oh, big bangs. Uh-huh. Very strange. Uh-huh. Very strange. Uh-huh. Always singing songs.
Starting point is 00:19:06 Trying to be quirky, trying to be nice. Yes. Trying to be funny at weird times. She's wearing like a mod cloth dress underneath her polo. Yes. Mm-hmm, I see it. 100 are you get back to their room like after this meeting?
Starting point is 00:19:21 They're like, this is gonna be fine. Right. But they do not believe it's gonna be fine. They are very, very worried in their hearts about the sanctity of the CSI camp. Like long term, not just like this summer, they're like, what's gonna happen? What does this mean for us like overall?
Starting point is 00:19:36 Okay. Are you worried? How do you feel at this point? I'm not because I want this camp to fail. However, I do. I do. I also am like not worried about it long term because there are so many wannabe cops and I want to be cops. I want to be forensic, you know, scientists want to be S.V.U.
Starting point is 00:19:52 kids that like they'll be fine. However, I do not think Nathan's the person to be running this camp. But I think they should be looking at this like, okay, she's going to be annoying for a few weeks and like it'll be kind of funny and fun to like be so be a character it'll be like yes well and a few years will be like remember broke I love this hopeful and positive perspective it is now Monday uh-huh Monday the kids arrive first thing in the morning and Ariad knows that like Monday is always the easiest day because all you have to do is get the kids into the dorm get them them checked in, get them in their rooms, and then deposit them in a classroom because
Starting point is 00:20:29 Monday is like the day where they learn everything. Okay. Her kids arrive, there's like a day lose of sound, right? Like they are quoting TikToks, they are making smoochy faces at each other, they're yelling. Right. She like, her dogs them all through the check-in, up to their rooms, tells them to unpack. She puts her last kid in his room check-in up to their rooms tells them to unpack. She put their last kid in his room and she's she and Hunter like high five they're like we're killing it. Right. They go down to get their waters from the staff room and there is Brooke still in the lobby floundering. Like half of her campers are not checked in. She is like singing a little cat Stevens-esque folk song to be like, Ginzy My God to try and get their attention.
Starting point is 00:21:09 Okay, in high school, my friend made up a word, FARCUM, F-A-R-C-L-E. Which is basically cringe, like the kids call cringe. Like second-hand embarrassment. Okay. It's also embarrassing word, so weird word, so it like words. Yes, I like it. That's great. And you're like, this is FARCUM. This's also embarrassing word. So weird word. So it like words. Yes. I like it. That's great. And so like and you're like this as far as this. This is far come.
Starting point is 00:21:29 That's the first word I can't wait. I mean just maybe I had. I'm like this is not, this isn't good. I'm just gonna feel free the whole time, Brooke, because you don't know how to behave in polite society. Do you help her? Yes. I think you have to help her, but I think you're annoyed about it. Yes, Arya and Hunter feel that they have to help her not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because they want to stay on schedule. Right, and you don't want the campers to dislike the camp,
Starting point is 00:21:56 because Bang's Brooke is here, doing her things. Brooke, Hunter is like, Nathan always does shit like this. Where did he find this girl? And Arias like, but we're short handed. Like we do need just like more people over the age of 20, right?
Starting point is 00:22:10 So like they help her get everyone checked in, they get everyone deposited into the classroom. We are now gonna go through some of the things that the teens are taught about because I think it will be fun for us. Oh my God. Okay, the first thing they are learning about is search warrants. How to write them.
Starting point is 00:22:28 How to file them. Not the ethics of search warrants. Yeah. So say, well, you don't, there's a whole other person in here that you need permission from and that's a judge. But somehow I feel like that's not going to come into this little activity. No, no.
Starting point is 00:22:46 The next thing they're learning about is fingerprint tick. Oh my god. OK. Tell me. Why? Your eyes are closed. My eyes are closed. And I'm stressed because you've
Starting point is 00:22:56 stopped me, but you've also opened a door that I am crawling through with my stop wounds. Because I am a little obsessed with junk science and in particular pattern matching science. Okay. Pattern matching is this idea that like I can look at two things. It can be fingerprints, it can be shoe prints, it can be bullets, it can be hair, it can be palm prints or like and there are all these kind of forms of pattern matching forensic science. I say that in quotes that are ridiculous. Because there's not, you know, it's pattern matching is a very imperfect science. It's a very inexact science and so many forms of it have been
Starting point is 00:23:40 disproven and debunked over and over and over again. And so fingerprints are a good example of that. It's like if you have a fingerprint on a full fingerprint. A full fingerprint and it's like on a phone and there's a sensor and like maybe then it's a different thing. But this idea that like, you know, murder she wrote, I picked up the glass and like I saw half the fingerprint and there it is, that's our guy without looking at any other
Starting point is 00:24:03 fingerprints to see if it might. Like it's just, this is what we think of as like, people think of this as like, that's a smoking gun and it's not. The kids are also doing this like, for all of these things, they're doing interactive, right? So they're like sticking their little fingers on things and then like brushing them with that black powder. So they're just like black powder everywhere is another like minor issue here.
Starting point is 00:24:26 The next thing they do is also pattern matching, which is someone, people are stepping into like mud with their shoe and then they are making dental stone paste with water so that they can create molds of the shoe prints. Okay, this is a nightmare. This is a full nightmare. And I want the listeners to know that you are just looking more at more stress. This is a nightmare. This is a full nightmare. And I want the listeners to know that you are just looking more at more stress.
Starting point is 00:24:48 I'm so stressed. But I'm also validated by this, because I'm like, this is how we feed this illusion of junk science as science. By like throwing in a whole bunch of college kids and being like, look at you.
Starting point is 00:25:03 You know, you could solve any crime now. And it's like, you actually, just like 900 people have those nakeds and you actually can't tell if it's the sky. The next thing they are doing is learning to, quote, unquote, document a crime scene, which to my understanding is like putting those little water burger numbers next to things and then taking photos. Right.
Starting point is 00:25:23 And then the final thing they are learning this day is how to collect evidence, which to my understanding is mostly putting things into plastic bags. Right. I do also want to say, if you are learning all of this day one at camp, it cannot be that exactive of a science. That's a lot for a day. And one thing is that the kids are like exhausted at the end of this day. They're like, this is so much to learn.
Starting point is 00:25:45 And the counselors are like, well, the thing is, there's like one more thing you have to sit through a lecture at night. So before that, we will give you pizza. As psychologists has come in to teach these kids their after dinner lesson, which is about how people are capable of murder. Uh-huh. How the brain works. And like, why you can't trust eyewitnesses. Okay. I'm good on the
Starting point is 00:26:08 last one. Okay. Say more. Well, our memories are imperfect and we think of them as cameras where we were winding and saying like here's what happened, but they're actually not. We're going to forget by the end of the day most of the things we did today, right? And so the idea that like, when you're in a moment of panic or emergency that we remember better, like, oh, I would know that face anywhere. That's definitely the guy has been disproven time and time again. Does it mean like you definitely don't know? No, but it just means that tons of people are convicted based on eyewitness testimony, which is traditionally pretty unreliable. What about, how do you feel about this guy teaching them
Starting point is 00:26:48 about how people are capable of murder? I don't love it and I wanna know, what do we know that he's setting? Oh great, thank you for asking. Oh great, okay great, you know, okay I'm so excited. The kids are like restless. By the time this guy gets on the stage, they've been in a classroom all day,
Starting point is 00:27:03 they've eaten pizza, they've had like 16 coaks They're not like focused and this man has done this every single year So he has like a little tight five that he's doing he gets up there and he's like hello teens Who is in charge here and all the teens point at Nathan right and the man on the stage nods Hunter and Arya are already giggling. They love this part. He's like, that guy's in charge. What's his name?
Starting point is 00:27:29 And all the teens are like, Nathan. And he's like, great. What's your curfew? And the teens are like 11 PM. And the guy on the stage is like, do you like having an 11 PM curfew? And the teens are like, no. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:27:42 And he's like, see? So you all have something in common. You might all be thinking, I hate Afin. But a killer, his brain is gonna go kill Nathan. Oh my God. My God. What? What?
Starting point is 00:28:00 Yes. This really brings up an important point to me, which is that I am continually convinced that all the people who are quote unquote experts on what bad guys do have never spoken to anybody ever. It's actually only explanation for thinking that that's how quote unquote killers were. Yeah, obviously.
Starting point is 00:28:19 The kids laugh at this, obviously. And then the man is like, kill Nathan. And then Hunter joins him and then they're going, kill Nathan. And then Arya is going, kill Nathan. And then all the kids and all the counselors are chanting, kill Nathan. Okay, kill Nathan.
Starting point is 00:28:37 I'm gonna do this. Over and over again. I'm into this. And I feel that they, I feel that like, wanting to kill Nathan doesn't even necessarily make you a killer. It just makes you. Yeah. I get it.
Starting point is 00:28:49 Nathan's annoying. Nathan's annoying me. This is also like prime time for this, right? They are, they have been at the camp for long enough for them to like not really know each other. It's a perfect time for these like inside jokes. Totally. So every year this psychologist does this and every year it works. The kids like stay focused because they have this like little thing that they can do.
Starting point is 00:29:10 Right. And now they know how killers think. So they've learned how to kill his thing. And it gives the counselors a kind of like call-in response, right? So just like how like a teacher might hold up their hand and be like quiet coyote and then all the kids like put their little coyote up and are quiet. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:27 These counselors are yelling kill Nathan, and then all the kids are going kill Nathan all week. Can you hear me clap once if you can hear me? Clap twice if you can yell kill Nathan, got it. Exactly. And how does Nathan feel about this? Like is he like being like the one, the guy, you know? The benefit here is that they do this every single year
Starting point is 00:29:45 with whoever's in charge. Oh, so like when Nathan was a camper, they did this for the person in charge. Oh, okay. So he's like, this is just part of your job. God, is the kids chant to kill you all be. Right. That's how it works. Ariana Hunter, they get through this,
Starting point is 00:29:57 they shepherd all their kids back to their dorms, they get them into their beds. It's like 11, 15, they love rules, they lie down in their bed, and they're like, why is it so noisy? They're like whose kids are on the floor above us? Like we could hear they're yelling, their it's music. They look it up in the folder. It's Brooks. Duh. What do you want to do here?
Starting point is 00:30:18 I want to, I'm probably texting Brooke and being like, Hey, you don't have Brooks number she's new okay I'm going upstairs you're going right upstairs yeah and I'm just saying like hey we can hear you downstairs it's it's like can we keep it down up here on one hand I'm like look we're all adults here if like if you're what are like your kids stay up all night later like who cares I'm sorry you're thinking too liberally okay I need to think like I need to think like a cop cop you're, you're thinking too liberally. You need to think like, I need to think like a cop cop. You're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. I forgot about CSI, I can't briefly, I thought I was like my final camp.
Starting point is 00:30:52 Yeah, and you were like whatever. Right, right, right, right, right. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Josie, the rule is 11. The rule is 11 and we have to make everything fair and people have to follow the rules if we want a functioning society. And so I'm going up there and being like, hey, Brooke, it's 11.15.
Starting point is 00:31:08 And it's time, you know? I'm doing the like annoyed, this is a suggestion, but actually a rule sort of thing. You are clocked in. Yeah. Hunter and Arya, they go upstairs. There's one room that the music is coming out of.
Starting point is 00:31:19 So they're like, great. They open the door to the room. Oh no. All of Brooke's kids are in there. They are dancing. One girl in Brooks group is teaching all of the other kids how to grind. Okay. Right? Like she's like left to right. We're dipping. Hip, hip. They've learned so much today. It's starting to learn everything. So much. What do you do here? I'm like, guys, it's lights out. Where's Brooke?
Starting point is 00:31:47 Arya is like, we should tell them to stop. And Hunter's like, let's just go find Brooke. She needs to deal with this. They go to Brooke's room and they're like, knock on the door. She doesn't answer, so they just like, open it. Brooke is like, recording herself singing. And like, she has garage band open on her computer. No.
Starting point is 00:32:04 And they're like, Brooke, your children are misbehaving. And Brooks like, it's cap. Their teens. Let them misbehave. Who cares? And Hunter and Arya are like, no. Hunter and Arya go back to that room. They go kill Nathan. All the kids go kill Nathan. They say go to bed. It's now Tuesday. They're up at the crack of dawn because they have to be. And Arya is so tired, right? She's like, I had to stay up late to get brook stupid kids to bed. I have to be up early because we have all this stuff to do. She's like, I need coffee. So she goes downstairs with a little like canteen or whatever to get the coffee. And when she walks into the room, something like curious happens, which is that Nathan and Brooke, who were standing
Starting point is 00:32:48 a reasonable distance apart, scoot apart when she enters. That's because they are doing it. Aria is like, interesting. This is against the rules, famously, you're not allowed to have relationships here. And she is like, this is my new interest. 100%. This is my new focus. Yes.
Starting point is 00:33:13 As a detective, I need evidence. Now Arya is doing great now because she has moved from policing to gossiping, and I support that fully. How do you gather evidence? Ask, brook a little bit more about how she knows Nathan. How long have you been in the same show? Where did you go to school? And then I'm also trying to see when they're texting.
Starting point is 00:33:41 Is one of them texting and the other ones texting and then you know and then you know that's a great idea you know there's some going on Arya is like I wish I had time to get into this but we have a lot to do today because Tuesday is witness interrogation day Jesus fucking Christ So there is a fake crime. The premise of the crime is that Nathan has been killed. Okay. It is the student's goal to figure out who did it. This year, the person who did it is Hunter.
Starting point is 00:34:38 Hunter is apt. He's like, here comes my Oscar, my year to shine. Queer representation, we can be killers too. Exactly. He's like, here I go, right? Like, I've got my, I know everything I'm gonna do, I'm gonna win this game. It is the students job to figure out who,
Starting point is 00:34:56 quote unquote, killed Nathan by interrogating witnesses. So each of the counselors is set up in their own dorm room. They have like a folder with their story and like all of their alibis and all of this shit in it and they sit behind a table and the students come in and they interrogate them. They have rules. The counselors have rules. The rules are like follow the script of your character.
Starting point is 00:35:20 Make the kids sweat, but not too much, and don't lie to them. I mean, already we're way out of the jail for real interrogation, because the lie to the cops is not advice I would give you as a lawyer, but it's not advice I would not give you. It begins, everything's going fine. Areas doing her little alibi tale about how she and Hunter were out last night getting frozen yogurt, and so there's no way he could have killed Nathan. But like halfway through the day, the teen's eyes start to change. Like they're not interested in her story anymore. And she's like
Starting point is 00:35:55 that's weird. Like they're not as passionate this year, but like that happens some weeks, right? Sometimes the kids aren't that passionate. At the end of the day, she sees Hunter in the hallway and he's like, I am gonna destroy her. I cannot believe that Nathan let her in here and now she is messing everything up. Arya is like, what are you talking about? And Hunter is like all of the kids got it right. They all knew that I was the murderer.
Starting point is 00:36:25 He's like, this has never happened before. And Arya's like trying to be gentle with her friend. She's like, okay, is it possible that like the script is already tied this year? Or that you're a bad witness and hunters like Arya, I killed it. But you know, your Arya, you love evidence. There is no evidence that your friend is right.
Starting point is 00:36:52 No, but there's the thing of like, if you're doing that exercise, you should be always thinking of the way it could be the other person. Yeah, right? Like, it definitely doesn't make sense that everybody would be like, it's you. We just know it's you. And like, move on. That doesn't align with these kids. So you kind of believe him. Oh yeah. And what, how are you going to prove him right? Like I think I might just be like, did you say anything to the kids? Try to like say it sort of nicely. To bra, kebra. But like, maybe in a way that's not like super aggressive. But I'm guessing she wasn't like, hey, it's Hunter. I'm guessing she was like, I know who it is. I'm not gonna tell you. I'll just tell you that. They're, you know.
Starting point is 00:37:27 I love the kids. You know, like, she's like hinting and it's like obvious. It's like when I told my dad, my mom got him, she was with wheels on them for Christmas and he was like roller blades and I was like, how'd she know? You know? Like, it's not sort of thing. Arya is like, I don't wanna go straight to Brooke
Starting point is 00:37:44 because the only evidence I have is Hunter's testimony. So I will be going to a child. So she goes to one of the teens that's shy. And she's like, hey, how'd you figure it out? And the teens like, oh, I figured out the right question to ask. And she's like, okay, what question was that? And the teen is like, well, I asked Nathan's girlfriend who did it and she told me it was hunter
Starting point is 00:38:08 Okay, that's incredible honestly Promoted to lieutenant right there just right away But he also said Nathan's girlfriend right because the kids are smart and they're on Fucking tick-tock and they know how people people are when they're trying to hide a relationship. Arya is like time to go to Brooke. So now she's doing what you're doing. She goes to Brooke. Brooke is like arranging flowers in a vase.
Starting point is 00:38:33 Like where did she get the vase? Where did she get these flowers? Nobody knows. Wait, I have a quick question. Go where are the other counselors here? And they are not important. They're not important. But they are around.
Starting point is 00:38:44 And are they also annoyed with Brooke? Yes. Every counselor is mad at Brooke. OK. Got it. Arya goes up to Brooke and she's like, did you tell the kids that Hunter was the murderer? And Brooke is like, the instruction said not to lie to them.
Starting point is 00:39:03 Fucking Brooke, man. Dude. So now you know that Hunter's right. And you also have a pretty strong suspicion that Brooke and Nathan are dating. A blanking. Yeah, 100%. Do you tell Hunter both of these pieces of information? Yes. Right now, you're going to tell him.
Starting point is 00:39:23 Yes. I'm sorry, but you've forgotten about being a cop. I have forgotten about being a cop, but I also have not forgotten about being a messy bitch who, you know, is like camp and needs some joy in her life. So yes, I definitely would tell. Arya tells Hunter that Brooke did it. She tells him all of this,
Starting point is 00:39:40 but she doesn't tell him anything about her suspicions about them dating. What? Arya. She wants more. She wants to present a completed case. tells him all of this, but she doesn't tell him anything about her suspicions about them dating. What? Arria. She wants more. She wants to present a completed case. She, someone referring to her as the girlfriend is not enough.
Starting point is 00:39:52 What is she more? What does she need to see? OK, it's now Wednesday. We've moved into the next day of the week. Arria spends her whole morning before it's time to go online stalking. Totally. But Brooke, most of her shit is locked down.
Starting point is 00:40:06 Like the only thing Arya can find is like videos of her playing guitar on TikTok, which is like not helpful. Jesus Christ. But she's like friends with Nathan, so she can like look at all of his stuff and she's like swirling no picks with Brooke. And like he doesn't follow her. He doesn't follow her. He's weird.
Starting point is 00:40:24 That's very weird. Ari is like, well, I'm gonna familiarize myself with Nathan's life so that I can catch her in a trap. Okay, and it's seven, the walkie-start to buzz, because the buses are here. Okay. Can you give me an animal that could be a mascot, but isn't actually a mascot?
Starting point is 00:40:43 A squirrel. A squirrel. Yes, okay. Today is Squirrel actually a mascot. A squirrel? A squirrel. Yes, okay. Today is Squirrel Day. Okay. Wednesday is Squirrel Day. Squirrel Day is the nightmare day in camp. Okay.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Because squirrel day, we have to do two things. The first thing we have to do is tour around this university whose mascot is a squirrel and see all the things that they have. Okay. Because this is something that the university requires. Then we have to go to a mall to eat lunch. Then the second part of this day is touring like the local courthouse and jail. Oh god. I was like what's worse than having to go on the university tour. You you immediately named three
Starting point is 00:41:21 things that are worse than the university tour. Just a just a- Mall, Mall, House, gel. It's July. It's Squirrel Day. The kids are all amped up because they get to go on a bus. This is like hard and annoying. She keeps having to be like, kill Nathan to get the kids to focus. She heard her kids onto the nearest bus,
Starting point is 00:41:41 and she's like, I did it, right? And she is not on the bus with Hunter. Okay. Which means she and Hunter will be separated all day. Mm. She's on the bus with Brooke. Oh, okay. Can you see any upside?
Starting point is 00:41:57 Absolutely. Sidnexter asked her some questions, telling her she can't lie and then she's not, she's not allowed to lie to me and then asking her if she's in a relationship with Nathan. That's a great idea. But the problem is that Brooke has brought a ukulele. Oh.
Starting point is 00:42:12 And she is trying to get the kids to sing an acoustic cover of a Taylor Swift song. This is the worst part about Brooke. The guitar ukulele singing thing is just the thing that would send me over the edge on Brooke. So she can't like ask her any questions because Brooke is like trying to lead the children in songs. Are the kids annoyed at Brooke? Or do they think she's cruel? Yes.
Starting point is 00:42:34 Okay. They do not like her. Okay. Nobody likes Brooke except for Nathan. Got it. Yes. Okay. Finally, they get off the bus. No more singing. They do their tour. It's fine, right? Like everyone is sweaty. It takes forever.
Starting point is 00:42:48 They see all the things at a university that are the same as at every other university. There's like, here are special squirrels, here is our special thing, here is our special support. There's our sports, right? Complex. Yeah, like glass case with like,
Starting point is 00:43:02 yes, or a piece. Yeah, exactly. But it takes forever because they're like spread out and they're all over this campus. So by the time they get to them all, they only have 30 minutes to eat. Okay. The kids are hungry and grumpy
Starting point is 00:43:16 and there are dozens of them. Eventually, Nathan has to get on the megaphone and be like, I'm so sorry, but we have to go. The kids began chanting kill Nathan because they do not wish to leave. Most of the kids have not eaten. So Ari's plan is that we cannot miss the jail tour, but she's just like gonna go up to one of the little places
Starting point is 00:43:36 with no line and get like a bunch of fries and like give the fries to the kids and herd them onto the bus. Okay. So the teens are just like dropping fries everywhere while she's trying to herd them onto the bus and she's like, teens are just like dropping fries everywhere while she's trying to herd them onto the bus and she's like, whatever, this is my life now. I hate it here. The whole time her phone is buzzing. Okay. And she's like, I can't deal with this. Like, I have to
Starting point is 00:43:55 focus. She gets on the bus before Brooke. And the ukulele is just sitting there. So she is like, I will corner the ukulele. Oh no, the ukulele is gone. Right. 100%. She just hides it like with her body. Okay. So now in Birkazan, she does not have the ukulele to distract her and it is now time to do your rightness interrogation. Right. How do you want to do this? I think I'm starting with, how's it going so far? How do you know Nathan? Ari is like, we don't really know each other that well. It's so nice to get to have some time to bond. Right. Like, did you graduate in May?
Starting point is 00:44:30 Right. And Brooks like, yeah. And Ari is like, yeah, and where is it that you're from? And she's like, oh, I'm from here. Like, from the town where this is. Hi. And Ari is like, that's interesting. Because in her head, she knows that Nathan is from the West Coast.
Starting point is 00:44:44 So she's like, mm's interesting because in her head she knows that Nathan is from the West Coast. Right. So she's like, hmm, uh-huh. And Ari is like, oh, so did you like go to college here? And Brooks like, no, no, I went to college like some big state school on the East Coast. And she's like, oh, so did you and Brian hang out all the time? Brian. And Brooks like, what? And Ari is like, Brian, did you and Brian hang out all the time. Brian. And Brooks like, what? And Ari is like, Brian, did you and Brian hang out all the time? And Brooks like, who's Brian? And Ari is like,
Starting point is 00:45:11 Brian is Nathan's brother. Oh, look at our little interrogator. Mm-hmm. A lot of questions are coming up. Brook is like, oh my god, look, we're here at the jail. Uh-huh. And Ari is like, shit. They arrive at the courthouse, all the kids get off. You know, the sheriff is showing them around. They see the county clerk, they see the police station. They're seeing all sorts of stuff.
Starting point is 00:45:36 Right. While they're seeing this stuff, Ari pulls out her phone that was buzzing earlier in its hunter. Hunter is freaky out because part of this tour is seeing jail cells. And there are two jail cells that the kids see. They only ever see these two jail cells. One of them they can go in because it doesn't lock. The other one does lock. So Nathan starts the day every single year by like hanging a
Starting point is 00:45:56 sign on them that says like this one locks. Right? Hunter is like, I'm so sorry one of my kids switched the signs on the jail cells and just told me. Okay, he's like, can you switch them back after your kids are done? Oh. And she's like, she's like, yay, yeah, of course. And he's like, I know that you wouldn't let the kids close any doors to any jail cells, but just switch them back in case. And Ari is like, yeah, no problem.
Starting point is 00:46:21 Okay, but what's the first case scenario here? The door lock, there's a key somewhere. Someone has a key. Yes. So it's just like annoying. So it's just like, don't get the kids trapped in the jail. Right. So, Ari takes her group through.
Starting point is 00:46:33 She's just like, it is every year. She like switches the signs. She takes photos of her kids in the jail cell, you know, totally normal and cool thing to do. They move on. They're like looking at evidence storage. When on the walkie, Brooke starts talking and she sounds very scared and she's like, I need help. Can someone help me? Where the fuck is Nathan? What is the point of sleeping with Nathan if he's not even going to help you
Starting point is 00:46:59 and from jail? Yes. Arya comes to help her and half of Brooks kids are locked in a jail cell. Great, great, good job. They are locked in the one that now has the sign that says it is not the one that locks. So had Arya already switched them, Arya had switched them back, right? Yes. So either someone had switched them back before or someone's confused or... Or someone's lying. Or someone's lying. Who's lying. Or someone's lying.
Starting point is 00:47:26 Who's lying? Is Hunter? The sheriff is like trying to get them out, right? But like one of the kids is like shaking the door to be let out and like so he can't get the key in and like the teens are tired and hungry and unhappy and they're crying and they're panicking. It is like a whole thing. And Arya is like, okay. Like the Occam's razor of this is that like the signs were wrong
Starting point is 00:47:49 before. But there's the possibility that Hunter's switch had me switch them to fuck up Brooke. Yes, which would be not to diagnose anybody, but a little psychotic, because why not just tell me how you should switch them to fuck up. like come on we're roommates. Why manipulate you? Yeah why are we why am what's going on? Are you decides leave it? We get through Wednesday night. She doesn't talk to a hunter about it. She's still doing her little investigations online and we are now at Thursday. Okay. Thursday is the like razzle dazzle grand finale of the scam. Morning, fake crime scene. Okay. Afternoon, fake trial. Aha. Night time. Dance. Got it. For Arya and Hunter
Starting point is 00:48:38 this day starts off high chaos. Right. Because they have to position the crime scene. And this is like a messy and dumb job. There are like fake bodies that are extremely heavy and hard to move. There is like fake blood that has to be splattered. But it also can't be splattered too well because then it will get on the walls and you can't clean it off the door.
Starting point is 00:49:00 They're trying to like strategically add fingerprints to things so the teens can find them without adding like their own fingerprints. And they're trying to add strategic hairs without adding their own hairs. Got it. They're trying to make it look chaotic and it's, yeah, a lot. At like 8 a.m., Nathan's voice comes over the walkie and he's like, Aria's channel two. Jesus Christ Nathan. And so Ariette goes to channel two and she's like, what, and Nathan's like, the kids are antsy, they wanna get in the crime scene,
Starting point is 00:49:31 how much longer do you need? Get over here and help, like, what is Nathan's job? He doesn't seem to be doing shit. He's a boss, he doesn't have a job. I need one of those. It's the same one. Ariette's like, we need 10 minutes, and he's like, okay, 10 minutes.
Starting point is 00:49:45 And she clips it back into her thing. They are on a tight schedule and Hunter and Arya are tired. So at 10 minutes, the store opens and the kids are coming in. And Arya backs up and she is like, we've left like a plastic bag full of blood, right? Like fake blood. We've left like a blue glove on the desk. Like, this is going to derail the teens for so long. Okay, but maybe they're going to learn it's not, there's, you don't, you can't expect.
Starting point is 00:50:11 But what this means is that because the teens have to figure out that several things in this room are not actually connected to the crime scene, it takes an hour longer than it should. It's going to take an hour longer than it should. Totally. Totally. By the time they are like done with the crime scene, they have missed lunch and it's time to go to trial. Okay.
Starting point is 00:50:29 Who is planning the shit? Because Nathan has got to get it together. Like, this feels so predictable to me. Are you a vote here? She's like, I don't want to go to the mock trial yet. I haven't eaten. I'm going to eat and then I'll stay here and clean up the crime scene.
Starting point is 00:50:48 She's like sweaty. There's like fake blood in her hair, right? She's like, right. She finishes up, she goes to the bathroom to wash her hands. When she hears on her walkie, the bling of someone beginning to talk. And it is Nathan's voice and he says, come now. Ah! Because she's still on he says, come now. Ah!
Starting point is 00:51:05 Because she's still on channel two, isn't she? And she's still on channel two. And then she hears the bling again. And it's Brooks voice saying, be there in five. What? We knew it. So you know that they're meeting? Right.
Starting point is 00:51:20 Where are you gonna check? 100% checking their rooms first. Okay, interesting, not Arya's move. She goes to a little cafe. They're not there. She goes to the staff room. They're not there. She looks up in her folder, which room Nathan is in. She sprints up the stairs. She opens the door to the stairwell and she's there just in time to watch Brooke slip inside his door and close it behind her. Yes, yes, yes, yes, we knew it. But this doesn't look good, right? The head counselor with another counselor in his room. No, it's not good. Explicitly against the rules. Which he, by the way, said, it's like, you don't even have to bring out. Which he said, what do you do? I'm standing outside the door
Starting point is 00:51:59 and seeing what I can hear. You're eat-slapping. You're the ear to the door. You're to the door. and seeing what I can hear. You're eavesdropping. You're the door. You're the door. Arya is like, I don't like this. And I want to stop them. Like whatever is going on in here, I don't wanna just eavesdrop on.
Starting point is 00:52:13 Okay, people like relax. I know. She looks at her walkie and she's like, they're probably still on channel two. She's like, a hope, a prayer. She goes in there, she goes, Nathan, problem in the stairwell of this building, can you come? A very long minute passes.
Starting point is 00:52:29 Uh-huh. Before Nathan is like, I'll be right there. Okay. So then she waits in the stairwell until Nathan shows up and he's like, what's up? And she's like, hmm, interesting, what's up with you? Oh, she's like, I saw what you just, all right, what you're doing. Yes. And she's like, you can't do this, you're gonna get fired. And he's like, do what? And she's like, brook? And he's like, what? And she's like, I know she's not your family friend.
Starting point is 00:52:58 I know she's a girlfriend. Okay, Arya. You don't know that. That's some questions. Nathan's like, she don't know that. That's some questions. Nathan's like, she's not my girlfriend. And Arya's like, are we doing like a semantic thing here because like I did see her just go in your room. And he's like, yeah, she's in my room.
Starting point is 00:53:15 And Arya's like, you're gonna get your ass fired. Like, I can't help you here. Right. Nathan doesn't give a fuck, which I feel like is an important part of this. He's drunk with power, and it's, I don't care. It's a little, we need to scale it back a little, Nathan.
Starting point is 00:53:30 So now Ari is like, well, I have to go to the mock trial now because they need me there. So she goes to the mock trial. All she's thinking about is the fact that Nathan and Brooke are not in the room. Not in the court room. Not in the mock trial room. Right, exactly, because they are upstairs.
Starting point is 00:53:45 Right. And she's like, it is time I have to talk to Hunter about this. Yeah. And you should have talked to him right now. And the problem is that Hunter is on the witness stand in the mock trial room. So she cannot talk to him. She's texting him like pay attention to me. Focus.
Starting point is 00:54:05 And he is just like sitting there being cross-examined by 18-year-olds, like responding to their question. I want to say, are you had days to talk to him about this? Cap your mouth shut. Then it goes upstairs and makes accusations when, like, we did for evidence, and then really didn't get that much evidence. Approach it in an aggressive way,
Starting point is 00:54:24 which didn't make any sense. And then is now trying to text Hunter on the stand. I just feel like Ariya should maybe not be a counselor yet. I feel like maybe she should be a student. Like three minutes after she arrives back in this room, Brooke joins the room. Okay. And she sits in the like little juror box like listening.
Starting point is 00:54:42 For 10 minutes, Ariya is just like looking between Brooke and Hunter. Like how do I, I need to talk to him. She's here now, which is interesting, like feeling weird. And she's looking ashamed, is she looking angry or is she just doing her Brooke? No thought. No thought.
Starting point is 00:54:58 Yeah, right, yeah. Yeah. Arya watches Brooke open her phone, burst into tears, and run out. Oh my god, okay. And Arya's like shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,
Starting point is 00:55:16 shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, As Mata's aim that Arya kept from Hunter, come on guys, have you ever heard of friendship? What is the point of a roomie? In college, I'm not a roomie. I'm not a roomie. I'm not a roomie.
Starting point is 00:55:34 I'm not a roomie. I'm not a roomie. I'm not a roomie. I'm not a roomie. I'm not a roomie. I'm not a roomie. I'm so mad that Hunter kept this from Arya. As mad as I am that Arya kept it from Hunter. Come on guys, have you ever heard of friendship? What is the point of a roommate?
Starting point is 00:55:49 In college, when I saw something, I ran to the room and told my roommate in full detail, everything. Yeah, it's called having a friend. It's called friendship. Arya's like, oh my God, I have something to tell you too. And Hunter's like, okay, you go first, you go first. Arya then explains all her evidence, right?
Starting point is 00:56:05 Like the darting apart. The weird conversation on the bus, the walkie signaling. Like the kid telling her Nathan's girlfriend, right? She's walking him through all of this shit. And she's like, I confronted Nathan in the hallway and I told him that he can't date a counselor. And Hunter's like, I know more than you. Ooh.
Starting point is 00:56:27 And she's like, oh my god, tell me. And hunters like, so after the intro beating, he saw them like, briefly hold hands. How have they not talked about this? I don't know. He's like, well, well, well. Right. So he has been like watching on the prowl. Like he had Arya switched the signs, hoping that Brooke would call for Nathan. Didn't work. He positioned himself so that like he could help her whenever she needed help as an attempt to get in. And this worked. Okay. So over time, Brooke began to open herself up to him. Okay. Hunter, a much better interrogator, found out that Nathan is not dating this girl.
Starting point is 00:57:13 Nathan found Brooke on a swiping dating house that we will call Linda. Right. Right. They matched. They went on one date and he convinced her to come work at this camp so they could spend time together oh my god nathana's a fuck boy yes of course like fucking of course I was like thinking that they had this really they had a real relationship and they cared about each other and he just didn't want to get caught with the
Starting point is 00:57:46 But no Nathan's a fucking fuck boy. Arya is like, oh my god Like it all makes sense. This is why he's like she's not my girlfriend like I'm not doing anything wrong And Arya is like okay, okay, like they're you know, they're on one now her and Hunter Of course, she's like okay, okay, but like why did she just burst into tears? And Hunter is like, what? And Ari is like, while you were on the stand, she burst into tears. And Hunter is like, I don't, I don't know. Go find out, Hunter. Another counselor at Leensoverd is like, hey, I saw her phone. Yes, finally, someone like it. Yes, great. Go on. And she's like, it was a Snapchat break up from Nathan. Because he's been caught. Because he's been caught.
Starting point is 00:58:33 Kill Nathan, truly kill Nathan. Kill Nathan. Arya is like, well, this is my culture. These are my people. I feel high as a kind. I am thrilled. At this point, Nathan is coming down the hallway. He, it is important to note, it is dressed as a police sheriff.
Starting point is 00:58:53 Pointy star and everything, because he is going on the stand. He is breezing by. There are hunters like, where's Brooke? Nathan's like, she's not with us anymore. And hunters like, what? Like, what about her campers? And Nathan's like, I have to go, I'll take care of it. Also, the energy of breaking up with your, like, Linda match and then dressing as a cop and going on the fake stand. So incredibly. It's so deranged and it is just,
Starting point is 00:59:26 we really should do something about men, I have to say. That's a crazy take, I don't know. They're just like really, they've gone, they've taken things too far. The whole time Nathan is on the stand, the counselors are whispering. Obviously. Of course.
Starting point is 00:59:44 Everyone is telling everyone everything. So by the time this man. Obviously. Right, of course. Everyone is telling everyone everything. So by the time this man comes off the stand, every counselor knows every single thing that's happened. And are people more annoyed by broken there by Nathan? No, people are more annoyed by Nathan. Interesting. At this point. They have like a switch to legions.
Starting point is 01:00:02 They switch to legions. Right, yes. So while they were all the last day, like if he had been like, brook left on Wednesday, they all would have been like, high five, did it. Right. But now they're like, oh, brook left, interesting. Everyone is whispering.
Starting point is 01:00:16 The day, as always, is behind. Teens have to eat their little like weird sandwiches in their rooms while they get ready for the dance. So he is like, while they're doing that, we need to have a meeting as the counselors. And everyone's like, hmm, do we? Do we need to have a meeting? Yeah, they go to their little room, they sit in their little circle, and Nathan begins this meeting with an apology. He's like, my actions weren't correct. I'm so sorry. I should have thought of others. My priority is the camp and the teens and their education. My commitment is to cry
Starting point is 01:00:46 I've seen investigation My commitment is to pattern matching. Yeah, he's like I love pattern matching. Please When he's done there is a very long silence and Then Hunter looks him in the eye in front of all the other counselors and goes, I call bullshit on everything you just said. Ooh, Hunter, I love the energy. It is exactly what I need. There's a gasp. And then Hunter is like, we will all quit if you stay in power.
Starting point is 01:01:20 Okay, this is an abuse of power. Like, you brought it by me. Are ya? It's like, I was not consulted at all. She's looking around. No one else seems to have been consulted either. What do you want to do here? I would know it at Hunter for like signing me doing this thing with you. But I, and also, like, everybody's taking themselves away too seriously overall.
Starting point is 01:01:43 And I don't know if that's like, that's a cop vibe. But also, I think that there's something else here that we need to discuss, which is, please, getting into a camp relationship is a time-honored tradition. And it is. Like, making out with another counselor, it happens. What are we, what's this rule? This rule is stupid. All rules are stupid at the scale.
Starting point is 01:02:07 No drinking, no cursing, no grinding. Get even grinding. Grinding, right. What's the point? What's the point? Cops can't even grind anymore. What does this rule come to? I just feel like we need to have a little bit.
Starting point is 01:02:24 Actually, we might need the campers to come in and give these people a lesson. The campers to come in. Like sexual, the sexual revolution of Jinsy, which is like, state of my business. Like chill. Like consent, power dynamics, let's talk about it, but like, I'm not, this is like,
Starting point is 01:02:40 why is everybody being so precious? Arya decides to raise her hand and second Hunter's motion. Jesus fucking Christ, guys. And then another counselor raises their hand, and then another, it is like, oh, captain, my captain. Right. And this really thing just hates Nathan.
Starting point is 01:02:56 Yes. Nathan is like, okay, I have one last room to clean out, and then I will head out. Oh my God, I suddenly feel bad for Nathan. Now we are back where we started. All of the counselors are waiting with their teens to walk to the dance. When his shoes click, click, click. On the tile floor as he comes in, he is stressed as a cop. His hands are red with fake blood from clad of the last cry of the year. Oh my god. All the teens waiting to migrate to their dance have no idea what's going on.
Starting point is 01:03:30 They're just like, that's Nathan and what are we doing? We see Nathan, we chant Kill Nathan. And Brooke is leaning against the column, isn't she? And Brooke is leaning against the column. Oh yeah. Okay. Oh yeah, okay. Oh, all the feelings I have, there are so many feelings. As he's about to walk up the door,
Starting point is 01:03:49 he remembers he has a walkie-talkie on his hip, and so he has to come back in and give it to Hunter. Is Hunter in charge now? Great question. They have to do the whole camp the next week without a leader. That's right, there are three more weeks. Things were such a mess the week after that hunter
Starting point is 01:04:07 does take over Nathan's role. Wow. So now I have a question for you. Okay. Which is, is it possible that hunter set this whole thing up as a coup? Yes. I think hunter wanted to be in charge.
Starting point is 01:04:23 Mm-hmm. Everybody here is very self-righteous and a little vindictive. And Hunter actually doesn't really care that Nathan was breaking the rules, but there was like a clear, if Nathan gets out, I can get in. This will be easier. It brick will be gone. We're gonna have a great time. I mean, like, he didn't make up the relationship. That was all these two darling cops on their own. But I just feel like he's using this to his advantage.
Starting point is 01:04:53 And part of the reason I feel that way is because he didn't talk to Arya first. It makes it make more sense. Like they're not communicating, that didn't really make sense to me. And it kind of only makes sense if there's like some other reason, right?
Starting point is 01:05:08 A motive. A motive, if you will. A motive, if you will. You said at the very beginning that you were on the side of the girl leaning against the pillar, do you maintain that position? Okay. 100% yes and 100% no.
Starting point is 01:05:22 And let me explain. Okay, I feel bad for Nathan. Okay. Nathan sucks, but he sucks before. And like the fact that he looks like was desperate for counselors and handled this poorly at 22. I don't think he means like you need to lose your job. Getting like marched out with a bunch of kids I like when they want to kill you.
Starting point is 01:05:39 Like feels like a little too much for the situation. Also he did kind of try to rectify it by breaking up with her. He did it horribly, but like, clearly he was trying to like keep his job. I feel like there's, we could do some restorative something with Nathan, even though he sucks. Okay. However, for a guy to break up with you, to immediately be marched out of the building with everybody yelling, kill Nathan. Kill him.
Starting point is 01:06:05 It's pretty awesome. And I love that for her. That's the dream. That's the dream. In a way. That's the dream. In fact, I have a whole list of ex-boyfriends that I haven't thought about in years. And now I'm like, it would be great if my college boyfriend could be marched out of a room
Starting point is 01:06:20 right now. Well, people walk each other out. He might be a good person now, I don't know, but you know, I deserve that your business. We are at the end of our story. How do you feel? I think I feel like I have a couple questions. One of these questions is, this also isn't very responsible of Hunter because they're already short counselors. And so now you've like moved out to other counselors. Where, how are you going to make that up? What's your plan? Great question. You didn't have a backup plan then, you just had like a, you know.
Starting point is 01:06:48 So we have a desire for power. A desire for power. So we have that problem. But this other thing which is like, who runs this camp? Like is there a staff person? Is there like, there is like an owner of a camp, like some actual adult in charge,
Starting point is 01:07:03 but they are running like many of these camps Okay, so they are like not present on the ground is what we were told Do you want the final updates that I have for you before we leave? I couldn't live without them Okay, so Hunter did manage to get more counselors for week three by calling up all of his old friends from CSI camp And they came okay. He was in charge of this camp for two years before he got bored and moved on. Okay. And nobody had any plans for those weeks.
Starting point is 01:07:32 They were just like, sure, what come to camp? Yep, because CSI guys, they don't have a lot of plans. Yeah. Yeah, also 22 rights. Right. Yeah. After his outsting, Nathan and Brooke did end up getting together and did date for a good
Starting point is 01:07:48 period of time, which we know about because all the counselors gossiped about it, and the person they got that gossip from is Aria, who became a private investigator. God damn it Aria. Okay, that is the Gus possible update to the scenario. Josie, thank you so much for coming on the show. It was an absolute delight to have you. Thank you so much for this great story and for letting me talk about pattern matching evidence.
Starting point is 01:08:16 This is my dream afternoon. It was a dream. Thank you for listening to Normal Gossip. If you have a gossip story to share with us, email us at normalgossipatidefectory.com or you can leave us a voicemail at 2-6-7-9 gossip. If you love this podcast and want us to keep making it, become a friend or a friend of a friend at supportnormalgossip.com. You can follow the show on Instagram and TikTok
Starting point is 01:08:46 at NormalGasup. You can follow Kelsey on all social media at McKinneyKelsey. This podcast was produced by Alex Sujung Lawsland. Justin Ellis is the Fectors Projects editor, Jasper Wang and Sean Koon are the Fectors business guys. Tom Lay is our editor in chief. our defectors' business guys. Tom Lay is our editor-in-chief. Jay Tolviara is our associate producer. Abigail Siegel is our intern. Dan McWade runs our merch store which you can find at normalgossip.store. Tara Jacobi designed our show art. Thanks to the rest of the defector staff, the Fector Media is a collectively owned subscriber-based media company. Norma Gossip is a proud member of Radio Topia. Norma Gossip is hosted by Kelsey McKinney.
Starting point is 01:09:31 I'm Zyre Hilliard and remember, you did not hear this from me. Radio Topio. From PRX.

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