The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Dirty Rush: I Pledge Allegiance

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

First comes rush, then comes pledging! You survived rush … what happens next!!?? This is just the beginning as our tell all continues! Call us at 844-278-RUSH (844-278-7874) or email us at [e-mail]. Follow Dirty Rush on Instagram and TikTok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Johnny Knoxville here. Check out Crimeless, Hillbilly Heist, my new true crime podcast from Smartless Media, campside media, and big money players. It's the true story of the almost perfect crime and the Nimrods who almost pulled it off. It was kind of like the perfect storm in a sewer.

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They lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night... Everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The murder of an 18-year-old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years, until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story. America, y'all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.

Listen to Graves County on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And to binge the entire season, ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Samihante, it's Anna Ortiz. And I'm Mark and Delicado. You might know us as Hilda and Justin from Ugly Betty. Welcome to our new podcast, Viva Betty! Yay! We're re-watching the series from start to finish.

And talking to iconic guests like Betty herself, America Ferreira. There was this moment when the glasses went on and it was like, this is our Betty. Listen to Viva Betty on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys and welcome back to another week of Dirty Rush. We already went through the rush process with you guys, but now we're going to get into what life is like after the rush process. We're going to dive into what it's like to be a pledge in a sorority. And here we have Ava with us.

She is going to tell us her pledge story. Hi. So I went to a small school in Connecticut, a small private school. And our rush was very similar to everything you guys spoke about before. You know, you saw the different sororities. The rush for us was the easy part. We basically like went into different rooms. You met the girls.

You know, you got to know them. You had conversations. And then you got a bit. So the sorority that I got a bid for was a Jewish sorority. And the easy part was the rushing. And once you got a bid, it was crazy. So some of the things like instantly there were, I think there were like eight or nine of us. Oh, so very, your pledge class was very small.

Really, really small. Do you mind like you don't have to, of course, but do you mind disclosing maybe what sorority you were in or? Yeah, sure. I was in eight five. Oh, okay. I mean, a very well-known sorority, though. Very well-known sorority, a really great sorority, you know. But I think our school did things a little bit differently, maybe because it was smaller.

This was also back in 2000s, like early 2000s. Okay, got it. Yeah, so we kind of pledge like a fraternity. We were hazed from day one. So the second you got your bid and you accepted. you had to get a backpack, and in your backpack, you had to carry a brick the entire time, which sounds like, oh, that's kind of strange, but that was nothing. You had to carry a brick.

You had to carry, like, a Ziploc with anything that one of the sisters could want, you had to have in that Ziploc at all times. So that could be like cigarettes, hair things, chapstick, whatever. So you were like their assistant? We were definitely like their assistant. I want to say you were like their bitch, but I don't know if that's allowed. We were fully there, we had to, at the drop of a hat, if we got a phone call or a text from them, we had to leave whatever we were doing to either, there were so many things.

Yeah, that is kind of crazy because that does give fraternity. It's fair to turn. Yeah, because even my freshman year of college, it was me and my. roommate and her boyfriend at the time was rushing and he would receive phone calls at like 4 a.m. 1 a.m. because he would sleep over in the dorms all the time. And that gives very frat-like rather than sorority life because that didn't happen to me and we rushed at the same time. And like once you hear everything that I'm going to say, the fraternities had it 10 times worse. So like we had it bad, but the fraternities had it way worse. Wow.

Yeah. So, okay, so some of the things we had to do for them at the drop of a hat was park their cars on campus, pick them up from the bars at any time of the night, clean their rooms. We had to, so our campus, like the, some of the dorms were like apartments. So they would say, I want Cheetos right now. And you would have to steal from other people's dorm rooms. Like you'd have to go in and out, running in and out of people's dorm rooms and steal whatever food they wanted. Yeah, it was crazy. And like, oh, my God. So it's not like you went to the store. No, your room could have been the store. It was like, I want chocolate chip cookies. Go find them.

Like, I want them. You have to be back here in three minutes. So, yeah, I mean, that was, you know, we had to, but like I said, we had to drive around, clean their apartments, do their homework and papers. Wow. And again, that was the easy stuff. How long was your pledging process? It was around six weeks.

So it was a while. And during that time, you had to be there. You could not be anywhere else. So, like, as it got worse, as it went on, we went into Hell Week, which was, like, the last week of pledging. Even before Hell Week, actually, one of the things that we had to do was, like, they would say sizzle like bacon. So you would have to drop to the floor and sizzle.

And then they'd say, flip over and you'd have to, like, it's just, like, embarrassing, you know yeah i mean of what are you like squirming on the ground yes and like they would have fraternities come in and they would tell you to sizzle like bacon and it was just like demeaning you know yeah of course i mean especially when the frat guys come in it's like probably guys that you were like you were like you know interested in or thought were cute and then they're watching you like squeal on the ground that's embarrassing and like they would you had to they would like test you so you had to know like the greek alphabet you had to know the greek alphabet and they would lie to match and hold it upside down and if you would have to say the greek alphabet correctly before it burned them

and then if it burned them then like all hell broke loose you were yelled at there were punishments like physical punishments like pushups jumping jabs you would have to sit against the wall like real you in boot camp like what i know exactly it was like we were in boot camp so then as we so our we didn't have houses we had basements So the basins of the dorms had our room, our 85 rooms, that was like our house. Interesting. So like, so that the school could, so like Panhell could like monitor it in a way? Not at all because there was no monitoring.

Okay. Just because we were such a small school and there were no houses. So they just gave each of us a room. That's interesting because I know a lot of like other like because I don't know what's if you don't mind. I mean, if you don't mind sharing, I totally up to you. but I know the other smaller schools in Connecticut, like Fairfield or Sacred Heart. Actually, I don't even think Fairfield had Greek life if I'm not wrong. But Sacred Heart, they had like rocks.

Rocks like represented their sorority, but I don't think they had anywhere to go. Yeah, we had like a dingy, old dusty basement room. That's crazy. It's like old carpet. So you had like chapter and stuff in there? Exactly. We had chapter in there. But so what happened was during how week they took away all of our keys to our dorm rooms.

We weren't allowed to shower or go to our dorm rooms. And so we would have to sleep in the chapter room in the basis. For a week? For a week. But they told us you're not allowed to sleep. And they're like, we have cameras. You can't go in the back room. So for a week, we, and you weren't allowed to sit on the couches when you were pledging.

So we would have to lay on the floor and, like, use our backpacks as pillows. and so that was the one time in my life where we survived on Adderall. We all took Adderall. I could only imagine. So remember, if you don't have a dorm room, you don't have a shower. So you were not allowed to shower. And what they would do is they would come in and they would put like all different condiments in our hair like ketchup, mayo, mustard, like disgusting, smelly stuff. Well, and I've heard about this within like fraternities.

but I've never heard this with sororities before ever. Yeah, so we would have to walk around. Like, I washed my hair in a public bathroom, like in a sink one time just to like try. The smell, like I can still smell it. Imagine like mayo, mustard ketchup in your hair. No, that's mortifying. And then going to class, I wouldn't even show up. I had to go to class like that.

Yeah, and not sleeping, that on top of not sleeping. Of course. How are you even focusing? Everyone's looking at you throughout campus, probably thinking you smell. But like, because your campus was a smaller school, did they knew that, like, they knew that this was happening to you? Everyone knew, like, this is what happens when you go through the process. And, like, it was like a medal of honor.

I mean, yeah, I would have, I would have given you a medal of honor. This is like reminding me of special forces, which I love, by the way, I'm watching it. Oh, thank you. But, yeah, I mean, there were many times where, like, we, the six of us would just say, like, that's it, we're done. What were you allowed to drop out? I mean, yeah, if you remember, it was such a small school. You dropped out. That was it for you.

Like, there was no coming back. Yeah. Everyone would have known. Yeah. And, like, those five girls, like, they were my best friends. Like, those were my people. I mean, after going through that, you're, like, trauma bonded. No, for sure.

Like, I mean, the things, like. if we wanted to drink water we have to meow and drink from like a dirty water bowl on the ground like really disgusting that's crazy yeah but did things turn around after this like so after they basically just treated you like horribly and completely basically at the end of the day they were basically trying to make you feel like a shell of a person like make you feel like nothing Like you had to feel like you went through it and you deserved after everything like you deserve to be there because they all went through it. So they, so if you didn't go through it, you didn't deserve to be with these people. Yeah.

I mean, the worst I've ever heard was sitting on a washer or dryer naked. But who knows if that's even true? I mean, maybe because the things that you're telling me right now, I actually can't even fathom that this happened to you. They took one of my pledge sisters one night, and we had to go on a scavenger hunt to find her, and she was wasted crying. Like, they got her beyond wasted. That's so scary because that happened at the school that I went to, and the pledge ended up dead. So, you know, it's like that stuff gets very crazy because that's when, you know, sororities and fraternities, I think. get a little out of hand and like never know when enough is enough and then at the and then

ultimately take it too far maybe they don't mean to but like then it's like they look at it as a game and it's pure entertainment until it's not well that's what it was for for the sisters it was like funny for them to watch us go through it even though they had gone through it before and felt the same way as us yeah well it was almost like he he he this is my enjoyment because I went through this and now you're going to suffer like I did after my pledge class um it wasn't the same like they no one was hazed that hard anymore like our year was like kind of the last year that it happened it just got like less and less because they did cat you know people started catching on and they were getting in trouble for it so then the school found out yeah yeah but like it was it was rough you know

these are things that I really had to like spend some time and think about because once you through it, you like wipe it from your brain. Oh, for sure. And also like once we were in, I wanted nothing to do with these girls. I mean, yeah, it's like screw you. I ended up not really taking part in anything. Okay. It's just like what's wrong with these people that they could treat us like that and then they think were their friends. You know, like it was just I only, I, right now, I only, one of my pled sisters is still one of my very close friends, but otherwise I don't really speak to anybody from my sorority. So you went through the whole process and then ended up really not even being an active

member in your sorority. Exactly. I mean, I understand it, though. You were probably just so turned off by like the whole thing. They were mean girls. Like they were just mean girls. You know, we were their entertainment. And then it's like, you know, you get like mind fucked.

And then you're expected to just go to parties with them. And that's not how I operate. So I was just kind of like, these are not my people. Oh, yeah. I mean, I totally get that. And then for the following year, you were, so were you affiliated with your sorority all four years? I was affiliated, but I didn't really go to anything. But like I said, it was a small school.

So it was like, you kind of didn't have a choice. Yeah. So then when it came to rush the next year, did you, you obviously had to participate in the Russian pledging process because you were in the sorority. At some point, I did end up being assistant pledge mom. But doing it very differently. So you kind of were like, I am turning this leaf and I am not doing what they did to me to these new girls.

Exactly. However, they did kick me out halfway because I didn't go to one of their events. So I started out as the assistant pledge mom and then they took it away from me. Got it. Yeah, which was fine. Yeah. I mean, at least you were trying to make a difference. I just don't, like, I have a daughter and I just can't imagine knowing that she was going

through something like this. No, 100%. Like, you lose all self-respect and for what? Really for what, though, you know? I mean, at the end of the day, and even when I was at school, yes, sorority life was so fun and you get to meet so many people. But once you do that, I don't know. It comes to a point where you don't know if this is even worth it anymore because you have your people already.

Right. I had my people. My pledged sisters, the six of us were super close. And that was really all I needed after that. Well, Ava, I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's like the most horrible pledge story I've ever heard from a sorority. in my life. I listen to your stories on here, and I'm like, wow, that's such a nice experience. You're like, that's light work. This is nothing compared to what I went through.

I had a cousin who was in a sorority at USC, and it was like, we got letters from our sisters and gifts from our bigs and this and that. Oh, yeah. I mean, we didn't experience any of that at Rutgers. I mean, the most haze-worthy thing we experienced was big little night when like our bigs were supposed to get us like really drunk but it wasn't in a malicious way it was like okay if you got too drunk your big would take care of you like it wasn't to make you feel less than yourself or it was purely to have a fun night so that's a lot yeah I mean the night that we got in it was like do I go back and sleep and wash my hair or like do I go out with everyone in party and like you were exhausted you know you were

exhausted you were gross your I mean your hair takes imagine a week of like mayo mustard stuff in your hair it's like so much time to recover from that oh yeah I mean you probably also just felt so mentally drained it was a week of not sleeping constantly taking adderol to keep your to keep you awake and just constant torture you are so mentally exhausted by the time that was over, I would have wanted to shower and lay in my bed and not move for a week. So I give you a lot of credit. You had to use dishwasher soap on your hair. Like that's what they said.

They're like, go get like dawn soap and that's how you're- Because it would have been that hard to get out without like normal. Yeah, just like roads and not something I would ever sign up for again, that's for sure. Oh my God. Well, Ava, thank you so much for telling your story and coming on to Dirty Rush. I am happy that you found your happiness after pledging and that that was not going to define you. So kudos to you. Thanks for having me.

And I'm happy listening to everyone's fun stories on here. So you guys are doing a great job. I think you're taking it home. I don't know. All I know is what I've been told, and that's a half-truth is a whole lie. For almost a decade, the murder of an 18-year-old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved, until a local homemaker, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story. I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her. We know.

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that y'all said. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I forgot. Yeah, so hard. From Lava for Good, this is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame. America, y'all better work the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns. Listen to Graves County in the Bone Valley feed on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

and to binge the entire season ad-free, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. In early 1988, federal agents raced to track down the gang they suspect of importing millions of dollars worth of heroin into New York from Asia. We had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles But what they find is not what they expected.

Basically, your stay-at-home moms were picking up these large amounts of heroin. They go, is this your daughter? I said yes. They go, oh, you may not see her for like 25 years. Caught between a federal investigation and the violent gang who recruited them, the women must decide who they're willing to protect and who they dare to betray. Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand, and I saw the flash of light. Listen to the Chinatown Sting on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts. I'm I'm Yvalongoria. And I'm Maitego-Majer-Huan. And on our podcast, Hungry for History, we mix two of our favorite things, food and history.

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Samihante, it's Anna Ortiz. And I'm Mark and Delicado. He might know us as Hilda. and Justin from Ugly Betty. We played mother and son on the show, but in real life, we're best friends. And I'm all grown up now. Welcome to our new podcast, Viva Bethy!

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the drama, and the behind-the-scenes moments that you've never heard before. You're going to hear from guests, America Ferreira, Vanessa Williams, Michael Yuri, Becky Newton, Tony Plana, and so many more. Icons each and everyone. All of a sudden, like, someone, like, comes running up to me and it's Selma Hayek. And she's like, you are my ugly bitchy. And I was like, what is she even talking about?

Listen to Viva Betty as part of the MyCultura podcast network, available on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you are team Jeremiah, you probably need some help in the love department. Listen to Ido Part 2 to help correct your choices in men. Listen to Ido Part 2 on the IHard Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, Paige, and welcome to Dirty Rush. I am so excited to hear your pledge story. excited to tell you about them quite funny oh them there's more there's a multitude yeah okay I was a new member at and this was about a year ago because we're doing big little stuff right now and I'm getting

super reminiscent about all of it oh wow okay so you're a sophomore yes I'm a sophomore oh that's awesome and my big um so if you don't know a lot about big little stuff it's very like like, oh, you're like getting introduced to the sorority. And in my case, it was like my third week of college. Like, I just had gotten there. Oh, I know. And then you're going on like speed dating with all these girls and having this crazy experience and trying to act like you're going to find your best friend in a minute.

Exactly. The best idealized version of yourself. But anyways, a lot of the bigs, it's this whole kind of mantra of like showering their littles with like gifts and like lots of love and like old apparel and anything like that my big had a little bit of a spin on her uh how she was embracing me into her community and it came in the form of like a bunch of masks the nights leading up to like our big little reveal um i have a list of them so i that i didn't forget any um she was friends with a lot of the presidents in various like fats and sororities, which once again, I'm like freshly 18 at a brand new school of like 40,000

people. And I was like, this is a lot. Yeah, of course. And especially if she knew everyone, she could easily, like, I know in that moment, you were probably like, okay, this girl can ruin my life if I don't do what she wants me to do or ruin my social life. Like, I totally got it. But I went, my first one was reading a limerick to the Fiji president. Reading a what? A limerick. It's a type of poem. I don't know.

I was like, what is that? It was hilarious. It was like 9 p.m. She's like, you have 15 minutes to write this and perform this for him outside of his house. I didn't know who he was. I didn't know where this frat was or like how I was getting in contact with him. But thanks to Instagram DMs made it all work. And then along those lines, there was also performing a happy birthday ballad to the Pi-Fi

president, which I had gotten dropped from Pi Phi the first day of rush. So that was a little knife to the heart. Oh my God. But wait, so she made you like go around to other sororities too and do this? Yes. Yeah. This was a whole Greek event. It was great though. I feel like that's a little strange though. Because why would she want to like advertise that she's torturing her little to other sororities. Does that make sense? Fair. That's a fair. I guess I never really looked at it like that. They were all in this network of like they're all probably doing similar things to their little. They were all like they were all doing it. So all like the presidents or the people who were like higher up in the sorority were doing it. Yes. And I think it's just like the same way they were

kind of they did had big little when they were a little as well. So did the rest of your pledge class get treated like this? No. This is just like... That's what I'm saying. Like this is a little weird. Yeah. Yeah. It was... I guess this is how like frat hazing kind of perpetuates to. It's like a weird form of endearment a little bit. And also I had a lot of fun doing the tasks. Not to... Okay. I mean, listen, if you enjoyed it and you're not saying that this is something that like affected you or like made you feel upset.

then go for it okay all right what were some of the other ones i'm interested because you're i think i feel like you're looking at this as a form of entertainment it it was for me so i feel like you're a confident person i just was kind of like oh i live on a floating rock like i'm not not that deep good mentality i'm like pretty close with the girl that i performed to the birthday ballad for now it's like it's a it's a running like also because it's it's It wasn't her birthday. It was like just a random day of the week. The other ones, these were kind of low stakes.

There was a lot of texting in our flair, which is like a sorority, like messenger. Yeah, like a group me almost. Yeah, exactly. Asking for butt-itch ointment and just following up with like, I have something going on. Like, don't ask. Yeah. there's some snapchats like swipe up for a tbh like just embarrassing stuff to put on like your social yeah um one of one of the highlights was um i petitioned for animal rights in front of this like

fountain on campus um but yeah that was actually pretty fun because i dressed as a i dressed in a gorilla suit so no one would recognize me and also. Oh, okay. Yeah. She had a lot of free time. Let me tell you to come up with these things. I mean, yeah, she was definitely brainstorming a lot. But I mean, Paige, I give you a lot of credit.

I mean, your confidence is through the roof because anyone else, I mean, I don't know. I feel like any other girl would not be okay with this and would be absolutely mortified to do any of these things. So I mean, kudos to you because it takes. I think a girl with high confidence and a girl with a high, I don't give a attitude or what people say or think about me to do any of these things. Yeah, I was, I don't know if I, if I should say, like, what's cool I'm at. But I'm at Berkeley. There's a lot of, there's weirder shit going on out there, petitions.

Or it's like, I would say like maybe like six people like did a double take. Like not, it was kind of like a normal day. It was a normal day in Berkeley. They're like, okay, there's somebody else chanting about something that they believe in today, okay? Definitely helped with the embarrassment factor. I'm like, there, it could be, it would be a lot weirder somewhere else. That's so funny. I also wrote more book reports for these pledge tasks or like pledged tasks than I have my entire career at school so far about children's books that she left me in my,

like room decor situation and then I also wrote a book report about um it was like a self-help book about kleptom cleptomaniac kleptomaniac that's a whole other can of worms my roommates and I were like running around frats stealing things which was probably not great either oh my god and this is all like this is all set up from your sorority no that the stealing was on around the corner oh like you just wrote a book report about being a kleptomaniac gave me a self-help book she knew who I wasn't like I didn't know what she was and she was like yeah my little's a klepto I'm gonna give her this book oh no I really hope the ceiling phase is over yeah yeah okay cool incident and then we've retired we were like yeah you got like a nice high from it it made you like it was exciting yeah there was like there was like Dead out. Okay, I don't know if, because my big was saying you might want to talk about this separately, but there was like a whole composite, like hostage situation. Like, we had this composite from a frat, like, held hostage from the frat for months. And our next door neighbor was a pledge in the frat. And like six months after we stole it, he broke into our room to take it back. And there's, there was like, it was one night. And then the composite went back to the frat. And then we went back into the frat. And then we went back into the frat. and stole it and they like chase us down the street and then so we sent one of our other neighbors in

to like distract them and then skilled a fence and got the composite back it was yeah my god the kleptomaniac book was probably important for us to read yeah okay i i could see that well i mean aside from all of that i'm happy i'm happy you have self-reflected on being a kleptomaniac i'm also happy that your big gave you what was it a self it was a self-help book okay wait why did you need self-help for being a kleptomaniac yeah got it okay so the kleptomaniac thing that is solved but other than that like the fact that you embraced doing all of these tasks for yourself is saying a wild wild amount about your character. You're very confident.

You're clearly very funny and just kind of live in the moment. So, I mean, embrace it because I don't think a lot of girls in your situation would have taken it as well as you did. So are you saying you wouldn't petition for animal rights? Maybe not. No, wait, that's bad because I love animals. But I just, I would definitely be embarrassed on campus while doing it. Fair, fair, fair, fair. Yeah.

It was, yeah, definitely a learning experience, but it was fun. So when your big was actually revealed to, oh, wait, you didn't know who your big was the entire time that she was making you do this? Oh, my God. So this was during, like, your speed dating process? Because then how did she, like, lock you in? You know what I mean? You speed date and then you like the little will rank who they want and the big will also rank who they want. And then if it's like it's like somewhere in system, if it's like a perfect one to one match, you end up with like.

Yeah, no, of course. I know that whole system. But then how did she get you to do these things before knowing who she was? She knew that I was her little. I wasn't sure who was my big. like I had a feeling it was this person. And after the task started rolling in, I knew it was her because like this is so on brand for her.

So you didn't have Big Little reveal. This was just the lead up to Big Little Reveal. Wait, I really am not understanding how she pulled this off then. So was everybody else's potential big doing this to their potential little? No. She was texting through an anonymous phone number. Saying like I'm going to be your. big do this stuff? Yeah. Oh my God. Okay, that's funny. And so then how did you feel when your

big was revealed to you? A sense of like, oh yeah, it was right. Was it like a sense of relief or like I'm happy about this? Like I was never mad about it in the first place. I thought it was hilarious. But it was like, yeah, this makes so much sense. Like I had a feeling it was who my bag was. And then when it was revealed, I'm like, yeah, you fucker. Like, of course it was you. Like, only you would do this, like, clown stuff. But fun. Our reveal was at the end, but we, like, this is why I was, like, confused because we speed dated,

like, basically all the way up until, like, the reveal. And then, like, before the reveal, you, like, kind of knew who your big was. Because if you were, like, vibing with her, like, you know, and kind of, like, solidifying it between, like, the two of you. even though you weren't supposed to do that. But like, you kind of were like, okay, you're my big, okay, you're my little. But it wasn't ever like a secret or like nobody could have like played a game on you before the reveal. Yeah, it's like you have the speed dating closes like probably a week before big little reveal.

And then you have that week to like do baskets and do decorating and leave flowers. Yeah, yeah. No, of course. I was, but that same thing with us. but if you vibed with like your potential big like you kind of like had a feeling like okay this girl's going to be my big or this girl is going to be my little and hope that like you obviously both choose each other as your one two and three option obviously but how your big was able to prank you and like tell you to do all these things before the reveal of the week

leading up to it like we never had that Yeah. And I don't even know, like, I feel like if that was happening to me, I was like, I'm being pranked. Like, I'm going to go ask someone in my sorority if this is fucking normal because this doesn't seem normal. Yeah. There's a lot of like secret societies and like secret like club stuff too throughout Berkeley Greek life because it is such like an old school and it's very, it was very traditional in the beginning. So it was kind of a sense of like, Not necessarily that everyone was doing the same stuff that I was doing, but like, oh, this is definitely a sorority thing and it's definitely real. It's not like some random person texting me. But, yeah. I also just knew that she would do something like that. She's a clown.

Well, that's hilarious. But Paige, thank you so much for coming on to Dirty Rush and explaining your story. You're definitely a trooper. Let me tell you that. All I know is what I've been told, and that's a half-truth is a whole lie. For almost a decade, the murder of an 18-year-old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved. Until a local homemaker, a journalist, and a handful of girls, came back. forward with a story.

I'm telling you, we know Quincy Kilder, we know. A story that law enforcement used to convict six people, and that got the citizen investigator on national TV. Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran. My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, producer, and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

I did not know her and I did not kill her. Or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y'all said it. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her. From Lava for Good, this is Graves County. A show about just how far our legal system will go in order

to find someone to blame. America, y'all better work the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns. Listen to Graves County in the Bone Valley feed on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season at free,

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Ibelangoria. And I'm Maitego Mejahan. And on our podcast, Hungry, for history, we mix two of our favorite things. Food and history. Ancient Athenians used to scratch names onto oyster shells, and they called these Ostercon, to vote politicians into exile. So our word ostracize is related to the word oyster. No way. Bring back the Ostercon. And because we've got a very mikasa esucasa kind of vibe on our show, friends always stop by. Pretty much every entry

into this side of the planet was through the Gulf of Mexico. No, the America. The Gulf of Mexico continue to be so forever and ever. It blows me away how progressive Mexico was in this moment. They had land reform,

they had labor rights, they had education rights. Mustard seeds were so valuable to the ancient Egyptians that they used to place them in their tombs for the afterlife. Listen to Hungry for History as part of the My Cultura

Podcast Network, available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In early 1988, federal agents race to track down the gang they suspect of importing millions of dollars worth of heroin into New York from Asia. We had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles and you name it. But what they find is not what they expected. Basically, your stay-at-home moms, picking up these large amounts of heroin. They go, is this your daughter?

I said yes. They go, oh, you may not see her for like 25 years. Caught between a federal investigation and the violent gang who recruited them, the women must decide who they're willing to protect and who they dare to betray. Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand and I saw the flash of light.

Listen to the Chinatown Sting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts. What's up, everybody? This is Snacks from the Trabner's podcast, and we're bringing you the horror every week all October long. Kicking off this month, I'll be bringing you all my greatest fear-inducing horror games from Resident Evil to Silent Hill, me and Tony Bringing Back Fire Team on Left for Dead 2, and we're just going to be going over some of the greats. Also in October, we'll be talking about our favorite horror and Halloween movies.

and figure out why black people always got to die first. The umbral reliquary invites any and all fooling, brave enough, to peruse its many curiosities. But take heed, all sales are final. Weekly horror side quest written and narrated by yours truly. With a full episode read and a commentary special. And we will cap it off with horror movie battle royale. Jason versus Freddie. Michael Myers versus the 80 thing with the little tongue muster.

October, we're doing it Halloween style. Listen to the Trapner's podcast from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your broadcasts. Hi, Kanzi, and welcome to Dirty Rush. I can't wait to hear your pledge story. Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. Let's hear it.

Okay, so I feel like this one's pretty generic, pretty basic, but I go to a school in the south and SEC school so rush there is obviously way more intense than at other regular you know college and basically everyone rushes when they're 18 super new super fresh

and I get into a sorority that I heard that was a little bit on the crazier side which I didn't mind at all like kind of the party sorority yeah and so I was excited because you know I liked doing that in high school and I was excited to continue it

in college, but with a little bit more older and more mature things going on around me. And, you know, it's the night of bid day, like the earth, the night of midnight. And basically, they have us together, and then we get separated into pairs. And so I was with this random girl I've never even met before. And we get assigned to this one girl in the PC above us. And basically, their job is for us to get as drunk as they can. get us and then to let us go into the prats. And so I was honestly down for it and it sounded fun. We all met up. We met up in this basement that I had no idea existed on campus. And there's

probably about like 100, 150 girls in there all chanting and yelling songs and drinking a lot and a lot of beatboxes because that's what was sponsoring us secretly. But yeah, that was my first time having a beatbox at 18. I never really drank that. I don't think any of the other girls. did either. I don't even remember that night. To this day, I really try to picture and think back. I'm a senior now, and that was about three years ago. But that was probably one of the first times I blacked out. And I don't know how I got home. But I know that they did have to take a picture of us when we were in our bed. Okay. So at least they kind of monitored you. They kind of wanted to like see where you were and not just really let you out and not put any tab. Like not keep any tabs on you. Yeah, not keep too many tabs on us.

They basically just released us out into the wild for us to go introduce ourselves to the frat boys because every single frat through that night. So there's probably about 12, 10 frats here. So we had to go to all of them. So it was crazy. That was the time. That was the whole point of it, yes.

Each one. Yes. I'm sure half of your pledge class didn't even make it to half of them. Yeah, I only went to three. And then I ended up in bed. It was a surreal experience. And it's funny to think about to try to picture what happened, but I really can't. So I feel like that kind of reminds me of my big little, big little night.

Like your big sir, getting you super drunk as the little and then you go to the frats. But your big is looking out for you the whole time, like making sure that you're getting into bed safely, that nothing happens to you. But you said you didn't really remember the night, but there were, you said you went to three frats. So was there somebody at least monitoring you to make sure that you were okay and like kind of tell you what happened? So when I initially got in, I had friends that were going to UT prior. So I let them know where I was going to be that night. So I wasn't with the people that I had met in my sorority. I was with my hometown friends at these frats.

And they were basically kind of the ones monitoring me. So your hometown friends were looking out for you. Yeah. Yeah. That makes a lot more sense. Yeah, but I somehow got in contact with the person I was assigned to because that was their job. And like if they didn't get, you know, the new PC to their designated, you know, places that they lived at, they would get in trouble. But, yeah, we somehow found the girl that was supposed to be watching me and it ended up being fine.

Wow. Well, I'm happy you're okay. And honestly, blessed to your hometown friends. Hometown friends are always the real ones that, like, make sure that you're really okay. no I know blessed to them and I'm happy that you got home safe yes me too thankfully but I feel like that's like weird that they would have like but they probably did that honestly so that you guys could have embarrassed yourselves in front of the frats like being so drunk like that for the first time yeah but I'm surprised there wasn't a little more monitoring just like

because if like if they if something God forbid actually happened to one it no no no yeah it would have been screwed yeah there definitely needs to be a better system set up with it but I mean, you know, it worked. I had a good time. And then at the end of the day, no one got in trouble. So that's what mattered. Yeah, no, for real. And blessed to your hometown friends. But Kenzie, thanks so much for telling us your story.

Of course. Thank you so much for having me. Okay. Hey, Michelle and Greece. little duo here with us on Dirty Rush, and they are going to be telling us their pledge story. Yeah. Hi. Thanks for having us.

Oh, wait. Michelle, who's the big? Who's the little? Michelle is the big. Yes. Yeah. So, yeah, she picked me up my freshman year, and we've been best friends ever since. Oh, I love that.

Yeah. It was a quick transition. When you know, you know, you know sometimes, right? Yes, you know. Which actually backs up to do, Michelle. I've hired on us, and that's part of the story. And so, yeah, when you get your bid, right, and I remember talking to Michelle all during rush and stuff, and then on bid day, you're matched with, like, a bid day buddy.

And so they kind of take you to the whole, like, post-bid-day event and, like, whatever the sorority had planned. And so we actually went rollerblading was our bid-day event, which was just, like, really bonding, to say the least. That's funny. Right. And then, yeah, we ended up going to, like, all the bid-day parties that we did. and like going to everything together and then um so we kind of knew probably from like that weekend

that we were going to be big and little and then Michelle if you want to take it over and so this is kind of like your speed dating getting to know each other right so okay the way our sorority does it which is probably similar across the board at our school is you get a bid day buddy for the actual bid day but then once that weekend passes you're paired with a new member as an older member oh yes okay this is actually i think similar to how i did it okay i forgot the whole bid day buddy thing yes and so they make it a big thing that like there is no favoritism it's honestly great like i look back on it as one of the most fun times of college i was so spoiled i was being taken out to dinner oh yeah and especially as a freshman you're like okay i get a free meal and if you know and

especially if a lot of older sisters wanted to go on dates with you, there would be times where you had your breakfast, lunch, and dinner paid for. It was amazing. And then the way like we do it too is ubers are paid for to parties, like you don't leave without your, we call it a beta. Everyone has a different name. But it is like princess treatment to the max, which is such a funny like contrast from the way that fraternities do it because oh yeah they're over here getting like hazed and we're getting spoiled. I think I see the most money my entire college experience that like four weeks of whatever that big little process was. So it is like painful. But anyways, you get to select. It's like mutual selection every time. So you get to select who you want to be

prepared with from the beginning of the week. And then the younger member also pairs and then we have someone that like facilitates that pairing and that's who you're matched with each week. And so like Grace said, I knew that we were probably going to end up together in the end. So I actually took the approach of like, I'm going to pick other new members in my sorority to get to know everybody else because I'm only going to be hanging out with Grace for like the majority of the time after this small period is over. And so I'm like over here selecting other girls. I actually tricked her and told her that I didn't pick her up as my little, which is just another story. But after the reveal, this was a few weeks after. And I get called into our

sororities MCC, which is like standards. Yeah. And I was so confused. I hadn't done like anything wrong to my knowledge. And I guess someone was like out to get me and said that I was, was favoring grace and, like, claimed her so that nobody else in the chapter could have her as her little. And I did post a picture with her on bid day. Wait, but that's normal. He's like, is that not allowed? No, that's so normal, though, because also during rush process, if you vibe with somebody and then obviously they come into your sorority, you're like, yay. Like, I have my potential new member that I wanted in my sorority now. Right. And even the girl's instance, standards were like laughing but the way we do it is you have to address anything any type of complaint

that is sent in so it was all just kind of ridiculous but it's such a funny testament to like the rules of sorority like everything is about these strict rules that we have to follow and it is just not real life no it's like this book that we have to follow and then when you get into the real world after college and realize that none of this crap matters it's funny right i mean even when you're like five minutes until i mean i would say after your freshman year you you know that none of this really matters but it's just kind of like a part of greek life and a part of the traditions and kind of how things work no it totally is there's also like a lot of tension during that time i feel like because every new member

that just like went through recruitment is like now comparing like oh well this sorority does this to their new members or this person does this, but there's a sorority at our school that we tend to have tensions with, but we had a brat party, probably the frat at our school that hosts the most things is the most lively was our favorite to go to always, and it was pretty much just us and this other sorority. And I'm there. I'm having a great time with Grace. We leave. Everything's fine. I'm sitting on the couch after with my guy friends and they're like look at this video it's so funny they proceed to show me a video of one of them peeing on the composite of this other sorority they grabbed the frame put it in

the toilet and peed on it the next morning i wake up to a paragraph in our group chat with this other sorority because we're all pretty close with each other thinking that like you guys set this up Yes. So one of my guy friends actually blamed the entire thing on us. And I just remember thinking, like, right, as things were starting to get good, like we were all getting along so well, this happens. But honestly, the frats probably did it on purpose. Michelle and Grace, thank you guys so much for coming on to Dirty Rush and telling me your crazy sorority life stories and your pledge stories. But I'm happy that you guys came out on top and found your way to each other. But thanks for coming on Dirty Rush. Yeah, all right. Thank you for having us. Bye. Bye.

Thanks so much to all the girls for sharing their crazy pledge stories from all ages, sororities, and colleges. We love hearing your stories, so keep them coming. Make sure to call us at 844-278 Rush. Again, 844-278 Rush or email us at DirtyRush at iHeartRadio.com. Until next time. Love you guys. Bye. Hello, America's sweetheart, Johnny Knoxville here.

I want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless, Hillbilly Heist, from smartless media, campside media, and big money players. It's a wild tale about a gang of high-functioning nitwits who some somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist. Kind of like Robin Hood, except for the part where he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. I'm not that generous. It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing.

They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket to help him escape. So we're saying, like, oh God, what do we do? What do you do? That was dumb. people do not follow my example Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Two rich young Americans

moved to the Costa Rican jungle to start over But one of them will end up dead And the other tried for murder three times It starts with a dream, a nature reserve And a spectacular new home But little by little They lose it, they actually lose it They sort of went nuts.

Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The murder of an 18-year-old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years. until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story. America, y'all better work the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns. Listen to Graves County on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad-free, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple.

Podcasts. Samihante, it's Anna Ortiz. And I'm Mark and Delicado. Might know us as Hilda and Justin. From Ugly Betty. Welcome to our new podcast, Viva Betty. Yay! We're re-watching the series from start to finish.

And talking to iconic guests like Betty herself, America Ferreira. There was this moment when the glasses went on and it was like, this is our Betty. Listen to Viva. Betty on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.