Reality Bombshell
Investigating the not-true crimes of your guiltiest pleasures and examining reality TV through a true crime lens.
Episodes
27 - Tiffany Richardson v. Tyra Banks (ANTM with Sydney Goodman)
You know the clip. You’ve seen the meme. But do you know what really happened in that America’s Next Top Model cycle 4 judging room? This week, we’re revisiting Tyra Banks, Tiffany Richardson, and the explosive moment that exposed the ugly …
26 - Baby Bump and Circumstance (16 and Pregnant with Sydney Goodman)
When Jennifer Del Rio and Josh Smith appeared on MTV’s 16 & Pregnant, they were supposed to show the struggles of young parenthood. Instead, their episode spiraled into one of the show’s most explosive and disturbing stories. Behind the edi…
Reality Bookshelf 3 - Scheana Shay's My Good Side
This week on Reality Bookshelf, we crack open the ultimate SUR-vivor’s memoir: My Good Side by Scheana Shay. From “Good as Gold” to bad boyfriends, Scheana takes us behind the bar, through the chaos of Scandoval, into her mental health stru…
25 - The Bitch Slap (Vanderpump Rules)
This week, we rewind to 2013, to the bitch slap that reverberated through Bravo history - the one that rocked SUR to its very core From forged tattoos to sting operations, whispered affairs and a shocking confession, we follow the case tha…
24 - The Many Crimes of Dan Serafini (Bar Rescue w/ Jack McMahon)
When former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini appeared on Bar Rescue, he looked like just another desperate bar owner hoping Jon Taffer could turn his business around. But years later, Serafini’s name resurfaced in headlines for a very different rea…
Minisode 8 - Reboots
Today we're diving into reboots in the Bravosphere - why do they happen? How have they worked out? Will Bravo ruin yet another one of Arielle's favorite franchises? Have a case or anything else reality TV related you want to hear us cover? …
23 - Amy's Baking Company (Kitchen Nightmares)
In Scottsdale, Arizona, a bakery becomes the scene of one of the most unhinged episodes in reality TV history. Before the internet turned them into a meme, Amy and Samy Bouzaglo were running their restaurant like a two-person dictatorship, …
22 - Balloon Boy (Wife Swap)
On a crisp fall day in Fort Collins Colorado in 2009, a family of storm chasers does a test flight of their homemade flying saucer. But as it's taking off, they realize it isn't tethered - and their 6 year old might be inside. After a brief…
Reality Bookshelf 2 - Hilaria Baldwin's Manual Not Included (The Baldwins)
This week, we're cracking open Manual Not Included- Hilaria Baldwin’s latest attempt to reframe her, how you say... narrative? Billed as a “raw and honest” memoir about motherhood, marriage, and identity, the book instead reads like a caref…
21 - The Black Widow Brigade and The Survivalist Man That Ever Lived (Survivor)
This week, we're looking at Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites to uncover the deadly precision of one of the most iconic alliances in Survivor history: the Black Widow Brigade. Parvati Shallow, Cirie Fields, Amanda Kimmel, and Natali…
20 - Dan's Funeral (Big Brother w/ Jack McMahon)
This week, we dive back into the world of Big Brother, where backstabbing is expected. But in Season 14, one houseguest staged a crime scene so shocking it still lives in reality TV infamy. We're investigating ‘Dan’s Funeral’ — the elaborat…
Minisode 7 - The Mega Mormon Minisode
On this week's minisode, we're unpacking all things Mormon in reality tv. How does Mormonism show up in Real Housewives of Salt Lake vs the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives? What kinds of storylines play out in each show? And what happens when …
(Rebroadcast) Beauty Lab and Laundering (with Sarah Miller)
Jen Shah had it all—an entourage of assistants, a house she named after herself, and a closet that deserved its own snowflake. She also had a habit of screaming at her friends and starting fights she couldn’t finish. But while she was spira…
19 - The Truth Box Debacle (Secret Lives of Mormon Wives w/ Jack McMahon)
This week, we're back in Utah with our favorite Mormon Wives. Mayci Neeley’s Park City girls’ trip turns into an interrogation chamber when Demi Engemann introduces the Truth Box, inviting the group to air their grievances. What starts as a…
18 - The Fruity Cereal Incident (The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives)
This week, we're feeling blessed as we head back to Utah to investigate the humiliation of Demi Engemann at the hands of Whitney Leavitt, as seen on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. What started as off-camera gossip about an intimate momen…
Reality Bookshelf 1 - “Bad Mormon” by Heather Gay (RHOSLC)
Welcome to Reality Bookshelf, our very own Book Club. Or should we call it a Book Investigation? Today, we're unpacking Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's very own Heather Gay's first book: Bad Mormon. It's juicy, defiant, and a little c…
17 - Amish Not Toothless (Breaking Amish)
This week, we’re revisiting Breaking Amish Season 1 - not for the drama, but for the stories hiding underneath it. Beneath the makeovers and culture shocks were moments of real pain, shaped by control and silence. Sabrina High spent her lif…
16 - Mother Mary Full of Lies (RHOSLC)
In Salt Lake City, she’s called First Lady. On Bravo, she’s a Real Housewife. To Jen Shah, she's a grandpa f-er. But when a former church member mortgaged his house to give her $300,000, it stopped being just drama. This week on Reality Bo…
Minisode 6 - Is Orlando Bloom in a Cult?
Orlando Bloom chants to a scroll every morning. Katy Perry wasn’t allowed to say “Lucky Charms” as a kid. In this Cult Girl Summer minisode, we’re looking at the spiritual paths of one very public couple—her Pentecostal upbringing, his devo…
15 - The Gospel According to Taylor Frankie Paul (The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives)
Taylor Frankie Paul built MomTok from nothing and then burned it to the ground with one TikTok Live. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives begins with a confession that turns Utah’s favorite influencer clique into a cautionary tale. What started…
14 - Gaslight, Gatekeep, Get Shunned (Breaking Amish w/ Helen Holmes)
This week on Reality Bombshell, we’re going back to Breaking Amish Season 1. As a group of young Amish and Mennonite adults explored the world of the “English”, viewers were treated to a mess of cult indoctrination, emotional manipulation, …
Minisode 7 - Crush(ed) by the Church: David Archuleta’s Awakening (American Idol)
This week, we dive into the emotional and high-stakes departure of David Archuleta from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Once the squeaky-clean, soft-spoken American Idol runner-up and a golden boy for Mormon ideals, David h…
13 - Beauty Lab and Laundering (RHOSLC w/ Sarah Miller)
Jen Shah had it all—an entourage of assistants, a house she named after herself, and a closet that deserved its own snowflake. She also had a habit of screaming at her friends and starting fights she couldn’t finish. But while she was spira…
Cult Girl Summer: RB's Rules of Cults
This summer, Reality Bombshell dives into all things cults in reality tv. But first, let's lay out some rules of cults. Have a case or anything else reality TV related you want to hear us cover? Reach out to us at realitybombshell@gmail.com…
12 - Frankel v. Bensimon (RHONY)
Before Scary Island, there was a fashion show, a charity meeting, and one incredibly tense drink. This week, we rewind to Kelly Bensimon’s first season on The Real Housewives of New York City and unpack her early clash with Bethenny Frankel…
11 - Big Brother Did 9/11
This week on Reality Bombshell, Ben breaks down summer 2001's biggest reality hit- Big Brother Season 2. As the season continued into September, production was tasked with an impossible decision - leave the houseguests in the dark about the…
Minisode 6 - How the Kardashian Cookie Crumbls
This week on a Reality Bombshell minisode, we’re not talking felony... we’re talking frosting. The Kardashians have officially infiltrated Crumbl Cookie, and we have questions: Who authorized this sugar-stacked collab? Is this just another…
10 - Survivor: Gender Changers
This week on Reality Bombshell, we revisit Survivor: Game Changers and investigate the night that strategy crossed into scandal. It was supposed to be just another blindside. But when Jeff Varner turned to Zeke Smith at Tribal Council and r…
Reality Bombshell - Trailer
Welcome to Reality Bombshell - the podcast that investigates the not-true crimes of your guiltiest pleasures and examines reality TV through a true crime lens! Join Ben and Arielle as they dive into a new "case" every Wednesday, with bonus …
9 - Jaxaholics Anonymous (Vanderpump Rules)
This week, we meet the first woman to be truly Jaxxed. Fresh off a Vegas scandal, Jax Taylor rebounds hard—with his dog sitter, aspiring actress and newly sober SUR server, Laura-Leigh. What starts with sex in a restaurant bathroom ends wit…
Minisode 5 - The Talented Mr. Schneebly (Survivor, The Amazing Race, and The White Lotus)
Before The White Lotus became a cultural phenomenon — before the Emmys, the satire, the pineapples — Mike White was sweating through challenges and racing across continents on The Amazing Race and Survivor: David vs. Goliath. In this episod…
Reality Check: Autism Representation in Survivor 48
This week, we take a look at Survivor Season 48 through the lens of autism representation, focusing on contestant Eva Erickson, who shared her diagnosis with grace and clarity in a high-pressure, socially complex environment and Joe Hunter,…
Minisode 4 - The Sweater Comes Off (Vanderpump Rules)
This week, the case is reopened—and the truth is on the record. Frank Herlihy gets fired from SUR the very morning he’s supposed to meet Stassi’s parents. Meanwhile, Jax Taylor has spent an entire season denying everything: the cheating, th…
8 - The Devil in the White Sweater (Vanderpump Rules)
This week, Ben and Kels are officially introduced to West Hollywood’s hottest restaurant—SUR (Sexy Unique Restaurant), where the drinks are strong, the storylines stronger, and everyone’s trying to get their SAG card. At the center: Stassi …
7 - Around the World in 80 Shoves (The Amazing Race)
This week, we revisit one of the darkest chapters in The Amazing Race’s history. Jonathan Baker and Victoria Fuller weren’t just chasing a million-dollar prize — they were unraveling in real time, their marriage cracking under pressure and …
Minisode 3 - A Hot New Bombshell: I Invented Gay Slurs (Celebrity Big Brother UK)
He lasted just six days. When Mickey Rourke entered the Celebrity Big Brother house, producers were banking on eccentricity — what they got was something far less entertaining. In this emergency minisode, we investigate the unraveling of a …
6 - The Lizard of Oz (RHOP)
This week, we peel back the layers of kangaroo sliders and marital power plays to reveal how a concept built on Aussie charm went down under. Ashley Darby set out to prove she and her Aussie husband could have it all: love, legacy, and a re…
5 - The Leg (RHONY)
A ghostwriter. A socialite. A prosthetic leg. When Aviva Drescher accuses Carole Radziwill of faking her memoir, what begins as a petty literary jab spirals into a full-blown character assassination. Tensions rise, asthma flares up, and one…
Minisode 2 - A Hot New Bombshell: Meet The Baldwins (The Baldwins)
This week, we investigate The Baldwins, TLC’s newest reality swing at image rehab, featuring Alec Baldwin, Hilaria Baldwin (formerly Hilary Hayward-Thomas), and their seven children. It’s part family docuseries, part PR damage control, and …
4 - The Bachelor Turned Me Gay: The Gabby Windey Story (The Bachelor)
What happens when America's sweetheart from The Bachelor franchise steps out of the fantasy suite and into her queer era? In this episode, we unpack the stunning, meme-worthy, and quietly radical pivot of Gabby Windey, a former Denver Bronc…