One of the most compelling and confounding cast members on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is Mary Cosby, a woman who is a reverend of her own church. While housewives fans have been enjoying Mary’s antics, some former members of Mary’s church say Mary is no laughing matter. They allege that they’ve been financially and emotionally abused by Mary Cosby’s church. So is this organization a cult? Joining Tess to did through the sordid details of Mary’s house of worship is comedian and actor Will Weldon (@oldmanweldon), host of the “I Hate Bill Maher” podcast.

Watch “The Cult of the Real Housewife”

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Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

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When Taylor Swift Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” dropped, a swarm of internet haters voiced their loud and out-of-left field opinions about it. A couple months after the drop, though, reporting from Rolling Stone revealed that the conversation around Taylor’s album being a problematic flop was driven largely by bots. This tactic, called astroturfing is the same one Taylor’s friend Blake Lively has alleged was used against her by Justin Baldoni. This is particularly pertinent, because “The Life of a Showgirl,” has a track, “Cancelled!” about Lively’s own cancellation. Who was really behind this astroturfing campaign, and what does this situation tell us about the internet and our own susceptibility to influence?

Joining Tess for an examination of the bot campaign and a close read of the “Cancelled!” lyrics are Joe Romm and Antonia Romm, hosts of the “Decoding Taylor Swift” podcast.

Read Rolling Stone’s “Taylor Swift’s Last Album Sparked Bizarre Accusations of Nazism. It Was a Coordinated Attack,” by Miles Klee.

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Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

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The country and blue grass group The Chicks achieved wild success, almost immediately after the release of their album “Wide Open Spaces.” After a handful of years enjoying a fandom across a wide swath of ages and political ideologies, however, The Chicks were the subject of a widespread and passionate boycott. Rather than being a quick hit story that the artists were able to bounce back from, the cancellation of The Chicks had a profound impact on the duration of their career. Joining Tess to investigate how this happened, and why, is Jay Jackson aka Laganja Estranja (@laganjaestranja)

Watch the documentary “Shut Up and Sing”

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Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

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Tess has been co-hosting the comedy podcast “Lady to Lady” with her partners in mayhem Brandie Posey and Babs Gray for…about as long as podcasts have existed. If you’ve never checked out L2L, this ep with Pop Mystery fave Jackie Zebrowski is a great place to start! (There’s hundreds more where that came from!)

Jackie Zebrowski (@jackthatworm) joins the ladies to talk about gross hair after working out, how no one actually likes camping and getting Botox without being upsold. They then talk about Katy Perry going to space and answer a lady problem about how to get concert tickets!

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‘Tis the season for revisiting childhood memories. In this reissue vault episode, Tess Barker unpacks a question that’s been nagging her since the ‘90s: Did someone put dirty jokes into classic Disney movies? How? And why?

Guests include Liz Climo (“The Simpsons,” children’s book author & illustrator), Mike Hollingsworth (“Bo Jack Horseman,” “Tuca and Bertie”), Tom Sito (“The Little Mermaid,” “Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?”, “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast”), Brenda Chapman (“Brave,” “The Prince of Egypt,” “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast”). Featuring an Animation Guild oral history from Ann Guenther (“Sleeping Beauty,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Robin Hood,” “The Rescuers.”)

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Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker.

Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Abigail Keel was a consulting producer on this episode.

Clearance Counsel is Dale Nelson and Jacqueline Swett at Donaldson Callif Perez, LLP

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods.

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Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water, Steven Spielberg created an opus that absolutely rattled human beings everywhere: “Jaws.” This movie is a horror classic. It’s also a highly misunderstood film that led to serious death and destruction in our oceans, and not at the hands of white sharks. What is it about “Jaws” that scares us so badly, and how have our human phobias harmed our planet?

Joining Tess to talk through this fascinating and highly consequential story are: Frank Lehman, associate professor of music at Tufts University; Dr. Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, and Dr. Gabriella Hancock, assistant professor of psychology at Cal State Long Beach.

Watch the documentary “Blue Water White Death.”

Learn more about the importance of shark conservation.

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Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods.

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The Dave Matthews Band has enjoyed a large and loyal following for over 30 years. They are a live performance giant. Perhaps nothing in the band’s long history, however, looms quite as large as one very infamous incident that happened when one of the band’s tour buses, well, dumped on some unsuspecting Chicago tourists.

Joining Tess to talk through this hilarious scatological tale is comedian and Tess’ Lady to Lady and Britney’s Gram co-host Babs Gray (@babs_gray).

Read the the WBEZ round up the the Dave Matthews Band Incident

Read “That’s Not Water, Buddy,” from Chicago Mag

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Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The guilty pleasure show “Love is Blind,” may feel like a silly love/hate watch, but according to former cast members, the experience working on the show was anything but a joke. The many serious allegations made against the producers of “Love is Blind,” have highlighted serious potential violations of labor law. By speaking out in spite of the NDAs they have signed, some cast members may be about to change the way reality shows are produced forever. Joining Tess to talk through this fascinating and disturbing world is comic Giuilia Rozzi (@msgiuliarozzi)

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Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods.

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.