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This week, Kate tests out a new format with Courtney sitting in as a "body double" to keep her on track, and it quickly goes off the rails: Kelly Clarkson vs. Dragons Love Tacos, Teddy's brutally honest observations, a coffee shop Pretty Woman moment, why Courtney hates magicians, Shane Gillis' gas station sunglasses energy, and a mysterious Chicago conspiracy involving a billionaire, dark money, rats, and a luxury melange of nuts that leads to a truly shocking revelation Kate never saw coming. She closes with how this week's accidental theme of deception connects to the new Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything and gives a high-level, spoiler-free review. For a deeper dive, go to patreon.com/bethereinfive. Enjoy! PRE-ORDER Kate's upcoming book, She's Let Herself Go, out 4/27/27! And, if you haven't picked up her first book, the NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial, check it out here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code BETHEREINFIVE for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/BETHEREINFIVE. Go to helixsleep.com/bethereinfive for 20% off sitewide through October 29. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout, so they know we sent you!  Modern-day makeup that's clean, strategic, and multifunctional for effortless routines. For a limited time our listeners are getting a FREE full sized Mascara on their first purchase when they use code BETHEREINFIVE  at checkout. Just head to Jonesroadbeauty.com and use code BETHEREINFIVE  at checkout. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you. The RealReal is the most trusted name in authenticated luxury resale, With over ten thousand new arrivals daily, no one does resale like The RealReal. And now, get $25 off your first purchase when you go to TheRealReal.com/BETHEREINFIVE. Start shopping now at TheRealReal.com/BETHEREINFIVE. Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to Quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them,

Same as Patreon! This weekend, I'm dropping a two-part, fully spoiler-filled Patreon bonus doubleheader on Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's You Can See Everything about Elizabeth Holmes, with part 1 featuring my film-aficionado friend and fellow reformed girlboss, Allie LeFevere. We try to untangle a documentary about a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, including the withheld final scene, the big reveal in part 2, the dynamics between "Liz" and Nathan, the audience gasp moments, crying as moms over the milk scene, the turkey jerky theory, and how the girlboss era put her on a pedestal built to collapse. We also realize mid-episode that the doc disclosed little about what she was guilty of, and that complicates our response. This first episode is our gut reaction, recorded fresh off seeing the film. Tomorrow, Part 2 with Nora drops, recorded 48 hours after I saw it, once I'd had time to revisit the Holmes case, rewatch some of The Dropout, and land on some updated thoughts. In a way, it mirrors the film's own arc, at first I didn't know how to feel about the movie, and then I didn't know how to feel about how I felt about the movie. Enjoy!

This week, Kate is joined by fellow Chicagoan Katie Shober, founder of Beach Reads & Bubbly, the beloved book community that started as recommendations on her personal Instagram and grew into roughly 300 book clubs around the world. First, Kate introduces her new book's title and concept and shares more context for what she's been working on the past three years (feel free to skip to the interview!) Then, Kate and Katie get into Goodreads finally adding half stars, the Alix Earle "Dr. Seuss" discourse, the chili pepper spice economy, why romance keeps publishing afloat while getting none of the respect, and the Edward Cullen to mob boss pipeline. They also talk about how anyone with small kids actually finds time to read, the Yesteryear backlash, and how reading got swept up in optimization culture. Plus, Katie brings a stack of recs: reading-rut breakers, a Halloween murder mystery, an entry-level "Brad," and an underrated book she thinks everyone should be talking about. Enjoy! Pre-order Kate's new book here!!!   Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here!   Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH!   Give your skin the affordable, luxurious glow up it deserves. Go to Naturium.com/BETHEREINFIVE for 10% off your first purchase today. That's Naturium.com/BETHEREINFIVE.    Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to Quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Be There in Five. It's the best way to support the show.   Cozy Earth almost never does 30% off, and they're doing it right now through October 11. Go to cozyearth.com, use code BETHEREINFIVE, and get 30% off home and sleepwear. After October 11 you can still go to cozyearth.com and use code BETHEREINFIVE for up to 20% off home and sleepwear. And when they ask where you heard about them at checkout, let them know you heard about them right here on Be There in Five.   Instead of striving for perfect health, support your foundational health. Save 25% on your first month at Ritual.com/BETHEREINFIVE. That's Ritual.com/BETHEREINFIVE for 25% off your first month.

The Cornell 7, Consent, Why are you adding me on LinkedIn? This week, Kate is up late whisper-screaming into the mic, starting with condescending religious commenters and meandering into a conversation about the Cornell 7 that wasn't going to be the episode but then became the episode. Kate walks through what the lawsuit and Jane Doe's 2024 statements actually say, asks why a DA publicly litigated her account before a grand jury could hear it, and talks about the pride she feels toward the student journalists at the Cornell Daily Sun who broke the story. From there, she turns to why this story hits women so hard beyond just, like, having a pulse, and why so many millennial women are sitting with the discomfort of the blackout culture we laughed off, the Wedding Crashers and Tucker Max era that made boundaries feel negotiable, the whiplash of going from purity culture to trying to pretend to be "chill," and the gray areas so many of us are still sorting through. Plus: what she's thinking about as the mom of a little boy, why every choice is its own choice (not consented to by the last one) and the most unhinged LinkedIn request of her life. If these topics are triggering or upsetting in any way, please skip this one, and if you're ever in need of help, you can reach RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or online at rainn.org. Hear Kate's full reaction to Life of a Showgirl: The Encore at patreon.com/bethereinfive Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! This episode is brought to you by: Jones Road Beauty: For a limited time, our listeners are getting a FREE full-sized mascara on their first purchase when they use code BETHEREINFIVE at checkout. Just head to Jonesroadbeauty.com and use code BETHEREINFIVE at checkout. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you. Caraway: Reset your kitchen on a budget. Bundle and save up  to $230 on the 12 piece cookware set vs buying the products individually. Explore more set savings on bakeware, food storage, accessories and more. Visit Carawayhome.com/BTIF10 to take an additional 10% off your next purchase. Lagoon Sleep: Go to LagoonSleep.com/bethereinfive and take the 60-second sleep quiz to find your match. Use code BETHEREINFIVE for 15% off your first order, and every pillow comes with a 100-night trial. Wayfair: Transform your space with pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair Rewards today and get five percent back on every purchase. Head to Wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's Wayfair.com.

This week, Kate sits down with Shannon of the Fluently Forward podcast to unpack the backlog of pop culture topics she's been wanting to dig into with someone who cares about this stuff as much as she does. Together, they mourn the lost golden age of blind items and survey the full spectrum of celebrity gossip, from publicist-planted DeuxMoi sightings to full-blown conspiracy theories. They discuss the nepo best friend economy, obsess over Olivia Rodrigo, dig into the Gracie vs. Audrey discourse, and get into high-status versus low-status comedy and why some bits land, followed by a brief Joe Alwyn symposium. They also discuss press tour lore, compare celebrity-sighting iPhone notes, and explore why the Pussycat Dolls shaped a generation, among other things. For the other half of the crossover, head to Fluently Forward's feed. Enjoy! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS The RealReal: Get $25 off your first purchase at TheRealReal.com/bethereinfive Monarch: Get your first year of Monarch Core half off (just $50) with code BETHEREINFIVE at Monarch.com Blueland: Get 15% off your first order at Blueland.com/BETHEREINFIVE Lagoon: Take the 60-second sleep quiz at LagoonSleep.com/bethereinfive and use code BETHEREINFIVE for 15% off your first order, plus every pillow comes with a 100-night trial Naturium: Get 10% off your first purchase at Naturium.com/BETHEREINFIVE Helix: Get 27% off sitewide, exclusive for listeners, at HelixSleep.com/bethereinfive (enter the show name after checkout!) Hungryroot: Get 40% off your first box plus a free item in every box for life at Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive with code bethereinfive

This week, Kate crashes out over an influencer's crash out about a friend allegedly copying her home, but it happens to be a home that looks like so many others online, it's basically the Instagram Face of fancy homes. Kate goes through the series slide by slide, and discusses adjacent topics, like "stop copying me" being girlhood's first legal argument, the time her own wedding website got copied word for word, and the difference between a scullery and a butler's pantry, which she learned against her will. Then it spirals into the bigger thing she couldn't let go of: why influencer homes went from farmhouse to organic modern to old-world European right as everything got too shoppable, how the tastemakers who popularized those looks are now fleeing them upmarket, Kyle Chayka's AirSpace and why every "unique" house converges into sameness in the name of individuality, a Fashion Ambitionist throwback, a bar cart eulogy (the memories fade, the bitters last forever), and a meditation on scallops nobody asked for. Enjoy! Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Transform your space with pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair Rewards today and get five percent back on every purchase. Head to wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's wayfair.com. Instead of striving for perfect health, support your foundational health. Save 25% on your first month at Ritual.com/BETHEREINFIVE. That's Ritual.com/BETHEREINFIVE for 25% off your first month. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code BETHEREINFIVE for up to 20% off home and sleepwear. That's code BETHEREINFIVE for up to 20% off on home and sleepwear! And if you see a post-purchase survey, please be sure to mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here! Right now, you can save up to $230 on the 12 piece cookware set vs buying the products individually. And you can find even more set savings when you shop Caraway's full Kitchenware collection. Visit Carawayhome.com/BTIF10 to take an additional 10% off your next purchase.This deal is exclusive for our listeners, so visit Carawayhome.com/BTIF10 or use code BTIF10 at checkout. Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com/bethereinfive. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. That's quince.com/bethereinfive.

(Same as Patreon) Sami joined me this morning for a quick postmortem of Earle Meets World on Netflix, which we both had to half-watch twice, given it was both intriguing and dull, low-stakes yet watchable? We analyze the art of the It Girl, Alix's family dynamics, sister tension, Braxton breakup, and the Alex Cooper fallout, and how sometimes the most interesting thing is everything happening around her. Plus: dadagers not understanding how podcasts work, shows about hot girls with sisters, friendship politics, and justice for Ashtin.

This week, Nora McInerny joins Kate for a witchy birthday-week episode that escalates from lyric trivia and vintage Girl Talk into a full unlicensed spiritual review via tarot, numerology, astrocartography, and a 1982 birthday book, as read by two women who believe in nothing and also everything as long as it works in their favor. They investigate whether it's illegal to talk to dolphins, unpack the broken-smile industrial complex of 2000s love songs, mourn the lost art of the local commercial, and make the case that your ancestors are not, in fact, thinking about you. Enjoy! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! You're going to love Hungryroot as much as I do. For a limited time get 40% off your first order PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive and use code bethereinfive. That's Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive, code bethereinfive to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. Go to LagoonSleep.com/bethereinfive and take the 60-second sleep quiz to find your match. Use code BETHEREINFIVE for 15% off your first order, and every pillow comes with a 100-night trial. Make the switch to Sundays. Go right now to sundaysfordogs.com/bethereinfive and get 50% off your first order. Or, you can use code BETHEREINFIVE at checkout. That's 50% off your first order at sundaysfordogs.com/bethereinfive.  Cozy Earth's Labor Day Sale is happening now through September 8th. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code BETHEREINFIVE for an exclusive 30% off. That's code BETHEREINFIVE for an exclusive 30% off, the biggest savings of the season. And if you see a post-purchase survey, mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here!

This week, Kate is back from the book-deadline trenches with a mini dive inspired by the many fellow Beths who misread Brenda Song's new NFL gig as "color analyst." What follows is a journey through a brief history of "having your colors done" and why we can't resist things that offer to help us explain ourselves to ourselves. Also covers Taylor Swift's Grammy Museum interview, some theories on Harry and Meghan's big move, and an elder-millennial's defense of KATSEYE. Enjoy! Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! If you're looking to make a small change in your routine, you can get 15% off your first order at Blueland.com/BETHEREINFIVE. That's 15% off your first order at Blueland.com/BETHEREINFIVE. Oversized, ultra-plush, and completely built for your best summer days. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code BETHEREINFIVE for an exclusive 20% off. That's code BETHEREINFIVE for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post-purchase survey, mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here! Right now, you can save up to $230 on the 12 piece cookware set vs buying the products individually. And you can find even more set savings when you shop Caraway's full Kitchenware collection. Plus For a limited time, every dollar you spend on clean kitchenware gets you closer to your dream kitchen— or $100,000 cash! Visit Carawayhome.com/BTIF10 to take an additional 10% off your next purchase.This deal is exclusive for our listeners, so visit Carawayhome.com/BTIF10 or use code BTIF10 at checkout. Go to LagoonSleep.com/bethereinfive and take the 60-second sleep quiz to find your match. Use code BETHEREINFIVE for 15% off your first order, and every pillow comes with a 100-night trial. You're going to love Hungryroot as much as I do. For a limited time get 40% off your first order PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive and use code bethereinfive. That's Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive, code bethereinfive to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life.

This week (for ep 2), Kate is joined by friends of the pod, Nora McInerny and Caroline Moss, for a group hang that begins with scorpions in Nora's laundry and only escalates from there. The three of them get into the perils of too many fourth-wall breaks on House of Stassi and the collective decline of reality TV, then Kate debuts a best friend game where everyone gets assigned a day of the week and a breakfast cereal, and unveils her own Catholic corner featuring Saint Magnus, certified babe. Also on the docket: the Berenstain Bears, Jen Hamilton and "meemaw," Nora's domestic era, a live experiment in surveillance capitalism involving the price of Spam, and a genuinely terrible game involving removing a letter from movie titles. Go to Nora's feed for "It's Going to Be Ok" for more, enjoy!   Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here!   Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH!   Right now, you can save up to $230 on the 12 piece cookware set vs buying the products individually. And you can find even more set savings when you shop Caraway's full Kitchenware collection. Plus For a limited time, every dollar you spend on clean kitchenware gets you closer to your dream kitchen— or $100,000 cash! Visit Carawayhome.com/BTIF10 to take an additional 10% off your next purchase or use code BTIF10 at checkout.   Give your skin the affordable, luxurious glow up it deserves. Go to Naturium.com/BETHEREINFIVE for 10% off your first purchase today. That's Naturium.com/BETHEREINFIVE.   Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's wayfair.com. Wayfair. Every Style. Every Home.   Go to helixsleep.com/BETHEREINFIVE for the Labor Day: Best of Web sale for 27% off sitewide August 14 - September 13, exclusive for listeners of Be There in Five. That's helixsleep.com/BETHEREINFIVE for 27% off sitewide August 14 - September 13. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout, so they know we sent you!

(Same as Patreon) A little Sunday bonus because I haven’t loved a show like Sterling Point in a while and needed to talk about it. I’m getting into why this very 2026 show somehow gave me the same butterflies as the teen dramas (and Vanessa Carlton songs) of the 2000s, the parts of youth that never really change, and why maybe what I miss isn’t being young so much as the open-ended time, friendships, summers, and self-discovery that came with it. Plus: Annie appreciation, Muskoka yearning, White Houses, and why I spent half the series waiting for Rory to reveal himself as a sociopath. Spoilers, so finish first!

This week, Kate asks an important question for the sake of equality in the workplace: can a woman carry two bags and be taken seriously? Can her bracelets clank? Jury's out, and she felt inspired to take on the genre of body language coaching and weird advice people give women about how to behave. Then, she opens the floor to the Beths, who deliver a cornucopia of workplace advice: lower your register, fix your vocal fry, no jingly earrings, no hair tie on your wrist, no mouse in the meeting, etc. Kate also revisits the letter grade she lost in college for bending over to plug in her laptop, unpacks why "taken seriously" is such a weird passive phrase, and makes the case that this is somehow worse in 2026 than it was in 2008, among other things. Enjoy! Lagoon Sleep — Go to LagoonSleep.com/bethereinfive and take the 60-second sleep quiz to find your match. Use code BETHEREINFIVE for 15% off your first order, and every pillow comes with a 100-night trial. Hungryroot — You're going to love Hungryroot as much as I do. For a limited time, get 40% off your first order PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive and use code bethereinfive. Cozy Earth — Oversized, ultra-plush, and completely built for your best summer days. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code BETHEREINFIVE for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post-purchase survey, mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here! Sundays for Dogs — Make the switch to Sundays. Go right now to sundaysfordogs.com/BETHEREINFIVE and get 50% off your first order. Or use code BETHEREINFIVE at checkout. Quince — Upgrade your everyday. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com/bethereinfive. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too.

(Same as Patreon audio) Kelly is back in Chicago for 24 hours and recorded a bonus episode with me that begins with our childhood dreams of filing paperwork and covers all sorts of topics, from personal-life updates to her torrid history of killing live coral, Wendy’s prom, and a debate over which childhood hazards were genuine threats. We catch up on aunt guilt, the enduring greatness of The Tortured Poets Department, what adults are supposed to call the people they’re dating, what “aura” means to the youths, and much more. Toward the end, listeners submitted their funniest, sweetest, and most psychologically complicated sibling stories, including Sims-related violence, selling each other’s clothes to Plato’s Closet, and the eternal contradiction of loving your sister more than anyone while remaining fully prepared to call 911 on her. She left as the stories were coming in, so we'll pick up the topic for a main feed ep at a later date! If you want to submit one, text 775-HEY-BETH. Loveya

This week, the air quality is apocalyptic, parents everywhere are staring down the summer childcare cliff, and Kate is feeling pro-tantrum.. What starts as a meditation on the summers of yore turns into one on modern parenting and why we never stood a chance. Through a mix of personal stories and listener submissions, this episode gets into the Nature Valley bars of motherhood (things that are structurally designed to crumble no matter what you do), and Kate unpacks why the U.S. treats raising the next generation of taxpayers as a private, elective hobby,  and why calling motherhood "natural" is the exact trick that lets everyone avoid paying for it, among other things. If you've ever felt like you're losing your mind trying to balance the demands of work and modern society with the realities of parenting, you aren't crazy. Take a deep breath (indoors), and let's vent. Enjoy! Want to help build a follow-up about how we can stand a chance? Send your childcare life hacks, workarounds, and unconventional setups to [email protected], text 775-HEY-BETH or leave a voicemail. Sponsors: Sundays for Dogs: Get 50% off your first order of air-dried, high-quality dog food at sundaysfordogs.com/bethereinfive or use code BETHEREINFIVE at checkout. Helix Sleep: Get 27% off sitewide (July 13 – August 2) at helixsleep.com. Enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you. Blueland: Cut down on single-use plastics with cleaning tablets. Get 15% off your first order at blueland.com/bethereinfive Hungryroot: Get 40% off your first order plus a free item in every box for life at hungryroot.com/bethereinfive code BETHEREINFIVE Cozy Earth: Upgrade your summer sleep (and beach towels) with viscose from bamboo. Head to cozyearth.com and use code BETHEREINFIVE for 20% off.

(Apple Subscriptions same content as Patreon) On this week's bonus episode, I'm covering the parasocial wedding of the century, breaking down everything we actually know about Taylor and Travis's Madison Square Garden nuptials (not a lot), from the marquee to Tree Paine's statement to the AMC CEO's deleted play-by-play to the great unanswered questions of the raffle (sorry, but I kind of dig a raffle?!). I talk through why the venue makes sense for security but not necessarily for privacy, why the wedding feels like a gala without an emotional center (at least before more details are shared), and why a fandom trained to decode everything is struggling with choices it can't decode. But also, is there perhaps freedom in throwing an event not made for our approval and consumption? Then I open the question box and read through your surprisingly mixed feelings in real time, tackling the discourse, including the street closures, walking down the aisle to your own lyrics, and the guest whose day job warranted a spirited game of skee-ball to the head. It's one part fact-check, one part group chat, and one part me interrogating my own reaction as a fan who's happy for her, confused by the function, and waiting on a dress reveal like the rest of you. Sorry for the delay, I was kind of waiting for more context that hasn't come, but I'll update my thoughts once it does. Enjoy!