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Let’s Play ‘Spot The Scammer’

9:38 AM EST on February 23, 2022

Illustration by Tara Jacoby

Planning a vacation is a little tedious, but planning a vacation with friends is a nightmare. Where you could easily choose a hotel you would like, now you must consider three or four other opinions and suddenly making decisions becomes impossible. Will everyone like the windows in this place? Will so-and-so complain about the noise from the street? Will what's-her-face be able to lug her 70 pounds of luggage up the three flights of stairs to this adorable apartment with a clawfoot tub?

This week's episode begins with four friends planning a vacation and ends with five friends all mad at each other. A tale as old as time. It also asks an extremely important question: Are exotic lamps a great idea, or a menace to society at large?

Joining me this week are Emma Gray and Claire Fallon! Emma and Claire are the hosts of The Bachelor podcast Love To See It. They also host a culture podcast and write a newsletter called Rich Text.

We started off this week talking about how gossip functions as a part of the Bachelor universe (both on and off the show), how both Emma and Claire receive gossip, and the trials of calling yourself a gossip. Then we dove right into a wild and raucous tale of five friends desperate to have a good time on vacation in southeast Asia, whose personalities grate on each other until it all explodes in a single night of drama, terror, and trance music.

This week's episode is our season finale. We will be taking a little break so that no one burns out before we begin recording new episodes for the very shiny, very exciting season two. In the meantime, though, please send in your FAMILY GOSSIP for a very special bonus episode to tide you over between seasons!

Our bonus episode will feature all of your lovely voices, and you can decide if you want to leave your name or remain anonymous. You can help us out by calling in that delicious gossip over voicemail to 2-6-7-9-GOSSIP or send us a voice memo to normalgossip@defector.com.

You can subscribe to Normal Gossip on Apple PodcastsSpotify, or wherever else you listen! You can follow Normal Gossip on Instagram here.

(The transcript for this week's episode can be found here)

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