Meredith here. Steve is off-grid this week enjoying nature (my screen time could never), so I’m filling in. And the timing is kismet, because you can now listen to me in your podcast rotation this week.

One of Steve’s early Worth the Listen picks got me HOOKED on Love Trapped, a podcast about former Bachelor Clayton Echard and the stranger-than-fiction scandal that unfolded after a woman claimed she was pregnant with his twins. I was riveted.

As any good steward of reality television, I was, of course, once a card-carrying member of Bachelor Nation. But I’m talking about its golden years, which, in my opinion, ran from roughly 2010 to 2019: Jake Pavelka, Emily Maynard, Bachelor Pad, early Bachelor in Paradise (Season 2 with Ashley I and Jared is truly iconic television), and finally Hannah Brown and Tyler Cameron. After Tyler graced our screens, it was kind of a wrap, no? (Those of you who have stuck it out in the post-COVID era are better than I.)

Last week I took my Bachelor hot takes to the Almost Famous podcast to chat with Bachelor alum Ben Higgins about what the franchise needs to do to become culturally relevant again, and who I think they should cast as the next Bachelor to break the internet. My answer may or may not have broken Ben’s brain. Listen to the full episode!

Since Clayton’s season falls decidedly within my Bachelor flop era, I previously knew him mostly from the dancing videos that occasionally make their way onto my feed (IYKYK). But Love Trapped reeled me in, and it happens to fall squarely within one of my favorite podcast genres: the pop culture scandal deep dive. 

So, while Steve communes with nature, I’m taking over with a few shocking podcast rabbit holes you won’t want to climb out of until you’re finished.

Each week, Pix Plus subscribers get Steve’s top pick, plus three podcasts you’d never find on your own.