‘Criminality’ hosts Melissa and Rebekah talk reality TV crime from Nicole Richie to Abby Lee Miller

November 22, 2021

We are back with yet another episode of Podsauce for you before you embark to your aunt’s house for some interesting family dynamics and hopefully delicious food. Coming at you hotter than the kitchen on Thanksgiving day are the hosts of “Criminality,” Melissa and Rebekah. They join Dax and Alesha to spill the secret on how they find all of their reality star true crime cases and share their favorite parts of their own podcast.

But first, Dax and Alesha have some podcasts to recommend to us. First up is Alesha’s pick of the classic “Dirty John,” one of the most downloaded podcasts of all time. Truly, if you haven’t sat down to listen to the wild true story of Debra Newell and her manipulative new husband, John Meeham, what have you been doing? As Alesha puts it, the mystery aspect is a little bit missing when John winds up dead and Debra’s daughter claims self-defense, but it is certainly full of intrigue.

Next, Dax stays true to course by picking “Against the Odds,” a survivalist podcast about people who stayed resilient in the face of certain demise. He especially recommends their “Shipwreck in the Sahara” series, which is four episodes about an 1815 merchant ship that ran aground in North Africa and needed to cross the Sahara Desert to survive. A survivalist he is not, but Dax can’t resist a story of survival in incredible circumstances.

Okay, now to our amazing guests with “Criminality,” a podcast about the real crimes committed by reality TV stars. Much to Alesha’s chagrin, it’s not murder-type crimes, as the ladies typically tell the juicy stories of fraud, restraining orders, scams, drug busts, and the like. Anything reality TV adjacent, like the many legal troubles of Chumlee from Pawn Stars, Rachel Uchitel (the woman with whom Tiger Woods’ was having an affair), and Abby Lee Miller’s mismanagement of $750 thousand dollars, it’s all in the pages of “Criminality.”

They talk about their very first episode about Mike “The Situation” from Jersey Shore, as we know that Dax is an entertainment news expert. Alesha and Dax commend them not only on how well-produced and well-researched “Criminality” is, but on how they humanize these stars who fall into legal troubles. From Anna Nicole Smith to Rachel Uchitel, the details they give on their lives let listeners get to know these people and empathize with them in a way that the tabloids don’t often do.

To end the interview, Melissa and Rebekah share the podcasts they are listening to right now. Melissa loves “Down By The Creek,” a Dawson’s Creek rewatch/first watch podcast where the host hilariously watches the show for the first time, mainly of the mindset that Dawson is actually a serial killer (which perks Alesha’s ears up). Host Alvin Williams also hosts “Affirmative Murder,” which Melissa is also loving right now. Rebekah recommends the “10ish Podcast” in which the two hosts create top 10 lists of anything from the worst states to live in to the top time travel paradoxes, enjoying the actual educational aspect of the show. Alesha recommends to her “Factorious,” a podcast covered in a previous episode.

Wrapping it all up with a precious little bow, Dax recommends for this weeks Odd Pod “Profession Confession,” in which people anonymously share weird, gross, or just plain unexpected secrets about their jobs.