When MFing snakes took over the MFing plane

Rewind to 20–26 August 2006, when one of Europe's biggest missing person mysteries finally came to an end, the internet started rewriting Hollywood scripts and Justin Timberlake confidently declared he was bringing sexy back.

🏃 The escape that stunned the world
After eight years in captivity, Natascha Kampusch escaped her abductor and brought one of Europe's most extraordinary missing person cases to an end. We unpack how she survived, why the story captivated the world and the remarkable way she later reclaimed part of her own story.

🐍 The internet's first blockbuster?
Snakes on a Plane slithered into cinemas after online hype reached fever pitch. Fans memed it, the studio leaned into the chaos and Samuel L. Jackson delivered one of the most quotable movie lines of the 2000s. Was this the first film the internet actually changed?

🎤 Sexy's apparently back
Justin Timberlake ditched the boy-band image for SexyBack, a futuristic banger that divided critics, topped charts and helped redefine pop music.

🌉 Fergie starts a bridge war
London Bridge launched Fergie's solo career, topped the charts and somehow convinced an entire generation that Tower Bridge was actually London Bridge. We revisit one of pop music's greatest geographical mix-ups and decode what the song was really about.

🤘 Iron Maiden's boldest tour gamble
Most bands save the new songs for later. Iron Maiden did the opposite, playing their entire new album before touching the classics. Fans weren't exactly thrilled, but nearly 20 years on, was Bruce Dickinson and the band right all along?

Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast). You can also contact us there if you want to be a part of the show.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Transcript is generated automatically. 

The year is 2006. We head to the hills and learn reality is scripted. Your Sony Cyber Shot uploads 462 blurry regrets. A Facebook poke makes everything complicated. And Twitter's like, cool story, you've got 140 characters. Go. T-minus 20. Rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel. 20 August 2006. 

T-minus 20. Bringing sexy back. I want to forgive you. T-minus 20. I hate this long distance relationship. And I want to forget you. You have no style or succession. This is a beauty. This is very nice. Yeah, boy. 

Quick question. How much do you actually remember about August 2006? 

I'm going to guess probably less than you think. Which is why each and every week we rewind exactly 20 years to revisit the biggest stories. and a bit of a chat about what and why it still matters today. 

That's right. Welcome to T-minus 20, the nostalgia podcast that relives the news, pop culture and wonderfully weird moments that shaped the mid-2000s with your hosts, Joe and Mel. Hello, Mel. 

Hello, this week we are rewinding 20 to 26 August 2006. 

She spent the best part of a decade torn from her family, imprisoned in her abductors house. 

Oh, this was a terrible story, but a good ending. I guess, after eight years in captivity, do you remember this? Natasha Kampush escaped from the man who abducted her as a child and it brought to the end one of Europe's most extraordinary missing person cases that people still talk about. You'll see stuff in the news this week all about that one. 

Enough is enough. 

I have had it with these ************* snakes on this ************* plane! Everybody strap in. 

Yeah, everybody strap in indeed. 

And this one, I actually found out the internet had a bit of an influence over the movie. Kind of rewrote bits of it, which I never knew. 

That's extraordinary and it's probably set a really dangerous precedent and we see that sort of stuff these days. 

This is exactly how it happened. I'll never forget this moment. So he's like, all right, man, I think we got, I think we gotta bring dance music back. And I was like, I'm with it. Let's go. So he's. And I was like. 

I was like, stop. I should have put a warning up before we did that one. 

Any excuse to bring the beatboxing out, isn't there. 

For Tim Tim Timber Timberlake. 

Yeah, loves it. 

I bought sexy back to this time 20 years ago. 

Apologies in advance. We've got some other apologies to make as well. 

What? 

Over on the socials, had an interesting time. 

Oh, no. 

Yeah. 

Don't tell me somebody actually paid attention to us on the socials. Well, that's extraordinary. That's fine. I'm happy either way. Doesn't matter if it's good or bad. If somebody paid attention to us, I mean, not that we are attention seekers, although you would argue, well, why are you doing a podcast? To be honest, at this stage in my life, I don't actually even know. Yeah, it was just like, in a former life, it was a job that we used to do. Didn't want to lose touch with the craft, like we were saying before. And so now we need. 

Love a microphone, an excuse to buy some microphones? 

And don't mind. COVID, just we're bored. I like attention from afar. I like attention where you have a little bit of anonymity. 

Like Christine Aguilera says, don't look at me. Exactly, right. 

So, kind of wants attention, but don't. Do you know what I'm saying? Yes. Do you know what I'm saying? 

It's like when the dogs wear the harnesses are like, you know, do not approach, not friendly. 

That kind of thing. 

You know, just look from far away. Exactly. Yeah, well, look, I've been trying to stay off the socials as we know. We've talked about this a few times, but Obviously we have an Instagram account and you slave away over some reels for us each week. 

Yes, I've quite often up until stupid hours of the morning. because I don't have any other time. Tinker and why we're going to go and edit some videos. And again, it's like, it's, to keep the skills sharpened and things like that as well. And just to obviously further promote the podcast through some engaging content. And then it's, kind of like maybe too much attention because you can see what I look like. I don't know. 

And then, yes, then it's my job to put it up with some words. 

And, you know, there's. 

A lot, there's a lot goes into it and you make a few each week and usually I get to I haven't posted, still got another one to go. I wonder if you'll notice. Anyway, so, and I went to the effort of putting on a bra and a face and washing my hands. I'm like, oh, well, I should put it up. 

Oh, you get good engagement if you just do, if we just put the videos up of you in a bra, we'll get good engagement. 

I don't think so. 

I think that's how you stop the scroll. Just throw a nice rack right in the middle of there and people will stop scrolling. 

Anyway, so I'd already posted what I thought were the stronger of the two videos out of the three that you. 

Made. 

And the third one was... 

Thanks for the scrutinizing. 

That's all right. That's all right. I've got to stagger them. I mean, all the good group, but one just slides on. There's a lot of thought that goes into it. Anyway, the last one I was like, I don't even want to put it up because it was sport. And how I feel about sport. I hate sport. I hate sport. And it was about cycling. And I don't know. I don't know anything about cycling. And I thought, no one's going to care. Do I even waste my time putting it up? I was like, oh no, I'll put it up. 

Curiosity here. Did you hashtag it with like cycling or something? 

Yeah, probably. 

Oh yeah, probably. Okay, cool. Carry on. Continue the story. 

Might have even said something like not liking cycling. No, I don't think I did. 

Of course you didn't. You wouldn't be that silly. 

So it was the one about Floyd. Remember we were talking about Floyd a few weeks ago in the Tour de France. Floyd, what was it? Landis. 

Floyd Landis, yes. That Floyd. 

He got caught for taking drugs. 

Yeah, he made up like 10 minutes on the final stage, which is a phenomenal effort. And then it was like obviously brought into question because 10 minutes on that final stage with a whole bunch of other, like superhuman, it's like, and I think I said something like that's a lot of juice. 

Yes. 

Which he did test. He admitted it. He tested positive to a lot of juice. So I wasn't lying. It was a bit. 

Ho-hum because I guess, you know, not as exciting as the Lance story with the Livestrong and all the denials and the books. Yes, so he created a whole movement. It was a brouhaha. Floyd landed just so I felt like Floyd was like, Yeah, look, I wasn't even really going to put it in. It was a sport. 

Big sponsorship that Lance had. Yeah, the sport thing. You're on the fence with sport. 

Anyway, so I posted it. 

You did. 

Turns out lots of people like the sport. Lots of people like the cycling. Probably our best performing reel in a long time. 

Oh, really? Oh, good. 

I was thinking, you know, Lance Bass. His coming out story, that was probably one of the biggest moments of 2006. 

Didn't do so well, did it? 

No, cycling, cycling. 

Wouldn't you? 

Lots of views. So you know what happens when you get lots of views? People decide to start commenting. We don't usually get comments. 

No, that's exciting. 

There was lots of likes too. That was nice. Maybe feel good for that comment. 

So we got some likes. 

Then I read the comments. 

Okay, so wait, before, what's the sentiment? What's the tone of the comments? 

Look, to be honest, if it's not comments from people that we know, I'm always concerned. I'm still a little bit scarred from the why are these two old women hating? 

Corey Feldman. 

I didn't enjoy that. Why are these two old women hating on Corey? 

Now it's like, why are these two old women talking about cycling? 

Pretty much. 

Oh, really? Oh, dear. 

Well, no, it started off Greg. Greg did hand clap, fire, hand clap emoji. 

Right. 

I thought that's nice. He's clapping for us. That's on you guys on fire. 

I hope you get the clap and catch fire. in emojis. 

I thought he was being supportive and then I was. 

Like, I'm reading too much into it. 

Often when people just comment emojis, I just think I was that, you know, a fake one to make you feel good about yourself. Or is it just someone who just goes around putting emojis on people's things to make them feel good? If that's the case, that's nice. Thank you. I felt good for a minute. So then the real comments start to roll in and someone asked, well, wasn't everyone still doped up at that point? I don't know. I haven't. I don't pay attention to cycling at the best. 

Wasn't part of the peloton. 

But look, if it comes up in a Google search in a future episode, I'm sure we'll talk about it. We've got nothing better to talk about it. 

Well, this is good. This is great. 

Yeah, that was interesting. I thought, well, I'm not going to comment on that because I don't know the answer. 

Yeah, you're not qualified. 

No. And so then someone else who was qualified then answered the question and then counted that. something, an accusation about a present day, which I don't know. So I'm not even going to go into that. 

I was like, everyone still does it. 

Yeah, they had a bit of a debate about the modern options. 

Right, okay. 

And then somebody else then outed another cyclist and was recalling that incident and I didn't know the name, so I was like, okay, whatever. And then We got a very long comment. I actually had to press more. the word more. I was like, oh, this is a worry. There's lots of feelings here. Lots of emojis, lots of feelings. I had to press more. 

We've inspired some feeling, some action, some movement. 

Drugs or no drugs, that was possibly the greatest ride in the tour's history. 

Oh, really? 

Was it? the greatest ride if. 

Because he made up 10 minutes on the final stage. 

And had a bit of help. 

Had a bit of help to produce, yeah. 

Anyway. 

I mean, it's still, I'm sure it was a great ride. Like imagine watching it, watching it, but yes, okay, cool. So they were obviously excited by that. 

Yes, So didn't like the fact that we were like, yeah, you won because you're on drugs. 

Right, yes. 

Was like, no, well, it was still the greatest ride. 

Yeah. 

He was angry and he was nuts. 

Yeah. 

Okay, sure. He did that on pure anger and grit. 

Yeah, cool, that's testosterone will have that effect on you. 

I wonder if he knows Floyd. Maybe this is Floyd. 

Oh, jeez, that'd be cool. 

Also said everyone else was doped to the eyeballs too. They were doing it as well. 

Look, I don't think my boomer parents wouldn't appreciate that. They'd be like, well, if they were all going to stick their head in a fire, would you as well? 

They're going to jump off the Harbour Bridge, would you as well? 

Exactly. That's the sort of comments you'd get from those. 

And then we got a bit personal. 

Oh, did they? attacked us, that character. 

Everyone else was dope to the eyeballs too. Even A few Aussies he rode past and they used some funny looking emojis. 

Oh, because we're Australian. 

Yes, so some of your folk were also doped up. 

Oh, that's not the worst that Australians have done abroad, I can tell you that much. You should go to Bali, mate. 

You should see what they do overseas there. And then we were told to go and ride up one of those climbs ourselves. Again, look, I've never claimed to be into the sport. So I don't think I would ride up one of those climbs and I don't think I could and I'm happy to admit that. 

I don't think it would make for very good television. I don't think anyone would talk about it in a podcast in 20 years time if we did. 

No, I don't think so either. We're smug, faux, clueless buffoons. But then I'm like, does the faux cancel out the clueless and the buffoon? 

Correct. No, he's right. We are. 

And then he referred to us as Dunning Kruger Kids, which I had to Google. 

Yeah, what's a Dunning Kruger? 

And I think people who know what Dunning Kruger is going to find it really ironic that I had to Google Dunning Kruger and now I'm going to read what it is because the Dunning Kruger effect is a mental bias where people with low skill or little knowledge in an area think they are much better than they actually are. 

That's the entire podcast. You stolen our concepts. Oh. 

There was more. Oh, there's more. I haven't finished yet. 

Oh, I'm trying to move on from this. You know, I don't want to go. 

But that's exactly what we did. we do. We talk about things that we're not experts on because we. 

Can't find the information so you don't have to. Do you know how many community notice boards of people ask like questions that could be quickly solved with a Google search? Like I said, this is the whole podcast. 

Oh no, the podcast he's renamed it for us as the Zero Cred podcast. Oh, the Zero Cred. 

Oh, that doesn't work. I'm going to have to. 

Look, zero credit as far as cycling goes, I'm happy to say that. Maybe we should add that to the sport intro. 

The following segment contains zero credit. 

I mean, but that recorder playing, yeah. 

There's your cred right there, pal. 

Enjoy that out straight away. 

Have a blow on that recorder. But I mean, I can't change the name to the Zero Credit Podcast. I just complained about being up until the wee hours of the morning editing video. I mean, we're nearly five years in. 

Yeah, too confusing. Too confusing for the three people listening. 

Too difficult for everybody. 

How will that guy from Hess ever find us again? 

They'll never find it. They'll never know that they're at the Hatches Matches and Dispatches, because it'd be like doing this without the recorder. 

Imagine not hearing that recorder ever again. 

You wouldn't know that we're at the Hatches Matches and Dispatches segment where we hook through to the end of the show with this You have a guess, and then we reveal it later on, and we all go, Yay, that's great! Well, listen, what are those stupid Dunning Kruger kids up to today? Well, we're doing this, so this one is a birthday. Celebrity birthday. Just a birthday. No significant births, deaths or marriages that we could find and then read straight off the internet to you. So we'll just do this. 

I didn't really grow up with my dad. I didn't really, you know, when I was really little, we got to spend a little bit of time. When he started, you know, obviously the family with the Kardashian family and all that, I didn't really see much of him. 

No, there's a bit of a clue in there as I sound a bit like a therapy session there and we're certainly not therapists either, although. Quick Google search, I might be able to help you out in about 10 minutes' time. We'll find out who that is at the end of the show. 

23rd of August, 2006, a major breakthrough where Natasha Campush escapes an abductor after being held captive for eight years. 

Yeah. 

She goes missing. in 1998. She disappears on her way to school in Vienna, aged just 10. Austria launches one of its biggest missing persons investigations. They interview hundreds of suspects and later find out that actually included the kidnapper. And they never solved the case for years. And most people assumed that she was never going to be found. 

She spent the best part of a decade torn from her family, imprisoned in her abductor's house. Wolfgang Prickler Pill kept her locked in his cellar for 8 long years. 

This is like something out of a horror film. So for eight years, she's held in a concealed cellar room. And it's almost like a room within a room. So it's about 5 square metres that he had underneath his house. So it had multiple doors. There was soundproofing. It was hidden beneath a garage workshop. And visitors, if you'd come to the house, wouldn't even know that it was there. It was very well secured and secreted. Secreted. No, that doesn't sound right. It was very well secured and hidden. And so she spent The majority of her time locked underground with no daylight or any human contact. As. 

The years went on, he gradually allowed her a little more freedom and actually let her up into the house. I think he made her clean and cook and do a lot of housework while he was up in the house. 

I think he made her do a little bit more than that as well. There's some allegations there that are quite unpleasant. So yeah. 

And she remained, even though she was allowed up into the house. She remained under constant control and threats. I think towards the end of her captivity, he actually took her out and about a little bit as well, but again, threatened her if she spoke or tried to escape. 

It was super weird. Like he homeschooled her. He bought books and newspapers and let her watch TV and tried to, I guess, create this illusion of normal life or set her up so that life is, because he's like 10 years old, like she's 18 by the time she gets out of here, right? So the 23rd of August, she's vacuuming his van outside, he answers the phone, she sees a small window of opportunity and she does the bolt and escapes. And then she goes to the neighbor's house. 

Yeah, she knocked on the neighbour's window. I remember when this was on the news, I remember this part. She knocked on the window and told them that she was Natasha. And her captor, Wolfgang Pricklopil, dies by suicide hours later as the police close in. So no opportunity to capture him, question him. 

Yeah, she leaves, he panics and he throws himself in front of a train. It was horrific. But it is interesting because it does challenge that kind of assumption about why people don't just run away when opportunities like that seem to exist. And she seemed quite stoic in the days after her release, I guess, from there. And in the days after her escape. And so people were like, oh, this is all BS. She seems too together to actually have had that happen to her. But I mean, that was a life from 10 years old to 18. 

There was a media circus as well. And I think they got her to speak only a few days later too. So she's still coming to terms with the outside world. Imagine the world passing by eight years, like when you have that freedom, how different a place the world would be as well. So she's dealing with all of that. And because she was quite calm in the interview, there was a lot of allegation as well around potentially her having Stockholm syndrome. But there was no duty of care around whether it was the right thing to do to be interviewing her and following her around, asking really really, insensitive questions as well without giving her the right support. 

Yeah, it's like it's just a bit of a circus, I think. And it does like, it's a big psychologists would have had a field day with this, they, because of that whole thing about coercive control and the trauma bonding and like you said, the Stockholm syndrome and just the survival strategies that she would have actually put in place to kind of cope with all of this in her own mind. 

Well, she also ended up, so after he died, she was, she, I think she was quite shaken by that as well, because that's. the only human contact that she's had for all this time. 

And he educated her. Like, it's just, imagine what a weird view of the world you would have. 

Such a sad experience. Yeah. And then she ended up, I think, either, I think she inherited the house. 

Yeah. 

And she wanted to take it. 

They turned it over to her legally. 

And she took it because that was her way of regaining control. She didn't want it to turn into a tourist attraction or a place where people then go and film and make documentaries about what had occurred. That was her way of taking back a bit of control over the story and her story. she didn't live there or anything like that, but she wanted control of it. 

Yeah, well, she had control and she had control through the memoir that she wrote as well, which is called 3096 Days, which was later adapted into a movie too, and was quite a successful film. And she's been very outspoken. Again, I think you'll see her pop up in the media this week as they revisit this case, because it is both a fascinating and just very confusing and disturbing case as well. And now it's over to the sport with 0 credibility. 

Big news in the sporting world. Was it? I don't know. 24th of August. No, this is true. Imagine getting a brand new job and then announcing your retirement the very next day. 

It's almost a consensus that the best wide receiver in football is number 80, Jerry Rice. Some wide receivers can catch it deep, some can catch it short, some can catch intermediate routes, some guys are possession receivers, but Jerry Rice can do it all. 

Could do it all. Could do it all until he retired on the 24th of August. He is regarded as the greatest wide receiver at Hunting Wabbit, greatest wide receiver in NFL history. He won three Super Bowls with the 49ers, my team. By 2006, he had every major record. And basically, he had signed a one-day ceremonial contract with the 49ers because that's where he wanted to retire. He was actually playing for the Denver Broncos at the time. And the purpose was simple. He just wanted to retire as a member of a team. where he'd become a legend. So he officially announced his retirement after 20 NFL seasons. And he did it while he was still at the Broncos. And then the 49ers later honored him during a home game. Here's a bit from his speech. I'm done. 

I'm looking forward to the next phase of my life now. There's going to be a lot of opportunities out there. And I'm sure I'm going to approach those the way I have approached football. with a lot of pride, determination, a lot of poise. And that's it. Thank you. 

Yeah, he was great. He was such a good. 

So he played for 20 years. 

Yeah, he was just and he is the goat when it comes to wide receivers in the NFL. Like a lot of his a lot of his records still stand and the ceremonial contract was interesting as well because these one day retirement contracts have become like more traditional now and he helped make them be a bit more meaningful because obviously the 49ers welcomed him back with open arms for that retirement. His legacy is epic. And I'd say... still almost untouchable with some of them. He played until he was 43 years old, which is almost unheard of at that level. You got to really look after your body and try and not get too banged up because wide receivers hands in and of themselves just are absolutely trashed from trying to catch the football, let alone all the hits they have to take while they're trying to catch the ball. So he's in the Football Hall of Fame now. I think they put him in 2010. He's still the NFL's all-time leader in receiving yards, catches and touchdown receptions 20 years after his retirement, which is phenomenal. And he's become a big media personality. Jerry Rice is, you know, pretty much shorthand in American sport for the greatest ever. I've got my Jerry Rice jersey. Out the back there. Yeah. I don't bring it out much because every time I tend to buy jerseys for football players, bad things happen. 

You jinx them. 

Yeah, you do, don't you? With the 49ers, definitely. So I bought a Kaepernick jersey and that was the same season that all the stuff went down with Kaepernick and he lost his contract. But I still love my Kaepernick jersey because of what it stands for. And I bought a Patrick Willis jersey and that same year I bought the Patrick Willis jersey. He retired and he was injured for most of it with turf toe. 

And then? 

And then I was like, I'll buy a retired. Oh, that's right. 

You bought one of the Australian guys that were over there, didn't you? 

I bought a Jared Hayden jersey. And we all know how that turned out. 

That didn't end well. 

That hasn't ended well on a lot of fronts. And then I, and then so I thought, well, I'll buy a legacy jersey because, you know, that's the time. Who better? Like it was either Joe Montana, who was probably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Sorry, Tom Brady, but he was. And And Jerry Rice, who was one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, so like, I'll get a Jerry Rice jersey. And then I was like, oh, I don't know if I should do this. I don't want anything bad to happen to Jerry. Yeah, okay. 

He's still all right, isn't he? 

So far so good. Yes. But we've spoken about him on the podcast now as well. And we all know how that turns out sometimes too. 

UK is still Shakira, hips don't lie. 

We've got cred here, right? Like, we're moving out of sort of your peak pop music years though. 

Yeah, so my area of expertise is 2000 to 2002. 

75% cred, maybe 80. 

A little bit. Some of the same people are still in there. So it's all right. 

I hear a lot of this music and think that's new. So there you go. 

It's on all my playlists. 

Yeah. So I've got no credit in here, although there is something that I can talk about in music later on, which will be good. 

All right, well, we're going to start with Shakira. She's still #1 over in the UK. 

OK. 

I know I'm on the light, my hips don't lie, and I'm starting to feel it's fine. All the attraction, attention. Don't you see, baby, this is perfection. Shakira, boy, I can see your body moving. I don't really know what I'm doing. 

That's really enough, Shakira. We've given, she's having, she's having a good run. 

She's done well, yeah. 

Biggie for Shakira. There's biggie for Shakira this year as well with the World Cup and everything. I mean, she just hasn't gone away. She's a mega star. 

She is, she's good. 

We've got, I'm glad you endorsed her. 

Sorry. I was just moving on. She's not number one here in Australia anymore. We've got a brand new number one this week. I'm bringing sexy back, yeah. 

The mother boys don't know how to act, yeah. Yeah. 

Oh, you left out the ticket to the floor. 

Yeah, I just didn't want to keep it. 

I feel like that would have been a better full stop. 

Longer than 15 seconds. 

It's left us hanging. 

The copyright bots get a bit with you. Yeah, I don't want to take it to the floor. I didn't realise that the film clip for this was like a spy movie. Spy, yeah. I watched that today. It's interesting. JT's a spy. 

Well, no, I think that was spying on him. 

Really. 

The woman was spying on him. 

All right. 

She hid something behind the mirror. I was looking at him and he found it. He found it behind the mirror and he threw it out. 

When I say the spy thing, like I think about, you know, how they always slip a Mickey in their drink and they poison him? 

Yeah. 

And he'd be like, you know, and I feel like. 

He's choking, he's going to beatbox himself to death. 

Yeah, until he gets the antidote. That's his reaction to the poison to slip him the antidote. 

Maybe that's how he figured out he could beatbox. 

What he was poisoning? As a spy in Germany. I mean, these pop stars can do anything, can't they, really? Anything at all. 

Incredible. 

Incredible. So what's this one all about? He brought Sexy back, we know that. It was a big hit. 

Well, NSYNC go on hiatus, unbeknownst to the rest of NSYNC in 2002. 

They weren't aware of it yet, but they were on a hiatus. 

They're still waiting. He launches the solo career with the first album, Justified. There's the messy split with Britney. 

Oh, so this is another album? 

So we get to 2006. 

I would say NSYNC, you know, the writing's kind of on the wall here. Like you're a little bit in denial. 

Well, no, I think Lance had accepted it. 

Yes. Well, I mean, he'd had to come to terms with a lot of other things that are probably a little bit more high level. 

I think he's like, it's over now. 

So I think I'll... JT beatboxing and bringing sexy back. 

Yeah, It's got more things to do. 

Bigger, bigger fish to fry. 

Yes. 

Yeah. 

We get to 2006. Six and everyone's going, is he just a one-hit wonder? The old JT. 

Yeah. 

No, he's not. Sexy back. 

No, he's debut. 

And quickly climbs the charts. Produced by Timbaland, distorted vocals, beatboxing, futuristic sound and spice. It becomes his first US number one as a solo male artist. And this was the album Future Sex Love Sounds that it was on. 

Was that the name of the album, Future Sex Love Sounds? 

Yes. Yes, one of the defining pop albums of the decade. I'm trying to think what else was on that album. Okay, Sexy Back, obviously. Oh, my love. My love was in there. You know, take away my love. 

All right, thanks for that. Yeah, cool. 

What goes around? What goes around and around comes all the way. 

Again, it's so accurate. I'm just waiting for the copyright bots to swoop in right now. 

Would you like me to beat that? 

No, like it's just Mel singing. No, please don't. 

Oh, Love Stone was on that as well. Summer Love. 

Right. 

Yeah, okay, that's that one. There, look, there he is. Oh, look at that. 

Oh, he's looking very debonair like a spy. 

That's why he's being a spy because he's got his tie on his little love spy. Spy tie. 

Yeah. 

People hated it. Some people hated it before it became iconic because of the sound. So they used a lot of... But they also used a lot of, what's that thing, auto tune. But they weren't using it because he... He's singing ****. They were using it as an effect. This is Timberland. He's groundbreaking. He tries new things. 

Oh, yeah. Well, look, I mean, auto tune's over everything these days. 

Yeah, well, it was more of an artistic effect. 

Post Malone uses it all the time. With great effect, actually. I kind of, I was like, oh, you know, this auto tune thing. And who's that other guy? Is it T-Pain? 

Oh, T-Pain loves it. 

Yeah, he loves the auto tune. 

He can sing without it. 

Kenny. 

Yeah, he did sing something. 

That's right. I actually don't want to talk about that. 

Okay, all right. I think you've got some you've got some of Justin discussing. 

Oh, the backstory about how it'll happen. The thing that we played at the start of the show, you want to hear the full. 

Let's have a listen. 

That means he's going to be there's the following segment contains Justin Timberlake beatboxing. 

This is exactly how it happened. I'll never forget this moment. So he's like, all right, man, I think we got I think we got to bring dance music back. And I was like, I'm with it. Let's go. So he's. And I was like, oh, I already know how I'm coming in on this. And the beat's still playing. He's like, what you going to say? I go, I just go like this. I'm bringing sexy back. And he goes, yeah. 

That's how it went. 

That's exactly what happened. 

But I think he went, as in, that's good. Not, I'm going to go, yeah, all through the song. And then they just decided to throw the year into the song. But do you think that Timberland was actually beatboxing or is Justin Timberlake beatboxing the beat that Timberland was making? 

I think he's beatboxing the beat that Timberland was making. 

I don't know how I'd feel if I was Timberland. I'd be like, can you please not beat? I'm surprised. 

I'm ******* surprised that the copyright bots didn't get him. Really? That was more than 15 seconds. 

Yeah, good point. 

Yeah. 

Good point. 

Yeah. 

All right, let's go over to the US charts. Enough beatboxing. Let's listen to the top five over there. 

I've been waiting, waiting, think I'm gonna make a move. Tell me if you like it Tell me if you like it I miss you with girl Whatever you are I'm all alone And it's you that I want I miss girls, boy You already know I think you're crazy I think you're crazy I think you're crazy. 

Brand new number one this week. 

Oh yeah. So let's recap. 

We'll go backwards. Number 5, buttons. 

Yes. 

Pussycat Dolls. 

Yeah, not the, it sounds like somebody's toy rabbit. 

Buttons. 

Yeah. 

It's just a stupid name for someone. 

You didn't see it in the community notice, but there'd be a photo of us. Somebody found Buttons. We lost it at Blah Blah Cafe. It's my child. 

Socks is worried sick. 

Yeah. 

Socks is a good name for a cat. 

I said I said a toy rabbit. 

A toy rabbit called button. I thought you meant the cat was. 

A toy rabbit behind me. 

I thought you were talking about the pet. 

You're, I don't know what you're doing. 

I don't know where I went. 

Yeah. It's not helping the credibility. 

No, zero cred. 

That I would almost say that was what sort of a buffoon was it? 

A faux clueless buffoon. 

That's. 

I went a bit smug. I don't think that was smug. I think it was just clueless. 

That sounds like a faux clueless talk to me. 

Number 4 being you, Cassie. Number 3, Princess Nelly Furtado. Not too crazy. And brand new number one this week, London Bridge by Fergie Ferg. 

How come every time you come around my London, London Bridge, wanna go down like. 

This is like Fergie revealing herself as the solo artist, right? 

Yes, the solo album, what was it called? The Duchess. 

So this is the thing, the Duchess, Fergie. And I always think about the Duchess of York. Sarah Ferguson. 

And I think that, is that why she calls herself the Duchess because she's Fergie. 

Is there a connection? 

Has she just called herself the Duchess because Fergie's her stage name and she's gone, let's just go Duchess. 

I'm just putting the question out there. You can do your own research. 

Maybe you can Google it. 

Yeah, do your own research. 

So I think this was actually the first single of the Duchess. Yes, London Bridge. 

Yeah. So she was like, you know. 

So this is her first foray. 

I'm not just the chick from the Black Eyed Peas. I'm also the chick is creating a whole bunch of confusion. about the fact that I might have named myself after the Duchess of York and I might not have and it's something that could be quickly solved by a Google search but not right now because we're mid-podcast. And Fergie Ferg. Fergalicious. Fergalicious. Yuck. That just doesn't sound tasty. Fergalicious. 

No. 

Like Ferg. It sounds like it's green and mossy flavoured. 

No, it just makes me think of furball or something. 

You've got a bit of Ferg on your tongue. I'm like, yeah, I've been sick for about 3 months. 

Hungover. 

Yeah, I think I might need some. My tongue's covered in some Ferg. Yeah, that's what it is. It's that hangover tongue where you didn't brush your teeth the night before. Probably fell asleep with half a pizza in your mouth and then maybe vomited in your throat in the middle of the night. Oh, there's a whole bunch of Ferg in my mouth. 

The song, the song's about London Bridge, but they filmed the video clip around the Tower Bridge because she didn't get permission to film at London Bridge. So she goes, she just went, oh, that bridge over there will do instead. 

It's a bridge, it's in London. Good enough? 

The people in the comments were very upset. Very upset. A lot of cyclists were very upset. That's the Tower Bridge. 

I ride my bike across that. 

I ride over the London Bridge every day, and that is not what it looks like. 

You buffoon. 

Not what it looks like. That's a faux bridge, if ever I saw one. Tower Bridge. 

You have 0 credibility. Welcome to the club, Fergie. We should be, I should be nice to her. We're companions. We're kindred spirits. 

She was like, oh, well, I didn't want to change it to Tower Bridge because it just didn't sound as good in the song. 

So I was just like, I'm tired and I work out. 

The video clip was a bit. He was grinding on one of the, what are they called? The guards? The ones that aren't allowed to talk? The Beef Eaters. Yeah, well, not grinding's probably. Was it a beef feeder? 

Or was it one of the changing guards with the big hats? 

They're not beef eaters, are they? 

Who are they? Beef feeders are the ones with the... You know the vodka, the beefeater vodka. They're the ones with the Elizabethan collars and the pork pie hats. 

The one with the big hats that aren't allowed to talk. What are those ones called? 

At Buckingham Palace. 

Just the Royal Guards, aren't they? 

Soldiers? I don't know. 

Can I just retract though? I don't want to be a buffoon. She wasn't, yeah, she was twerking. 

Right. 

She wasn't grinding. 

I guess, you know, obviously the dress, that's the dress hat for the guards, the big furry thing on the top of their head. Because I just don't really see any practical significance for being, how that would come in handy in combat. 

No. 

I guess it, you wouldn't know where your head starts and stuff. So if you aimed for them, you went too high, they'd obviously dodged the bullet, so to speak. But anyway, back to you about Fergie. 

Peak 2000, the video that was great. It was great. Yachts, clubs, the fashion, she had the low rise pants and they were tartan and the sunnies and the hair. She still had the eyebrow ring. It's very, very early 2000s. It was great. The Duchess goes on to become one of the biggest albums for 2006 and 2007. And that song is pretty iconic. I mentioned the comments, so people were complaining about the bridge. 

Yeah. 

But there was a whole kind of subsection of comments that started in September 2023. 

What? 

There was a strange theme running through the threats. Let me read a few. 

It picks up. Okay, yeah, go for it. 

Bruno Opera, September 9. 2022, sorry, not 2023. Queen Elizabeth brought me here. September 9, 2022. Who here after Queen died? 

Why are they all going to London Bridge by Fergie and commenting on the YouTube video after the Queen died? 

I think, and I could be wrong because I am a clueless buffoon, but I think that there was code for when either the Queen had died or when she was sick, something about London Bridge being down. 

All right, yeah. 

So there was some kind of secret sort of code word that got sent to all of the officials and important people. 

Right. 

And I think that might have had something to do with it. 

What, and the Fergie fans have cracked the code? 

Well, I think they've just... 

It's a matter of national security. 

I think they've Googled London Bridge down and they're taken to the... the London Bridge song. 

Because that's the lyric. 

Because that's the lyric. 

Not by Queen. What am I saying? Oh my goodness. This is so confusing. 

Who else here for Queen Liz? Sad face, sad face, RIP. RIP Queen Elizabeth, you got low as Fergie ask us. 

Oh wow. 

Rumour has it before she passed the Queen asked to hear this glorious sent the one last time. How come every time one comes around, my London London bridge is falling down. And the last one came about in 2023, so this person was a bit late to the party. I'm going to tell my grandkids this was Queen Elizabeth. 

That was the Duchess of York. I've got an album to talk about. 

Sure. 

I'm excited by this because this is like my, well, it's my higher power. This should, we don't do a religion segment, but this is where this should fit, really. Iron Maiden put out a new album in 2006 called, I can't believe this is like 20 years old and this is like one of the new albums. This is what we call a new album for Iron Maiden who've been going for 50 years. 2006, they're legends, right? 30 years into their career. Bruce Dickinson's back in the band from 1999 onwards. sparking this huge creative resurgence. This is their 14th studio album. It's called A Matter of Life and Death. It was released on the 25th of August in 2006. And because it's Iron Maiden and just because their fan base is huge and the tentacles of that fan base, I said tentacles, are far reaching. It debuted in the top 10 across dozens of countries around the world. And this theme was very much a war theme. You know, they've always got a bit of a theme to their albums, like a bit of Blues Themers War. So they basically announced when they were going to do this, they were going to perform this album in its entirety on tour before playing the classic songs, which really ****** a lot of the old school Iron Maiden fans that maybe haven't seen them for 20 years off. They do get really, don't they? I wanted to hear the number of the beast. And it's like they've written a whole new album and they want to play new stuff. And so I'm one of those guys that's in the camp for the new stuff. Like I've heard all the old stuff and I've been and seen Iron Maiden live quite few times. And I like I've seen all the songs I want to see and I'm always keen to see new stuff. So whatever they do and or they choose to do is good enough for me. And some of the fans are actually booing because they wanted to hear some of those songs. But the audiences, Steve Harris, the bass players, like, well, they've got to hear them properly before judging them. Like this particular song off the album, the reincarnation of Benjamin Brieg. There's a lot of good songs on this album. This one is a banger. This is and so Iron Maiden always very famous for their storytelling in their songs. because I listened to heavy metal and got into Iron Maiden at a young age, I was really good at modern history. You know what I mean? Because they tell stories and then it makes you. inquisitive and you want to go and find out more about the subject matter of the song. This one was an interesting one because this is a fictional one. And it was one that they made up themselves as a fictional biography. So that song there is called The Reincarnation of Benjamin Brieg. And it wasn't just a song with a spooky character named Benjamin Brieg. They created this biography mystery around him in 2006. So the story goes that the character Benjamin Brieg is born in London in 1939 around the outbreak of World War II. And his parents, they've got a full time life for this. Parents die in 1947 in a mysterious house fire. And he's there, but he escapes unharmed as a child. And then he's sent to an orphanage and he gets really lonely, becomes a very solitary, troubled kid. And he becomes fascinated with the Bible and religion. He wants to become a priest. But then from around 10 years old, he starts having these terrible nightmares. And he becomes this amazing artist, but his paintings are really disturbing. And so the people who saw them were very unnerved. friend said that Benjamin Brigg actually claimed he painted what he saw, implying these nightmares were visions. Oh, it's so mysterious, isn't it? And then he works for an undertaker when he's... a bit older and he engraves gravestones. This is all kind of in the song a little bit too. His religious obsession evolves into an interest in the occult and then he travels extensively, living in Haiti and Eastern Europe and gets into trouble with Romanian authorities. And then he returns to Britain in the 70s and joins an organisation called the International Institute of Paranormal Investigation and he writes 4 books about his travels and occult experience. This is very elaborate, all for one song. 

So is this all in the lyrics or have they created? Is this in the books that comes with the scene? We'll get to that. 

We'll get to that. You'll find out why this has got something in common with snakes on a plane as well. So then he's written four books Benjamin has, fictional Benjamin. In 1978, he disappears. And this is where it gets really Iron Maiden. Before the single comes out for the reincarnation of Benjamin Breig, a website pops up that is apparently created by Breig's cousin. So nobody knows if this guy's a real guy or not at the moment. Oh my gosh. And the cousin claims he's discovered an old photo of Benjamin among his grandmother's possessions and he was trying to find out what had happened to him. It's like just this old school kind of British mystery thing, right? And so the site reveals more and more pieces of Benjamin's story, which makes it look like a real mystery. And it was just one of those early internet viral marketing campaigns. This is Iron Maiden. Like, oh, they're ancient, you know, they're ahead of the curve. They're doing stuff that people kind of do now. This is years before this sort of thing became the norm, right? And fans were encouraged to investigate the character themselves and then Maiden, actually beyond the setup, that setup, refused to explain it. So when Steve Harris is asked who Benjamin Brigg was in the documentary about it, he's just like, well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? But here's the really interesting thing. So Eddie, the mascot for Ian Maiden, if you know anything, the artwork for him shows him digging up Benjamin Briggs' grave. And the gravestone has this Romanian writing on it that says, here lies a man about whom not much is known. But the fake biography has another clue in it. So his disturbing paintings included one that was particularly significant because it connects his visions to the mascot, Eddie for Ian Maiden. Which leads to this massive fan theory that Benjamin Brigg isn't really a separate person. He's connected to Eddie. He might have even been Eddie. And the idea is that his visions and his paintings and his occult investigations and his disappearance ultimately form this origin story for Eddie or for the entity that he represents. Because like all of those themes are sort of spread through different albums like Clairvoyancy and the Cult and the Number of the Beast and the Power Slave stuff with the Egyptian stuff. So all of this stuff with his travels and his visions and all of that sort of stuff. Like the album covers are maybe Benjamin Briggs visions, horrific visions, right? And then Maiden were just like, yeah, maybe. They never confirmed anything. They never confirmed anything, which I think is the best thing about it. Like that's just a theory. So there's never been anything. So their position is we're not telling you, use your imagination, which is just amazing. Use your ******* imagination. Over to the box office, and Australia was still catching up with America. They were off seeing Miami Vice, which we've already spoken about, the number one in the Australian box office. But this one, this one, and #1 over in the US. 

You know all of the ******* security scenario he ran? Oh, I'm smacking the middle one we didn't think of. The hell are you talking about? Eddie Kim somehow managed to fill the blame with poisonous snakes. Yo, snake on your *** yo, hold still. Hello, can anybody hear me? Somebody want to tell me what's going on up there? 

Why exactly are there snakes on this plane? What the? 

Something up there is making them crazy. They're attacking everybody and everything up here. 

All we have is this. 

Sporks. Enough is enough! I have had it with these mother snakes on this mother spike! Everybody ready? 

Uh... Snakes on a plane. Really? It was more popular than it should have been, really. The #1 in the US box office. 

FBI agent escorting a key witness from Hawaii to LA to testify against a powerful crime boss. To stop him reaching court, hundreds of venomous snakes are deliberately released onto a passenger plane, turning a routine flight into a fight for survival in 30,000 feet. starring Samuel L. Jackson, obviously there. Nathan Phillips, who's an Australian actor as Sean Jones. 

Nathan, sure. 

Juliana Margulies as Claire Miller. I didn't know this at the time. I do remember the lead up to the release though. There was just so much talk and hype and promo and also a little bit of a serious? Like, is this for real? There was a lot of what the. 

This is pre-Sharknado, right? 

It is. 

This is one of the first ones that was like, we realize it's absurd. And you know, it's so absurd that it's good sort of thing. But I think you're trying to force, when you force the it's so absurd, it's good, it's not authentic. And as a consequence, it just ends up being trash. 

But I don't think they were trying to promo it as it's so absurd, it's good. I think they just. this is the thing though. This is what I didn't know. The internet actually influenced how this movie ended up being. 

Really? Do you think that maybe some executives are like, oh, we are way over our heads with this film. We've spent money on Samuel L. Jackson. We've got Julie Anne Marjolese in there. At least we've got the cheap Australian as well. So that sort of saved us a bit of money there. 

Megan was a bargain. 

We're up to our **** in CGI Snakes. How do we get out of this hole? And maybe they just decided to go, let's throw it open to the internet. 

Let's see what the fans think. Let's get some fanfic. It was originally a fairly standard action thriller. 

Yeah. 

But early internet forums and blogs started to get obsessed with the title. 

Yeah. 

The title Snakes on a Plane actually was a working title. They were thinking of changing it to something like flight number blah blah. He was like, I only took the script because of what it was called. 

And that's why the internet went crazy about it. 

And everybody was like, snakes on a plane. What is this about? And there was a lot of. 

I think it's fairly obvious. 

And online hype. There were fan posters. So there actually was a bit of fan fit going on. There was fan posters. There were songs, there were memes. There was even a fake trailer. Two friends, pre-release, two friends produce a mock-up trailer for the film, allegedly. I am a buffoon, so I'm going to throw an allegedly in there. 

But is this one of those stories where you like you hope it's true? 

I really hope it's true and I found it on a few sources. I double checked a few sources. So I'm feeling fairly confident. Chris Rowan and Nathaniel Perry worked at an audio production company that did audio books and they also also produced audio trailers. So they know their way around a bit of voiceover, bit of music, sound effects, bit of audio engineering. They decided to make a mock audio trailer for the film, extrapolating what they imagined the plot to be purely based on the fact that it's called Snakes on a Plane and Samuel L. Jackson is in it. 

Right, but they had no knowledge of. 

Nothing else has been released at this stage. 

Just the title and a little bit of internet hype and the fact that Samuel L. 

Jackson's got their recording equipment and they just went for it. 

First I will put my army of snakes into a box and then I will put that box on a plane. Then I will release the snakes and there will be snakes on the plane. And Then that will happen, and I will ruin the world! They will let you put snakes on the plane? 'Cause no one suspects the snakes. 

Their plan would have worked. 

I'm sorry, no pets are allowed on the plane. 

But these are just snakes. OK then. But they didn't count on one thing. The one and only bad mother Samuel L. Jackson. 

What the mother hell? I did not ask for mother stinks on my mother blade. 

Oh. So you know how they've got him at the end there. 

Yes. 

With the line. 

That's them. 

So. So that line wasn't written as part of the film. 

No, they've put it in the trailer because they know he has a penchant for swearing. They know he loves a. 

Yeah, right. So now. 

MFFR word. 

Yeah. So this obviously had some kind of influence over the end product. 

If the story is true, this allegedly becomes a big hit. online, part of the hype surrounding the film. I know this is true. So the film was filmed in 2005. In 2006, they decided to go back for some reshoots. Not to fix any problems, but they wanted to add more graphic scenes to. 

Take it from PG to R. Which seems really counterintuitive because that's going to limit your audience significantly at the box office. 

Well, it was kind of borderline already. 

Having said that, this is #1 at the US box office this week. So in, well, 20 years ago, that's the concept as a podcast. 

They added more swearing, more gore, more nudity, and more over the top snake deaths because everyone was like, this is going to be nuts. So they're like, let's make it nuts. And allegedly, that is when Samuel L. Jackson the now iconic line, I've had it with these snakes on this plane. 

Well, the producer, and I wonder, I wonder because the producer, because money, because copyright, because I don't want to be paying anyone anything that I don't have to. He's basically said, look, the internet did not dictate the whole film. The internet did not dictate the whole film. They did listen to fans. They did add the scenes. But the decision to go for the R rating, you know, because most of the R rating, I think, actually would have come from the language. 

Yeah. 

Like, it's not that bad, the movie. But like, it's bad. That's not what I mean. You know what I mean. But so the R rating, they reckon, came from the filmmakers themselves who thought that it was going to be on the edge of an R anyway. 

But they didn't deny, they didn't deny that the Taylor influenced it. They said they listened to fans and they added scenes. 

Yes. 

So I hope it's true. 

Yeah, now, well, yeah, look, it would be good. And I feel like it's certainly, if it is true, it's one of the first ones to kind of set the course for that. Because people, you know, they do rally around stuff on the, I mean, look at the Snyder cut, release the Snyder cut, you know. That's sort of the best example of the internet getting their own way, for the right reasons too, because Snyder Cut was a far superior film to Justice League, but that's a conversation for another time. So this is #1 at the US box office, but despite all of this and despite the groundswell of conversation around it, just around the title, it didn't really perform that well at the box office. And I think it was because people were like, I am not mother paying to go and see mother snakes on a mother plane. Okay, book time. Books we didn't, I actually saw snakes on a plane. I don't think I saw it at the cinema though. 

I feel like you hired it at Blockbuster. 

Yeah, might have. 

Should have probably. You had all those late fees, and then you had to go and hire them from a different video store. 

Shamed out of the video store. 

Didn't have to pay the fine. 

Yeah, well, it wasn't as bad as like the library. 

So probably cost more than going to the movies. 

We're not in the video library, we're in the book library. 

At least it's free there. Well, if you bring the book back late at the library, you just get rousted on and shamed. You don't have to pay money, do you? I feel I think you get fines. I think they just give you a look. You get the look. 

I think I'd rather pay the money. 

You get the look. Like that date stamp. That said last week. 

What are you doing? Exactly right. It's just very, there's a lot of shame attached to that. We're talking about books we didn't read though, because we were too ashamed. 

Didn't read it. Judge and jury. But my brain keeps saying, Lucy, reading this is Judge Judy. Yes, Judge Judy. And I just had a wonderful thought about Judge Judy. And then when I used to stay home sick and watch her getting up people for stupid things like splitting up the beanie babies when the couples separated and yeah. 

That was on Judge Judy. 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was. They had a big pile and they had to separate the beanie babies. 

No, this is Judge and Jury. Judge and Jury. And this is a co-authored book. 

James Patterson. Yeah. And Andrew, I'm going to say gross, you say grouse. Gross. 

Gross. 

Oh, you say gross. I don't know if I'm a fan. 

Of the book yet. Let's, well, this is a, it's a legal one. So. 

That's very Judge Judy, isn't it? 

Annie DeGrasse, an aspiring actress and single mom, is not your typical juror. Hoping to get dismissed from the pool, she tells the judge that most of her legal knowledge comes from a bit part curling around a stripper's pole in The Sopranos. But she still ends up as juror number 11 in a landmark trial against a notorious mob boss. The case quickly becomes the new trial of the century. Mafia don Dominic Cavello, known as the electrician, is linked to hundreds of gruesome, unspeakable crimes. Senior FBI agent Nick Pelissante has been tracking him for years. He knows Cavallo's power reaches far beyond the courtroom, but the FBI's evidence against the ruthless killer is ironclad. Conviction is a sure thing. As the jury is about to reach a verdict, the electrician makes 1 devastating move that no one could have predicted. The entire nation is and Andy's world is shattered. For her, the hunt for the electrician becomes personal and she and Pelissante come together in an unbreakable team that will exact justice at any cost. I've, yeah, I just, I don't know. I like the tone of that. I think that it just makes it more palatable. I think it could be a really fun book. Bit gruesome. 

But I think if you're going to be a juror. 

Really. 

You want a good case. If you're going to give up your time to do jury duty, you want something a bit meaty, don't you? want something interesting. 

You really do. 

So that sounded like a good one. That sounded like a good one to do. 

Yeah, you don't want to get a boring one. You don't want anything too gruesome as well. 

That's true. 

I mean, I mean. 

Somewhere in the middle. 

This music, it sounds like we're probably trying to reach some kind of settlement between Woody and Buzz in course. 

Or Beanie Babies. 

Yes, perhaps, speaking of Beanie Babies. There you go, exactly. people, people, did they like it or not? 

Patrick Gibson, two stars. 

Oh, that's not even, that's not even a low pass. 

Recommended for a plane ride or waiting in the dentist office. 

Right, where you're a captive audience, you've got nowhere else to go. Jeff, two stars. An entertaining read on vacation book. It seemed that everyone in Cabo was reading this while I was and we all left our copies at the Tower Cabana when we finished it. I saw at least 4 copies there on my last day. It must have been popular at the time for a holiday. Yeah. 

Francis Two Stars pulled it off the shelf at an airport and I'm now convinced I would have been better off trolling through the in-flight mags for garden trolls in Lord of the Rings Nerdom Abilia. Nerdamobilia, Francis Two Stars. I like that. I'm really liking how all of these reviews are about where you should read it. 

All right. 

On a plane ride, the dentist, at the pool at Cabo. No one's saying anything about the actual book, just where you should be reading it. 

It's a location-based read. 

It's a location, yeah. 

Isn't that nice? Scott Munstar. The cover has an image of someone running. I don't suggest you try and read it while you're running. I think this is a good representation of what people should do. Run away from this book as fast as you can. Oh, Scott's very quick-witted Scott one star. Yeah. Nice. 

Joshua Smeltzer. I bet he's. Do yourself a favour and just find a 14 year old's Call of Duty fanfic. It will be more rewarding and just as well written. 

Oh, with extra tea bags. All right, we're just about to wrap it up. It is time for the Hatches Matches and Dispatches Clues. a celebrity of sorts. Would you say they're a celebrity? Well, they're famous. 

Yes, absolutely. 

Big famous celebrity, a well-known person having a birthday this week that said this. 

I didn't really grow up with my dad. I didn't really, you know, when I was really little, we got to spend a little bit of time. When he started, you know, obviously the family with the Kardashian family and all that, I didn't really see much of him. 

Interested in this celebrity, clearly. 

Not particularly. If you said Brody Jenner. Brody Jenner. 

I don't think I've heard Brody, because I didn't really watch The Hills. 

Before influencers were influenced. 

John Laguna, he was in the Laguna one, wasn't he? I know, wasn't Laguna. whatever the one was before the hills. 

Yeah, Brody Jenner. He's famous. 

I think I've only ever seen him. I don't think I've heard him talk. And that's not what I expected his voice to sound like based on what he looks like. 

But isn't that funny? You've never heard him talk. 

No, because I didn't watch, yeah, Laguna Beach, I think it was. 

He's famous for being. 

Famous. 

Brody Jenner. Famous for being famous. The influencer, this is pre-influencer, but this is the precursor to the influencer culture. So it's not, is he ground zero? Like if we went back in time and somehow were able to remove Brody Jenner from the timeline or at least try and influence the trajectory of his life and slash career, would that then create some kind? 

Of butterfly effect we can blame all of this on Ryan Seacrest to be honest. Let's start at the beginning. Brody, son of Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner, who was Bruce Jenner obviously at the time, and actress Linda Thompson, half-brother to Kendall and Kylie Jenner, stepbrother to the Kardashians, and kind of sits in the middle. He's kind of in the middle of the famous families. I don't think he spends a lot, I think he's made appearances here and there on the Kardashians, but I don't think he's ever been really a central character, just wafts in from time to time. In 2005, he stars in a reality show called The Prince, The Princes, sorry, not Princess, The Princes, Prince Plural of Malibu. It's a reality show about him and his brother Brandon living in Malibu with music producer David Foster. Show was crap, no one watched it, bombed. 

Yeah. 

One of the producers of that show was Seacrest out. 

Oh, Ryan Seacrest. Who saw potential from American Idol, the radio announcer? 

Yes, Ryan Seacrest, because remember he moved into production. 

So he saw potential. 

In Brody, which led to Brody joining either the Hills or Laguna Beach. I thought he was Laguna Beach, but maybe he was the Hills, one of them. He becomes Lauren's love interest. and then later dates Kristen Cavalieri. That must be Laguna Beach, because that's when they were fighting over him, weren't they? 

Well, he was kind of famous because he was made famous because they spoke about him. He was like an entity. 

Yes, there was lots of fighting over Brody. 

So he was a celebrity amongst the reality TV celebrities. So he's reality TV people famous. As in the people that are in the reality TV show think he's famous because he's Brody Jenner. But no one else knows who he is. You haven't even heard him speak. 

I haven't heard him speak. Oh, here we go. He wasn't on Laguna Beach. He was on the Hills. There you go. He was on the spin-off. But I do recall Lauren and Kristen fighting over him. It was a thing. It was a thing. And that's how I know him, just because of the thing. He basically becomes one of the first professional reality TV celebrities. Not a singer, not an actor, not an athlete. 

Just him, just Brody. 

Famous for causing love triangles. 

Yeah. Isn't that weird? 

And well, everyone thought he was good looking as well. 

Yeah, that's weird. 

He's got a chiseled jaw. 

Does he? 

Chiseled jawline. 

Yeah, is it real? 

Very chiseled, probably not. 

I mean, because his sister's got a chiseled jaw as well, but I'm fairly sure that was done by a tradie. Somewhere along the line. A licensed tradesperson, plastic surgeon, same thing. 

So Lauren, I think Lauren and Brodie were dating at some point, but then later he admits a lot of it was played up for the television, which we know from our friend Ryan. 

Reality TV is scripted. 

Because he was on it. Ryan Cabrera was telling us that it was a lot. 

Of it was fake. We're not friends with Seacrest. No, he's too powerful to know us. 

Yes. I think he'd like us. 

You reckon? 

Yeah, he might think we're buffoons, but it's still he tolerate us. He's spoken. Lauren has also spoken about how heavily produced the show. Well, so I don't know that they were ever actually in love or ever actually dated. He has been linked to her, Kristen. He's been linked to Avril Lavigne, Nicole Richie. He was engaged to Caitlin Carter. I think they thought they were married, but they didn't get married in the right place or signed the right thing, so they ended up not being married, but that was okay because they separated. 

Is that, is that, was that his most recent? 

Caitlin Carter, yes. And she was the one that went off and had a, well, an alleged fling with, was it Miley Cyrus when Miley was going through her girl? 

Oh, right, okay. Because I don't know if that was cool. Isn't there some controversy about Brody's dad not going to the wedding? 

Yeah, that was the Caitlin wedding. 

Which makes sense, because I mean, 2 Caitlin's. 

That's confusing. 

You're gonna get confused with the place cards. I mean, is Dad sitting on the table, like on the main table? with the Caitlin card and then the other Caitlin card, they're going to get their seats mixed up. It's just awkward. So I think out of respect, Caitlin Jenner didn't attend, which didn't sit very well with Brodie. He was quite upset about it. 

Very upset. 

Yeah. But I mean, yeah, well, how weird would that be, marrying someone with the same name as your dad? Anyway, that's it. That's all we've got time for this week. It's just something to ponder. It's like thought for the day, you know. I think there's something in that for all of us, don't you? That's all we've got time for. 

Yes, I think that probably for the best. We'd like to know what's happening next week. 

Sure. 

Let's just figure it out. Oh, a big game release, Roblox. Can you believe that? It's 20 years. Kids love that, don't they? They don't even know what it is. 

I don't know. I think it was like Minecraft before Minecraft. Yeah, there's a whole movement for Roblox. 

We found some missing paintings. 

That's important. But from a heist that we'd actually discussed a few years prior. 

Yes, that's right. 

Which will be very interesting. 

Circling back. 

We are. 

The VMAs were on. 

Yep. Oh, that's always a show. So that'll be good, the VMAs, the MTV Music Awards. 

It's been a while, but we're going to go to the German charts. 

Really. 

We still have the listener from Hess. They've never reached out, but they're still in the stats. 

Maybe that's the copyright bot just sitting there in its little area at Hess, like a little Maybe. Parked over in Hess, and then as soon as any copyright stuff leaks out onto the internet, it just pulls out. 

Maybe it's fact-checking us for buffoonery. Maybe it's keeping notes on how buffoonish we've been. 

Gonna have its work cut out for it this week, isn't it? Go and find us on the socials, look for T-minus 20 podcast, Instagram, Facebook, probably your two best locations to find us. And thanks just for supporting us and putting up with our buffoonery. We'll see you next week. 

See you. 

Thanks for taking the time to rewind. Join us next time for another week that was 20 years ago. In the meantime, come and reminisce on the socials. Search for T-minus 20 podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.