About this episode

Kate discusses the implications of reality TV on personal trauma with guest Sam Dalton.

This week, Kate is breaking her hiatus for a special report recorded before Thursday's news that ABC was scrapping TFP's season of The Bachelorette. Ultimately, she decided this episode was still a relevant conversation to have, given that she and her guest (Sam Dalton, LCSW @sam.the.therapistt) talked through the systems and cycles that made this week's fallout unsurprising long before the video leaked. Together, they unpack the rose colored glass ceiling of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, where women perform rebellion without ever actually leaving the structures that constrain them. They discuss how ABC and Hulu built a cross-platform content pipeline on top of a woman's unresolved trauma, why the show's premise was always rooted in Taylor's reactivity, the pattern of Dakota's strategic sabotage, what it means when healing requires the opposite of what reality TV rewards, and the uncomfortable question of why so many of us, Kate included, glossed over a 2023 aggravated assault charge that was packaged as the starting point of a redemption arc. Content note: this episode discusses domestic violence, child abuse allegations, and toxic relationship dynamics. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS…

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