The week in audio: Why Do You Hate Me?: USA; The Louis Theroux Podcast; Split Screen: Thrill Seekers; Where Should We Begin? – review

Why Do You Hate Me?: USA (BBC Radio 4) | BBC Sounds
The Louis Theroux Podcast: Mia Khalifa (Spotify) | ApplePodcasts
Split Screen: Thrill Seekers (CBC/Love+Radio/Vespucci) | Apple Podcasts Where Should We Begin? With Esther Perel (estherperel.com)

“I hate Trump, she likes him – we both think he staged assassination attempts.” An arresting quote that was widely reported in the press last week. It came from the BBC disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring’s Radio 4 series Why Do You Hate Me?: USA, a run-up-to-the-US-election show. In its first episode, we meet Camille (no second name given) and “Wild Mother” (no real name given). The latter came to support Donald Trump via a now well-worn route of wellness, natural medicine and Covid cynicism. Camille, from the other side of the political divide, just hates the orange blowhard. But both think there was something fishy about the attempts on Trump’s life (particularly the first one): Camille believing that Trump staged it to become more popular and Wild Mother reckoning that the QAnon movement staged it in order to “frame the deep state”. She burbles about a “white hat operation to put Trump on the map for those who weren’t paying attention”. Hmm.

I am, as I’ve mentioned before, becoming a little tired of audio series that investigate conspiracy loons, particularly ones from the US. There are a lot of such programmes and the subject’s gold rush reminds me of TV docs in the 1990s/00s, where a quirky UK journalist (Jon Ronson, Louis Theroux, someone else) would go to the US to make a show about porn stars, or religious cults, or preppers. These series were essentially funny freak shows and there have been similar “boggle at the weird people” approaches in these audio conspiracy investigations. So I was dubious about this series – conspiracists hate mainstream media so why bother yet again giving them so much space on it. My bad. What’s refreshing about Spring is that she doesn’t make conspiracists or online haters seem like freaks, but like something far more normal. Her careful, low-key hosting makes us understand that these people aren’t odd for the sake of it, but because of the world they live in. The most compelling quote in the first two episodes: “It’s social media’s world and the election is just living in it.”

Speaking of Theroux, he’s back again with his award-winning The Louis Theroux Podcast. It’s the third post-BBC series. Theroux’s USP is, of course, that he’s unthreatening even when asking personal questions; but it’s also his choice of interviewees. He likes to talk to people who he doesn’t naturally understand, such as YouTubers or influencers – which means he occasionally sounds like a bewildered dad, but we all like that about him. His subject for his opening episode was Mia Khalifa, who I’d not heard of but, it turns out, is enormously famous, with millions of social media followers, most of whom heard about her because she was reportedly the first porn star to wear a hijab (while in a threesome – though, as Theroux says: “I’m not sure that’s important”). In a sprawling interview, they cover toxic relationships, war in the Middle East (Khalifa is Lebanese-American), boarding schools, autism, shame. Khalifa proved hard to listen to – her voice is constantly turned up to 11 and she has her self-analysis down pat – but Theroux managed to get some interesting stuff out of her. In a crowded sleb-interview market, Theroux is still one of the best.

Here’s another series that, at first sight, seems to be treading a familiar road. Over six episodes, Split Screen: Thrill Seekers unpacks an old UK reality show, one made in the 00s, but whose name is kept under wraps for the first few episodes. The truth behind old reality shows has been told in series such as Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera, The Bachelor of Buckingham Palace and The Price of Paradise. But what makes this different is that it’s a Love+Radio series – its first ever! – and is hosted by Nick van der Kolk, who, as we hardcore L+R fans know, is one of podcasting’s true stars. He gets interviewees to reveal themselves in a way that others can’t and he tells a story like nobody else. His speciality is the unexpected twist, the sudden reveal, the “wtf!” surprise; this, plus the immersive sound treatment of his shows, makes for a unique audio experience (there’s the surprising delight – for UK listeners – of Johnny Vaughan’s voice being repeated back in an echo).

The story here is the experience of four of the contestants on the reality show, including Louise, an upbeat PE teacher from Kent, Steve, a wry northerner and Ryan, a charismatic Scot. We join our motley but engaging crew as they progress through the whole process of the show: the auditions, the reveal of what the show is, the intense tasks they have to go through. There are times when I shouted out loud at their daftness and gullibility, but that’s easy to do when you’re listening, as opposed to taking part. As absorbing as ever from Van der Kolk.

Finally, just enough room for another podcast stalwart, relationship therapist Esther Perel of Where Should We Begin?, who’s made a one-off episode with Miranda July, author of All Fours. Those two names together in one show are guaranteed to get women of a certain age excited and this is a revealing conversation (all Perel’s conversations are revelatory). July’s recent book is about a fortysomething woman taking charge of her life in a way that seems to go against the marriage-children grain. Perel, in just a few beautifully accented words, gets July to reassess her own personal notions of freedom, stability and desire. Not to change them, but to understand how they work with and against each other. Recommended.