Something About Miriam | 1
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Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all six episodes of Harsh Reality, The Story of Miriam Rivera ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. A listener note. This episode contains adult content and transphobic language. There are times in history when men will do anything for a woman, and certain women who can inspire the most outrageous behavior in men. Helen of Troy was one of those women.

The ancient Greeks told a story about Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Half mortal, half god. Her father was Zeus, the king of the gods, who shapeshifted into the form of a swan to seduce her mother. And Helen, the child of that unfortunate encounter, hatched from an egg. When it came time for Helen to marry, it was a bit of a circus. Guys came from all over. There was competition. There were challenges.

But in the end, there could only be one winner. And no sooner is Helen married than she's swept off across the sea. By force? By love? We don't know. Honestly, Helen's side of the story tends to get lost in the shuffle of all this boy drama. And then, all hell breaks loose. War. Thousands of men suffer and die in Helen's name. But the myth of Helen isn't just an ancient Greek thing. Every era has its Helens.

Bombshells who start wars and end up in the tabloids. Enigmatic femme fatales who stay enigmatic.

and who drive men crazy. We were off our tits. We had an absolute party. We're not in ancient Greece anymore, Toto. We're in a hotel room, and it's 2003. And as with any story that's been told and retold, twisted and untwisted, a little exaggeration here, a little zhuzh there, the details are a little fuzzy. ♪

I think we all got involved with smashing up the place. And when I say smashed up, I think the TV didn't last long in the room. In this version, there are sheets on the floor, blankets, pillows torn apart, feathers flying. Wall paintings, pictures, beds, everything. In this version, there's a total frenzy of breaking everything that can possibly be broken. And that's just one version of the story. We're talking mythology, right?

A myth about a bunch of boys who got all worked up over a woman, started a fight, and let her side of the story get lost in the mists of time. At this point, nobody quite remembers it the same way. It was 20 years ago, after all. But they all remember the feeling, the anger, the sense of betrayal. They just couldn't shake it.

It stayed there, like acid in their stomachs. You know, they'd stitch us up. We're going to stitch them up as best we can. And I was like, you motherfuckers have fucked with the wrong people. We may never clear the mythic haze on this one.

But we can at least remember that we're not talking about Greek heroes. We're talking about a bunch of sweaty 20-year-olds in a hotel room, hungover from days and days of drinking and dancing, skin glowing from too many weeks in the sun, and headaches that have stopped responding to ibuprofen. And then we were sleeping on the floor, pretty much on a mattress. It was pretty chaotic. They definitely aren't Greek warriors, but they do have their hell in them.

And her name is Miriam Rivera. Miriam knew what she was doing. She knew how to sell it. She was drop dead stunning. She wanted fame. She had decided to be a superstar. And I remember sitting there thinking, my heart's sinking, going, oh my God, darling, this isn't going to work out the way you think it's going to. This is going to be an absolute disaster.

There was something about her that didn't add up. There was a couple of jokes made at Miriam's expense. And then they start with, "That fucking bitch, I'm gonna fucking kill her." The British tabloid press ripped her apart. I start getting sick to my stomach. I'm shaking like a leaf. She was attacked, assaulted and attacked. "This can't be true. There's no way." And, um, it was true.

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I'm Dan Taberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. What's the answer? And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?

Hysterical, a new podcast from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad-free on Wondery+. From Wondery and Novel, I'm Trace Lissette. And this is Harsh Reality, episode one of six, Something About Miriam. The first time I spoke with Miriam Rivera must have been around 2002 or 2003. Miriam and I moved to New York around the same time.

We ran in the same circles and we were both part of the ballroom scene. And I'd seen her out at places like Club Cheetah and Limelight, but I hadn't spoken to her before. Then one night, I was standing in the bathroom at Limelight after it reopened. These clubs were one of the only places where you could go in those days if you were queer to be celebrated and to be seen. So I was standing in front of the mirror touching up my makeup and our eyes met as she was fixing her ponytail. I felt the way most people felt when they met her.

She was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. She was like Selma Hayek's stunning, the kind of pretty that's mesmerizing. "You're beautiful, mama," she said. "You never know what you're gonna get when you meet another one of the girls, you know?" And in that moment, I felt like she threw out a gesture of kindness to me. I saw her and she saw me. A few years later, her face was all over the newspapers and magazine covers.

She was trying to do something none of us had really dared dream about. This is the story of a TV show and the lives it changed. It's a story about what it means when the world isn't ready for you to be who you are. It starts in 2003. Just outside London, surrounded by parks and playing fields, is a mass of concrete buildings, offices, and television studios.

These are the headquarters of Sky, the British arm of Rupert Murdoch's TV empire. In one of these spacious offices, TV commissioning editor Jo Pilkington sits at her desk. She's straight-talking to the point with a killer instinct for stories that sell. As commissioner, Jo needed shows that were going to get people talking and willing to pay for cable.

Sky needed to make really noisy shows to get itself heard. It really had to pack a punch with any new commissions. Sky offered Jo the freedom to push boundaries. And today, she's thinking about one particular type of show, a new genre, one that's pulling in massive audiences. ♪

Tonight, the first person will be voted out of the Big Brother house and it's up to you to decide who stays and who goes. Four committed couples are about to test the strength of their relationships. Will they still be together after 12 days on Temptation Island? This is shattered. Over the next week, 10 people are going to go without sleep. Nobody knows whether this can be done or what will happen. Back then, reality TV was taken off.

It felt electric and raw. It was alive. There was cruelty. There was melodrama. There was sex and mess and unpredictability. It got people talking. Exactly what Joe needed.

We were doing our own British versions of US shows like Fear Factor, Temptation Island. And then the shows that we commissioned really needed to hold their own. The bar was high. Joe listened to pitch after pitch, searching for the right mix of fresh and familiar. Outrageous, but not off-putting. It was high risk. A mega hit could get you on the front page of one of Murdoch's newspapers, bringing in millions of pounds and masses of viewers.

Or you could get stuck with an expensive flop. And if you were Joe, that flop might cost you your job. So when it came to pitches, Joe wasn't looking for good. She was looking for revolutionary. And so when the impeccably dressed creative director of a hit production company arrived in Joe's office pitching a dating show, she was skeptical.

The bar was set quite high in dating shows, and we thought, well, what's next? What can supersede this? It started out like any number of romance-based series. Six eligible bachelors, all competing for one glamorous woman. So far, pretty average. But then the producer told Joe the twist.

And Jo knew this was it. It was an exciting idea. It was very exciting. It was breaking new territory. I knew that it would do what Sky wanted to do, which was make a noise. So soon enough, the show was greenlit, and it was time to begin casting. Oh, my God.

The ballroom at Café Royale, a luxury hotel in central London. The vibe is tacky, majestic chic. The floor is carpeted in red plush with gold swirls, and the tall, wide windows draped in gold overlook Piccadilly Circus, where mad traffic crawls along under brightly flashing billboards. And inside, a crowd of men are waiting for their shot to be one of the lucky contestants on a show that they've been told is called...

Find me a man. The place is crawling with young male prospects. Looking sharp, looking nervous, standing around in small groups, getting to know each other without wanting to get too close. After all, they're competition. There are loads of them. Young men from all over England who figured they'd take a shot for love, for fame, for a cash prize. Men like Aaron.

It must have only been an inch-by-inch advert, really tiny. Three weeks in the sun, had the chance of winning £10,000 and dating a hot model. That was it, and a telephone number. I was straight on the phone. With his dark curly hair, a slim physique, and cute glasses, he knew he'd always been considered pretty good with the ladies. He figured, why not? Then there was Toby. Lanky, with a boyish energy and a grin that won't quit.

He'd just returned from a year and a half of travelling, and he was at a loose end. I found my mother had signed me up in a newspaper if I fancy chatting up a super hot young model, apply here. And then there was Tom. Somebody called me up and said, hey, I'm a researcher. We've got this show coming up. You know, would you be interested?

Tom was tall, good looking and a lifeguard. They kind of sold it to me a bit and there was this prize money and they said it was kind of a dating show and I thought, well, I'm single. Maybe I'll, you know, meet somebody and maybe I'll get some prize money and have some fun and let me just check my diary. Oh, I don't even have one. Yeah, sure, I'll come. And they were like, OK, well, if you could come up to London, we'd love to meet you. So I said, yeah, go on and I'll do it. And that's where it sort of began.

At one end of the ballroom is a table stacked with legal pads and headshots. That's where the TV producers sit. One by one, they bring up the guys and have them perform for the cameras. It's basically a talent show. There are shirtless dances, songs sung in falsetto, bull whips, backflips. Tom read a poem he wrote. Toby dressed up in his military uniform and offered the production team champagne.

Aaron fumbled through a comedy routine. For starters, I'm going to whip up something sweet and savory. And then for main course, the model is going to get my meat and two veg. I remember just everybody being really funny and having really good party tricks. We just went for it. Harmless so far, right? Well, not so fast.

These people know what they're doing. They get you there, they play a few games to get you relaxed, and it just gets you sort of up for anything and in the mood. You kind of just get used to it throughout the day, and you get used to the cameras, or even just get to the point where you forget the cameras are there. And it was at this point that the producers brought in a psychologist, who started asking the guys questions, personal questions, mainly focused on their sex lives.

They'd be asking us really peculiar questions. You know, how many people have you had sex with? Was it both with a woman and a man? They asked what your sexual preference was, which at the time I don't think was a particular question I'd ever had asked of me. One particular question that's always stuck with me. How would you feel if your best friend and your mum got together? Where was all this going?

These questions were all part of a plan to find guys who were open to ideas exploring their sexuality. Which was a bit of a taboo at the time. What were the boundaries of that? That's why all these men had been selected. It's why they were all there that day at the Café Royale. The producers knew that, but the men, they had no idea.

As the day went on, the number of prospects dwindled as the producers made their cuts. The group got smaller and smaller. Only the most outgoing, the most confident, the most up for it remained, including Aaron, Toby, and Tom. There was like 30 or 40 of us left. The producers ushered the finalists into a new room. They had like this catwalk. A row of chairs run up and down either side. Close, really close, to the runway.

The guys all take their seats. They give us a clipboard. I think it was just listed model one, model two, model three. They're told to watch the models walk and give each one a hotness grade. Ew. And then the music starts. And then they had these women, not wearing a lot, individually walk down this catwalk and basically parade themselves to us like cattle at a market. The women walk, stop,

Turn. Stop. Walk. Hand on hip. A hair flip or two. And the guys all sit there, knees spread, some with their feet up on the runway. In the bright overhead light of the hotel ballroom, it all feels a bit off. The guys don't know whether to grin or look serious, to return eye contact or keep their eyes on the models' bodies. The form is pretty detailed. There are multiple categories.

rating a person between sexual attractiveness, like a one night stand, marriage potential, would you have a great party with her or something like that. It's been a weird day. And this is just one more strange thing the producers have asked the guys to do. So they just do what they're told.

Now, thinking about it, it's not only embarrassing, it's quite shameful. I'd like to think that my current self, if I was ever in that situation and that was asked of me, not only would I refuse, but I would definitely vocalize my opinions. It was really crass. Horrible. A lot of things about the next few months will look pretty different in retrospect. But for now, the producers gather their notes, slip notepads into briefcases, the ballroom is emptying out...

and the housekeeping crew is getting ready to pick up the debris. Tom, Aaron and Toby are released into the London night. A few days later, they get the call. Someone said, hey, you know, we'd love to have you on the show. This is what happens next. Give us a few weeks and then we'll fly you out to Spain and screw your life over.

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Most Americans think they spend about $62 per month on subscriptions. But get this, the real number is closer to $300. That is literally thousands of dollars a year, half of which you've probably forgotten about. Thankfully, Rocket Money can find a bunch of subscriptions you've forgotten all about and then help you cancel the ones you don't want anymore. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions,

monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's features.

Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash wondery. That's rocketmoney.com slash wondery. rocketmoney.com slash wondery. Around the same time as that casting call, Dom Bowles arrived at a sleek office on the 10th floor of a tower block in South London.

I got a call from Bryce of Pictures, who I didn't know anything about really. Went down to the offices in Brixton for an interview. It all seemed standard stuff. This is pre-gentrification Brixton. It's still considered one of London's rougher neighborhoods, at least by mainstream TV execs, which is maybe why the founders of this company chose to set up shop here.

Dom's a veteran reality TV producer, and after working at Disney for years, he moved into TV production. He's just finished shooting The Villa, another show where a group of sexy singles flirt and fuck and do their thing while cameras record all the drama. He's a safe pair of hands for any reality TV project, but he doesn't know much about this series.

He knows it's a dating show, and he knows it'll be shot in some sunny, beautiful place. And he knows it's being made to air on Sky TV. The show seemed like a very fun-in-the-sun reality type show, sort of a dating challenge, I suppose you'd call it. It almost felt like, "Yep, I can do this." When he arrives, he's brought to meet the founders of the company. Remy Blumenfeld is dapper, slender, with dark hair and penetrating hazel eyes. He was born in Paris.

has a posh accent, and loves a well-tailored suit. Gavin Hay, on the other hand, is English. He's warm, gravelly voiced. He's muscular, with a close-cropped goatee and buzzed hair. If he looks familiar, it's because after leaving Brighter Pictures, he would go on to star in a whole slew of mid-2000s porn films under the name Trojan Rock. But that's another story.

These two are partners in business and in life too. They'd started this company in a bedroom in Brixton 10 years earlier, hell-bent on breaking boundaries. Gay men in a mostly straight industry. They'd since become one of the UK's top TV companies. They'd created Flava, the UK's first black music show, dipped into reality TV, and then of course they made Naked Elvis.

the show where Elvis impersonators, with various degrees of Elvis-likeness, strip for a live audience. The time's come for him to get his trousers off, so if you would like to see more, please cheer now. Dom passes long rows of desks, lined with brand new Apple Macs, clear with turquoise backs. On each desk is a cup of branded turquoise pens, with the name of their company printed on the side, Writer Pictures.

In the conference room, they have Dom sign a non-disclosure agreement. Standard practice. Then they switch on a screen. I was shown a video of Miriam. In my world, we all know Miriam. We all know how captivating she is. So I have no trouble imagining what Dom was thinking, looking at her. For one thing, she's beautiful. The camera loves her. She could be a movie star.

Straight, glossy black hair, the latest designer shades perched on top of her head, long, tan legs for days. But a lot of people are beautiful. Miriam is magnetic. At the time, she was 21, living in New York and working as a model. You can tell from her smile that she's got a sense of humor. She's flirting with the camera, turning and walking away, answering questions about her hobbies. Watching the footage, it's hard not to love her. The video ends.

Dom nods. You see a lot of these screen test videos when you work in TV, but Dom can tell there's something special about Miriam. He looks over at Remy, who is watching him intently. Is he missing something? You know, didn't have a clue what was going on until Remy said, well, the thing is, she's got a cock. And then I realized everything was a bit different. And that's the show. That's the pitch Jo Pilkington had heard in her office at Sky.

The one that's going to upend reality TV as we know it, push the culture forward, excavate the profound and twisted depths of male sexuality. The show that's going to be a hit. In the name of the show, there's something about Miriam. Six open-minded liberal guys will spend three steamy weeks in an island paradise with Miriam. They'll complete challenges, go on dates, and try to win her heart. One by one, she'll send them home.

She'll choose a winner. And then she'll tell him, on national TV, what the producers have been making her keep to herself. The cameras will be rolling, the lucky winner's face in frame, and everyone watching at home will wait with bated breath to see what he'll say next. And that, boys and girls, is entertainment. ♪

There'd be nothing like it before. It was a completely new idea. You have to remember, back in those days, trans people did not really appear on television. They certainly didn't appear in dating shows. In fact, despite what Joe Pilkington says, we did appear on television. Audiences tuned in to watch talk show after talk show with headlines like, My girlfriend is a man. Transsexual shockers. Audiences never got tired of them.

Of course, Gavin and Remi, like Joe, are convinced that the show they're going to make is nothing like that tacky daytime trash TV. Remi would later say that, "Just by casting a trans person in the title role, we were helping the audience to get to know one trans character very well." And while today, that in itself might not be groundbreaking, at the time, it felt important. I think, probably to my shame, I just thought, "Oh, this is funny."

What a great idea. I don't think trans rights was a big thing back then. My job as a series director was very much just to capture the action and make it look great. It was another job in the sun. Dom was one of the first to arrive on the Spanish party island of Ibiza. It was the perfect location for the dating show. A short flight from London, great weather, and picture-perfect backdrops. He pulled up at the top of a hill. And there it was.

a sort of resplendent, if slightly kitsch white villa overlooking the island. And I thought, "We're not going to do any better than this." The villa was perched on a mountainside. Big white walls, a huge patio with a swimming pool and views stretching out over the bay. It looked very glamorous. Actually, if you looked up close, it was a slightly faded splendor, but certainly I knew on camera when lit it would look fantastic.

I think it'd be fair to say you knew it wasn't a family home. I can't remember whether it was ever proved or just a rumor that it had been used for porn films. I just had that feel about it. It had zero history, but quite a lot of glamour. As soon as they arrived, Dom and the crew got to work. First thing was to install cameras.

They'd be using two or three heavy-duty tripod-mounted ones for most of the filming. But one of the big appeals of a show like this were those private moments, where it seemed like the contestants weren't even aware they were being filmed. And that meant putting cameras everywhere. There were tiny cameras mounted in the corners of rooms, swiveling ones perched on the corners of the roof. The only place the cameras didn't reach were the bathrooms.

Next up was some footage they needed to shoot before the guys arrived. And for this, they needed the star of the show. As soon as she stepped on set, Dom was impressed. Miriam seemed pleasant, certainly to look at, even knowing the secret. You were convinced there isn't going to be a problem with the guys guessing this. You wouldn't guess in a million years. Soon, it was time to shoot Miriam's first big scene. They started with the B-roll.

Miriam walked, turned, smiled at the camera. She did sexy faces and playful faces. She draped herself across the bed. They set Miriam up outside where the light was good and the wind tousled her hair in that perfect way. And action. I tried to be honest in everything I said. But there is a secret that the guys don't know. My secret, big secret that I have is that the...

When the show airs, the producers will layer in this tender music and put half the sexy B-roll in black and white as Miriam gives us a little bit of her backstory.

When I was 11 years old, I decided to be a girl and I started taking hormones. When I was 13, I was going to high school as a girl. But the purpose of this scene is obvious. This is Miriam's introduction to everyone watching at home. And the producers want to make one thing super clear. I'm so natural. This is me. When this scene is finally shown, they'll go one step further.

My name is Alex Lavarri. I've been working as a qualified doctor in Spain for two years now. And I've done a medical examination to Miriam and I can confirm this is got masculine genitals. It's the one thing that the daytime talk show hosts always want to know about. It's the something about Miriam that the producers think is so central, so shocking, so scandalous that the show depends on it.

If the secret is exposed too early, well then, that's it. Meanwhile, back in London, Tom, Aaron, Toby, Dominic, Scott and Mark are hitting the bar at Gatwick Airport. Straight away, it became like a stag deal almost.

Meeting each other, buying each other drinks. Like, one of the best parties I've been to. Never mind that they're in an airport lounge, that the beer's too expensive, they're surrounded by tired business travelers, and that they've got a flight to catch. They're having the time of their lives. I just remember just being happy. Like, you know, you feel that you've kind of won something already. Suddenly, someone from the TV crew thrusts a stack of papers into Tom's hands.

We're literally on our way to the departure gate and they're like, oh, crucky, we forgot this contract. And would you mind just signing it quickly? This thing was half an inch thick. I can't read it. And I can't go on the plane without it. And I remember just thinking, you're one of the biggest production companies in the world. You're not going to screw me. Surely, you know, there's going to be nothing in this contract that's going to be dodgy. Who knows what was in that contract or what Tom would have done if he'd stopped to read it all.

But the airport's bustling. The airline people are hustling them along. And now passengers are starting to disappear through the gate. So they sign. And a few hours later, they pull up outside the same picture-perfect white villa in Ibiza.

We got out and they said, you know, off you go, lads. Here's the villa. I just remember just being like kids, just getting really excited. Ah, yeah, we're here, like running in and just, you know, looking around. You're just like, you know, bedroom after bedroom, jumping on our beds and saying, you know, shotgun, this is my bed. The crew has done a good job picking the spot. With the lighting just right, as Dom said, it's gorgeous. This beautiful seated area with this barbecue in the middle.

Huge lounge. Gym equipment. Stunning swimming pool. Marble everywhere and mirrors and chandeliers. Chocolate bars and fruit. And there was like, unlike a lot of TV shows, there was like beer in the fridge, liquor. It was the most stunning place that I'd ever stayed in. Views across the whole of Ibiza. You look over and you see all the oceans. You see that Mediterranean air.

And you can smell the sea and you can hear the seagulls. It's such a lovely environment that you ultimately relax straight away as soon as you see it. And we were just like, oh my God, I've died and gone to heaven. This is amazing. But wherever they looked, there were some pretty clear reminders that they hadn't been brought here for a holiday. The whole roof is covered in fluorescent lights.

There's cameras literally everywhere and there's rooms that are blocked off that you never see but they've got obviously the camera people in. You walk through and immediately like, oh my God, it's really intense. No escape. There are cameras on the walls and you do clock them.

And you do hear them. And maybe for the first couple of days, you are slightly conscious of them. But it's strange. The guys find that within a very short time, they start to forget the cameras are there at all. Forget that all this will be broadcast on TV back in the UK, watched by their friends and their family.

I just remember saying, "Oh, how funny would it be if we just all get naked and just sit around and have a conversation, jump in the pool, whatever it might be?" No reason not to. We want a shot from that camera. This is really gay, man. All six of us sitting down. And everyone agreed to it. Except, I guess, Mark. This is really gay, man. If I'm gonna stand here naked right now, then you're gonna get naked right now.

But for Aaron at least, this night by the pool isn't just about drunken antics for the cameras. It's a ritual of kinship, a moment of vulnerability and bonding. By stripping off, we're face to face with each other. You know, there's no secrets. It was kind of a metaphor for just saying, you know, let's just take everything off and just expose each other and just look at each other as human beings of equal stature.

You know, we're all in this together. We're all sort of the same. Alone in her room, Miriam hears everything. Looking back on that first night years later, she wrote on her blog: I can't go into what happened much because of the litigation that surrounds the series. But what I can say is that the boys played their own little games. I mean, they were trying to win, of course. With me, they were perfect gentlemen, trying to win my little innocent heart.

Was there a crime committed?

As far as I'm concerned, there wasn't. Guilty by Design dives into the wild story of Alexander and Frank, interior designers who in the 80s landed the jackpot of all clients. We went to bed one night and the next morning we woke up as one of the most wanted people in the United States. What are they guilty of? You can listen to Guilty by Design exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The next day starts bright and early. The boys line up, groggy and hungover, on the beach. There's sparkling blue sea and golden sand shining in the morning light. Tim Vincent, the presenter, is there to welcome them. Gentlemen, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. He's tall and square-jawed, and famous for hosting the kids' TV show Blue Peter. Maybe an odd choice for a dating show, but all right.

You nervous? Yeah. Good. Behind my shoulder, you will see a luxurious yacht. Take a look through these binoculars. You will see Miriam, the single stunner who will be your mate on board for the romantic cruise of a lifetime. The guys pass the binoculars around and squint at the figure on the boat. We couldn't really make out, even through binoculars, who this individual was.

And then it's time for their first challenge. Pretty simple, really. Just swim out to the boat. First one there wins. Okay, boys, stand by. The klaxon goes off. Bang, we're in the water. I'm just swimming, and it was one of them swims where the boat just never seemed to get closer. I ran out of strokes, probably swallowed half a litre of water.

One of the guys got into serious difficulty. Mark seems to be struggling. Mark, the singer-songwriter, is flailing in the water. The safety boat has to turn around to rescue him as he thrashes around in panic. And the other guys? They're not doing that great either.

You're taken in salt water. Your arms are getting tired very quickly. It was far and it was choppy. It was very frightening. Tom pulls into the lead. He makes it to the boat, panting. Heaves himself up on the deck where Miriam is standing there in a white bikini top and shorts. And the adrenaline just took over because I kissed her on the lips. Oh, my God. Well, Tom, that's me. Mm-hmm.

Now, looking back, the production team were probably like, oh, bang, he nailed it. He got there first. He climbs up on a boat, all dripping wet, takes her in his arms and kisses her. I just gave them exactly what they want. One by one, the other guys pull themselves up onto the boat, chests heaving, gasping for air, and meet Miriam. This is it, the moment the producers have been building towards, the moment in which all of their casting choices will be tested.

the moment they'll know whether the whole thing will be a flop or stands any chance of making a splash. Is there chemistry? What will they think of each other? Toby is the third guy to make it up onto the boat. I saw this really attractive woman with brown flowing hair looking absolutely stunning and they're like, "Oh, this is Miriam." Soon, he's huddled at the front of the boat with Dominic and Tom, away from the crew. The boat pitches and rocks with the movement of the water.

And I just said, I don't know about you, but I think we've been duped here, guys. And they go, what do you mean? And I said, that person, don't tell anybody. I don't think she's a female. I think she's a man. And children, with that, we're off to the races.

Coming up on Harsh Reality... If the secret got out, it was game over for the show. There were tight controls about level of exposure of Miriam to the boys. She wanted to find her soulmate. It's a game show. It's not real. Miriam was very, very upset in her room. You can't just do that, just throw a trans girl into a straight man's lair. That's putting a deer in a lion's cage.

From Wondery and Novel, this is episode one of six of Harsh Reality, the story of Miriam Rivera.

For this series, we have partnered with TransLash Media, the trans journalism and personal narrative project that is committed to telling trans stories to save trans lives. Visit www.translash.org to learn more about TransLash.

Harsh Reality is hosted by me, Trace Lissette, and written by Agnes Barinski. Our producer is Elena Biggs. Associate producer, Fiona Pestana. Fact-checking by Marsha McLeod.

Managing Producers are Lata Pondia and Charlotte Wolfe. Music Supervisor Scott Velasquez for Frisian Sync. Music and Sound Design by Nicholas Alexander. Additional Sound Editing by Daniel Gonzalez. Executive Producers are me, Trace Lissette, Max O'Brien, and Morgan M. Page for Novel. And George Lavender, Marshall Louis, and Jen Sargent for Wondery.

The missiles are coming.

What am I supposed to do? Featuring incredible performances from Tracy Letts, Mary Lou Henner, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Paul Edelstein, and many, many more, Incoming is a hilariously thrilling podcast that will leave you wondering, how would you spend your last few minutes on Earth? You can binge Incoming exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+, and the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Welcome to the offensive line. You guys, on this podcast, we're going to make some picks, talk some s**t, and hopefully make you some money in the process. I'm your host, Annie Yeager.

So here's how this show is going to work, okay? We're going to run through the weekly slate of NFL and college football matchups, breaking them down into very serious categories like No offense. No offense, Travis Kelsey, but you got to step up your game if Pat Mahomes is saying the Chiefs need to have more fun this year. We're also handing out a series of awards and making picks for the top storylines surrounding the world of football. Awards like the He May Have a Point Award for the wide receiver that's most justifiably bitter.

Is it Brandon Ayuk, Tee Higgins, or Devontae Adams? Plus, on Thursdays, we're doing an exclusive bonus episode on Wondery Plus, where I share my fantasy football picks ahead of Thursday night football and the weekend's matchups. Your fantasy league is as good as locked in. Follow the offensive line on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can access bonus episodes and listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. She struck him with her motor vehicle. She had been under the influence, and then she left him there.

In January 2022, local woman Karen Reed was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe. It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location. What happens next depends on who you ask.

Was it a crime of passion? If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling. This was clearly an intentional act. And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia. Or a corrupt police cover-up. If you believe the defense theory, however, this was all a cover-up to prevent one of their own from going down. Everyone had an opinion.

And after the 10-week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision. To end in a mistrial, it's just a confirmation of just how complicated this case is. Law and Crime presents the most in-depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen. You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.