For the 2026 Valentine Hotline, Julia picks up the phone solo to hear binchies' love queries and offer advice to lonely hearts. Essential questions include: What if my partner is too perfect? Why am I having dreams about an old flame? Should I get green card married at 24? Plus, a shonking update from last year's Hotline caller who dated a firefighter who only paid in cash. Digressions include Alex Honnold being a deadbeat Dad, the male urge to blow up a woman's life, and keeping an eye out for The Killer.

This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.

8:00 — Coping when your ex moves on too fast

14:58 — Breaking up with someone who was "too perfect"

19:06 — Sober and spiraling without romantic distractions

26:01 — Never been in a relationship and feeling behind

29:44 — Should women make the first move?

35:05 — UPDATE: the cash-paying firefighter saga

44:32 — Reoccurring dreams about a childhood best friend

50:02 — Ring shopping followed by a sudden breakup

56:30 — Staying hopeful about love after getting hurt

1:02:13 — Do I actually hate my boyfriend?

Julia and Eliza team up for another bad book club episode in which they review Colleen Hoover's newest work of experimental autofiction: Woman Down. In a suspenseful story that is definitely not based on CoHo's life at all, an author who has been brutally and unfairly CANCELED goes to crazy lengths to break her writer's block, even taking it to a place of copaganda. Digressions include Taylor Swift's subpoenaed text messages, Eliza recapping her personal Rabiesgate, and apt comparisons to Hunter S Thompson.

This is a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access over 50 bonus episodes, mediasodes, and our monthly news broadcast What the Hell Sure NEWS, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.

In the first episode of a two-part series, Julia is joined by Binchtopia favorite Allegra Chapman to lovingly dissect the mind-bending genre of reality TV. The girlies trace its evolution from chaotic human experimentation into neoliberal propaganda, mapping the multiverse across TLC, E!, MTV, and Bravo while decoding the cultural logic each network normalizes along the way. Digressions include the ultimate guide to landing yourself a cruise bae, Boston as a cosmic punishment, and Allegra's short-lived stint as a puck bunny.

This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.

Check out Allegra's radio show here: https://kpiss.fm/show/reverse-library/

To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.

SOURCES

Cue the Sun! By Emily Nussbaum

Everything old is new again: reality television celebrity, the Hollywood studio system, and the battle for control of one's image

'For the first time in ________ history…': microcelebrity and/as historicity in reality TV competitions

Neoliberal exploitation in reality television: youth, health and the spectacle of celebrity 'concern'

Queen for a Day - Partial 1956 episode

Reality Television: a Neoliberal Theater of Suffering

Reality TV The Work of Being Watched by Mark Andrejevic

The Dark Side of "Reality TV": Professional Ethics and the Treatment of "Reality"-Show Participants

Uncomfortable Television

UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN DREAM FROM KARDASHIAN FAMILY THROUGH KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIAN REALITY SHOW

Julia is joined by cacklers Nick and Chase for their very first venture into the cursed depths of Reddit's Am I The Asshole. Horrors include: a husband's mysterious gaycation to Ibiza, a black market Labubu deal, a fuckboi horse with navy blue hay, and a man who is enchanted by his server's gongerous scalp. Plus, Chase's formative years herding sheep in Arizona, the sacred right to be rude at work, and personal legal drama… ALLEGEDLY!

For more Nick and Chase, check out their podcast Mumbling and Cackling!

This is a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access over 50 bonus episodes, mediasodes, and our monthly news broadcast What the Hell Sure NEWS, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.

In the first episode of the new year, Julia is joined by Jewish Aliza to interrogate the concept of New Year's Resolutions. The girlies put on their therapist hats to explore the psychology behind a "fresh start," why most resolutions are doomed to fail, and how habits only stick once you stop trying to punish yourself into change. Digressions include Aliza's campaign to stop the lesbian yearning epidemic, debating whether being waterboarded is worse than proposing to a man, and the radical act of putting down The Bat.

This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.

To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.

SOURCES

A.D.H.D. Videos on TikTok Are Often Misleading, New Study Finds

New Year's Resolutions Are Notoriously Slippery, but Science Can Help You Keep Them

New Year's resolutions: Who makes them and why

Speaking of Psychology: How the science of habits can help us keep our New Year's resolutions, with Wendy Wood, PhD

The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior

The History of New Year's Resolutions

The Psychology Behind New Year's Resolutions That Work

The Temporally Extended Self: The Relation of Past and Future Selves to Current Identity, Motivation, and Goal Pursuit

Why we need rituals, not routines

'You Could Not Waterboard Me Into Proposing to a Man'

Happy New Year, binchies!! In case you're looking to shake up ya life in 2026, we're releasing this formerly Patreon-only episode onto the main feed!

Join Julia and Nick as they unveil The Ten Commandments of Shaking Up Ya Life and counsel past and future shakestresses on their journeys. Digressions include Nick's updates from the dildo factory, society's declining birth rates, and living full time in Colonial Williamsburg.

To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.

In the final episode of the year, Julia and Nick deliver our annual pop culture recap, revisiting the most absurd moments of 2025, including Hawk Tuah insisting she did a Zoom in North Korea, JoJo Siwa's straight rebrand, and the birth of Aquaman Moses Paytas-Hacmon. Digressions include: Nick's Looney Tunes–ass passport horrors, modern headphone dependency, and the importance of having mutuals with a baby.

This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.

If you're looking for ways to get involved, support your community, or stay connected:

RESOURCES:

Find local actions, rallies, trainings, phone banking opportunities, and community events near you here: https://www.mobilize.us/

To find, join, or start mutual aid efforts ranging from food support to community care: https://www.mutualaidhub.org/

Connect with a national grassroots network organizing in solidarity with marginalized communities through civic education and political action: https://indivisible.org/

Resources for families facing deportation, including legal support and community assistance: https://immigrantsrising.org/support-for-immigrant-families-targeted-for-deportation/

This week Julia and Nick bring you a holiday horrors episode full of festive chaos! They unpack their own holiday traditions and react to cursed listener stories including a dad who got too kooky, a dramatic dog on a mission, and a girl who received heartbreaking news about her dentist. Digressions include the tooth fairy's terrible work life balance, the beautiful lives of leaf cutter ants, and Oil.

This is a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access over 50 bonus episodes, mediasodes, and our monthly news broadcast What the Hell Sure NEWS, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.

Julia and Eliza are back in the stu for a deep dive into hostile architecture, unpacking the spikes, slopes, bars, and billion-dollar "design choices" that quietly shape our cities and public spaces. In analyzing bisected benches, shadeless streets, and the Evil of Robert Moses, the girlies consider what it means to live in a world built to restrict movement and community. Digressions include the sacred magic of knitting tutorials, NYC's food poisoning themed Erewhon, and Eliza staying bricked up.

This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.

To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.

SOURCES

Behavioral designs defined: how to understand and why it is important to differentiate between "defensive," "hostile," "disciplinary", and other designs in the urban landscape'

Cities Are Spending More to Brutalize Homeless People Than It Would Cost to House Them

City Beautiful Movement

Defending Suburbia

Examining Anti-Homeless Architecture

Fortress LA by Mike Davis (excerpt from City of Quartz)

Hostile Architecture: Behind the Buzzword

Hostile Architecture in the United States: Productive or Harmful?

Hostile urban architecture: A critical discussion of the seemingly offensive art of keeping people away

How Valuable Is Public Space? Priceless, Argues a New Book by Setha Low

Jane Jacobs, a Rebel with a Cause

Setha Low | Why Public Space Matters | Fast Forward 2022

The Economic Value of Health Benefits Associated with Urban Park Investment?

The Highway That Sparked the Demise of an Iconic Black Street in New Orleans

The Inescapable Robert Moses

The Right to the City

The Power Broker by Robert Caro

Understanding Hostile Architecture: The Cause and Effect of Restricting Public Space

Understanding Urban Renewal

Julia cozies up in her childhood bedroom for her first-ever solo episode, providing a little life update from the trenches of her PhD program and giving the binchies some sage advice. Digressions include whatever the hell is going on with the Wicked cast, New York apartment vermin, and the strange comfort of magical thinking.

This is a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access over 50 bonus episodes, mediasodes, and our monthly news broadcast What the Hell Sure NEWS, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.