Characters

After a soldier on duty in Vietnam purchased a lifetime subscription to Playboy, the brand had to follow through on an offer made years prior - that the first issue of a lifetime subscription would be hand-delivered by a Playmate. Jo Collins, Playmate of the Year 1965, was requested... and in January 1966, she flew to Saigon and spent three days touring combat areas. We're overviewing her history with the brand - from Miss September 1964 to a Bunny Mother and Playboy representative at Veterans Day events in the '90s. Plus, the details of her three days touring Vietnam, visiting American troops and signing photos of her pictorial that had been crumpled into helmets.

Photos in the video version of this episode are primary by Larry Gordon for Playboy, sourced from "GI Jo: That Time We Sent a Playmate to Vietnam," May 26, 2026.

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Time stamps:

00:00 Intro

03:08 Jo Collins, Miss September 1964

03:54 Playmate of the Year 1965

05:48 The request - "G.I. Jo"

07:33 Making it happen

09:04 Warm welcomes in Saigon

10:50 Day 1: Meeting Lt Price + hospital rounds

13:06 Day 2: Combat zones

15:02 Day 3: Honorary Sky Soldier

16:23 Post-POTY: acting, marriage, divorce

17:04 Playmate Forever

18:13 My curiosities

19:00 Playboy Magazine + Vietnam War

20:58 Conclusion

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Shannon Tweed lived 14 months at the Playboy Mansion, 1981-1982, as Hugh Hefner's girlfriend. Her story begins on a mink ranch in rural Canada, and a string of odd jobs in her youth, that led to her winning Miss Ottawa beauty pageant and testing for Playboy magazine three times. After being named as Miss November 1981, she finds herself at the Mansion for her first Midsummer Nights Dream party ... she later moves in and starts the adventure of her career as one of the most recognizable B-Film actresses of her time. Stories shared as told in her 2009 memoir, Kiss & Tell.

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Time stamps:

00:00 Intro

03:13 Childhood in Canada

05:32 The Ottawa experience

08:37 Toronto, testing for Playboy

09:46 Midsummer Night's Dream party 1981

11:16 Life at the Playboy Mansion

14:35 Jaded

17:36 Break-up

17:58 Shannon's Playboy appearances

18:45 Acting

19:43 Midsummers 1983, meeting Gene Simmons

21:18 Life after Playboy

22:06 My reflections

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Book club!! We're recapping and reflecting on Izabella St. James' memoir, Bunny Tales: Behind Closed Doors at the Playboy Mansion. As one of the girlfriends in the final group of seven, leaving just before the Girls Next Door era, Izabella reflects in this book on the benefits, drawbacks, and misconceptions about living as one of the Seven Girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. I'm highlighting anecdotes and pointing out some differences in what Izabella tells us in this 2006 account, versus what we're hearing more recently from her and others about this time at the mansion.

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00:00 Intro (+ my biases!)

02:08 What Izabella really thought of Zoe Gregory

03:28 Zoe + Izabella vs Holly + Bridget

04:59 Youth

05:25 Pepperdine Law School in Malibu, her intro to Playboy

07:46 First Fun in the Sun

09:17 Graduation + prepping for the Bar; meeting Zoe

11:10 Grammys 2002 + not passing the Bar

15:02 Becoming a live-in Girlfriend

17:36 Rumors about previous Girlfriends

18:53 Housemates - Holly, Renee, Stacy, Bridget

22:01 Selling tickets to Playboy parties

25:58 Doing less

27:56 Internship at Playboy Entertainment Group

29:37 Benefits of Girlfriend Status - why won't he pay her loans?

35:20 Cost of his lifestyle

37:37 In-house Conflicts

39:29 Nightclubs + Bedroom Routines

41:51 Boys boys boys

43:16 Beauty standards

44:52 Playmates

46:33 Prepping to leave

53:06 Finally moving out

54:26 Unfriendly terms

55:50 Girls Next Door

56:47 Closing Thoughts

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Gloria Steinem's 11-day undercover stint as a Bunny in Playboy's New York City club was the subject of a bombshell essay that changed her career. The impacts of her exposé absolutely impacted the Bunnies working across clubs - from the pay discrepancies, mandatory gynecological exams, and regular harassment from customers. However, a lot of the women working alongside Gloria, while she was posing as "Bunny Marie," had mixed feelings on her essay, as their experiences at the clubs may not have aligned with the cruel workplace described in the essays. Kathryn Lee Young (Scott), author of The Bunny Years, collects stories from women with very different memories of the clubs - including the author herself, who worked alongside her as Bunny Kay. Later, this piece inspired a 1984 made-for-TV film starring Kirstie Alley as Gloria (and I am reviewing it!). We're overviewing the complicated legacy of this exposé - its immediate reception, the changes Bunnies experienced as a result, the contradictory tales from other Bunnies, and Gloria Steinem's own regret about her time undercover at the NYC Playboy Club.

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Time stamps:

00:00 Intro

00:53 Gloria goes undercover

02:16 The bombshells from "A Bunny's Tale"

06:01 Disappointing earnings

07:26 Workplace harassment

08:32 Subpoenaed and making changes

09:11 Revisiting in 1980s (and my thoughts)

12:34 "All women are bunnies."

18:01 My reflections

18:40 Debating Steinem

20:57 Would Hugh Hefner and Gloria Steinem dated?

22:00 Why Gloria Steinem regrets being a Bunny

23:31 Kirstie Alley as Gloria in A Bunny's Tale (1984)

28:59 Final thoughts

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Hugh Hefner publicly dating multiple women was a smart way to get the public talking about him (and the Playboy brand) after his marriage to Kimberly Conrad. We're are overviewing the transition from the Brande/Sandy/Mandy group to the infamous Seven Girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. Expect to learn about some of the more prominent women in this microcosm, their interactions with the Playboy brand, and allegations about them made by other women in the circle.

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Time stamps:

00:00 Intro

01:31 Disclaimers, sources, reminders

02:38 Brande Roderick, Sandy and Mady Bentley

04:45 Tina Jordan

06:24 Buffy Tyler

09:23 Katie Lohmann

10:06 Kimberley Stanfield

11:08 Dalene Kurtis

13:08 Stephanie Heinrich

15:04 who I think is who in Holly Madison's book 1

15:39 Regina Lauren

17:37 Christi Shake

19:10 Tiffany Holliday (and the escort ring)

22:48 who I think is who in Holly Madison's book 2

23:57 Stacy Burke

25:49 Renee Sloan

27:42 Izabella St. James + Zoe Gregory

32:46 Sheila Levell

33:26 Cristal Camden

35:24 the end of the 7! Girls Next Door

36:32 Sources

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Legally Blonde is, on some level, a film about friendship - showing up for people in the way you'd want them to show up for you. As Elle Woods is navigating a new world that doesn't respect her, she is continuing to show up fully ... and her kindness and respect is ultimately what brings her success! We'll overview some of the relationships Elle builds in Legally Blonde, and how her friendships add to our understanding of her overall arc as she becomes a lawyer.

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Time stamps:

01:02 At the Delta Nu sorority house

01:47 Friends at the courthouse

02:31 David Kidney

03:38 Emmett - did Elle need a love interest?

05:04 Getting Paulette's dog back

07:50 Why Elle could represent Brooke Windham

10:52 From self-doubt to confidence

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Jill Badlotto joins us to discuss the first two episode of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th! We share opinions on the casting choices, confessionals, and drama we've seen so far. You can find Jill Badlotto across platforms @JillBadlotto.

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Time stamps:

00:00 Favorite Franchises

03:08 Motherhood on Housewives

05:06 Vicki Gunvalson's insurance

06:26 RHUGT Cast

09:27 Lisa Barlow's teary confessional, Kyle Richards' divorce

13:09 Kyle and Gizelle

14:21 Hopes for this season - Lisa, Gizelle

17:24 Gizelle Bryant's "peers"

19:27 Sutton's Ugly Leather Pants party

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Vanna White, national treasure best known as the longtime cohost of Wheel of Fortune, had to pay her bills pre-fame with some jobs she isn't particularly proud of (like many aspiring stars!). In 1982, just before she landed her role on Wheel of Fortune, Vanna White modeled for lingerie catalogs. She beat out 200 other models, earning her spot on Wheel later that year. In 1987, however, at a career peak - those photos came back around. Her "friend" Hugh Hefner had purchased private photos of Vanna White and put her on the cover of Playboy Magazine against her wishes.

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Time stamps:

00:00 Intro

02:14 Youth, Journey to Hollywood

03:34 Lingerie Modeling

05:45 Vanna-Mania

07:14 John Gibson

08:49 First claims to Vanna photos

09:58 Conversations with Hugh Hefner

11:45 Playboy cover

15:24 Vanna's reflections

16:50 My questions!

19:06 Life after Playboy

20:59 Closing

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Sandy and Mandy Bentley were two of the most iconic women of the late '90s, early 2000s - brought into the public eye as twins dating Hugh Hefner at the same time, during his first group of multiple girlfriends. We'll overview how Sandy and Mandy landed at the Playboy Mansion, and the unfortunate crimes that followed them afterwards - including a Ponzi scheme, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewels, and the untimely murder of two men.

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The Queen of Versailles is a 2012 documentary that begun focused on a billionaire family's construction of the largest private residence in the US - a 90,000 sqft replica of the Palace of Versailles in Orlando, Florida. However, the film unexpectedly turns to the documentation of the Siegel family's fall from billionaire status in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The documentary has continued to serve as a cultural touchpoint since its release, I think because of Jackie Siegel, the "Queen" at the center of the story - a proudly out-of-touch socialite that turns out to be much more human than we may have anticipated. Beyond recapping the documentary, I'll touch on commentary, Jackie Siegel's appearances on "The Queen of Versailles Reigns Again" and Below Deck, and the recent disappointment that was The Queen of Versailles on Broadway, starring Kristin Chenowith.

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Time stamps:

00:00 Intro

01:06 Versailles in Orlando

02:21 The Timeshare Business

03:09 2008

04:10 From ultra-wealthy to "just wealthy"

4:31 Jackie Siegel

06:04 Are they relatable?

07:36 The Lesson

09:39 Jackie's character arc

11:00 Follow-ups to the film

12:09 Broadway

14:09 Closing

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