On October 15, 2009, the world watched in horror as a homemade helium balloon shaped like a flying saucer drifted across Colorado skies with six-year-old Falcon Heene allegedly trapped inside. The "Balloon Boy" saga captivated millions for hours until the balloon landed empty and Falcon was found hiding in his family's attic. But when little Falcon told CNN "we did this for the show," the story took a dramatic turn. What followed was a media frenzy, criminal charges, and years of debate about whether the Heenes staged the whole thing as a publicity stunt or if it was a genuine accident that spiraled out of control.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

Balloon boy hoax Wikipedia page - Complete timeline and investigation details

Netflix's Trainwreck: Balloon Boy documentary - The family tells their side of the story (2025)

The Hollywood Reporter interview - "But What if 'Balloon Boy' Wasn't a Hoax?" (2025)

People Magazine update - "Where Is the Balloon Boy Now? All About His Life After the 2009 Hoax" (2025)

TIME Magazine analysis - "The True Story Behind 'Trainwreck: Balloon Boy'" (2025)

ABC News 10-year retrospective - "'Balloon Boy's' family discusses life 10 years after incident" (2019)

Medium retrospective - "Let's Revisit Balloon Boy. A hoax we'd no longer believe" (2021)

Netflix trailer - Official Trainwreck: Balloon Boy trailer (2025)

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott.

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 1960s, Margaret Howe Lovatt became part of a NASA-funded experiment to teach a dolphin named Peter to speak English. What started as groundbreaking interspecies communication research quickly turned into something much more controversial when Margaret moved into a flooded house to live with Peter 24/7 for six months. As Peter reached sexual maturity, their relationship crossed boundaries in ways that would overshadow the entire experiment and become one of the most shocking animal research scandals in scientific history.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

The Guardian's comprehensive investigation - "The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa-funded project that went wrong" (2014)

The Atlantic's detailed report - "How A Science Experiment Led to Sexual Encounters Between a Woman and a Dolphin" (2014)

BBC documentary - "The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins" (2014)

BBC documentary clip - "Teaching a dolphin to speak English" footage

Margaret Howe Lovatt Wikipedia page - Complete biography and experiment details

John C. Lilly's book - "Man and Dolphin" - The original research that started it all (1961)

Medium article analysis - "The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins: Watch this documentary if you are into space" (2021)

News18 retrospective - "When The Love Story Of A Dolphin And Woman Made News In The 60s" (2023)

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On June 18th, 2023, the OceanGate Titan submersible imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreck, instantly killing all five people on board including CEO Stockton Rush. But this wasn't a freak accident - it was the predictable result of years of ignored safety warnings, with over 30 deep-sea experts telling Rush his experimental carbon fiber design would kill people. The four-day international rescue mission captivated the world, but the violent implosion had scattered the death trap submarine across the ocean floor in milliseconds.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

WIRED's exclusive investigation

The New Yorker's detailed report

BBC documentary footage

The Fifth Estate investigation

OceanGate Wikipedia page

Titan submersible implosion Wikipedia page

YouTube analysis

Forbes report

Daily Mail report

New York Post coverage

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November 2016, California mother Sherri Papini vanished while jogging, sparking a massive search effort and national media frenzy. When she was found 22 days later on Thanksgiving Day, chained and emaciated on the side of a freeway, she claimed 'two Hispanic women' had kidnapped her for sex trafficking. But in 2022, the FBI arrested Sherri for faking her own kidnapping - revealing she'd actually been hiding at her ex-boyfriend's apartment, asking him to hurt her to make the injuries look real. Sherri was released from prison in 2023, after serving 10 months of her 18-month sentence. And in 2025, she (of course) started doing the media rounds, because she had a LOT to say. (Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of domestic violence and abuse.)

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

ABC News report - Sherri Papini claims boyfriend abducted her in 2016 hoax kidnapping (2025)

Sherri Papini kidnapping hoax Wikipedia page - Complete timeline and case details

Perfect Wife documentary - Keith Papini's side of the story (2024)

Sherri Papini: Caught In The Lie documentary - Sherri's version of events (2025)

Sherri Papini on the Viall Files - Sherri tells her story (2025)

People Magazine coverage - Where is Keith Papini now (2024)

Daily Mail report - Sherri Papini's husband demands sole custody (2022)

7News analysis - Sherri Papini's theatrics are what got her caught (2022)

True Crime Daily podcast episode - Sherri Papini busted: California mom's kidnapping fake (2022)

If you need support, please contact: 

Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au/ 

1800 RESPECT (domestic violence support): https://1800respect.org.au/

---

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  and Rosie @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Email us at [email protected]

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic - the largest, most luxurious ship ever built - struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage. Over 1,500 people died in what became one of history's most famous disasters. This is Just The Gist of how an "unsinkable" ship designed with revolutionary safety features became a death trap, how the crew's lack of training turned evacuation into chaos, and how a nearby ship that could have saved everyone just... didn't.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

Titanic Belfast - Official Titanic Fact File

Britannica - Titanic: History, Sinking, Survivors & Facts

Titanic | Official Trailer

Encyclopedia Titanica - Comprehensive Titanic Database

National Geographic - Titanic: The Real Story

Smithsonian Magazine - New Titanic Evidence

BBC History - The Titanic Disaster

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket.

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For years, Gypsy Rose Blanchard was the poster child for childhood illness - confined to a wheelchair, battling leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and countless other conditions. Her devoted mother Dee Dee cared for her around the clock, and the community rallied to support them with charity and free trips to Disney World. But in 2015, Dee Dee was found stabbed to death in her bedroom.

What police discovered next shocked everyone: Gypsy could walk, had never had cancer, and had been systematically abused through a condition called Munchausen syndrome by proxy. This is the story of how a desperate young woman orchestrated her mother's murder to escape a prison of fake illnesses, and why the case divided public opinion like no other true crime story in recent memory.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

HBO Documentary: Mommy Dead and Dearest

Hulu Series: The Act

BuzzFeed News: Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick

Springfield News-Leader: The Gypsy Blancharde Case

People Magazine: Gypsy Rose Blanchard Case Details

ABC News: Gypsy Rose Blanchard Prison Interview

The Cut: The Disturbing Case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard

…

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2017, Billy McFarland promised the world's most exclusive music festival on a private island once owned by Pablo Escobar. Supermodels, private jets, gourmet food, and the biggest artists - all for just $1200 a ticket. What festival-goers got instead was the influencer version of The Lord Of The Flies.

This is the story of how a 26-year-old scammer with a gift for nonsense convinced thousands of people to pay for a party that never existed, and how it all came crashing down in the most meme-worthy way possible. Plus, find out what Billy McFarland is doing now after selling the entire Fyre brand on eBay - for an amount that even he was shocked by.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

Netflix Documentary: FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

Hulu Documentary: Fyre Fraud

Rolling Stone: Inside the Fyre Festival Disaster

Vanity Fair: My Fyre Festival Hell

The New York Times: The Fyre Festival Was Always Going to Be a Disaster

Business Insider: Billy McFarland's History of Failed Ventures Before Fyre Festival

Vice: We Called Billy McFarland During Fyre Festival's Meltdown

…

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This has been called one the ‘worst shark attack stories of all time’. After their yacht, ‘The Trashman’, sank in a major storm, five crew members were stranded in the middle of the ocean in a tiny inflatable dinghy. Sharks soon started circling them, taking the crew one by one, but not before starvation and thirst caused them to mentally unravel and turn on each other (seriously - one crew member got so delirious they started acting like a possessed zombie). Strap in… this one is a WILD ride.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more there’s this:

‘I Shouldn’t Be Alive’ Season 1, Episode 1 ‘Shark Survivor’ (available on Amazon Prime)

Newsweek: The Horrifying Story of a Woman Who Watched Friends Being Eaten by Sharks for 5 Days After Yacht Capsized in Atlantic: 'They Were Everywhere'.

Newsweek: We Just Hear This Shrill Scream. Then It Was Over. The Sharks Got Him.

Wikipedia: Deborah Scaling Kiley

Deborah Scaling Kiley’s book ‘Albatross: The True Story Of A Woman’s Survival At Sea’ 

CNN: Transcript of Deborah Scaling Kiley’s interview on Larry King Live

…

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions. 

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Possibly one of JTG’s most requested topics EVER, the show had to come back just to do this episode. In 2023, Erin Patterson invited her husband Simon and his family over for her lunch at her Leongatha home. In a move that would save his life, Simon refused the invitation, but his parents Don and Gail and Aunt and Uncle Ian Heather and Ian fell gravely ill not long after eating the beef wellington meal. Ian Wilkinson was the only survivor, and while Erin also pretended to be ‘sick’, it did not take long for the real purpose behind her lunch to become clear: MURDER. Murder by death cap mushrooms.

We give you just the gist, but if you want more, there’s this:

READ: 

This article from The Guardian - Two years ago, Erin Patterson’s lunch guests were admitted to hospital. This week, she became a convicted murderer.

This article from The Guardian - What the Erin Patterson trial wasn’t told

This article from ABC News - A look inside the courtroom of Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial

This article from ABC News - Mother, cook, defendant: The trial of Erin Patterson turns to her personal life

WATCH: 

Erin Patterson ‘crying’ on A Current Affair

7 Spotlight - Mushroom Murders: Inside the mind of killer Erin Patterson

Daily Mail - Mushroom Murder Trial: All the evidence against Erin Patterson unpacked 

…

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott.

Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on the Just The Gist Patreon every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a dollar a week by clicking here.

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast  

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EXTRAY EXTRAY! It’s comin’ down the wiiiire! 

BREAKIN’ NOOZ is back bébé! (YES INCLUDING THE SONG YOU CHUMPS.) Episodes will be dropping every Tuesday for subscribers to The Gistener Club, which you can access via the Just The Gist Patreon right here or Apple Subscriptions! 

This week’s headlines:

FIT FOR TV. Omg omg omg. It’s a new three-part Netflix documentary about the making of The Biggest Loser in the US. You must watch it immediately. We watched all three parts in one go and as two people who have both existed in pretty fat bodies at one point, we both have ALL THE THOUGHTS because it is (unsurprisingly) messed up. (And Here’s the bonus episode I mention)

JTG OG favourite Anna Delvey was back in the news this week for getting busted abandoning rabbits in a public park and truly - god bless her chaos.

Swifties have been doing their weird deep diving and seem to have discovered another big TayTay project coming soon: ‘Female Rage: THE MUSICAL’? A TAYLOR SWIFT MUSICAL? (Also it was so thoughtful of her to time her album announcement to coincide with Just The Gist’s debut return episode about HER. Thanks gurl ur the best ily.)

Are female Australian travel influencers so desperate for clout that they’re agreeing to go on trips to Afghanistan… sponsored by the Taliban? In a country where the Taliban government is committing gender apartheid against women, an Aussie female travel influencer is posting videos and posing for selfies, commenting without any irony: “No one hassles you here - which is something I can’t say about a lot of countries I’ve travelled to as a female.” Ahhh… I’m glad nobody hassled YOU there. Afghani women however are denied even their most basic human rights and punished by death for the most minor of ‘offences’. Just months ago, the Taliban government demanded that all women wear an eye patch, because two eyes being visible under their burkas is too offensive, and one eye is ‘enough’ to see. Yeah, the Taliban - notorious for never hassling women.

The articles I mention: ABC News & Daily Mail

Amanda Knox is executive producer on a new crime drama about her story dropping on Disney Plus tomorrow. ‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’ is also produced by Monica Lewinsky, and homework is for everybody to start watching so we can talk about it next week. 

And as usual, lots of other random stuff!

…

BREAKIN’ NOOZ is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott.

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast & Rosie at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Email [email protected]

Don’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! 

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.