Get 20% off your first Vegamour order, valid for both our US and Australian listeners. For US listeners, head to vegamour.com/cw20. For Australian listeners, head to global.vegamour.com/cw20.

In this week's episode, we deep dive into the family vloggers, Ruby and Kevin Franke, of the 8 Passengers YouTube channel. We first explore who Ruby and Kevin are, how they started the 8 Passengers channel, and their history of documenting their family on YouTube before looking at the channel’s several controversies over the years. We finish by diving into Ruby and Kevin’s ties with the cult-like self-improvement group, Connexions, which led to the dissolution of their YouTube channel, their family, and now their freedom–  as Ruby was arrested last week alongside the Connexions founder Jodi Hildebrandt on six counts of aggravated child abuse.

Find our podcast YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC18HclY7Tt5-1e3Z-MEP7Jg 

Subscribe to our weekly Substack: https://centennialworld.substack.com/ 

Join our Geneva home: https://links.geneva.com/invite/7eb23525-9259-4d59-95e3-b9edd35861a5 

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infinitescrollpodcast/ 

Follow our publication: https://www.instagram.com/centennialworld/ 

Follow Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenmeisner_/ 

Follow Jordy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordyn_christensen/ 

Timestamps:

2:55 Who are the 8 Passengers?

5:37 The problem with family channels

21:47 The 8 Passengers' history of controversies

30:24 Instances when Ruby was abusive to her children over the years

35:02 Who is Jodi Hildebrandt & what is ConneXions?

48:30 Shari Franke ex-communicates her family & speaks out against ConneXions 

52:50 Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt are arrested on 6 counts of aggravated child abuse

Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W25RLYeL9nA&ab_channel=SWOOP 

https://www.insider.com/8-passengers-youtube-drama-what-happened-franke-family-2020-6  

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/ruby-franke-mom-8-passengers-youtube-channel-arrested-abuse-charges-rcna102852

https://www.insider.com/ruby-franke-8-passengers-arrested-on-suspicion-of-child-abuse-2023-8 

https://www.insider.com/kevin-franke-8-passengers-creator-ruby-franke-keep-children-together-2023-8 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIhNfPkZMsM&ab_channel=SpillSesh 

https://centennialworld.com/8-passengers-daughter-opens-up-about-ex-communicating-from-mother-ruby-franke-growing-up-on-youtube/