We're wrapping up the year on The Maxi Pod with a full recap and a very special guest, Rachel Mauck from the "It's Not About the Podsta" podcast. We're breaking down the best of the year in music, TV, and movies, revisiting the Dancing With the Stars freestyles, and revealing our Destiny's Challenge of the Year.

Episode Guide:

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:07 Best in Music (Top Artists, Albums, Song of the Year)
• 7:22 Best and Worst Movies of 2025
• 11:22 Diddy Documentary Reaction
• 18:54 Taylor Swift End of an Era Documentary Reaction
• 22:24 Best TV of 2025 featuring Rachel Mauck (DWTS Freestyles, Bravo Shows & Stars of the year)
• 54:54 Destiny's Challenge of 2025

THANK YOU TO THE WHOLE ENTIRE MAXI-VERSE!

THE MAXI POD WILL RETURN IN 2026.

Enjoy our End of the Season Challenge 41 Vets and New Threats Recap and Analysis featuring the first loser of our Draft and returning Challenge correspondent CJ! The episode covers our reaction on winners and losers of the final, and our overall opinions on the final format and difficulty. We also re-visit Nany and Will, Aneesa vs Ashley, CT's performance, and the Mini-final cheating. We all give our Destiny's Challenge of the Season!

It's tiiiiiiiiiime!!!!! We're back with some whole ass holiday cheer- because if not you Cindy Loo Hoo… who?

From there, we get into a Dancing With the Stars finale breakdown, including our reaction to Whitney and Mark's elimination, our picks to win, a comment on the sexual tension this season, and yet another defense of the Judges.

Then we talk about the WOW moments of this season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, give our Peak and Pit of the Kardashians sisters, and report our lukewarm reactions to the Challenge 41 Vets and New Threats.

You all should have to pay money for the wisdom we dropped in our Destiny's Challenge, but it's the season of giving.

Don't be a glutton, don't be a grinch.

Episode Guide:

• 0:00 HOLIDAY HYPE UP! Be the Cheer You Want to See in the World
• 17:16 Dancing with the Stars- to the Finale!
• 33:00 Being WOWED by the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
• 37:14 The Kardashians- Peak and Pit
• 43:39 The Challenge Vets and New Threats
• 47:08 Shyly Delivering Unpopular News
• 51:10 Screens
• 54:10 Hilary Duff
• 55:30 Taylor Doose (Gilmore Girls)
• 57:00 Taking Pride in things you dont like
• 59:49 Gratitude

For two tipsy girls podcasting outdoors this turned out pretty magical. Enjoy Thotumn and share with an enemy.

Episode Guide:

0:00 Seasons Never Get Old- Thotumn is here!

2:00 Chris Brown Breezy Bowl Concert Review

11:02 Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl Album Review

37:39 Selena Gomez got married

38:29 Nicki Minaj and Cardi B beef

39:39 Dancing with the Stars Check -in (Week 3 & 4)

43:20 The Challenge 41 -Stake your claim twist

44:58 NFL Season Thots! SPORTS! BORTLES!

47:01 Bad Bunny is the next Superbowl Halftime Performer

50:27 Misguided Energy (Leave Kamala Alone)

52:57 America! (Bring It On)

55:18 J Lo (And her new movie)

57:14 Popular Sovereignty (Corporate America)

60:00 Solo Adventures

62:00 Opalite (Make your own sunshine)

This episode will cure your depression. Something is in the air and everything's coming up Maxi Pod! We're kicking things off with the brand-new season of Dancing with the Stars before diving into The Challenge: Vets and New Threats for a mid-season check-in. Maggie did some due diligence and was ready for our Real Housewives of Miami ranking and with a side of Salt Lake Mid Level Marketing. We also finally remarked on the Taylor and Travis engagement with a sprinkle of sports talk, issue a very necessary retraction on being a lazy bones, and unpack workplace anxiety. This is inspirational nonsense at it's best. Or nonsensical inspiration. Either way, Bob's Your Uncle.

Episode Guide:

0:00 Intro

10:16 Dancing With The Stars Cast- Is it a Banger? Or Clanger

27:43 The Challenge 41: Vets and New Threats- Mid-season review

34:08 Real Housewives of Miami - Ultimate Ranking

37:50 Real Housewives of Salt Lake City- 2 Unhinged Episodes

40:40 Taylor and Travis engagement and SPORTS

43:08 Being a Lazy Bones (A Retraction)

45:04 Panic! at the Office

49:00 Approaching Men

53:00 Sabrina Carpenter (Man's Best Friend)

54:14 Sisters!

56:48 Bob's Your Uncle

In this episode, Rachel and Maggie crawl towards the end of their Shrek summer to give takes on the mean streets of DC, the Taylor interview that broke our brains, The Challenge: Vets and New Threats, Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad, and of course the Presidential Fitness Test. It's a swampy life but someone has to have a sense of humor about it!

Episode Guide:

• 0:00 Rachel was sick, End of summer, Maxi Club update, Life in DC, Maggie's work vendetta
• 7:43 Taylor Swift on New Heights, Takeaways and New Album Hopes
• 17:16 The Challenge Vets and New Threats Episodes 1-3
• 21:00 Just asking questions about the Epstein Files
• 22:43 DC under siege!
• 26:30 Sydney Sweeney American Eagle Ad
• 31:26 Presidential Fitness Test
• 34:15 Lyme disease claims another Justin
• 35:26 The Valley Reunion
• 38:49 Meg the Stallion and Klay Thompson
• 40:47 CEO getting caught cheating at Coldplay Concert
• 42:00 Male Professional Cheerleaders
• 44:04 Detectives of Nothing
• 50:36 Emails
• 51:54 Taking the L
• 55:43 Respecting Everybody's Time/Real Housewives of Miami
• 1:00:27 Happiness as a Strategy

The Challenge Recap episode 6 years after the fact that you didn't know you needed!

When we found out that War of the Worlds 2 had been removed from streaming due to the erasure of a problematic castmate, we knew it was our duty to memorialize this amazing piece of Challenge lore. This iconic season gave us Cara Maria in her Vampire era, losing her soul while her little Troll boyfriend Paulie milly rocked all over our faves. We discuss their spectacular fall from grace, as well as the peak of Jordan and Tori's love, CT's "Pops" persona, and Jordan in his GOAT season. Featuring Special Guest So_Grool.

Share with a fellow Challenger <3

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 is the thirty-fourth season of the MTV reality competition series The Challenge, and the sequel to the show's 33rd season, War of the Worlds, which aired in the spring of 2019.

Pony up Maxxinistas it's a real live hoedown and we have the Big 3 of the Summer all in one episode:

This episode kicks off with a full breakdown of Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour. **Disclaimer: If you are not a Beyoncé fan, you are not permitted to listen to Cowboy Carter Critiques. Please skip. Otherwise, enjoy our song-by-song, honest, possibly controversial reactions.

Then we do a deep dive into Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team (Season 2). We're talking coaches, auditions, Dayton & her mom, THE HUSBANDS, Chandi's crash out, Armani's Beautiful Bald Head, and JADA.

Also, Justin Bieber aka Lil Bieber aka Swaggy B dropped a surprise album. We give our first reactions.

Episode Guide:

0:00 Intro

01:47 Cowboy Carter Tour HoeDown Are we done with stadium tours can we go back inside

25:30 Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team (Season 2)

53:40 New Justin Bieber Album "Swag" Reaction

57:23 Dirty Stinking Rats

58:37 Checking the Box

1:00:25 Being a coach potato

1:00:52 Kristen Doute (The Valley on Bravo)

1:01:55 Albums

1:02:50 Saying what you mean

What a thrill to be absolutely terrified! In this Summer Kickoff episode, we celebrate Maggie living out her pop-punk dreams on the Warped Tour, double down on age fluidity and the importance of birthdays, and remind the Maxxinistas of the merits of risking it for the biscuit. We also dive into celebrity updates (Bieber, Diddy, Taylor, and Trump vs Elon), and wrap up Summer House Season 9 and Paige's glorious run. Plus: a Glee rewatch, workplace gossip, and an encore for Jon Stewart (who was on crack?!). Welcome to your Slow Burn Summer. Stay hydrated out there.

0:00 Maggie on the Warped Tour! Birthdays and living life

19:38 Justin Bieber

23:30 Diddy Trial Update

25:34 Summer House Season 9 Wrap Up (Jesse/Lexi, West/Ciara, Paige vs Craig, Paige's retirement)

38:04 Trump vs Elon

39:02 Taylor bought back her Masters and went to a family wedding

42:16 Glee Rewatch/Sue's Corner

44:30 Challenge Rewatch Takeaways

47:41 Talking shit at work

49:55 "Nothing is ever anyone's fault"

53:02 An Encore for Jon Stewart, who was on crack!

54:46 A Sense of Community/The Maxi Club

58:44 The Dream is Never Over

59:22 Slow Burn Summer

In this special Mother's Day episode, we turn the mic over to the women who raised us and interview our moms! We dive into conversations about motherhood, what it was like raising daughters, their careers in teaching, and the kind of guys they want for us. We also found out if they're stressed that we're still single. From lifelong friendships to their unfiltered advice, this episode is full of wisdom, warmth, and a few tears. <3

Happy Mother's Day!