The Real Pod team explain why, after nearly a decade, it’s time to say goodbye.
What’s all this then?
After nearly nine years and over 400 episodes, The Real Pod is coming to an end on November 29.
What is The Real Pod?
Hosted by Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive, The Real Pod is The Spinoff’s longest-running podcast. It first began around Jane’s kitchen table during The Bachelor NZ in 2015, and we quickly went on to cover almost every local reality show under the sun. From Dancing With the Stars NZ to The Real Housewives of Auckland, Celebrity Treasure Island to Married at First Sight NZ, we’ve watched, analysed, and joked through it all.
On top of our in-depth reality recaps, we’ve also delved into weird local news stories (ideally involving celebrities, animals or toilets) and occasionally even broken news ourselves. Who can forget when Jordan Mauger revealed on the podcast (again, at Jane’s kitchen table) that he had flipped a coin to decide the winner of The Bachelor NZ, or when Mike Puru gave an exclusive in-depth interview about the time he nearly crapped himself during the weather?
But wait, there’s so much more: we’ve collected rare reality TV artefacts (including the certificate from the first ever legally binding gay Married at First Sight marriage). We’ve cold-called reality stars from Mary Lambie to Angela Stone, and had them cold call us right back (looking at you, Nasser from MAFSAU). Most importantly, we’ve built up a community of dedicated pop culture fanatics, the Cornies (named after their digital home, The Real Pod Corner).
Why is it ending?
Over our eight years we’ve laughed so much, talked so much, cried a bit, and watched so, so, so much television. While our love for TV, popular culture and the podcast has never faltered, our lives outside of The Real Pod have become more and more hectic. When we started out in 2015, The Spinoff was just a humble television website. Things have changed for the organisation a fair bit since then, and we’ve realised recently that we might need to change too.
The Real Pod has always been a delight to make, but because we’re so fond of this product we’ve never wanted to give less than 100% to each other and our listeners. We’ve always made sure there was a window in our weeks to make The Real Pod, but unfortunately those windows have gotten smaller and smaller. With our hearts on our sleeves and our walls all the way down, we are simply knackered and need a kip. So we’re putting our beloved pod to bed.
When is the last episode?
We’re not going to run from our commitment like a Married at First Sight groom, so we’ll be seeing out the rest of My Kitchen Rules NZ over on our Substack until November 28 (FYI: all Substack payments cease today and, if you have a yearly subscription or are a foundation member, you’ll be refunded for the remaining portion by the end of November – head here for more about our Substack). We’ll be recording our final episode at 12pm on Wednesday November 29 in the form of a livestream, so anyone who has been along for any part of this ride can join in for one last emotional dump.
What will happen to Jane, Alex and Duncan?
We will all still be here at The Spinoff, hopefully with a bit more brain space, continuing to find new ways to tell the stories of Aotearoa (including our pop culture past and present, of course). As for our voices, you’ll probably still hear us on mic from time to time – follow The Fold for your Duncan fix, and listen to the back catalogue of The Real Pod and The Real Pod Presents: Remember When wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks for a wonderful eight years, and we are sorry so much.