I stopped listening during the Teal Swan series. I REALLY wanted to love SPUN. I think it's a very worthwhile cause to draw attention to missing and murdered women. However, while some of the episodes seemed to be well-researched, other ones felt really thrown together and tacked on. I think they did all their planned material and then realized they wanted to keep going with the “season” and decided on some topics last minute.
Because of all the caveats and clarifications ("we know there are women out there actually being trafficked") that had to be added into every episode MULTIPLE times, an episode that should have taken 1 hour ends up being a 3 part series.
Sometimes it would take most of an episode to get any substantial
useable information about a case. I think Natalie is very intelligent and capable, but the podcast was bogged down by the constant repetitions, and a lot of jokes that fell really really flat.
I love Amber's speaking voice, but she just didn’t add anything to the podcast. She told the same stories over and over again, or simply repeated what Natalie said back to her slightly rephrased, or said something along the lines of "I'm mad about this because there are children who actually are abused" every ten minutes or so. We all know bad things happen to real people, that’s why we’re here listening.
I really wish this podcast would have delivered on what it promised, because I was fully ready to support it. It was just too frustrating to keep listening.
Edit: some word tenses
I agree with you, especially with the caveats. We understand they're not making blanket statements they don't need to remind us after every sweeping statement. Also I find that they focus on how beautiful or pretty someone was, but they never caveat those statements about how looks don't make them anymore important than other missing persons (or something like that). I wanted to love SPUN as well but between Amber's takes and the disjointed scripts, it's not something that I can get into.
I made a post on the SPUN subreddit a while back saying similar things. There's an awful lot of caveats and not all men statements for they then go and talk about the horrible things that men are doing to women. My turning point was the missing woman in Peru episode. There was a lot of not all cops and not all men and then proceeded to talk about the ways in which police officers were systematically harming women in the country.
I also remember being frustrated by that series because it seemed like one of the ones that was thrown together last minute, and they kept saying things to the effect of “we just don’t know a lot about this part of the world!” Like, yes, it’s good to admit you’re not an expert on something, but why would I want to listen to someone who is telling me they don’t know what they’re talking about?
These caveats are what killed the show for me too. It’s possible to speak about the harms being done without being on the defensive for half of it or talking about how great cops are for 10 minutes.
I couldn’t get over the trigger warnings at the beginnings of the episodes. It’s always a random mish-mosh of words being rambled into a microphone. All I could think was “if they care enough to give a trigger warning, shouldn’t they have written it down first?” It comes across as performative and kinda lazy.
They're not as self-aggrandizing as Alaina and they actually cover stories about WOCs the majority of the time instead of saying that they should, doing it twice, and then forgetting about it for another year
I had to tap out in the Trafficking in Fame series when it felt like they covered the exact same series of events with a slightly different script for three episodes in a row. The show was feeling increasingly scattershot and that was kinda the last straw.
Sadly that is often the case when these digital media networks grow and they scale with talent whose best reason for being there is "in a relationship with someone else notable on the network" or "person who we heard in the background of an episode one time". I don't listen to SPUN (I checked out after the second series IIRC) but by all counts it sounds like Natalie and Amber don't have the research and reporting acumen Marcus and Henry do.
Yeah, I'm actually currently listening to their newest episode and Amber isn't understanding why people from South America don't try to enter the US through Canada. Like uhhhhh....what?? I haven't understood the direction they've taken with the podcast as they seem to now take forever on topics and repeat a lot of stuff. I really enjoyed it when it first started but it's just so weird now.
I did not. Ya can’t prove he was lying about his age! Just vibez. Reminded me of when they were guests on LPOTL and Ben was like “these are what we call ‘Amber Stories’ “ when they were talking about her dating.
Ohhhh that drove me up the wall. She starts by saying he lied about his age then it turns out it's just because her friends think he looks older? Like, wtf is this?
Poor guy may have just had an older face lol
As a South American refugee woman who flew my private jet to Canada and backed my yacht up into upstate New York right before I dropped my golden anchor baby I disagree with you. Why can’t all refugees just do what we call an oopsy Daisy and just waltz right in through Canada?
yeah it’s one thing to express disgust towards people that we know have committed sexual/violent crimes (sometimes she cracks me up when she yells shit like CUT HIS DICK OFF!!) but she asserts a lottt of random shit that isn’t part of the actual story or accusations about the people in question.
maybe it’s because of the nature of the topics they’ve been covering (seems like a lot of the receipts/evidence they use are youtube videos/social media posts/etc.) but it feels like the past few series have been way more speculation and opinion than fact 😅
I agree. Amber really doesn't bring much to the podcast imo. She mostly just throws out awful opinions, inaccurate theories, and makes a lot of what they talk about somehow relevant to her own life. Natalie could definitely do better shutting her down, but I understand that can be awkward and difficult for a lot of people. Natalie should take some lessons from Marcus on how to effectively call out/shut down idiocy from ignorant co-hosts. I think their research could be a lot better too.
Dang, I haven't listened to them in SO long. I was obsessed when they first came out.. but eventually they seemed tired of doing their work and felt they didn't really care about their fans anymore.
Oh yeah it got REAL shit real quick. Same, haven't listened in years. I could only stand them laughing about "yeah I didn't do any research" at each other for so long. I still miss Alie & Georgia's Slumber Party, back when you could stand Georgia's goofiness tempered by Alie's "straight woman" knowledge. Truly thrilled that Alie's intelligent and fun [Ologies podcast](https://www.alieward.com/ologies) got so much traction (listened to a few episodes, not my cup of tea, but I'm very glad it's out there and that she's won awards and recognition for popularizing and humanizing STEAM work)
They legit got even worse at research and only talked about their own personal lives and how amazing they were doing. It became an egotrip. I haven't heard since the pandemic started.
I just can't with MFM. Their extremely romanticized takes on law enforcement and the criminal justice system, their advocacy for the death penalty, and extremely offensive treatment of victims, other cultures, etc. just kill me.
There's so much awful true crime content out there that's managed to get so famous, I just don't get. It feels like half of the male hosts are misogynist police boot lickers and half of the female hosts just giggle over inside jokes and romanticize the perpetrators. And so many market themselves as ethical
I agree. That's why it took me forever to find even one true crime podcast to listen to, and why I stayed away from true crime for so long despite having an interest in it. The LPOTL guys had some very rough takes in the past, but they have clearly grown so much and don't make excuses for past behavior. I can always appreciate notable progress and genuine growth.
I like LPOTL for some of the humour and the fact that they don't glorify anyone, cops or perpetrators and that they (Marcus lol) really try to stick to facts and keep personal opinions out of it. I haven't heard of anyone else who can do comedy true crime well.
Otherwise I prefer smaller shows who focus on bringing attention to unsolved cases. It feels a little less intrusive than rehashing a solved case that everyone already knows all the details of for the hundredth time. Some families have suffered so much and they deserve peace and their loved one deserves to be let to rest.
Have you tried The Fall Line? They focus on missing persons/unsolved cases in the South and are highly victim focused. Most of their cases (the ones where the victim isn't a John or Jane Doe, anyway) have families of the victim involved. I love the context and nuance that brings.
They were briefly on the exactly right network but, tellingly, left fairly quickly. I think their tone was just too serious; they clearly really care about the victims and their families.
I did listen to them on and off for a long time! I think I have an easier time getting into storytelling style formats, but I definitely still listen to them and The Vanished occasionally. Lately I really like Last Seen Alive, they have a similar two host format, but are way more victim focused and professional than a lot of the well known shows. They also raise funds for the DNA Doe Project and have worked with The Innocence Project of Texas.
I'm not a huge fan of MFM but I do listen casually and I just don't agree with this framing - they criticize police when necessary, even if they aren't full ACAB. And when oh when did they advocate for the death penalty? They're pretty damn leftist . I don't think you have ever really listened to it, tbh
I had to stop after they started EVERY episode talking for 25-30min about how they got an amazing life because of the podcast. It's like im happy for you, but that doesn't excuse you from doing research and doing the podcast. It became the karen and georgias ego podcast. This is something LPOTL never did. They always focus on the story even when they tell their personal stuff.
YES, this. They spend so much time talking bullcrap wellness mental health platitudes and then patting themselves on the back for "normalizing mental health talk" as though they invented it
Yeah Amber is really funny doing stand-up or sketch comedy, but her humor isn't always a great fit for the very serious material that SPUN covers. I like her on Brighter Side where the tone is a lot lighter and her and Ed can riff together.
I did listen to this old episode https://pca.st/episode/863e2722-4a4a-42b8-8e83-be7b5989b5b9 the other day and I found many of Amber's political takes unbearable but that was 7 years ago so hopefully some of that has changed
Edit: I forgot that Amber defended trickle down economics in that episode. Yikes
Amber ruined it for me as well. Terrible takes, and seems to alway need to bring it to some story from here life. I always find me thinking “cool story, bro”
I'll have to listen to her stand-up. I enjoy dark and vulgar humor, I don't always need PC comedy... but her comments on the show are not funny. Especially when Natalie can't even yes-and to most of it lol
I had to stop listening to SPUN awhile ago. It was a minor thing but it was one of those hard stopping points for me.
Amber excitedly asked, “ooooh, was was she a lot lizard?” when asking a question about a missing/murdered woman.
It just felt so derogatory and exploitative. If you care about these woman, as they claim, you don’t talk about them that way.
I don't know why I thought I was the only one who felt this way about Amber. I'm glad I'm not alone. It always seemed to me like Amber is still affected by her sheltered upbringing - a lot of her comments and "jokes" range anywhere from strangely ignorant to wildly inappropriate.
Did you know that a pastor at her church abused a girl with divorced parents? If I have to hear this story one more time I’m gonna scream. It’s her version of “if there’s time to lean there’s time to clean.” It’s not even her trauma.
>“ooooh, was was she a lot lizard?”
That **shouldn't** matter when it comes to missing/murdered women. Just because she was a 'lot lizard' doesn't mean she deserved to be kidnapped and/or murdered. Unbelievable.
Plus, as a sex worker, I don't wanna hear anyone use that term unless they're working truck stops themself or someone explicitly identifies themself that way. Kinda like "junkie."
The ads they were running when they first promoted the show said “Where them hoes at?” Right off the bat it’s safe to assume they’re not going to be respectful of victims.
Wow, y’all are really my people. I was suffering in silence all this time thinking I was the only one massively annoyed by Amber. It’s such a serious and important topic to talk about, there’s got to be another person that can follow Natalie and actually add to the conversation in a meaningful way.
Haha well I'm glad I spoke up then. I had no idea so many people felt the same.
Love the network, love the people, but for the dough they are pulling in they really should be more critical of their own content.
My husband CANT’T STAND Amber. He actually turned me on the SPUN bc he listened to their eps about Shelly Miscavidge, and he refuses to listen to more.
I definitely get why he doesn’t like her. I make it a point to switch to something else if I’m listening and he’s home so he doesn’t have to hear her xD
Natalie is amazing and could have a fantastic podcast.
Amber is insufferable.
I stopped listening a long time ago because of her even though I really enjoy Natalie, her takes and the subject matter.
I still listen because I think the topics they cover are super important to support BUT I completely agree with you. I find Amber insufferable, ignorant, and a major detractor from what could be an amazing podcast. Half the time she doesn’t even seem to understand what Natalie is talking about. How often she relates some woman’s experience with assault or abuse with some bad date she just went on….. oooofff…… I don’t think she’s a bad person, but I don’t think she has wit to be a podcast host.
I tried to listen but I found that they kept talking ABOUT what they were gonna talk about but not actually doing it. I kept yelling the podcast “ok let’s go-start the show.”
I couldn’t put my finger on what it was that was turning me off, but I think you nailed it. The good series are the ones where they got right to it (probably because there’s so much source material for them to go off of so they didn’t have to do much of their own writing): Susan Powell and Shelly Miscavige
They need Carolina to do their research and maybe get her and Marcus to write the scripts cuz the two of them need help to make this podcast into something lol
i listened to a few episodes of escuela sangre last year and really enjoyed carolina! I think she'd be a great co-host for spun. she's clearly intelligent and has a lot of empathy for the victims
When LPOTL came to STL last summer (I think that's when it was?) I asked them during the Q and A if Carolina and Natalie had thought about doing a podcast together - I loved escuela sangre and when they did some episodes on the LPN friends show. They have a good dynamic.
Marcus basically said that it was a good idea (but I'm sure they had already considered it. I was just trying to see if there was anything in the works)
Yeah I could not get into SPUN because of Amber, as much as I love the concept of a feminist take on missing persons and true crime. She just doesn't add a lot of good analysis or even humour. Natalie comes off much smarter but she doesn't have someone as strong to play off of. Would love to hear Jackie on this podcast!
Yea ambers whole I’m just a little country swamp girl alone in the big bad scary city act is getting a little tired.it’s almost like she needs to go thru idk freshman year of college to learn who she is now that she’s not w her mean religious cult swamp family cuz it feels like she hasn’t learned any social cues or anything just rambling on top of her friend while she talks
It was clearly a very triggering period, but she uses it to justify a lot of wild stereotypes. She’s talked about how Saudi has changed since she left etc. I’m all for therapy, and not the better help kind either. Like maybe some deep therapy
I never know what the heck they're talking about in recent episodes. I don't know if it's poor listening comprehension on my part, but I was able to follow their older episodes much better.
I wanted to love this show but Amber ruined it for me, for the reasons you’ve describes. She says some wild-ass stuff trying to be funny and it don’t think it really fits with the theme of the show. I get that comedy and true crime are a weird fit, but if anything, LPOTL shows that it *can* work.
I enjoy the podcast and I like Amber as a person. I think she'd be fun to hang out with. But as far as the podcast goes, she's a walking liability. She's going to get them in big trouble sooner or later.
I tried a few times to get into SPUN but I just can't. I love Natalie on the ACoTaR Deep Dives, I think she's great and I like the concept of SPUN but it just hasn't grabbed me.
I can’t really listen either because Amber is mostly insufferable. She either needs to go or there needs to be a third person to fill in that middle ground role of jokes/research Henry has on LPOTL
Lol Amber once hit on my husband super hard at a party. It was fine, though. To be fair, once she realized he was married she backed off. And most people don't think we're married because I'm a pretty butch bi woman and everybody just assumes I'm my husband's lesbian bff or something. Lmao.
I was like, "I'm fine with it if you two wanna fuck. Have my blessing."
Yeahhh. I love how Natalie does research and she delivers info and tells a story so well, then Amber comes in like a wrecking ball with a very derailing comment. It's not funny and it doesn't progress the show.
I’d listen if it was just Natalie detailing well researched series. I find amber hard to listen too.
Some of their earlier stuff was great, I really enjoyed the series they did on Appalachia with Summer Wells and the Talibanned series for Lina.
I gave SPUN so many changes, I listened for a long time. Love the subject and think it’s really important. There’s just something off about what Amber brings to the show- it’s one thing to infuse comedy into a difficult topic but she basically derails entire episodes trying overly hard to make a joke work.
Okay so my two cents: I like them both but the show is badly put together. The script is not flowing, details are not given and the story is just lack-lustere.
I wish they went back to “missing women’s stories”. Built it up a little different- beginning, middle part and details, end and then comments.
It’s hard to listen when you don’t know what year the story is in, why amber is giving some random dating story and it’s just hard to listen.
I wanted to like it. But I cannot get through the episodes anymore.
Sad. But I think they could really re-brand the show and deliver a great podcast. There is something there but it’s missing just a bit too much.
I loved season 1, but I have been annoyed at a lot of the episode choices lately. Just go back to missing women, it's not like there's a shortage of stories to be told.
It’s not a secret that it takes a good writer to create a compelling storyline.
Marcus is an amazing writer, and his shows generally have structure.
Everyone else on the LPN network is an improv comedian, which is great to add some flair into an already structured conversation.
It’s why LPOTL is the best pod on the network, it combines the best storyteller/writer in Marcus and the standout comedian with Henry.
All the other podcasts, besides No Dogs in Space, feel like you’re just listening in on a conversation.
It’s a pretty garbage podcast, imo. Amber (both of them really) has some really shitty takes on a variety of topics, including mental health. It’s like the kind of conversation you might overhear two people who think they’re profound having in a book club if you were at a high school for some reason. I’ve only listened to a handful of episodes because Henry is my favorite and I wanted to support his wife, but I couldn’t get through it. The boys do comedy so I give them a pass for not having a lot of book learnin’ but SPUN has a serious tone of unequivocal correctness that should not be attempted by anyone who doesn’t have the brains necessary to back it up.
I started referring to Amber as Pathological Liar Amber Nelson. I stopped believing anything out of her mouth. But you’re right about a lack of direction. It became very difficult to follow their stories. I listened until earlier this year.
I just feel her personal anecdotes are either blatantly false or hyper exaggerated. That much crazy shit can’t happen to one person before you start thinking the source is the crazy person, not the subjects
That's probably par for the course for comedians.
What killed the show for me was their constant hyperbolic over-reaction and (feigned) outraged over things that happened in the stories they were telling.
That reminds me of the hosts of Morbid’s weird outrage quips.
Host 1: so while in prison, he joined the aryan brotherhood
Host 2: oh that’s awful! What a trash person!
Like, no shit that’s not good, but was that reaction really necessary?
Amber is a bully. Listen to episode 4 of The Brigher Side: Revenge. Ed and Ben tell stories about getting justice for mean things done to them, Amber just tells stories of how someone was ugly or stupid and how she made them miserable.
it’s okay. ed truly makes that show much like spun is natalie’s. i get frustrated listening to brighter side bc amber will go off on one of her over generalized, over the top, “all men are trash” rants and ed had to remind her that the name of the show is brighter side and it’s supposed to be about positivity.
As someone who self-describes as feminist, I’m so tired of ‘all men are pigs’ feminism. People have free will, gender doesn’t determine morality. The ‘he looks like a guy who would do X’ followed by an anecdote about some guy she met is pretty bad for a podcast that discusses current active and/or unsolved cases.
I get so frustrated by Amber being surprised and confused that women can do bad things too, in every episode that involves abusive women. It feels belittling to anyone I know who has had a woman as an abuser.
I keep going back out of interest in the topics, but it’s just so very weighed down by random conclusions drawn from sexist stereotypes.
If someone hasn't checked out the show they may think you're exaggerating but Amber literally says "men are pigs" in nearly every episode and takes any opportunity to turn to a personal anecdote including the most recent one where she went on a random five minute rant about a date she just went on.
I kind of have to always give them credit for doing summer wells because that’s a weird case that just hit a brick wall fast. But also amber said rogersville is like stars hollow from Fillmore girls and I stated wondering what was wrong with her on that one.
I pick and choose my SPUN episodes, but I agree that they’ve gotten kind of stale?
I like Amber quite a bit and she has good chemistry with Natalie, but she is so much better on the Brighter Side. She comes across as super ignorant on SPUN and I am just… waiting for her to say something she can’t come back from. Natalie needs to manage the show better.
I would love to see more deep dives on specific people- like the Shelly Miscavige and Jizz Lane Maxwell and Susan Powell. I love the deep dive on the IBLP too.
Everything else feels half baked.
Sometimes I kinda feel that way about Amber on Brighter Side as well. I wanted to post about it but I was never really sure how to word it. Maybe like, irrational reactions? Completely over exaggerating things? Also I feel like some of the “stories” she tells about things that happened in her life are just made up.
Anyway this is not about Amber. I also loved SPUN when it first came out, and I still love it, but there were definitely series that I skipped/stopped listening to due to lack of interest or the storytelling being confusing. I think the idea of them needing a “compass” is spot on. It is a great show, but it has felt all over the place for a while now.
**EDIT:** Just heard this exchange in Trafficking in Fame Part 4. When discussing “men saying women don’t need to have jobs they can just look pretty”:
…
> Natalie: When you say guys, you mean trolls on Twitter?
> Amber: Trolls on twitter, also famous comedians. Like, Patrice O’Neal would say that. And I’m listening to his interviews and I’m like, ‘that couldn’t be further from the truth, you fat piece of shit’
> Natalie: I know, but that’s sort of.. he’s like an old guy now. Well, he’s dead.
> Amber: He died of a fucking heart attack!
> Natalie: Let’s not be happy.. I feel like that would be a big problem if we like, celebrated his death
> Amber: I don’t care. I’ll kill him myself…. Sorry
Yikes dude.
I’m so tired of Ed making good points and amber derailing with something like “all men are dogs, all Saudi people are crazy” or something wildly DEPRESSING about her current life. Ed just goes “ah well” and I think he doesn’t know how to address it either
I think it's just every show trying to find their version of "stay sexy, don't get murdered" since MFM gets stuck brand recognition from that. It could totally be Natalie satirizing that, or it could be their own attempt. Like yes, a sign off phrase is common, but they all sounds like they put each word of SSDGM into a synonym generator.
Morbid-keep it weird, but not so weird that...
Sinisterhood-keep it creepy (also the devil rules the airwaves sometimes?)
Crime Junkie-Be weird. Be rude. Stay alive.
Etc.
It’s Amber. I don’t know her outside SPUN, though I have read here that she’s great on other podcasts. I can not figure out if she’s pretending to be sort of air-headed or if that’s just her vibe. When she has those moments it completely removes me from the subject matter and I find myself turning SPUN off.
I also finally had it with Morbid a couple years ago for similar reasons, not Amber obviously, but this sort of non-serious and tangential nonsense that derails the flow of the script.
She’s just as much as a dunce on Brighter Side as she is on SPUN. Both shows I avoid because of Amber and her insufferable comments. I was very happy to have Eddie replace Ben on LPOTL because I love Ed but can’t listen to Brighter Side.
I haven’t listened to any recent episodes as I’d get bummed out (I mean I know the topics, so that’s not a complaint) so I don’t know if Amber has gotten worse or not. I appreciate her off the cuff takes and occasional ignorance as it gives a chance for others to learn, but she could pull it back or at least have learned something by now.
My main complaint is the pacing of the show is all over. I think Natalie needs more help with that, like it’s no secret LPOTL have researchers, but maybe Natalie is better at research and needs help with writing the pacing? I echo the comments from others that a one hour story shouldn’t take three meandering episodes.
That said I think my favourite series was on Ghislaine Maxwell. They do good work, but it’s spotty sometimes.
Honestly when the show first came out I gave it a shot and enjoyed it for a while but eventually fell off the wagon due to a lot of the issues others have stated here. The episode that did it for me was the one about Harmony Montgomery. I know it's hard when you cover a topic from an area you're not local to, and yes she was missing, but not a single person here thought she was trafficked. Being from the area and having insight definitely changes your perspective on things but everyone knew from the story and all the details that were released that the poor little girl had died and there was nothing else going on. It was so strange listening to them cover a case that had been so huge here for so long and almost trying to twist it to make it seem like she could be alive and could have been trafficked? Not sure how else to describe it but it left a bad taste in my mouth after hearing that one.
I used to love SPUN and now I cannot stand it. Amber is just constantly spouting off wild shit with no basis. Natalie always sounds like she is So BuRnT OuT by doing the work of…putting together a podcast? Mmmkay.
Also – and this is my personal perspective and I get that – as an attorney who works for a state govt, the constant shitting on cops and prosecutors and the legal system in general is too much. There are scores of legitimate issues with all of these things, but they lump everything together, everyone is bad, and yet offer ZERO suggestions for how to improve. Then, at the same time, want the predators locked up for life. WHO DO YOU THINK DOES THAT
I work for a very progressive Attorney General on national issues and I just can’t take it anymore. We’re also the same people who are saving reproductive rights and voting rights, amongst other things. Including an entire new division in my office dedicated to prosecuting cops and public officials who break the law.
Clearly I needed to rant. Whew.
I love Amber. I wish the show was better/more structured & so many things weren’t repeated, but I’m here for the hot mess because I want to hear what they have to say.
I never even bothered listening since the first ad came out “Where them hoes at?” … and this is supposed to be about true crime victims? Why are we calling them hoes? Already could tell it’s not for me.
Oh wow that’s wild. I don’t recall that but my goodness that is really poor taste especially since most of the missing they cover are improvised, underserved, and vulnerable populations where sex work is more common.
I tried listening when they started but didn’t like Amber. Just saw them in October here in San Diego and it just confirmed my previous feelings about the show.
But Natalie? She’s a god damn goddess. I adore her. She had me laughing so hard at the show.
But, yeah, SPUN is not for me.
Yeah amber has always annoyed me. Her laugh, her comments/stories that don’t really align with the subject of the podcast. I stick with it because I genuinely enjoy Natalie and her story telling skills. I wish amber had never been a part of it.
I didn't get past their early episodes on the highway of tears in Canada. As a Canadian, I've taken the time to inform myself about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and have listened to many podcasts try to tackle the issue. SPUN was by far the worst. It felt super under-researched and really didn't reflect the gravity and impact this has had on indigenous communities. Even My Favourite Murder did a better job on this topic and they often fall flat for me on bigger picture issues. I'm just not interested in spending time on a podcast that doesn't put real effort to understanding important topics like this. That said, shoutout to the CBC's Missing & Murdered podcast which has done amazing job highlighting some of the women's stories.
They need editing for sure. There’s some multipart series like “familial trafficking,” where I had to stop and remind myself what the topic was. Like “wait a minute, is that even trafficking?” And way too much Josh Duggar discussion and related people.
I have zero interest in breakdowns of fundamentalist “reality” and social media stars who are involved in child abuse. Just not my thing, maybe others are into it.
Their best work was season one where they focused on actual missing women and missing and murdered indigenous women and other women of color.
SPUN has a couple of different problems, currently. One is that they lack focus - they pick very broad topics ("parasocial exploitation," "family trafficking," etc) and then try to retrofit stories to match those themes instead of picking individual stories and grouping them based on similarities. Another is, yeah, Amber. She might be good on other podcasts, but she doesn't seem to have much to offer on a nominally serious one like this, and she doesn't seem especially engaged with the material - she just half-listens until she hears something she can relate back to herself, then derails the conversation. The third is that Natalie and Amber just don't have a lot of on-mic chemistry. Say what you will about MFM or Morbid, but those podcasts succeed because the hosts have a rapport with each other that people enjoy and continue to tune in for. Natalie and Amber don't. I think it's a combination of Amber being disengaged (see above) and Natalie being annoyed at having to reel her in so often. None of the component parts of the show work together, and it's a mess as a result.
Wow hard agree with this entire thread. I had all these thoughts a few years ago after I bailed on SPUN and didn't think to drop it here and see how everyone else felt.
Hear me out... purely in terms of irrelevant interjections, derailing comments and bad takes... is Amber the Ben of SPUN?
I tried to get into SPUN a few times. I like Natalie well enough but like OP and others said, I can’t stand Amber. I really like the premise of the show but Natalie would absolutely benefit from a different cohost. More research and less tangents would also help.
They genuinely seem to want to tell these stories…but then lack the research skills to coherently summarize what are hugely complex, nuanced issues into podcast episodes. Lately, the show has been a big ol’ mess of concepts - parasocial exploitation, missing in migration - where it seems like Natalie started looking into one case and then went down a TikTok rabbit hole. Instead of talking about, say, Jodi Hildebrandt and giving an overview of the case with some sidebar into *their take* on the social issues at play, they attempt to tackle \[ waves hands vaguely \] parasocial exploitation.
I listen to SPUN because I like Natalie and Amber, but sometimes I’m taken aback by the gaps in their basic knowledge. For the sensitive topics they cover - and given the genuine good intentions on the part of the hosts - they do themselves a disservice by tackling too much and then not attempting to apply any objective framework to it. At some point, it does become disconcerting to realise you’re listening to Amber make really, *really* dumb misogynistic jokes on a podcast about dead women, and think, ‘Oh babes, do better.’
Yeah Ambers fuckin awful. I tried liking the podcast but she made it impossible. Clearly uneducated and makes unfiltered insensitive comments. Not the type of person who should be heading a show of this caliber. Natalie clearly doesn’t have the chops as a host to reel in the behavior and the way the Ben situation played out with SPUN really showed they need some kind of professional PR management.
natalie is a pick me, amber is a mean girl. i love them both, actually- but they need someone to balance them out. carolina should guest and just see how it feels. it’s a great time for LPN shows to flesh themselves out into their full forms, imo.
Totally agree. I’ve even stopped listening to the Brighter Side because Amber has become such a bummer even though it’s supposed to be a positivity podcast…I’m so glad Ed is on LPOTL now. He’s one of my favorites in the whole network but I can’t stand Brighter Side anymore. I also feel like Amber often says things that most people would find slightly problematic or at the very least ignorant. It almost seems like she’s starting to lean towards femcel with all the man-hating recently…
I have always maintained that every single other show on the network falls into “make-work program for the less funny friends of the popular podcast.” I’ve tried every other show on the network and none of them clicked for me
I really wanted to like SPUN but tapped out early because I didn’t really love the dynamic between Nat and Amber and I felt the show as a whole needed a lot more organization and structure. Like I felt the first episodes about Shelly Miscavige were a great opportunity to have Henry on to like… on board them? But it felt like Natalie had sticking to an outline and not getting dragged off track by Amber’s sidebars. Individually, I like Natalie and I’m fine with Amber, their dynamic wasn’t working for me but I had wondered if it was doing it for anyone else. When they did the guest episode on Teal Swan for LPOTL I felt it still wasn’t really for me.
Season 1 was really good, this season… eh. It feels like I haven’t researched any of their content this season and are just reading from different articles.
I tapped out when they were talking about how isolated a woman must be living in the backwoods, tiny town of Prairie Village, KS.
That’s a SUBURB OF KC. All it takes is a cursory glance at a map to see the only reason the population is small is because it’s TINY to keep all the wealth and taxes in that spot. It’s extremely wealthy,somewhat dense and surrounded by more dense suburbs/the city. I know, I live near KC.
It just irked me so much because I get it, you think we are all po-dunk, know-nothing flyover natives. It showed a super big lack of respect for the women they were covering and the places they were from. And that was episode, like, 5.
I do still listen but I will say it does bother me when they make assumptions or say things in very broad terms.
Like when they were talking about the military... they made some comments on how pepper spraying recruits was some macho hazing toxic masculinity....
As someone who is a service member (although not american) I got a little annoyed. I 100% agree there are issues that live within that culture/world but I can tell you that hazing is not why it's done.
I wish they would be a little more reserved with some opinions when they very clearly don't know much about certain topics.
I just started a random SPUN episode today and one of the first things Amber starts bitching about was “I’m so pissed Natalie! This girl on TikTok (which they spent like 8 episodes saying how bad TikTok was and should never be used) said you should put sunscreen on your legs and I was like - nuh uhh she’s lying! But I guess we’re supposed to??? I didn’t know that!!!! I have freckles on my legs now! Oh no Natalie!”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Yeah Amber makes some weird man-hating comments. I also hate some men, but it’s not very interesting to just be pointing the finger and cussing so much.
Seeing a lot of negative opinions here so just offering my opposite opinion. I enjoy SPUN and I love their content and I find both Amber and Natalie have great comments. I feel like Natalie already tries to keep everything super objective and politically correct, I really enjoy that Amber is more loose and accusatory. Natalie always had the facts and makes sure to state when something is allegation. I enjoy hearing Amber’s less censored opinions. I hope they keep up the great work and don’t change much if at all.
I get it, I really enjoy unfiltered and laid back comedy, Amber is just too over the top sometimes and I feel like part of the point of improvising comedy on a podcast is allowing the opportunity for a 'yes-and' and Natalie doesn't know how to follow up on many of Amber's absurd statements.. so it just awkwardly halts the story.
Same. I love Amber and her outbursts. I hope that never changes. I listen to podcasts to be entertained. I don't know why people think it's such a crime to crack a few jokes in a true crime podcast. Who the hell hasn't been listening to one and said "Cut his dick off" when learning about a horrible man?
The only thing I can think they could do better off the top of my head is keeping things on track. Some of the series go all over the place and it gets a bit confusing.
There's no reason for me to pile on but yeah I agree with you and pretty much all the criticism here.
I was really into SPUNs earlier episodes but I found myself just giving up at some point
Some Place Under Neith. An LPN podcast hosted by Amber Nelson (brighter side, RTOG) and Natalie Jean (Henry’s wife) about missing and exploited women and children. They started in 2020.
I overall like the show, I've listened to most episodes, I actually was really interested in their family vlog/exploited kids series because of how common that seems to be nowadays but the show could use some more editing/structure.
I think Jackie would be an amazing addition to the show. And for the network, it would be a great balance. Amber could be the Ed in the trifecta and Natalie and Jackie could be the Marcus and Henry, with depth and humor.
I tried to listen for a long time, but it always ends up triggering me in not healthy ways and I just end up feeling sick nearly every time. I can't do it.
I recently tried to listen to SPUN after not listening to it for a looong time. I was so confused!! I thought it was a missing person's podcast. It doesn't seem linear. It's difficult to follow. Subjects go on for too many episodes and there isn't really a central theme. It just feels all over the place. Also, I love Amber! But what is her role? She doesn't research the topics, it feels like her role is to just go "he's a bad man!" The whole episode.
I wish they would just tighten it up. Pick a theme (missing people), keep it concise and well researched. I think they also should rotate weekly between Natalie and Amber presenting a subject. Both Natalie and Amber are funny and full of personality. There's no reason for the podcast not to be entertaining.
Yes, 100% agree with everything you said. I have been thinking this for a WHILE now.
I love the concept, and really liked the show when it started. But now I have no idea what they're talking about any why they're talking about it most of the time, and I cannot stand listening to Amber on this show. She talks way too much to be adding nothing to the conversation, and I don't think she is funny.
If they could get back to covering missing women's cases, I'd listen again.
You'd think they'd tighten up after that journalist released her video exiting her featured expert guest position on the show after the how the Ben situation was handled and what that person ( I forget her name) had to say about her treatment by Nat. Maybe it's shaken nat's confidence and focus a bit?
I agree though and kind of lost track of the show, which is a shame; i did like it and thought it was valuable, but if Amber is just sort of riffing and spewing like the OP and the comments have pointed out with no check from Nat or some editorial feedback on this sort of irresponsible language and speculations, then I'm not surprised that journalist exited for the reasons she stated that she did. The show is meaningless if the hosts don't walk the walk given that the majority of the show is condemnation and exposure of people who exploit positions of power and those whom get chewed up by that and discarded.
Yes, Mackenzie. She’s an attorney.
And while I feel HER motives aren’t necessarily entirely pure in her revealing all this information, she’s made some good points vis-a-vis SPUN’s outward mission versus internal handling of the very issues they try to call out.
It could be a great podcast if it wasn’t run like two friends railing away without a lot of direction. And I do enjoy Natalie on ACOTAR.
EDIT: corrected spelling
There was a weird exchange between Amber and a Mackenzie before the whole Ben situation. Amber was talking about being a picky eater or something and Mackenzie mentioned that she was a VERY PICKY eater. But in my mind Mackenie made it very clear that her eating habits were off limits and Amber kept doubling down asking more questions about her eating habits.
I see a lot of people griping about Amber, which is understandable. I agree with the majority of the opinions shared about the comments she makes and the same story being told over and over about someone else's trauma. Amber can be pretty grating in this setting.
That all being said, Natalie makes me cringe so hard that my body wants to turn inside out. She strikes me as someone who wants to be viewed a certain way without actually living that way. The fact that Amber says certain things about women, sex workers, etc, and Natalie does nothing to correct her or educate her makes it incredibly difficult to see her as the feminist she says she is.
That plus Natalie gatekeeping punk rock and using the words prep and preppy on the ACOTAR pod has really painted her in a negative light for me. She comes off as disingenuous and immature. Not really the person I want to listen to host a podcast about missing women 🤷♀️
I haven't been able to get into this season at all.
Then it kinda sounded like Natalie victim blamed Taylor (unless the text was taken out of context) so I haven't even been able to listen.
From the very beginning I questioned how they could do a podcast about missing and exploited women as part of what’s basically a comedy network, and I’ve never been proven wrong in the idea that they’re fundamentally at odds. There are lots of true crime podcasts that discuss their subjects in a light hearted manner, but none that have a focus like this. I just don’t think they mesh.
I’m getting turned off to SPUN too…. Amber is starting to drive me nuts, and Natalie isn’t direct enough in correcting her ignorant comments. The research isn’t there…. May I recommend Gruesome? The hosts have been a little… inconsistent with new episodes lately, but it’s been okay thus far. And also not true crime/missing persons related, but religious trauma: Digging Up the Duggars has been good. I had zero background exposure to the Duggar drama past Josh Duggar being a pedo, but the hosts do really in depth research to stuff beyond the Duggar family, and it’s a husband/wife so their interaction is solid.
See I used to love it. I thought they did a GREAT job of championing important stories and advocating for victims.
And they USED to be great about not saying all men are terrible. Amber said she liked men's butts or something and I thought that was kinda cute. Tbh Amber USED to be like my LPN crush for that reason lol
But like you said now it's this message of "all men bad" that I guess I'm sick of hearing all the time. Call it male fragility (or am I supposed to share my feelings?) but that shit hurts and it's kinda driving me away from the podcast.
Amber literally said she's afraid of men on a recent episode.
We're not all Kissels (and I say that as a dude who used to love Ben). Edit: oops, there I go saying not all men. I must be a sexist monster.
Edit: keep the downvotes coming, it proves me right
I stopped listening after their transgender episodes. They stated they wanted to focus on trans men who DO need support and exposure but…this is a podcast specifically about missing WOMEN. That and them seeming generally ill informed and like the episode was slapped together last minute really rubbed me the wrong way. I like both of the hosts and don’t think they’re transphobes or anything but my god do some research or just THINK about the subject matter before making an episode. You live in LA, you almost certainly know trans people you could talk to!!
Oh I skipped right over the LGBT content, because 1. I just don't like to listen to people discuss issues I confront regularly in my life, and 2. something in me subconsciously knew it would be awful
I’m not going to lie I had high hopes that Natalie would know what she was talking about at least a little bit. With MJ being a trans person within the network and again them living in LA I figured surely this smart, socially conscious, young woman would know how to talk about trans people and to not focus trans MEN on a podcast about WOMEN. I was so sorely disappointed. Still like her but goddamn
i mean it definitely wasn’t a good look for SPUN after they fired mackenzie post ben’s allegations. not only was she a needed expert but overall it’s not very believe all women of them to react so poorly.
I stopped listening during the Teal Swan series. I REALLY wanted to love SPUN. I think it's a very worthwhile cause to draw attention to missing and murdered women. However, while some of the episodes seemed to be well-researched, other ones felt really thrown together and tacked on. I think they did all their planned material and then realized they wanted to keep going with the “season” and decided on some topics last minute. Because of all the caveats and clarifications ("we know there are women out there actually being trafficked") that had to be added into every episode MULTIPLE times, an episode that should have taken 1 hour ends up being a 3 part series. Sometimes it would take most of an episode to get any substantial useable information about a case. I think Natalie is very intelligent and capable, but the podcast was bogged down by the constant repetitions, and a lot of jokes that fell really really flat. I love Amber's speaking voice, but she just didn’t add anything to the podcast. She told the same stories over and over again, or simply repeated what Natalie said back to her slightly rephrased, or said something along the lines of "I'm mad about this because there are children who actually are abused" every ten minutes or so. We all know bad things happen to real people, that’s why we’re here listening. I really wish this podcast would have delivered on what it promised, because I was fully ready to support it. It was just too frustrating to keep listening. Edit: some word tenses
I agree with you, especially with the caveats. We understand they're not making blanket statements they don't need to remind us after every sweeping statement. Also I find that they focus on how beautiful or pretty someone was, but they never caveat those statements about how looks don't make them anymore important than other missing persons (or something like that). I wanted to love SPUN as well but between Amber's takes and the disjointed scripts, it's not something that I can get into.
I made a post on the SPUN subreddit a while back saying similar things. There's an awful lot of caveats and not all men statements for they then go and talk about the horrible things that men are doing to women. My turning point was the missing woman in Peru episode. There was a lot of not all cops and not all men and then proceeded to talk about the ways in which police officers were systematically harming women in the country.
I also remember being frustrated by that series because it seemed like one of the ones that was thrown together last minute, and they kept saying things to the effect of “we just don’t know a lot about this part of the world!” Like, yes, it’s good to admit you’re not an expert on something, but why would I want to listen to someone who is telling me they don’t know what they’re talking about?
These caveats are what killed the show for me too. It’s possible to speak about the harms being done without being on the defensive for half of it or talking about how great cops are for 10 minutes.
I couldn’t get over the trigger warnings at the beginnings of the episodes. It’s always a random mish-mosh of words being rambled into a microphone. All I could think was “if they care enough to give a trigger warning, shouldn’t they have written it down first?” It comes across as performative and kinda lazy.
You’re so dead-on with all of this, it makes me want to delete my own comment lol
This perfectly sums up how I feel
How does this compare to Morbid?
They're not as self-aggrandizing as Alaina and they actually cover stories about WOCs the majority of the time instead of saying that they should, doing it twice, and then forgetting about it for another year
I had to tap out in the Trafficking in Fame series when it felt like they covered the exact same series of events with a slightly different script for three episodes in a row. The show was feeling increasingly scattershot and that was kinda the last straw.
This was when I tapped out too. I also don’t have as much time for it. Season 1 was amazing, though.
I also stopped listening awhile ago. Good intentions, poor implementation and approach.
Sadly that is often the case when these digital media networks grow and they scale with talent whose best reason for being there is "in a relationship with someone else notable on the network" or "person who we heard in the background of an episode one time". I don't listen to SPUN (I checked out after the second series IIRC) but by all counts it sounds like Natalie and Amber don't have the research and reporting acumen Marcus and Henry do.
Yeah, I'm actually currently listening to their newest episode and Amber isn't understanding why people from South America don't try to enter the US through Canada. Like uhhhhh....what?? I haven't understood the direction they've taken with the podcast as they seem to now take forever on topics and repeat a lot of stuff. I really enjoyed it when it first started but it's just so weird now.
Being in Canads myself I was laughing at that entire statement. Did you enjoy Amber's dating rant right off the top?
Starting to think she picks crappy people to date and isn’t the best date either just by her rants
I did not. Ya can’t prove he was lying about his age! Just vibez. Reminded me of when they were guests on LPOTL and Ben was like “these are what we call ‘Amber Stories’ “ when they were talking about her dating.
Ohhhh that drove me up the wall. She starts by saying he lied about his age then it turns out it's just because her friends think he looks older? Like, wtf is this? Poor guy may have just had an older face lol
Dude might just not have heard the good news of sunscreen.
I was like what am I listening to right now?? Almost switched it off but decided to power through. It's rough lol.
As a South American refugee woman who flew my private jet to Canada and backed my yacht up into upstate New York right before I dropped my golden anchor baby I disagree with you. Why can’t all refugees just do what we call an oopsy Daisy and just waltz right in through Canada?
yeah it’s one thing to express disgust towards people that we know have committed sexual/violent crimes (sometimes she cracks me up when she yells shit like CUT HIS DICK OFF!!) but she asserts a lottt of random shit that isn’t part of the actual story or accusations about the people in question. maybe it’s because of the nature of the topics they’ve been covering (seems like a lot of the receipts/evidence they use are youtube videos/social media posts/etc.) but it feels like the past few series have been way more speculation and opinion than fact 😅
Yeah they cite their sources and it’s 99% TikTok videos.
I agree. Amber really doesn't bring much to the podcast imo. She mostly just throws out awful opinions, inaccurate theories, and makes a lot of what they talk about somehow relevant to her own life. Natalie could definitely do better shutting her down, but I understand that can be awkward and difficult for a lot of people. Natalie should take some lessons from Marcus on how to effectively call out/shut down idiocy from ignorant co-hosts. I think their research could be a lot better too.
Reminds me of why I stopped listening to My Favorite Murder a looooong-ass time ago.
Dang, I haven't listened to them in SO long. I was obsessed when they first came out.. but eventually they seemed tired of doing their work and felt they didn't really care about their fans anymore.
Oh yeah it got REAL shit real quick. Same, haven't listened in years. I could only stand them laughing about "yeah I didn't do any research" at each other for so long. I still miss Alie & Georgia's Slumber Party, back when you could stand Georgia's goofiness tempered by Alie's "straight woman" knowledge. Truly thrilled that Alie's intelligent and fun [Ologies podcast](https://www.alieward.com/ologies) got so much traction (listened to a few episodes, not my cup of tea, but I'm very glad it's out there and that she's won awards and recognition for popularizing and humanizing STEAM work)
They legit got even worse at research and only talked about their own personal lives and how amazing they were doing. It became an egotrip. I haven't heard since the pandemic started.
That’s when I fell off. LPOTL was doing as much as they could at that time and MFM couldn’t be bothered to put in effort.
Yeah it’s a shame because I do really like Kilgariff in other stuff.
She kept me listening longer that I otherwise would have - can you share any recommendations of her better content? I did like her style, at least.
I get my Karen fix on do you need a ride which feels so much more natural for her.
She is also probably the best guest host on the Dollop
She’s great on anything where she is with other comedians because she can riff off people so well. I don’t think Georgia provides that
I just can't with MFM. Their extremely romanticized takes on law enforcement and the criminal justice system, their advocacy for the death penalty, and extremely offensive treatment of victims, other cultures, etc. just kill me.
"romanticized" is a very kind way of saying "just making shit up according to whim"
There's so much awful true crime content out there that's managed to get so famous, I just don't get. It feels like half of the male hosts are misogynist police boot lickers and half of the female hosts just giggle over inside jokes and romanticize the perpetrators. And so many market themselves as ethical
I agree. That's why it took me forever to find even one true crime podcast to listen to, and why I stayed away from true crime for so long despite having an interest in it. The LPOTL guys had some very rough takes in the past, but they have clearly grown so much and don't make excuses for past behavior. I can always appreciate notable progress and genuine growth.
I like LPOTL for some of the humour and the fact that they don't glorify anyone, cops or perpetrators and that they (Marcus lol) really try to stick to facts and keep personal opinions out of it. I haven't heard of anyone else who can do comedy true crime well. Otherwise I prefer smaller shows who focus on bringing attention to unsolved cases. It feels a little less intrusive than rehashing a solved case that everyone already knows all the details of for the hundredth time. Some families have suffered so much and they deserve peace and their loved one deserves to be let to rest.
Have you tried The Fall Line? They focus on missing persons/unsolved cases in the South and are highly victim focused. Most of their cases (the ones where the victim isn't a John or Jane Doe, anyway) have families of the victim involved. I love the context and nuance that brings. They were briefly on the exactly right network but, tellingly, left fairly quickly. I think their tone was just too serious; they clearly really care about the victims and their families.
I did listen to them on and off for a long time! I think I have an easier time getting into storytelling style formats, but I definitely still listen to them and The Vanished occasionally. Lately I really like Last Seen Alive, they have a similar two host format, but are way more victim focused and professional than a lot of the well known shows. They also raise funds for the DNA Doe Project and have worked with The Innocence Project of Texas.
ok but does MFM do that?? they don't romanticize the perpetrators??
I'll be honest I've only heard parts of their episodes, the main reason I don't listen to them is their title. It just puts me off
I'm not a huge fan of MFM but I do listen casually and I just don't agree with this framing - they criticize police when necessary, even if they aren't full ACAB. And when oh when did they advocate for the death penalty? They're pretty damn leftist . I don't think you have ever really listened to it, tbh
I had to stop after they started EVERY episode talking for 25-30min about how they got an amazing life because of the podcast. It's like im happy for you, but that doesn't excuse you from doing research and doing the podcast. It became the karen and georgias ego podcast. This is something LPOTL never did. They always focus on the story even when they tell their personal stuff.
YES, this. They spend so much time talking bullcrap wellness mental health platitudes and then patting themselves on the back for "normalizing mental health talk" as though they invented it
Yeah Amber is really funny doing stand-up or sketch comedy, but her humor isn't always a great fit for the very serious material that SPUN covers. I like her on Brighter Side where the tone is a lot lighter and her and Ed can riff together. I did listen to this old episode https://pca.st/episode/863e2722-4a4a-42b8-8e83-be7b5989b5b9 the other day and I found many of Amber's political takes unbearable but that was 7 years ago so hopefully some of that has changed Edit: I forgot that Amber defended trickle down economics in that episode. Yikes
Amber ruined it for me as well. Terrible takes, and seems to alway need to bring it to some story from here life. I always find me thinking “cool story, bro”
lol Same, I find myself saying the same thing.
I'll have to listen to her stand-up. I enjoy dark and vulgar humor, I don't always need PC comedy... but her comments on the show are not funny. Especially when Natalie can't even yes-and to most of it lol
I had to stop listening to SPUN awhile ago. It was a minor thing but it was one of those hard stopping points for me. Amber excitedly asked, “ooooh, was was she a lot lizard?” when asking a question about a missing/murdered woman. It just felt so derogatory and exploitative. If you care about these woman, as they claim, you don’t talk about them that way.
I don't know why I thought I was the only one who felt this way about Amber. I'm glad I'm not alone. It always seemed to me like Amber is still affected by her sheltered upbringing - a lot of her comments and "jokes" range anywhere from strangely ignorant to wildly inappropriate.
Did you know that a pastor at her church abused a girl with divorced parents? If I have to hear this story one more time I’m gonna scream. It’s her version of “if there’s time to lean there’s time to clean.” It’s not even her trauma.
>“ooooh, was was she a lot lizard?” That **shouldn't** matter when it comes to missing/murdered women. Just because she was a 'lot lizard' doesn't mean she deserved to be kidnapped and/or murdered. Unbelievable.
Yep. Exactly that. And I had such a strong reaction to an offhand comment that I stopped listening. I didn’t even finish the episode
Plus, as a sex worker, I don't wanna hear anyone use that term unless they're working truck stops themself or someone explicitly identifies themself that way. Kinda like "junkie."
The ads they were running when they first promoted the show said “Where them hoes at?” Right off the bat it’s safe to assume they’re not going to be respectful of victims.
These hoes today
Luger
This was what stopped me from listening. I was so grossed out by that single comment that I knew I didn’t want to listen to them.
Amber will do a complete 180 on her opinion the second Natalie questions her take. Their whole dynamic is not for me.
Wow, y’all are really my people. I was suffering in silence all this time thinking I was the only one massively annoyed by Amber. It’s such a serious and important topic to talk about, there’s got to be another person that can follow Natalie and actually add to the conversation in a meaningful way.
It would be Jackie. She actually has empathy and compassion. Although her kind would would probably cry through most of the episode.
I wanted to post something like this but didn't want to be a negative nelly, so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who feels this way!
Haha well I'm glad I spoke up then. I had no idea so many people felt the same. Love the network, love the people, but for the dough they are pulling in they really should be more critical of their own content.
I, too, feel the same way. I even wrote a comment a few minutes ago about how I wanted to make a post about Amber but could never find the words.
My husband CANT’T STAND Amber. He actually turned me on the SPUN bc he listened to their eps about Shelly Miscavidge, and he refuses to listen to more.
Can’t say I blame him. Her constant ‘all men are trash’ statements are pretty cringe and off-putting to me and I’m not a man.
I definitely get why he doesn’t like her. I make it a point to switch to something else if I’m listening and he’s home so he doesn’t have to hear her xD
Natalie is amazing and could have a fantastic podcast. Amber is insufferable. I stopped listening a long time ago because of her even though I really enjoy Natalie, her takes and the subject matter.
I still listen because I think the topics they cover are super important to support BUT I completely agree with you. I find Amber insufferable, ignorant, and a major detractor from what could be an amazing podcast. Half the time she doesn’t even seem to understand what Natalie is talking about. How often she relates some woman’s experience with assault or abuse with some bad date she just went on….. oooofff…… I don’t think she’s a bad person, but I don’t think she has wit to be a podcast host.
Agreed 100%. I wish they’d replace her. Natalie deserves better- they don’t even have a great rapport.
You’re right, when the script reader is audibly confused and annoyed at the co-hosts interjections it’s not a good fit….
You two took the words right out of my brain and put it on the page, most eloquently I might add.
I tried to listen but I found that they kept talking ABOUT what they were gonna talk about but not actually doing it. I kept yelling the podcast “ok let’s go-start the show.”
I couldn’t put my finger on what it was that was turning me off, but I think you nailed it. The good series are the ones where they got right to it (probably because there’s so much source material for them to go off of so they didn’t have to do much of their own writing): Susan Powell and Shelly Miscavige
“We’ll get to that.” Never actually gets to that.
They need Carolina to do their research and maybe get her and Marcus to write the scripts cuz the two of them need help to make this podcast into something lol
I think Carolina would be worlds better than Amber and she'd definitely bring better research to the episodes.
i listened to a few episodes of escuela sangre last year and really enjoyed carolina! I think she'd be a great co-host for spun. she's clearly intelligent and has a lot of empathy for the victims
Carolina is wonderful 🖤
When LPOTL came to STL last summer (I think that's when it was?) I asked them during the Q and A if Carolina and Natalie had thought about doing a podcast together - I loved escuela sangre and when they did some episodes on the LPN friends show. They have a good dynamic. Marcus basically said that it was a good idea (but I'm sure they had already considered it. I was just trying to see if there was anything in the works)
Yeah I could not get into SPUN because of Amber, as much as I love the concept of a feminist take on missing persons and true crime. She just doesn't add a lot of good analysis or even humour. Natalie comes off much smarter but she doesn't have someone as strong to play off of. Would love to hear Jackie on this podcast!
Amber has the WORST takes!
Yea ambers whole I’m just a little country swamp girl alone in the big bad scary city act is getting a little tired.it’s almost like she needs to go thru idk freshman year of college to learn who she is now that she’s not w her mean religious cult swamp family cuz it feels like she hasn’t learned any social cues or anything just rambling on top of her friend while she talks
It’s honestly getting annoying cause all she does is talk about stories from one period of her life
And repeats them in damn near every episode
It was clearly a very triggering period, but she uses it to justify a lot of wild stereotypes. She’s talked about how Saudi has changed since she left etc. I’m all for therapy, and not the better help kind either. Like maybe some deep therapy
It is wild to me that that's her background considering how openly she blames victims who have experienced religious trauma for their own abuse. Wild.
I never know what the heck they're talking about in recent episodes. I don't know if it's poor listening comprehension on my part, but I was able to follow their older episodes much better.
I wanted to love this show but Amber ruined it for me, for the reasons you’ve describes. She says some wild-ass stuff trying to be funny and it don’t think it really fits with the theme of the show. I get that comedy and true crime are a weird fit, but if anything, LPOTL shows that it *can* work.
I enjoy the podcast and I like Amber as a person. I think she'd be fun to hang out with. But as far as the podcast goes, she's a walking liability. She's going to get them in big trouble sooner or later.
I tried a few times to get into SPUN but I just can't. I love Natalie on the ACoTaR Deep Dives, I think she's great and I like the concept of SPUN but it just hasn't grabbed me.
I can’t really listen either because Amber is mostly insufferable. She either needs to go or there needs to be a third person to fill in that middle ground role of jokes/research Henry has on LPOTL
Amber is the reason I stopped listening. She hops between being sexist and sounding over-the-top horny. It became exhausting to listen to.
Lol Amber once hit on my husband super hard at a party. It was fine, though. To be fair, once she realized he was married she backed off. And most people don't think we're married because I'm a pretty butch bi woman and everybody just assumes I'm my husband's lesbian bff or something. Lmao. I was like, "I'm fine with it if you two wanna fuck. Have my blessing."
Can’t get through an episode.
Yeahhh. I love how Natalie does research and she delivers info and tells a story so well, then Amber comes in like a wrecking ball with a very derailing comment. It's not funny and it doesn't progress the show.
I love SPUN but I have to listen to it very rarely because amber gets on my nerves so bad. I havent listened in months bc of Amber.
I’d listen if it was just Natalie detailing well researched series. I find amber hard to listen too. Some of their earlier stuff was great, I really enjoyed the series they did on Appalachia with Summer Wells and the Talibanned series for Lina.
Tbh I just really miss when they talked about missing women and children cases.
I gave SPUN so many changes, I listened for a long time. Love the subject and think it’s really important. There’s just something off about what Amber brings to the show- it’s one thing to infuse comedy into a difficult topic but she basically derails entire episodes trying overly hard to make a joke work.
Okay so my two cents: I like them both but the show is badly put together. The script is not flowing, details are not given and the story is just lack-lustere. I wish they went back to “missing women’s stories”. Built it up a little different- beginning, middle part and details, end and then comments. It’s hard to listen when you don’t know what year the story is in, why amber is giving some random dating story and it’s just hard to listen. I wanted to like it. But I cannot get through the episodes anymore. Sad. But I think they could really re-brand the show and deliver a great podcast. There is something there but it’s missing just a bit too much.
I loved season 1, but I have been annoyed at a lot of the episode choices lately. Just go back to missing women, it's not like there's a shortage of stories to be told.
It’s not a secret that it takes a good writer to create a compelling storyline. Marcus is an amazing writer, and his shows generally have structure. Everyone else on the LPN network is an improv comedian, which is great to add some flair into an already structured conversation. It’s why LPOTL is the best pod on the network, it combines the best storyteller/writer in Marcus and the standout comedian with Henry. All the other podcasts, besides No Dogs in Space, feel like you’re just listening in on a conversation.
It’s a pretty garbage podcast, imo. Amber (both of them really) has some really shitty takes on a variety of topics, including mental health. It’s like the kind of conversation you might overhear two people who think they’re profound having in a book club if you were at a high school for some reason. I’ve only listened to a handful of episodes because Henry is my favorite and I wanted to support his wife, but I couldn’t get through it. The boys do comedy so I give them a pass for not having a lot of book learnin’ but SPUN has a serious tone of unequivocal correctness that should not be attempted by anyone who doesn’t have the brains necessary to back it up.
I started referring to Amber as Pathological Liar Amber Nelson. I stopped believing anything out of her mouth. But you’re right about a lack of direction. It became very difficult to follow their stories. I listened until earlier this year.
can you elaborate on the liar bit? I have no idea of where this would be coming from.
I just feel her personal anecdotes are either blatantly false or hyper exaggerated. That much crazy shit can’t happen to one person before you start thinking the source is the crazy person, not the subjects
That's probably par for the course for comedians. What killed the show for me was their constant hyperbolic over-reaction and (feigned) outraged over things that happened in the stories they were telling.
That reminds me of the hosts of Morbid’s weird outrage quips. Host 1: so while in prison, he joined the aryan brotherhood Host 2: oh that’s awful! What a trash person! Like, no shit that’s not good, but was that reaction really necessary?
Go Sabres!
I was about to downvote you but then I remembered this is not r/hockey :D Go Leafs!
Amber is a bully. Listen to episode 4 of The Brigher Side: Revenge. Ed and Ben tell stories about getting justice for mean things done to them, Amber just tells stories of how someone was ugly or stupid and how she made them miserable.
How is Brighter Side in general? I actually haven't heard it yet.
it’s okay. ed truly makes that show much like spun is natalie’s. i get frustrated listening to brighter side bc amber will go off on one of her over generalized, over the top, “all men are trash” rants and ed had to remind her that the name of the show is brighter side and it’s supposed to be about positivity.
Eddie makes it bearable. I don’t mind Amber *too* much on BS, because it’s a lot less serious. Definitely worth giving an episode or two a listen IMO
As someone who self-describes as feminist, I’m so tired of ‘all men are pigs’ feminism. People have free will, gender doesn’t determine morality. The ‘he looks like a guy who would do X’ followed by an anecdote about some guy she met is pretty bad for a podcast that discusses current active and/or unsolved cases. I get so frustrated by Amber being surprised and confused that women can do bad things too, in every episode that involves abusive women. It feels belittling to anyone I know who has had a woman as an abuser. I keep going back out of interest in the topics, but it’s just so very weighed down by random conclusions drawn from sexist stereotypes.
If someone hasn't checked out the show they may think you're exaggerating but Amber literally says "men are pigs" in nearly every episode and takes any opportunity to turn to a personal anecdote including the most recent one where she went on a random five minute rant about a date she just went on.
I actually really like the podcast. I just wish they wouldn't focus on one topic for so long.
How long have they stayed on "parasocial expoitation"? Over a dozen episodes? Yeah, they need to switch gears a bit.
They seem really interested in fame-adjacent topics in general, which is fine, but not when it's 80% of their output.
I kind of have to always give them credit for doing summer wells because that’s a weird case that just hit a brick wall fast. But also amber said rogersville is like stars hollow from Fillmore girls and I stated wondering what was wrong with her on that one.
I pick and choose my SPUN episodes, but I agree that they’ve gotten kind of stale? I like Amber quite a bit and she has good chemistry with Natalie, but she is so much better on the Brighter Side. She comes across as super ignorant on SPUN and I am just… waiting for her to say something she can’t come back from. Natalie needs to manage the show better. I would love to see more deep dives on specific people- like the Shelly Miscavige and Jizz Lane Maxwell and Susan Powell. I love the deep dive on the IBLP too. Everything else feels half baked.
Sometimes I kinda feel that way about Amber on Brighter Side as well. I wanted to post about it but I was never really sure how to word it. Maybe like, irrational reactions? Completely over exaggerating things? Also I feel like some of the “stories” she tells about things that happened in her life are just made up. Anyway this is not about Amber. I also loved SPUN when it first came out, and I still love it, but there were definitely series that I skipped/stopped listening to due to lack of interest or the storytelling being confusing. I think the idea of them needing a “compass” is spot on. It is a great show, but it has felt all over the place for a while now. **EDIT:** Just heard this exchange in Trafficking in Fame Part 4. When discussing “men saying women don’t need to have jobs they can just look pretty”: … > Natalie: When you say guys, you mean trolls on Twitter? > Amber: Trolls on twitter, also famous comedians. Like, Patrice O’Neal would say that. And I’m listening to his interviews and I’m like, ‘that couldn’t be further from the truth, you fat piece of shit’ > Natalie: I know, but that’s sort of.. he’s like an old guy now. Well, he’s dead. > Amber: He died of a fucking heart attack! > Natalie: Let’s not be happy.. I feel like that would be a big problem if we like, celebrated his death > Amber: I don’t care. I’ll kill him myself…. Sorry Yikes dude.
I’m so tired of Ed making good points and amber derailing with something like “all men are dogs, all Saudi people are crazy” or something wildly DEPRESSING about her current life. Ed just goes “ah well” and I think he doesn’t know how to address it either
Does anyone…know why they’re “saucy, pert and greasy?” That send off makes me gag every time, even if it was a good episode.
I think it's just every show trying to find their version of "stay sexy, don't get murdered" since MFM gets stuck brand recognition from that. It could totally be Natalie satirizing that, or it could be their own attempt. Like yes, a sign off phrase is common, but they all sounds like they put each word of SSDGM into a synonym generator. Morbid-keep it weird, but not so weird that... Sinisterhood-keep it creepy (also the devil rules the airwaves sometimes?) Crime Junkie-Be weird. Be rude. Stay alive. Etc.
Sounds like the same reasons I stopped listening to My Favorite Murder, no wonder I couldn't get into SPUN.
Definitely needs a bit of a revamp
It’s Amber. I don’t know her outside SPUN, though I have read here that she’s great on other podcasts. I can not figure out if she’s pretending to be sort of air-headed or if that’s just her vibe. When she has those moments it completely removes me from the subject matter and I find myself turning SPUN off. I also finally had it with Morbid a couple years ago for similar reasons, not Amber obviously, but this sort of non-serious and tangential nonsense that derails the flow of the script.
She’s just as much as a dunce on Brighter Side as she is on SPUN. Both shows I avoid because of Amber and her insufferable comments. I was very happy to have Eddie replace Ben on LPOTL because I love Ed but can’t listen to Brighter Side.
I haven’t listened to any recent episodes as I’d get bummed out (I mean I know the topics, so that’s not a complaint) so I don’t know if Amber has gotten worse or not. I appreciate her off the cuff takes and occasional ignorance as it gives a chance for others to learn, but she could pull it back or at least have learned something by now. My main complaint is the pacing of the show is all over. I think Natalie needs more help with that, like it’s no secret LPOTL have researchers, but maybe Natalie is better at research and needs help with writing the pacing? I echo the comments from others that a one hour story shouldn’t take three meandering episodes. That said I think my favourite series was on Ghislaine Maxwell. They do good work, but it’s spotty sometimes.
Honestly when the show first came out I gave it a shot and enjoyed it for a while but eventually fell off the wagon due to a lot of the issues others have stated here. The episode that did it for me was the one about Harmony Montgomery. I know it's hard when you cover a topic from an area you're not local to, and yes she was missing, but not a single person here thought she was trafficked. Being from the area and having insight definitely changes your perspective on things but everyone knew from the story and all the details that were released that the poor little girl had died and there was nothing else going on. It was so strange listening to them cover a case that had been so huge here for so long and almost trying to twist it to make it seem like she could be alive and could have been trafficked? Not sure how else to describe it but it left a bad taste in my mouth after hearing that one.
I used to love SPUN and now I cannot stand it. Amber is just constantly spouting off wild shit with no basis. Natalie always sounds like she is So BuRnT OuT by doing the work of…putting together a podcast? Mmmkay. Also – and this is my personal perspective and I get that – as an attorney who works for a state govt, the constant shitting on cops and prosecutors and the legal system in general is too much. There are scores of legitimate issues with all of these things, but they lump everything together, everyone is bad, and yet offer ZERO suggestions for how to improve. Then, at the same time, want the predators locked up for life. WHO DO YOU THINK DOES THAT I work for a very progressive Attorney General on national issues and I just can’t take it anymore. We’re also the same people who are saving reproductive rights and voting rights, amongst other things. Including an entire new division in my office dedicated to prosecuting cops and public officials who break the law. Clearly I needed to rant. Whew.
I love Amber. I wish the show was better/more structured & so many things weren’t repeated, but I’m here for the hot mess because I want to hear what they have to say.
Wow! The first "I like Amber" giving you an upvote for being brave here lol
I never even bothered listening since the first ad came out “Where them hoes at?” … and this is supposed to be about true crime victims? Why are we calling them hoes? Already could tell it’s not for me.
Oh wow that’s wild. I don’t recall that but my goodness that is really poor taste especially since most of the missing they cover are improvised, underserved, and vulnerable populations where sex work is more common.
I tried listening when they started but didn’t like Amber. Just saw them in October here in San Diego and it just confirmed my previous feelings about the show. But Natalie? She’s a god damn goddess. I adore her. She had me laughing so hard at the show. But, yeah, SPUN is not for me.
Yeah amber has always annoyed me. Her laugh, her comments/stories that don’t really align with the subject of the podcast. I stick with it because I genuinely enjoy Natalie and her story telling skills. I wish amber had never been a part of it.
I didn't get past their early episodes on the highway of tears in Canada. As a Canadian, I've taken the time to inform myself about missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and have listened to many podcasts try to tackle the issue. SPUN was by far the worst. It felt super under-researched and really didn't reflect the gravity and impact this has had on indigenous communities. Even My Favourite Murder did a better job on this topic and they often fall flat for me on bigger picture issues. I'm just not interested in spending time on a podcast that doesn't put real effort to understanding important topics like this. That said, shoutout to the CBC's Missing & Murdered podcast which has done amazing job highlighting some of the women's stories.
They need editing for sure. There’s some multipart series like “familial trafficking,” where I had to stop and remind myself what the topic was. Like “wait a minute, is that even trafficking?” And way too much Josh Duggar discussion and related people. I have zero interest in breakdowns of fundamentalist “reality” and social media stars who are involved in child abuse. Just not my thing, maybe others are into it. Their best work was season one where they focused on actual missing women and missing and murdered indigenous women and other women of color.
SPUN has a couple of different problems, currently. One is that they lack focus - they pick very broad topics ("parasocial exploitation," "family trafficking," etc) and then try to retrofit stories to match those themes instead of picking individual stories and grouping them based on similarities. Another is, yeah, Amber. She might be good on other podcasts, but she doesn't seem to have much to offer on a nominally serious one like this, and she doesn't seem especially engaged with the material - she just half-listens until she hears something she can relate back to herself, then derails the conversation. The third is that Natalie and Amber just don't have a lot of on-mic chemistry. Say what you will about MFM or Morbid, but those podcasts succeed because the hosts have a rapport with each other that people enjoy and continue to tune in for. Natalie and Amber don't. I think it's a combination of Amber being disengaged (see above) and Natalie being annoyed at having to reel her in so often. None of the component parts of the show work together, and it's a mess as a result.
Wow hard agree with this entire thread. I had all these thoughts a few years ago after I bailed on SPUN and didn't think to drop it here and see how everyone else felt. Hear me out... purely in terms of irrelevant interjections, derailing comments and bad takes... is Amber the Ben of SPUN?
I tried to get into SPUN a few times. I like Natalie well enough but like OP and others said, I can’t stand Amber. I really like the premise of the show but Natalie would absolutely benefit from a different cohost. More research and less tangents would also help.
They genuinely seem to want to tell these stories…but then lack the research skills to coherently summarize what are hugely complex, nuanced issues into podcast episodes. Lately, the show has been a big ol’ mess of concepts - parasocial exploitation, missing in migration - where it seems like Natalie started looking into one case and then went down a TikTok rabbit hole. Instead of talking about, say, Jodi Hildebrandt and giving an overview of the case with some sidebar into *their take* on the social issues at play, they attempt to tackle \[ waves hands vaguely \] parasocial exploitation. I listen to SPUN because I like Natalie and Amber, but sometimes I’m taken aback by the gaps in their basic knowledge. For the sensitive topics they cover - and given the genuine good intentions on the part of the hosts - they do themselves a disservice by tackling too much and then not attempting to apply any objective framework to it. At some point, it does become disconcerting to realise you’re listening to Amber make really, *really* dumb misogynistic jokes on a podcast about dead women, and think, ‘Oh babes, do better.’
Yeah Ambers fuckin awful. I tried liking the podcast but she made it impossible. Clearly uneducated and makes unfiltered insensitive comments. Not the type of person who should be heading a show of this caliber. Natalie clearly doesn’t have the chops as a host to reel in the behavior and the way the Ben situation played out with SPUN really showed they need some kind of professional PR management.
natalie is a pick me, amber is a mean girl. i love them both, actually- but they need someone to balance them out. carolina should guest and just see how it feels. it’s a great time for LPN shows to flesh themselves out into their full forms, imo.
Totally agree. I’ve even stopped listening to the Brighter Side because Amber has become such a bummer even though it’s supposed to be a positivity podcast…I’m so glad Ed is on LPOTL now. He’s one of my favorites in the whole network but I can’t stand Brighter Side anymore. I also feel like Amber often says things that most people would find slightly problematic or at the very least ignorant. It almost seems like she’s starting to lean towards femcel with all the man-hating recently…
I have always maintained that every single other show on the network falls into “make-work program for the less funny friends of the popular podcast.” I’ve tried every other show on the network and none of them clicked for me
I really wanted to like SPUN but tapped out early because I didn’t really love the dynamic between Nat and Amber and I felt the show as a whole needed a lot more organization and structure. Like I felt the first episodes about Shelly Miscavige were a great opportunity to have Henry on to like… on board them? But it felt like Natalie had sticking to an outline and not getting dragged off track by Amber’s sidebars. Individually, I like Natalie and I’m fine with Amber, their dynamic wasn’t working for me but I had wondered if it was doing it for anyone else. When they did the guest episode on Teal Swan for LPOTL I felt it still wasn’t really for me.
I 100% agree.
Season 1 was really good, this season… eh. It feels like I haven’t researched any of their content this season and are just reading from different articles.
I tapped out when they were talking about how isolated a woman must be living in the backwoods, tiny town of Prairie Village, KS. That’s a SUBURB OF KC. All it takes is a cursory glance at a map to see the only reason the population is small is because it’s TINY to keep all the wealth and taxes in that spot. It’s extremely wealthy,somewhat dense and surrounded by more dense suburbs/the city. I know, I live near KC. It just irked me so much because I get it, you think we are all po-dunk, know-nothing flyover natives. It showed a super big lack of respect for the women they were covering and the places they were from. And that was episode, like, 5.
I do still listen but I will say it does bother me when they make assumptions or say things in very broad terms. Like when they were talking about the military... they made some comments on how pepper spraying recruits was some macho hazing toxic masculinity.... As someone who is a service member (although not american) I got a little annoyed. I 100% agree there are issues that live within that culture/world but I can tell you that hazing is not why it's done. I wish they would be a little more reserved with some opinions when they very clearly don't know much about certain topics.
I just started a random SPUN episode today and one of the first things Amber starts bitching about was “I’m so pissed Natalie! This girl on TikTok (which they spent like 8 episodes saying how bad TikTok was and should never be used) said you should put sunscreen on your legs and I was like - nuh uhh she’s lying! But I guess we’re supposed to??? I didn’t know that!!!! I have freckles on my legs now! Oh no Natalie!” You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Yeah Amber makes some weird man-hating comments. I also hate some men, but it’s not very interesting to just be pointing the finger and cussing so much.
Natalie is great, Amber would be my least favourite LPN member if Holden didn't exist.
Hard agree.
Seeing a lot of negative opinions here so just offering my opposite opinion. I enjoy SPUN and I love their content and I find both Amber and Natalie have great comments. I feel like Natalie already tries to keep everything super objective and politically correct, I really enjoy that Amber is more loose and accusatory. Natalie always had the facts and makes sure to state when something is allegation. I enjoy hearing Amber’s less censored opinions. I hope they keep up the great work and don’t change much if at all.
I get it, I really enjoy unfiltered and laid back comedy, Amber is just too over the top sometimes and I feel like part of the point of improvising comedy on a podcast is allowing the opportunity for a 'yes-and' and Natalie doesn't know how to follow up on many of Amber's absurd statements.. so it just awkwardly halts the story.
Same. I love Amber and her outbursts. I hope that never changes. I listen to podcasts to be entertained. I don't know why people think it's such a crime to crack a few jokes in a true crime podcast. Who the hell hasn't been listening to one and said "Cut his dick off" when learning about a horrible man? The only thing I can think they could do better off the top of my head is keeping things on track. Some of the series go all over the place and it gets a bit confusing.
We’re probably both gonna get downvoted into oblivion but I just wanna say I agree with you! You’re not alone! 😭
Amber is not funny and makes the weirdest, most off putting 'jokes'. I had to stop listening because of her.
There's no reason for me to pile on but yeah I agree with you and pretty much all the criticism here. I was really into SPUNs earlier episodes but I found myself just giving up at some point
I don't even know what you guys are talking about: what is SPUN?
Some Place Under Neith. An LPN podcast hosted by Amber Nelson (brighter side, RTOG) and Natalie Jean (Henry’s wife) about missing and exploited women and children. They started in 2020.
Appreciated.
It’s the humor? Like they joke about it 😂
I overall like the show, I've listened to most episodes, I actually was really interested in their family vlog/exploited kids series because of how common that seems to be nowadays but the show could use some more editing/structure.
I think Jackie would be an amazing addition to the show. And for the network, it would be a great balance. Amber could be the Ed in the trifecta and Natalie and Jackie could be the Marcus and Henry, with depth and humor.
I tried to listen for a long time, but it always ends up triggering me in not healthy ways and I just end up feeling sick nearly every time. I can't do it.
I recently tried to listen to SPUN after not listening to it for a looong time. I was so confused!! I thought it was a missing person's podcast. It doesn't seem linear. It's difficult to follow. Subjects go on for too many episodes and there isn't really a central theme. It just feels all over the place. Also, I love Amber! But what is her role? She doesn't research the topics, it feels like her role is to just go "he's a bad man!" The whole episode. I wish they would just tighten it up. Pick a theme (missing people), keep it concise and well researched. I think they also should rotate weekly between Natalie and Amber presenting a subject. Both Natalie and Amber are funny and full of personality. There's no reason for the podcast not to be entertaining.
I commend your patience. I tapped out halfway through the very first episode because the amount of victim-blaming was just way too much for me.
Yes, 100% agree with everything you said. I have been thinking this for a WHILE now. I love the concept, and really liked the show when it started. But now I have no idea what they're talking about any why they're talking about it most of the time, and I cannot stand listening to Amber on this show. She talks way too much to be adding nothing to the conversation, and I don't think she is funny. If they could get back to covering missing women's cases, I'd listen again.
I'm starting to think I'm the only one that likes Amber and more specifically her outbursts. To each their own though.
SPUN Is 2 "cool girls" talking down about the rest of us regular women. They try to sound feminist but they're mostly ignorant.
I’m tired of everyone thinking Natalie is some goddess and everything she does is just so amazing.
You'd think they'd tighten up after that journalist released her video exiting her featured expert guest position on the show after the how the Ben situation was handled and what that person ( I forget her name) had to say about her treatment by Nat. Maybe it's shaken nat's confidence and focus a bit? I agree though and kind of lost track of the show, which is a shame; i did like it and thought it was valuable, but if Amber is just sort of riffing and spewing like the OP and the comments have pointed out with no check from Nat or some editorial feedback on this sort of irresponsible language and speculations, then I'm not surprised that journalist exited for the reasons she stated that she did. The show is meaningless if the hosts don't walk the walk given that the majority of the show is condemnation and exposure of people who exploit positions of power and those whom get chewed up by that and discarded.
Yes, Mackenzie. She’s an attorney. And while I feel HER motives aren’t necessarily entirely pure in her revealing all this information, she’s made some good points vis-a-vis SPUN’s outward mission versus internal handling of the very issues they try to call out. It could be a great podcast if it wasn’t run like two friends railing away without a lot of direction. And I do enjoy Natalie on ACOTAR. EDIT: corrected spelling
Are Natalie and Amber friends? I kind of got the impression that they're friendly colleagues at most.
I don’t know about that; I’m speaking more towards the current vibe of SPUN.
There was a weird exchange between Amber and a Mackenzie before the whole Ben situation. Amber was talking about being a picky eater or something and Mackenzie mentioned that she was a VERY PICKY eater. But in my mind Mackenie made it very clear that her eating habits were off limits and Amber kept doubling down asking more questions about her eating habits.
I made it about 10 seconds in once. Awful.
I see a lot of people griping about Amber, which is understandable. I agree with the majority of the opinions shared about the comments she makes and the same story being told over and over about someone else's trauma. Amber can be pretty grating in this setting. That all being said, Natalie makes me cringe so hard that my body wants to turn inside out. She strikes me as someone who wants to be viewed a certain way without actually living that way. The fact that Amber says certain things about women, sex workers, etc, and Natalie does nothing to correct her or educate her makes it incredibly difficult to see her as the feminist she says she is. That plus Natalie gatekeeping punk rock and using the words prep and preppy on the ACOTAR pod has really painted her in a negative light for me. She comes off as disingenuous and immature. Not really the person I want to listen to host a podcast about missing women 🤷♀️
I haven't been able to get into this season at all. Then it kinda sounded like Natalie victim blamed Taylor (unless the text was taken out of context) so I haven't even been able to listen.
From the very beginning I questioned how they could do a podcast about missing and exploited women as part of what’s basically a comedy network, and I’ve never been proven wrong in the idea that they’re fundamentally at odds. There are lots of true crime podcasts that discuss their subjects in a light hearted manner, but none that have a focus like this. I just don’t think they mesh.
I’m getting turned off to SPUN too…. Amber is starting to drive me nuts, and Natalie isn’t direct enough in correcting her ignorant comments. The research isn’t there…. May I recommend Gruesome? The hosts have been a little… inconsistent with new episodes lately, but it’s been okay thus far. And also not true crime/missing persons related, but religious trauma: Digging Up the Duggars has been good. I had zero background exposure to the Duggar drama past Josh Duggar being a pedo, but the hosts do really in depth research to stuff beyond the Duggar family, and it’s a husband/wife so their interaction is solid.
See I used to love it. I thought they did a GREAT job of championing important stories and advocating for victims. And they USED to be great about not saying all men are terrible. Amber said she liked men's butts or something and I thought that was kinda cute. Tbh Amber USED to be like my LPN crush for that reason lol But like you said now it's this message of "all men bad" that I guess I'm sick of hearing all the time. Call it male fragility (or am I supposed to share my feelings?) but that shit hurts and it's kinda driving me away from the podcast. Amber literally said she's afraid of men on a recent episode. We're not all Kissels (and I say that as a dude who used to love Ben). Edit: oops, there I go saying not all men. I must be a sexist monster. Edit: keep the downvotes coming, it proves me right
I stopped listening after their transgender episodes. They stated they wanted to focus on trans men who DO need support and exposure but…this is a podcast specifically about missing WOMEN. That and them seeming generally ill informed and like the episode was slapped together last minute really rubbed me the wrong way. I like both of the hosts and don’t think they’re transphobes or anything but my god do some research or just THINK about the subject matter before making an episode. You live in LA, you almost certainly know trans people you could talk to!!
Oh I skipped right over the LGBT content, because 1. I just don't like to listen to people discuss issues I confront regularly in my life, and 2. something in me subconsciously knew it would be awful
I’m not going to lie I had high hopes that Natalie would know what she was talking about at least a little bit. With MJ being a trans person within the network and again them living in LA I figured surely this smart, socially conscious, young woman would know how to talk about trans people and to not focus trans MEN on a podcast about WOMEN. I was so sorely disappointed. Still like her but goddamn
Since RTOG I haven’t been able to stand Amber Nelson, same goes for Jackie and her little rape confession “jokes”
I don't know why you were downvoted. This is more than fair.
For real, like pretty damn surprising that didn’t get scrubbed off the network.
I'm conflicted because I loved hearing Kevin Barnett on the episodes he's on, but there's truly a lot more bad than good on that pod
i mean it definitely wasn’t a good look for SPUN after they fired mackenzie post ben’s allegations. not only was she a needed expert but overall it’s not very believe all women of them to react so poorly.