Reality Life with Kate Casey

Chris DeRosa joins Kate to review Team Moms: Baseball on Paramount+. The series follows seven families at a Scottsdale baseball academy where the boys train for a shot at college and professional baseball, while their parents clash in the stands. 

Kate and Chris discuss the academy’s reported $30,900 annual cost, the parents who keep the drama going, and the question at the heart of the show: when does supporting your child’s dream become chasing one of your own? 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.co...

Gerardo Mejía played one of the high school football players in Can’t Buy Me Love before becoming an international star with “Rico Suave.” He joins Kate to talk about his family’s move from Ecuador to Los Angeles, how dancing led to acting and music, and why he spent his own money making a music video before he had a record deal. He also shares what happened after the hit, from struggling to support his family to starting over as a record executive and working with Enrique Iglesias and a new generation of Latin artists. 

Kate discusses what to watch this week including Amazing Race (CBS), The Widower: ’Til Death Do Us Part (Netflix), Miller Night Football (HBO), and The Swan: Behind the Mirror (Hulu). 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.com/p/books-i-cant-stop-talking-about-this 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itskatecasey?lang=en 

EPISODE OVERVIEW:Deadline:Friday September 25th, 2026 at 10:00 P.M. MSTBaked-In Ads (Y/N & Amount):NOEpisode Title:Ep. - 1727 - SATURDAY SERIES: MICHAEL SWERDLICK PART TWODescription:Michael Swerdlick returns to tell more stories about the making of Can’t Buy Me Love, pilots hesold, and wild experiences in the business including working with the Olsen Twins.

Reality Life with Kate Casey

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itskatecasey?lang=en

Facebook Group: https://ww...

Carlos King joins Kate Casey to discuss The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itskatecasey?lang=en 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/113157919338245 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@realitylifewithkatecasey 

Amazon List: https://www.amazon.com/shop/katecasey 

X: https://twitter.com/katecase...

Director Erin Lee Carr joins Kate to talk about her Hulu documentary The Swan: Behind the Mirror, along with former contestants Kristy Garza from season one and Kari Bravata from season two. The Swan premiered on Fox in 2004 and promised women a total life makeover: three months of plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, therapy, and fitness training. The contestants were isolated from their families, expected to accept what the doctors decided, and barred from looking in a mirror until a dramatic on-camera reveal. Then only one woman from each episode advanced to a beauty pageant to be crowned "The Swan." 

Kate discusses Taylor Frankie Paul’s decision to leave Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the reality series following the women of MomTok as their friendships, marriages, faith and scandals play out both on television and social media. She examines how Taylor became famous, the toxic feedback loop that helped grow her following, and why leaving the show may not be the same as leaving fame. Then Madeline from Peacock’s The Traitors: New Blood joins Kate to discuss her banishment from the competition series, in which a group of players must identify the secret Traitors eliminating contes...

Allen Salkin, host of the 12-part podcast Gerbil from The Hollywood Reporter, digs into the six-year investigation behind Hollywood's most unkillable urban legend. Allen walks Kate through his old-school reporting process — LexisNexis searches, FOIA requests, tracked-down eyewitnesses — and goes deep on the Philadelphia Gerbil Panic of 1985, when KYW anchor Jerry Penacoli was hit with the same rumor years before it ever attached to Richard Gere. 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.c...

Kate discusses what to watch this week including Survivor 51 (CBS), Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (Fox), Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time (Hulu), and Team Moms: Baseball (Paramount+).   

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.com/p/books-i-cant-stop-talking-about-this 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itskatecasey?lang=en 

Faceb...

Michael Swerdlick, writer of the beloved 1987 film Can’t Buy Me Love, shares the remarkable story of how his first screenplay went from a typewritten script sitting on a shelf to a defining teen comedy. He reveals how Patrick Dempsey was cast at the last minute, the real-life inspiration behind the story, Paula Abdul’s role in creating the African Anteater Ritual, Michael Jackson’s connection to the film’s title, and what he remembers about the late Amanda Peterson. Michael also reflects on his unconventional Hollywood career, his instinct to root for the underdog, and why the movie continue...

Daniel Levin, director of 14 Days in Gainesville, joins Kate to revisit one of the strangest collisions of true crime and sports in American history — the 1990 Gainesville murders and Steve Spurrier's first season as head coach of the Florida Gators. In August 1990, five students were murdered in their off-campus apartments in the span of days, sending a college town into lockdown just as Spurrier arrived to rebuild a struggling football program. Daniel and Kate dig into the fourteen days that terrorized Gainesville, the massive manhunt that followed, and how a football stadium became the place a grieving, frightened community found it...

Director Matthew Galkin and executive producer Josh Levine join Kate to discuss their HBO Original documentary series A Killer Story, which examines the more than two-decade-long case against Dana Chandler, accused in the 2002 shooting deaths of her ex-husband, Mike Sisco, and his girlfriend, Karen Harkness. Galkin and Levine detail how the story found them through investigative journalist Joe Sexton, who was contacted by Kansas homemaker Eileen Umbehr after she and her husband, Keen, spent twenty years and much of their own resources trying to prove Chandler's innocence. The conversation covers the six years spent filming the series, the absence...

Chelsea Devantez, author, director and host of Glamorous Trash, joins Kate to discuss Season 5 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Hulu’s reality series about the Utah influencers behind MomTok. They examine the shortened season, the crisis surrounding Taylor Frankie Paul, the increasingly complicated relationship between friendship and fame, and the deeper questions of faith, marriage, female agency and control at the heart of the show. 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https...

Chris DeRosa is back to discuss two very different experiments in finding a spouse. On Netflix’s Love Is Blind: UK, singles become engaged without ever seeing one another, then test their emotional connection in the real world before deciding whether to marry at the altar. On Peacock’s Married at First Sight, relationship experts match complete strangers who meet for the first time on their wedding day. Chris and Kate break down the Love Is Blind: UK finale, the couples’ final decisions, and the latest marriages, red flags, and drama on Married at First Sight. 

Kate discusses what to watch this week including Dancing With the Stars, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, The Traitors, NOVA: The Battle to Breathe, and Joffrey Ballet: The Next Movement. 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.com/p/books-i-cant-stop-talking-about-this 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itskatecase...

Paul David Stanko grew up in a traditional family in Bloomington, Minnesota, later finding his creative and spiritual calling and a loving life partner after years of heartbreak. Then, nearly six decades into his life, an ancestry test revealed that the man who raised him was not his biological father—and that he had an entirely different family waiting to meet him. Paul joins Kate to discuss the discovery that changed everything, meeting his new siblings, and reconsidering his identity without diminishing the father who loved and raised him. 

Reality Life with Kate Casey <...

Twenty-five years after September 11, retired United Airlines Captain Charlie Peterson shares a story most people have never heard: hours after the attacks, with US airspace grounded and fighter jets in the sky, Charlie volunteered to fly a plane carrying United's emergency response team toward the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania — not knowing just how closely his own aircraft would be watched along the way. It's a quiet, remarkable account of an ordinary pilot doing the job he was trained for on the most extraordinary day of his career. 

Reality Life with Kate Casey <...

Brian Moylan joins Kate to discuss the season premiere of Real Housewives of New York City, including Carole Radziwill’s return, the new cast members and the shifting friendships within the group. They discuss the good things that have come out of filming Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: htt...

Liz Farrell, investigative journalist and cohost of COERCED: The Devotion & Death of Mica Francis Miller, discusses more than two years of reporting on Mica’s life, marriage and death. Liz explains what the Netflix documentary Death of the Pastor’s Wife did not cover, including the history of JP Miller’s father, the Rev. Wayne Miller, the family’s churches and the religious compound known as Gloryland; questions surrounding Mica’s bipolar diagnosis and whether her mental health was weaponized against her; how JP accumulated power and repeatedly avoided meaningful consequences; and the unresolved circumstances surrounding Mica’s death. Kate previou...

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, two women who lost their fathers at the World Trade Center are opening up about grief, memory, and justice that still hasn't arrived. Jessica Trant was 19 when her father Dan Trant, a Cantor Fitzgerald bond trader and former NBA draft pick, called from the 104th floor of the North Tower to say goodbye. Elizabeth Miller was six when her father Doug Miller, an FDNY Rescue 5 firefighter, ran into the towers and never came home. In this episode, Jessica and Elizabeth, the subjects of the new CBS documentary Daughters of 9/11 — join me to talk ab...

Kate discusses what to watch this week including Real Housewives of New York (Bravo), Frontline: The Man Who Knew (PBS), The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (Hulu), A Killer Story (HBO and HBO Max), and Daughters of 9/11 (CSB). 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.com/p/books-i-cant-stop-talking-about-this 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok...

Alice LaCour, former federal prosecutor, litigation partner at Hilgers Graben, and co-host of The Prosecutors podcast, joins me for a conversation that spans her immigrant childhood in a small Georgia town where she didn't speak English until kindergarten, her path through Yale Law School and two federal clerkships, her work on Supreme Court confirmation teams, and the day she went into labor mid-trial and didn't leave the courtroom. We also dig into her career as a podcaster, including the backlash she faced after concluding Adnan Syed's original conviction was correct, and her real-time coverage of the Lindsay Clancy trial, i...

Kate discusses Leah Remini joining the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and why her humor, candor, history with Scientology, and willingness to confront uncomfortable subjects could make her an ideal Housewife. She also reviews Netflix’s Untold: Raygun: Breaking Badly, in which Australian academic and breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn recounts her unlikely path to the Paris Olympics and the worldwide ridicule that followed her viral performance. Then, Kate breaks down Earle Meets World, Netflix’s new reality series following TikTok star Alix Earle, her sister Ashtin, their parents, and their complicated blended family. She explores Alix’s rise to...

Trisha Addicks, sorority recruitment consultant, founder of It's All Greek to Me, and author of The Rush Bible: Secrets to Crush Sorority Recruitment and Find Your Forever Greek Home, joins Kate to examine what television, documentaries, and social media get right and wrong about rush, from MTV's Sorority Life to RushTok to the Max documentary Bama Rush, in which Addicks appeared. 

Trisha and Kate discuss how much of recruitment is built on authentic connection versus information gathered before a conversation ever happens, along with the role of résumés and social media audits, how to pr...

Brian Moylan, author of The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives and Vulture’s Housewives Institute Bulletin, joins Kate to discuss why Real Housewives of Orange County has become such a frustrating show, from the endless cast trips to how little we see of the women’s actual lives. They also break down the latest episode of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th, NeNe Leakes’ return to Bravo, the feud between Amanda Cronin and Juliet Angus on The Real Housewives of London, and what Tracy Tutor and Leah Remini could bring to the next season of The...

Lily Fletcher, producer of Hulu’s Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel, joins Kate to discuss the shocking murder-for-hire case at the center of the four-part docuseries. Florida State University law professor Dan Markel was murdered in 2014 amid a bitter custody battle with his former wife, Wendi Adelson. Prosecutors ultimately connected the killing to members of the wealthy Adelson family and a chain involving an intermediary and two hired gunmen. Ryan and Katie Fears also share their firsthand memories of Wendi’s brother Charlie Adelson years before he was convicted of arranging Dan’s murder.  

Kate discusses what to watch this week including Love Island Reunion (Peacock), Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel (Hulu), Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks (HBO), and Earle Meets World (Netflix). 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.com/p/books-i-cant-stop-talking-about-this 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https...

Richard Elliott, a deputy manager in residential childcare in England, talks about his mother's childhood inside a Catholic convent and, later, a Catholic laundry in the north of England during the mid-twentieth century. Richard describes his mother's four years of separation from her family and her sisters as a child, her return home, an attack by a boyfriend at fifteen that led to her being sent away a second time, and two years of unpaid labor inside a Catholic laundry with no contact with her family. Richard also discusses discovering the full extent of his mother's story only recently...

The story of the Kissel brothers, two wealthy siblings murdered on opposite sides of the world within three years of each other. Robert Kissel, a Merrill Lynch executive in Hong Kong, was killed by his wife Nancy in November 2003 in a case that became known internationally as the Milkshake Murder. Less than three years later, his older brother Andrew, a Greenwich, Connecticut real estate developer facing federal fraud charges, was found stabbed to death in his own home. This episode covers both cases in full: the collapse of Robert and Nancy's marriage inside Hong Kong's expatriate finance world, Nancy's...

John Henion, director of Netflix's new documentary Untold: The Testimony of Vince Young, joins the show to unpack the rise and fall of the Texas Longhorns legend, from his childhood in Houston's Hiram Clarke neighborhood, raised by his mother and grandmother while his father was in and out of prison, through his legendary run at Texas under Mack Brown, and into the conflict-riddled NFL career that followed. On January 4th, 2006, Vince Young delivered what's still argued to be the greatest individual performance in college football history, 467 total yards and a game-winning touchdown with 19 seconds left, beating USC to give...

Chris DeRosa joins Kate to discuss season 3 of Love Is Blind: UK on Netflix. They break down this exceptionally attractive cast, the hilariously dramatic music, the differences between the UK and American versions, and the couples heading toward the weddings. They discuss Ciara’s expensive expectations and habit of stirring the pot, Jack and Faye’s chances of making it down the aisle, Ryan’s mysterious career and the Reddit rabbit hole surrounding his work, why Yasmin deserves the world, and whether Sophie and Taylor could become one of the franchise’s most successful couples. Chris and Kate make their we...

Alexa Burger is producer of Netflix’s three-part documentary series Death of the Pastor’s Wife. The series tells the story of Mica Miller, a 30-year-old pastor’s wife from South Carolina whose April 2024 death was ruled a suicide. Mica grew up deeply rooted in her faith and met John-Paul “JP” Miller, a pastor sixteen years her senior, when she was 13. Years later, the two married, and Mica became a prominent presence in his church. As their marriage deteriorated, allegations of abuse, coercive control, surveillance, and harassment emerged, and Mica began speaking publicly about abusive relationships. Two days after serving JP...

Kate discusses what to watch this week including Death of a Pastor’s Wife (Netflix), Untold: The Testimony of Vince Young (Netflix), Love is Blind: UK (Netflix), and Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip (Bravo). 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.com/p/books-i-cant-stop-talking-about-this 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.co...

Kyle Bylin was switched at birth with Jeremy Morrison in a small North Dakota hospital, and did not learn the truth until he was 36 years old. The discovery came after a years-long trail of Ancestry DNA matches that did not add up, leading him to Morrison's biological aunt. That connection confirmed it: Bylin and Morrison, the only two babies born at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, on January 26, 1988, had gone home with each other's bracelets. On this Saturday Series episode, Kate Casey talks with Bylin, who was raised in Adams, North Dakota, by Evelyn Newton and Keith...

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced plans to return to the United Kingdom, moving their family to a private, non-royal residence outside London after six years in Montecito, with Archie and Lilibet already enrolled in British schools for the September term. Kate is joined by Kinsey Schofield, creator and host of To Di For Daily, a royal-focused podcast with a pop-culture perspective, and host of the YouTube show Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered. Schofield has covered the British monarchy since 2017 and reported live from London on the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, and King Charles III's coronation, to unpack...

Kate Casey is joined by Mary Payne Gilbert, host of Pink Shade, to break down TLC’s The Double Lives of Suburban Wives. The show follows suburban women who appear to have conventional lives as wives and mothers but also work in the adult-content industry, including platforms like OnlyFans. The show explores how they navigate sex work/content creation alongside marriages, motherhood, friendships, judgment, and life in their communities. 

Then Patrick Hickey, co-host of Bad TV podcast, sends Kate a voicemail giving a few thoughts on why he loves the show too. 

  <...

Matthew Hamachek and Erica Sashin, directors and executive producers of Apple TV’s The Dynasty: UConn Huskies, join Kate to discuss their three-part docuseries chronicling the extraordinary 40-year run of UConn women’s basketball under Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma. Featuring intimate access, never-before-seen archival footage, and interviews with generations of UConn greats including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, and Paige Bueckers, the series looks beyond the championships to examine the obsession, pressure, sacrifice, and uncompromising culture behind one of the most dominant programs in sports history. Matthew and Erica discuss earning the trust of Geno and his players, the...

Dr. Susan Hatters Friedman, a forensic and reproductive psychiatrist specializing in maternal mental health, joins Kate to discuss the Lindsay Clancy trial and what we need to understand about postpartum psychosis. Dr. Friedman is the Phillip J. Resnick Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University and Director of Forensic Psychiatry at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. She explains why postpartum psychosis can be difficult for doctors and families to recognize, how someone experiencing psychosis can still plan and appear functional, and the critical distinction between severe mental illness and legal insanity. They also discuss what spouses can...

Kate discusses what to watch this week including Love is Blind UK (Netflix), The Dynasty: UConn Huskies (Apple TV+), 9/11 Reunited 

(National Geographic), and Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing (Netflix). 

Reality Life with Kate Casey 

Summer Reading List: https://katecasey.substack.com/p/books-i-cant-stop-talking-about-this 

Vanity Fair Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/martha-moxleys-diary 

What to Watch List: https://katecasey.substack.com 

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/katecasey 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/katecaseyca 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itskatecasey...

Jo Piazza is the bestselling author of Everyone Is Lying to You, The Sicilian Inheritance, and her newest novel, The Parisian Heist, and the host of the Under the Influence podcast. Kate and Jo open by tracing the origins of trad wife culture on social media, discussing Nara Smith's recent rejection of the tradwife label on Call Her Daddy, and whether a new wave of trad wife horror novels signals a real cultural shift or simply a more extreme splintering of the trend. The conversation then turns to The Parisian Heist, a dual timeline mystery following an American art...