The Brain Candy Podcast

The Brain Candy Podcast

Laugh and learn with Susie Meister PhD & Sarah Rice MFT from MTV's The Challenge as they cover psychology, pop culture, human interest, and science, and make everything from The Kardashians to quantum physics accessible to all.

Episodes

September 25, 2025 • 66 mins

Sarah dropped a Great British Baking Bomb on the show today and shattered our love affair with the culinary reality show. They have officially jumped the shark, and we're none too pleased. We hear why one of a League of Their Own real-life legends is promoting women's baseball, but they're taking a different approach than the WNBA. Sarah reveals how doctors want to die, and why the rest of us are doing it wrong.


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Sarah is living her best childless life and Susie has a cat with an unfortunate habit. We discuss the wildly disturbing documentary Unknown Number about the high school girl who was bullied by her own mom, the reason the documentary was more disturbing than the articles we've already discussed on the show, and why experts are calling this a new form of Munchausen Syndrome. We learn about an amputation doctor who has a feti...

September 15, 2025 • 58 mins

Susie learned about a shocking situation developing at a French aquarium housing killer whales where animal rights activists caught the trainers, um, handling the whales to alleviate adult desires brewing between the whales. We hear why it's happening, and why it's so upsetting (beyond the obvious). We discuss the situation between 74yo former NFL coach Bill Bellichek and his 24yo girlfriend, why we can't decide who the vi...

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September 11, 2025 • 57 mins

Sarah was having the time of her life in the creepiest national park that may or may not have alien life. We learn about a horse who died under mysterious circumstances and how a cult got started nearby. And we hear about her experience at a hot spring in her area that freaked her out and made her foot feel like it was on fire. We learn about a flesh eating maggot that is threatening America's lifestock, and it's making us...

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Sarah wants Susie to see T-Pain with her in Denver, and Susie's up for it, but had to confess she doesn't know any of his songs. We discuss one-hit-wonder band, Devo, why they were misunderstood, why they never had another hit, and how expectations determine how a band deals with only having one hit. We find out the origin story for Sweet Caroline being played at sporting events, why a tragedy caused the ritual to spread, ...

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Brain Candy is pumped up for their live event--if you haven't gotten your tickets, now is the time! Sarah is in charge of grassroots promotions, and it reminded her of the importance of being a part of our communities in real life. We discuss the trend of moms going hog-wild decorating their children's dorm rooms, why we think they're doing this, and why it makes us yearn for less polished lives. Sarah explains why people ...

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Susie watched the Biggest Loser docuseries, and it just confirms everything we've been saying about reality tv for decades, but it leaves the question of whether we should expect more from our "entertainment." We find out whether twins have "telepathy" or any kind of special biological ability that allows them to understand each other better, read each other's thoughts, and feel physical pain the other is experiencing. The...

Susie's shirt sparked a whole conversation about Ayn Rand, red flag books, Catcher in the Rye, incels, back-to-school hauls, PacSun jeans, the great jeans/genes scandal, and Lauren Sanchez. And none of it was planned. So buckle up. We debate whether/how we can regulate adult content online to limit its exposure to children without compromising free speech and ushering in a surveillance state, and well, we get nowhere. We f...

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Susie found out that the lesbian community has a real affinity for fingers, and she might have what they're looking for, but she wonders if the gays are keeping secrets about their romantic ways. We learn about a man who announced his intention to do assisted suicide, but asked people to invite him to dinner beforehand. We find out how his dinner tour is going, why mental health experts are not impressed with him, and why ...

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August 21, 2025 • 64 mins

We are super excited to announce our very first live event in Denver on October 30! We discuss all the details of what we have planned for our inaugural IRL Brain Candy event! (get tickets here!). We discuss the bizarro world of Labubu and try to figure out why people are losing their minds for them. We hear why Sarah will forever chase the high of her best Goodwill score. We learn the history of the cover song and debate ...

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August 18, 2025 • 63 mins

Susie has an update on her cat situation, and Sarah is learning more than she ever wanted to know about cat cafes. We debate the cake smash tradition at weddings, and we hear why the more violent and abusive examples of this are going viral on TikTok. And we consider why men resort to this aggressive ritual even when they're humiliating or hurting the bride. We learn about a group of shark bite survivors who have formed a ...

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August 14, 2025 • 68 mins

We have a new Brain Candy seal of approval, inspired by Sarah, created by Adam, and loved by all. Pay attention to our approvals with our new device. We wonder why the Twinkie never left despite threats that they were discontinuing their production of the food (???). We learn the origin of Pac-Man, why the game was revolutionary, and what makes us love it still. We talk about the strange success of the sporting goods story...

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August 11, 2025 • 61 mins

We're fresh off the heals of our Colorado Rocky Mountain high, and we are still recovering. Susie talks about a man who read 3,599 books in his lifetime and kept an adorable handwritten list of them that is now available to all of us. A zoo wants you to know that if you have any "unwanted" pets that they'll take them off your hands and feed them to their predators, which is weird? A doctor might've killed a patient through...

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Sarah talks about a couple who started their own surrogacy company, but then just used it as a cover for them to have 21 children, and now authorities are investigating how they were able to get away with this insanity for so long. We learn that some families are more likely to produce boys vs girls or vice versa, and that the men in the family (well, the sperm) are the part of the equation that influences the sex of a per...

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ATTENTION: Spotify is the source of issues with the podcast episode this week. The full version is available on Apple Podcasts.

You can also listen to the episode here: https://thebraincandypodcast.com/episode/933


Susie's Chili's is back after a two year closure due to fire, and she's finally got her baby back. And we learn the reason she is obsessed with the fast casual restaurant chain in the first place, and how it re...

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Susie hasn't been this happy since we found out Luigi Mangioni's name thanks to the Coldplay cheaters on the kiss cam. We discuss how it's not the crime, but the cover-up once again that got them into trouble. We debate which concerts are cheater concerts, whether it's ok to make fun of people like them who go viral, and what we think will happen to them now. We talk about the Amy Bradley Is Missing documentary, the insani...

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LIVE trivia is this Wednesday July 30th at 8PM! - Today, Sarah tells a story about a man who watched a few YouTube videos and pretended to be a dentist, performing actual dental work on people. This leads us to think of the professions one could fake the easiest and get away with it. And Susie thinks of the best possible answer. We learn some tips on retaining memories and why we need to be intentional about it these days....

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We're obsessing about teeth today (more than usual)! Hear why Susie thinks she got confirmation that wisdom teeth removal is done too frequently, and why she and Gen Z finally have something in common. We discuss the viral accusation of "Gen Z stare," and theorize why it's happening. We learn about a study done on persuasion that made a bunch of people furious on Reddit. We get an update on the Grandma Scam that Susie expe...

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Sarah went camping with her family and it was predictably calamitous in the best way possible. We hear why kids don't ride bikes anymore, parents are chauffeurs, and why it matters. We talk about how much camp meant to Sarah growing up and then as a counselor, and we lament that tragedy in Texas at the Christian camp. Sarah explains why customer service is so bad now, why you shouldn't accept it, and what you can do about ...

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7:40 - Table Of Content, Episode Topic Breakdown. - Sarah is feeling extra tough today because her testosterone levels are through the roof and people think Susie looks like a villain, so we're quite the pair. Hear what traits you need to be perceived as cool. We have a new catchphrase and we think it's super book (you heard us). People are getting AI Avatars of their family members to talk to them after they die, and we s...

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