EITM: Drew Wilder On Ashley Madison 5/21/24

The NBC4 reporter checks in to talk about the new Netflix series, "Sex, Lies & Scandal."

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey man, this is Drew Wilderat NBC four. Shut up? Is
it really? Can you hear me? Yeah? I got you? Can
you hear me? Yeah? Igot you? Now? Sorry I lost
for a second. Yeah yeah,I watched the first episode of that show
last night. All right, now, I have a couple of questions.
I don't want you to rout,Drew. I don't want you to ruin
anything for me. Okay, giveme enough to keep me interested. I

(00:23):
just have some questions. This isthe first episode, like it does it
start with the with the with thehack from from ten years ago? No,
so, I thought they did thefirst episode really well, the storytelling,
the production, it's all there.They set it up with you know,

(00:44):
if you didn't know what Ashley Madisonwas, here's what it is.
And then something really bad happened,you don't you know, it doesn't take
that long and in the first episodeuntil they revealed that there was a hack.
But really, the first episode ismeeting the guys behind the website,
the wild marketing campaign to like launchthis thing, and then interviews at home

(01:11):
with people who use the site.By the way, wasn't the I know
and I don't know what their Idon't know what their slogan is now,
by the way, and again Idon't know if they get into it in
the in the documentary Ashley Madison isstill not only very functional but very successful
right now. Number one. Numbertwo is I don't know what their current

(01:34):
marketing slogan is. But wasn't theirmarketing slogan back in the day. Life
is short, have an affair?That was it. And they talk about
like the guy that they brought inand I'm gonna forget his name. It
was like Joel or Noel Piederman.He was like a sports attorney, like
a prominent sports lawyer. Anyway,they like brought him in and he was

(01:56):
just off the rails and that's whathelped it. They kind of through some
of that, like the early marketing, and it just wasn't working. They
were just in their opinion, theyweren't bold and aggressive enough about like,
hey, you're married, you wantto cheat over here? Guys? What
was the I wish I could rememberwhat the what the original marketing slogan was.

(02:17):
It was lame. This says,when monogamy becomes monotony, that's it.
Yeah, And then it was like, all right, quit trying to
be funny with words like life isshored, have it a fair? The
yeah, they said they joked aboutit that that first uh slogan didn't land
because people were so dumb. Theythought it was about wood. They thought

(02:39):
it was mahogany like the wood.Nobody had any idea what they were talking
about. Hey, what what?Hey? Drew? Let me ask you
this, I don't know what yourwhat your deal is? Are you married
or you single? You know whathis deal is? How do I know
what Drew's deal is? Because we'vetalked about it before the I have yes

(03:00):
through. Can you remind him Iam married? It's only my pin post
on that I'm married. My wifeand I have a daughter that turns to
next week, and we've got oursecond kid on the way. That's congratulations.
Congratulations. But wait, why didI make fun of his pinned post?

(03:21):
No? I think you said somethingcreepy about his wife? Oh well,
I mean I hear she's prego nowthe Hey, but so, Drew,
were you ever back before you metthe beautiful woman? Were you?
Were you ever on Ashley Madison?No? I honestly, like I didn't.
I didn't even know what it was. Oh stop it, Stop it,

(03:44):
stop it. I've said the samething about I was aware of what
that was. I was like twentyfive years old. I didn't know,
like it wasn't a porn side.I was aware of that, but like
I didn't know what you did withthat. I don't know. I don't
think I was really like I wasaware of that, like the uh,
the imagery that like woman with thefinger like sish over her fat right,

(04:08):
that like ad was everywhere, LikeI was aware of that, But my
buddy and I were talking about itbecause he watched it too, and I
was like, I don't know thatI was like fully aware of like exactly
what it was until kind of closerto the blow up, right, what's
the scandal hit? By the way, you know what shocked me? Do
you know how many people sign upfor Ashley Madison a month now? Still?

(04:30):
Yes? A month? A month? Real people? Yes, I
don't know. Three hundred and sixtyfive thousand people a month wow sign up
to be on Ashley Madison And I'lltell you why. How does that compare
to like like Tinder or even Facebookthese days? I mean those are pretty
great numbers. Yeah, I don'tknow the answer to that you're a reporter

(04:53):
due your goddamn job. The soundbeat, not my beat. I was
shocked when I saw that number,three hundred and sixty five thousand new new
sign ups a month, and theysaid that people are doing it for two
reasons. Number one, it isthe most honest dating site that there is,

(05:15):
most honest, Yes, because everyother dating site is somebody going,
oh, I'm looking for I'm lookingfor long term love and I want this
and I want that. Ashley,my adison is like, I want to
get with somebody right now. Idon't care if you're if you're married,
if you're not, whatever, Idon't care. That's on you. No
one's on there with the endgame ofblackmailing somebody. No, well, I

(05:39):
mean that possible. Well is theresomebody sure? Is there? Is there
a piece of poison candy in everybag? Yeah? Of course, however
that didn't come out right whatever,Drew, you're making me nervous the uh
no no, But like they're justsaying, it's it is. It's one
hundred percent straightforward. It is exactlywhat it is. There's no dicking around,
there's no messing around with anything.It is. You want to cheat

(06:01):
on your husband and you know,you want to have an affair or whatever.
I don't care. I'm here tohook up and have a say.
Again, I think there's a lotof d in around. I think that's
the point. Something that me andmy buddy were talking about as we were
talking about the show is like thatyou know that predated We think, like,
you know, a lot of thosedating apps were like cat fishing became

(06:24):
like a thing. So like,you know, as they're they're interviewing these
people, like these are people whothey're not? That's not a thought that's
in their heads, like is thisthe person who claims they are? Like,
so they were feeling very confident inthe you know, discreetness of what
they were embarking on, and thatwas just a totally different time as to

(06:44):
you know, some of the thingswe hear about that are happening on dating
sites and and even social media.Now yeah, sure, of course,
of course, Wait hold on questionfor Drew and maybe Drew doesn't know the
answer to this, but but whyis this docuseries out now? It just
it just seems so far removed,no idea, there's no idea. I
mean, I guess maybe it justtook a while for some of these like

(07:08):
people in these interviews to like openup. I have no idea. It
doesn't give you any type of likerelevancy in the timestamp as far as like
why now, And it's not sofar removed that people are like never heard
of this? So I don't know, it's weird. We I was wandering
the same thing. But is itpossible that they and the are the three
episodes? Uh drew? How manyepisodes are there? Three? Three?

(07:30):
Is it possible in the third everthree? They check in ten years later
with three of Elliott's friends. Didthey want that decade of yeah, rebuilding
trusts or whatever it may be.Or maybe they're doing it now because they're
realizing it is it is so successfulright now that people don't realize that it
is still a thing and it's stillvery, very successful. So maybe maybe

(07:53):
that's why I mean that entirely that'sentirely true. I mean you, I
don't know that. I don't wantto like speculator or say the wrong thing,
but I mean you could completely seehow I mean, they have guys
who were the top dogs, youknow, back at I mean, it
could very well just be another guerrillamarketing ploy that they're like, hey,

(08:13):
yeah, we'll open up about this. It's the exposure that we want.
I don't know that that's the case, but why couldn't it be? Hey,
can I ask you this, isit weird watching a documentary about cheating
on your spouse while your wife ispregnant? No, because she would have
just as much interest in watching thattoo. Now, not really, I

(08:37):
mean I think it was weird,like sitting next to my buddy, Like
I don't know why, Like,you know, you make every kind of
sex joke you want with your friend, I guess, but that actually felt
a little more odd than with mywife because my wife and I noticed each
other so well that it's like there'smoments where some of the people who are

(08:58):
interviewing say some things, you know, or maybe I think are funny or
even a little bizarre, and it'slike, oh, wait, does he
think that's funnier bizarre? Like Idon't know, I was just like very
conscious of that, Like that feltweird, you know what it's like?
Honestly, and Drew, probably becauseyou're on the news, you won't agree
it's like watching porn sitting next toyour friend. I wouldn't know anything about

(09:20):
that, Elliott. Sorry, youwant to come over on Friday holiday weekend.
I'll bring the beers, all right, Drew, Hey, hold on,
let me make sure I have yournumber. Hold on one second.
Hold on one second. You're acurrent family dynamic, which he completely forgot.
No, I totally forgot. I'msorry. I don't. I don't.
I don't memorize what everybody said.I don't commit a log of bizarre

(09:43):
things I've said about others, partners. Sorry,