304 - Show-Off Time

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] Okay.

[2] We're like a well -oiled machine.

[3] Oh, we are.

[4] You hear that churning?

[5] The churning of the machine.

[6] I have to leave this in, right?

[7] We have to leave it at the episode.

[8] Stephen, this is the beginning of the episode.

[9] And welcome to my favorite murder?

[10] Thank you.

[11] Yeah.

[12] That's Karen Kilgarra.

[13] that's Georgia hard start and this is how we do it guys this is how we do it professionals all the way to the top I was just actually smiling right as we turned and hit record in our separate homes I just was smiling of like with thank God for Stephen Ray Morris we made it through this pandemic and through this quarantine podcasting the entire time yeah it's not many people did much more that helped many more but it just was making me smile of like we just kept doing it like responsible like how I think of responsible people behaving oh like actually still doing your job like continuing on to life instead of being like well this is the green light for me to lay on the couch for the next two years in depression mode goodbye yep no we still picked up our bloomers and we sat in front the zoomers and we fucking get it!

[14] And we come on.

[15] Finish it.

[16] Wait, finish it.

[17] One more.

[18] That was great.

[19] Let's get out of here.

[20] We've done it again.

[21] Truly, I feel like I've passed into 2021 has lasted about three years worth.

[22] I've passed into an area.

[23] I don't give a fuck anymore.

[24] I want what's best for everyone, but I also you know what I mean?

[25] I just would love to wrap this year up.

[26] I'd love to, you know, chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

[27] Did you put up, speaking of, did you put up your white fake Christmas tree?

[28] You're beautiful.

[29] I should.

[30] I haven't done it yet because I packed so much stuff into my garage that it's blocked.

[31] I blocked my own Christmas tree in.

[32] Oh, no. Yeah.

[33] That's kind of a metaphor of what this year's been like.

[34] Your joy is blocked in by whatever.

[35] I just, I realize every day I think of going down and getting it.

[36] And I'm like, you will end up really sweaty because you're going to have to move about five couches.

[37] Maybe hurting yourself a little bit.

[38] Maybe just a slight lower back pull that affects me for three to six weeks after.

[39] Right.

[40] And so then you have to keep it up through January and then you're that depressing person who has a Christmas tree up through January.

[41] Right.

[42] Although I do have to say if you're in the market or like thinking about a fake tree, especially go all the way fake like I did and have a white sparkly tree with lights already in it, you kind of can leave it up for as long as you want.

[43] Yeah.

[44] Does it make you happy?

[45] Great.

[46] Put it up in September, take it down in March.

[47] Who fucking cares?

[48] Who fucking cares at this point?

[49] We put up Christmas lights which are great outside, but the problem this year is that we have a puppy and a kitten.

[50] So there's no fucking Christmas tree this year for us.

[51] Like it's just it would be asking for a pain in the out, like asking to be annoyed all the time.

[52] Well, yeah, and it would go down.

[53] Like, it would be in the middle of the night kind of, what's that?

[54] Is Santa here early?

[55] Ding, ding, ding, crash.

[56] Yeah.

[57] I mean, I've already had to put all my plants, my beautiful indoor plants that I, like, kept alive and love so much.

[58] I've had to put them outside because Moses.

[59] And now they're all dying because I just, if I don't see them, I won't water them.

[60] Yep.

[61] Anyway.

[62] Do it.

[63] Pick a day.

[64] Not like I'm some green thumb, but I just pick a day.

[65] That's what I learned.

[66] I looked it up because I was like, I would love to keep.

[67] my house plants alive and I'm acting like I simply can't quote yeah and then so I looked up some tips and it was just like like like water your plants on Sundays then it's just like and only one they're thirsty like wait let the dirt get really dry right right well those are my two tips from they're gonna die green thumb corner from Karen's Karen's plant corner who oh speaking of Karen's corner I have a Karen was right corner once again oh shit you know my favorite corner you know my favorite corner The fucking TV show, The Great on Hulu, is one of the best fucking shows.

[68] I would have never watched it if you hadn't told me. Now, Vince and I are like, in it.

[69] It is so, I can't believe that was Elf.

[70] I didn't even know it was El Fanning.

[71] Isn't she fucking spectacular?

[72] She is like, next level, next level.

[73] Oh, my God.

[74] And the writing, what was the movie?

[75] It's made by the same dude who made the movie with what's with Olivia.

[76] Oh, the favorite?

[77] the favorite yes it's like it's the same kind of vibe going on Tony I should Tony something I look at his name every time I watch an episode going because I always think of him as like a playwright because it's I heard it was originally a play it does seem it does this have those that vibe directed by your ghost lanthamos no oh sorry like EP okay your ghost is killing it though I mean Jesus Christ that thing is a beautiful television show to watch yeah uh that sounds like a name from Game of Thrones, by the way.

[78] Is it Tony McNamara?

[79] Yeah.

[80] Okay.

[81] And what else did he do?

[82] Tony McNamara wrote the great and wrote the favorite and wrote Cruella and the rage and Placid Lake.

[83] He's good.

[84] He's a legend.

[85] I mean, and this show, it's like, what do you like?

[86] Do you like costumes?

[87] Show up for this.

[88] Do you like comedy show up for this?

[89] Do you like history?

[90] Show up for this.

[91] Do you like vintage?

[92] cursing.

[93] I love when they use modern curse.

[94] I don't know why when they're like, fuck this and fuck that.

[95] I'm like, yes, they're speaking literally speaking my language.

[96] Literally speaking your language, but also teaching you about the Russian aristocracy and the way their democracy unfolded.

[97] I don't really.

[98] Look at you.

[99] I didn't learn that.

[100] I didn't learn that much.

[101] And also the guy that plays the general, her general.

[102] Oh, yeah.

[103] Who is, he has been in all of my British shows.

[104] I bet.

[105] He's got that face.

[106] Over the years.

[107] Yeah.

[108] And he is in a couple of the old and I can't offhand.

[109] I can't remember which ones.

[110] But he's been in like Jane Austen style.

[111] He's, you know, classic.

[112] He started as like the, the hot guy.

[113] And now he's like this character part that he is so good at where you're like, I love when that guy is on screen.

[114] And I love Elizabeth.

[115] I love the aunt.

[116] Oh my God.

[117] She's my favorite for sure.

[118] She's crazy.

[119] Yes.

[120] She's amazing.

[121] I was going to recommend there's a Netflix true crime documentary and it's German and it's called Dig Deeper the Disappearance of Birgit Meyer and it is I think it was four or six parts episodes it's so unbelievable you have to watch it it's an unbelievable story and and it turned out the Bergeet Meyer her brother was like basically the head of the police in I think Comberg and so she just disappeared and so he was in it where he was in charge he was way high up but he was like somewhere else so he couldn't run the investigation yeah or like interfere yeah but then they it basically just went cold and they went yeah there's just no answer when did it take place in the uh i think 80s okay 80s or early 90s okay you have to watch it though it's okay it's really unbelievable.

[122] What's it called again?

[123] It's called Dig Deeper, the disappearance of Birgit Meyer.

[124] Okay.

[125] I'm in.

[126] Yeah.

[127] Really incredible what happened to this family and these people.

[128] Her ex -husband who she was divorcing, her brother, her daughter.

[129] Oh.

[130] It's, you got to see it.

[131] Okay.

[132] I'm in.

[133] I'm on it.

[134] Okay.

[135] Once we watch Succession tonight, then we will watch.

[136] Oh.

[137] Oh.

[138] So excited.

[139] Oh.

[140] Just the living stomachache of entertainment that is succession it's just getting better and a brilliant piece of work um just wonderful do you have anything else or should we get into exactly right i just have i just have one thing which is and this is really i feel really bad but at the same time i don't think we were talking massive shit but when michel bouteau did the celebrity hometown with us yeah we walked we did a little uh bemery lane walk and we were talking about what we called the Winnipeg Comedy Festival.

[141] Okay.

[142] And then the guy that runs the Winnipeg Comedy Festival wrote in and said, hey, just so you know, that's not us.

[143] That was that other comedy festival that took place in Winnipeg.

[144] So there were a couple like, you know, saucy comments.

[145] I think Michelle made a joke about her check, not clearing or something like that.

[146] Whatever it was.

[147] It made this person feel like they really needed to say, hey, that's not us.

[148] So our apologies to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, which I have never been to.

[149] Okay.

[150] I assumed Winnipeg as a city only had one, but I was wrong in that assumption.

[151] And I think the one we were at isn't around anymore, not sure, not going to name the name.

[152] Let's not do it.

[153] But hey, full apologies and props to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival.

[154] The guy was really nice and funny in his email, but he was just like, yeah, that's not us.

[155] Oh, my God, I love it.

[156] Oh, I have a thing too.

[157] Wait, hold on a second.

[158] I forgot.

[159] Oh, well, we got a lot of shit from people who were like, how do you guys, how do neither of you own a pizza cutter?

[160] Like, people were a little aghast last week when we both talked about that, which I find...

[161] Were they a gas?

[162] A little aghast, which I find, like, calm down, but this one person wrote, um...

[163] I mean, so someone caught this girl named Nikki L. Bag on Instagram commented, my husband and I received a sterling silver Tiffany pizza cutter for a wedding gift.

[164] Oh.

[165] Can you believe that?

[166] It in no way reflects our lifestyle at all.

[167] It is currently in a drawer next to our 199 pizza cutter on pizza nights.

[168] If we think our pizza is on the fancier side, we scoff at the lowly cutter for the plebs and give a quick shine to the cutter made for pizza eating queens.

[169] And then immediately fuck the pizza up by cutting right away before letting it cool.

[170] I just thought that was like the nicest of the comments.

[171] well that's kind of hilarious please remember if you get married and you get a jacked up gift like that return it for that money what are you doing get what are you doing get your tiffany motherfucking gift card credit credit store credit store credit get yourself so many beautiful butterfly necklaces right um but yeah i don't i've never really i think there are people who live differently and they assume everyone lives like them yeah and pizza cutter people being actually like a gassed that's silly to me because you order pizza from a restaurant that cuts it for you and if for some reason that doesn't happen good enough yeah it's called a fucking knife other than that who gives the shit what's crazy to think about is there people out there who like live lives that have pizza oven outdoor like brick pizza ovens that like make pizza systems I know it's crazy wait are you thinking of Papa John because he does not listen to this podcast There's no way.

[172] Okay.

[173] So should we do some network business?

[174] Yeah.

[175] Let's do it.

[176] Let's see.

[177] This week on the exactly right podcast network, I saw what you did is doing a double feature of the 1991 version of point break and the 2015 version of point break.

[178] Amazing.

[179] I love it.

[180] Deep analysis, compare and contrast.

[181] Get in there.

[182] You're going to want to hear these observations.

[183] You got to see it to believe it.

[184] And then we also want to wish that's messed up an SVU podcast, a hack.

[185] be one year anniversary.

[186] We love having them on the network.

[187] This week, they cover the episode of SVU called Pure, starring the great Martin Short.

[188] And then their special guest this week is none other than SVU super fan, your friend, Karen Kilgariff.

[189] That's right.

[190] Oftentimes, when podcasts on our network have one year anniversaries, they ask one of us to be on it.

[191] It's very funny.

[192] To mark that time with them, which is very fun.

[193] we had a great conversation.

[194] I love those guys.

[195] Love it.

[196] And this week on Wednesday is our amazing, hilarious guest, Nicole Beyer.

[197] So please check out Celebrity Hontowns.

[198] Oh, and hey, there's lots of great MFM and exactly right merch for sale.

[199] We have lots of cool Christmas.

[200] Stay Save, Do God's Missions, sweatshirt still exists.

[201] You can get it.

[202] There's ornaments.

[203] There's all kinds of great stuff over there.

[204] And you can still get it.

[205] sent to you in time for the 25th if you order expedited shipping.

[206] That's right.

[207] And also, we have a lot of this is terrible.

[208] Keep going merch.

[209] So if you need that, instead, this holiday season, we got you.

[210] Yeah, whatever you need.

[211] Yeah, we got you.

[212] Don't worry about it.

[213] So, you know, throughout December, we're giving to different charities because it's the holiday season and it's the giving season.

[214] And so this week, we're donating to the National Alliance to end homelessness.

[215] They're committed to preventing an end.

[216] ending homelessness in the U .S., and we're going to give them $10 ,000.

[217] We're really happy to be able to give them a little help this holiday season.

[218] Yep.

[219] And if you can too, it's a great thing to reach out to.

[220] And if not, think good thoughts.

[221] Karen, you know I'm all about vintage shopping.

[222] Absolutely.

[223] And when you say vintage, you mean when you physically drive to a store and actually purchase something with cash.

[224] Exactly.

[225] And if you're a small business owner, you might know Shopify is great for online sales.

[226] But did you know that they also power in -person sales?

[227] That's right.

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[229] Give your point -of -sale system a serious upgrade with Shopify.

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[231] So give your point -of -sale system a serious upgrade with Shopify.

[232] Their sleek, reliable POS hardware takes every major payment method and looks fabulous at the same time.

[233] With Shopify, we have a powerful partner for managing our sales, and if you're a business owner, you can too.

[234] Connect with customers inline and online.

[235] Do retail right with Shopify.

[236] Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify .com slash murder.

[237] Important note, that promo code is all lowercase.

[238] Go to Shopify .com slash murder to take your retail business to the next level today.

[239] That's Shopify .com slash murder.

[240] Goodbye.

[241] All right.

[242] Well, I'm first this week, right?

[243] You are.

[244] Are you ready?

[245] I'm ready.

[246] Are you ready?

[247] I don't know.

[248] Thank God I'm ready.

[249] That would be funny.

[250] He's like, no, I need a little more time to work.

[251] Can I have 25 minutes?

[252] All right.

[253] Karen, for this week today, I'm going to talk about one of the most influential music artists of all time, her life and her tragic death, the princess of R &B, Alia.

[254] Oh, wow.

[255] Yeah.

[256] Been wanting to do this one for a while.

[257] Sources used in today's episode are the Alia website, Biography .com, two CNN staff articles, a New York Times article by Kurt Eichen Wilde, a Daily Beast article by Cheyenne Roundtree, and a New Yorker article by Jim Deerogatis.

[258] So, here we are.

[259] On January 16, 1979, Alia Dana Houghton is born in Brooklyn, New York to parents, Diane and Michael.

[260] And then at five, the family all moves to Detroit.

[261] So Aaliyah, whose name is of Arabic origin and means like the heavens, hide -born, exalted one.

[262] She starts voice lessons pretty soon after she's even able to form full sentences.

[263] She starts singing.

[264] She had the gift.

[265] She had the gift.

[266] She sings in choirs and churches.

[267] She eventually also attends dance and guitar lessons as well.

[268] So she's a talented kid.

[269] When she's still young, Elia has a small role in a production of the musical Annie.

[270] She plays an orphan and only has one line, but it makes her realize that that's what she wants to do.

[271] It would be on stage and perform for the rest of her life.

[272] Annie is a, it's a, like a watershed moment for little girls who think they can sing or can sing.

[273] When you get, when suddenly you find out that there is a musical that just is filled with 10 -year -old girls that are kind of scream singing, it's like one of the most.

[274] exciting things that can happen to you as a young show off.

[275] Do you know this from personal experience, Karen Kilgaret?

[276] Oh, yes.

[277] Yes, I do.

[278] What did you play?

[279] Who did you play?

[280] Well, no, the Annie, I think it was like 1979 when the Annie cast album came out with Andrew McHardell starring Annie.

[281] And that just that whole, you know, it's a hard knock, knock.

[282] It's just like this kind of like, it was just all anthems.

[283] for young girls.

[284] Karen's doing a marching arm thing right now.

[285] Like a fist pounding march.

[286] It just felt good.

[287] I know that feeling that she had.

[288] It worked.

[289] And I know what you meant by that too.

[290] So yeah, she wants to do it forever.

[291] She later says, quote, what I loved about it was just putting the production together, being in the chorus, learning the routine, singing and doing a little bit of acting.

[292] That's when I said, I've got to do this forever.

[293] In 1989, 10 -year -old Alia performed, in the youth vocal competition on Star Search.

[294] Did you know that?

[295] No. Her dress is like, in 19, I'm the same, pretty much the same age as her.

[296] It would have just been the dress you've always wanted in your entire 10 -year -old life, you know, at the frilly bottom and the top and then it has a little bolo coat on it.

[297] Yeah, look, she's so cute.

[298] She doesn't win, but it's okay because she does get a gig performing five nights a week with Gladys Knight in Las Vegas.

[299] Holy shit.

[300] It seems random, but Gladys is actually Alia's uncle Barry Hankerson's ex -wife.

[301] Oh, okay.

[302] They're connected.

[303] She sees this thing in Alia, and she's like, she's fucking amazing.

[304] I want her to perform with me. Gladys Knight is the greatest.

[305] It's the greatest.

[306] Just truly.

[307] That's amazing.

[308] Well, also, there's so many people who were on Star Search and didn't win and went on to be.

[309] him huge.

[310] That's right.

[311] Yeah.

[312] I believe Justin Timberlake.

[313] Was he on it?

[314] Yes.

[315] I watched it.

[316] We watched it every time it was on.

[317] I just don't remember any of it.

[318] Remember the acting category?

[319] That's right.

[320] What did it do?

[321] They just came out and did a terribly written scene.

[322] Monologue or something.

[323] Yeah.

[324] It was like two people fighting over a kitchen table.

[325] It was crazy.

[326] We loved the singing, the child singing, which now I have a hard time watching children sing.

[327] Yeah.

[328] It just creeps me out.

[329] And the comedy, yeah, exactly.

[330] And the comedy, yeah, comedy.

[331] Lots of there, there was lots of great comics on.

[332] There was.

[333] She sings, um, my funny Valentine, which is like, oh, that's cute.

[334] But then like some of the lyrics are like, uh, you don't have an Adonis's body.

[335] Like, it's kind of a little bit weird.

[336] Yeah, when children sing standards that, what happens.

[337] That's inappropriate.

[338] Yeah.

[339] It's unavoidable inappropriateness.

[340] Um, so Gladys.

[341] night later says this about Aaliyah.

[342] From an early age, I knew she had enormous talents, an intrinsic gift.

[343] When she first performed with me in Las Vegas, she was still quite young, but she already had it, the spark that the world would later see and fall in love with.

[344] So by age 12, Aaliyah is signed with Jive records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's black ground records.

[345] And Aaliyah's uncle, Barry, isn't just Gladys' night ex -husband.

[346] He's also our Kelly's manager.

[347] in 1994 when it was only 14 years old R Kelly writes and produces her first album Age ain't nothing but a number Oh no The first single back and forth makes it under the top five on the billboard Hot 100 charts and becomes the number one R &B song As well on the charts Alia later says I still remember how nervous I was right before back and forth came out I kept wondering if people would accept it When it went gold I had my answer and it was just such an incredibly satisfying feeling.

[348] While the album is very successful, many people feel the lyrics are too suggestive for a teenage girl.

[349] Aaliyah later responds by saying, I didn't feel I was too mature.

[350] I felt for my age, I was just right.

[351] Yeah, I was a little bit sexy, but that's just me, and I'm not going to deny being a little bit sexy.

[352] I think it's a wonderful thing.

[353] She was like 14 years old and, you know.

[354] Yeah.

[355] And it was the unchecked 90s, right?

[356] it was it was the time where everyone was just kind of you know putting stuff out totally totally yeah so we don't want to focus on our Kelly because he fucking sucks but I just wanted to go over some of this stuff and it's pretty timely because as you know in September 2021 of this year our Kelly was found guilty of many charges including sexual exploitation of a child bribery racketeering and sex trafficking and he now faces life in prison so during his recent trial, prosecutors actually discuss R. Kelly's relationship with Alia, acknowledging that she was one of his victims.

[357] Oh.

[358] They said, yeah, they said Alia and R. Kelly met in 1992 when he was around 25 and she was 13.

[359] Oh, no. Uh -huh.

[360] And R. Kelly saw how talented she was.

[361] So he started producing and writing the music for her.

[362] And not long after, he also started, quote, engaging in sexual.

[363] activity with her, which we all know now is called rape.

[364] Yeah, you know.

[365] Alia was far too young to consent, obviously, but R. Kelly kept engaging in this sexual activity for several years with the child.

[366] In 1994, R. Kelly was on tour when Alia called him and said she might be pregnant.

[367] So he starts panicking, knowing that if she's pregnant with his kid, he could get charged with statutory rape.

[368] He decides he has to fix the situation.

[369] he flies home to Chicago, he gets his accountant who testified in the trial, saying that he needed to come up with a plan to marry Alia in order to, quote, keep her from talking and, quote, keep him out of jail.

[370] So because Alia was only 15 at the time, Arkellie's former tour manager, Demetrius Smith, he bribes a Chicago official into giving him fake documents lying about Alia's age, and they use those documents to get a marriage license.

[371] So basically, The documents say she's 18 instead of 15.

[372] Oh, wow.

[373] And so on August 31st, our Kelly and Alia marry in a hotel room at the Sheraton near the Chicago airport.

[374] Then he fucking leaves the same day, gets on a plane and goes to his next show.

[375] So Alia goes home to Detroit to tell her parents what happened.

[376] And they're obviously very upset about the whole thing.

[377] And then rumors start to spread about the marriage.

[378] In 1994, Vybe magazine got a copy of the marriage certificate, which showed R. Kelly's real age of 27 while Alia's 15.

[379] And people are talking all about this.

[380] It's really scandalous, as it should be.

[381] And R. Kelly and Alia deny it was true.

[382] They just say they're really good friends.

[383] The marriage is annulled pretty quickly.

[384] And there's a settlement entered where they wouldn't make any public comments about each other.

[385] and they would no longer have any personal professional contact with each other.

[386] I think her parents were upset, obviously.

[387] R. Kelly, quote, admitted to no liability or wrongdoing, and Alia and her parents agree not to sue him.

[388] And Alia's uncle Barry, I guess, quits his job as R. Kelly's manager when he finds out about this.

[389] In his letter of resignation, he tells R. Kelly that he should, quote, seek psychiatric help for a compulsion to pursue underage girls.

[390] Wow.

[391] Yeah.

[392] So, fine.

[393] Let's fucking move on from R. Kelly.

[394] So back to 1994, Aaliyah's first album, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, has just been released.

[395] It's a massive hit.

[396] It's just a really unfortunate title.

[397] I know.

[398] That he's involved in it.

[399] It's just like, it's so indicative.

[400] Yeah.

[401] Yeah, but he's on the cover of the album, too.

[402] Oh, no. It's like not all bad.

[403] It's all bad.

[404] So it's a massive hit that everyone now knows about Aaliyah and love her.

[405] She's got this really cool style.

[406] She's got like baggy pants and oversized shirts.

[407] She becomes like a major fashion icon.

[408] She kind of like Teen Vogue says she like sets the prototype for that time period.

[409] And in 1996, Alia's second album, One in a Million is released.

[410] This time she works with Timbaland and Missy Elliott and they end up making this incredible team.

[411] They work together many times in the future because they are just such a tight team.

[412] you want missy elliot to produce your album if you're young town i mean that is she the move that move of getting out from under that shadow and then to move to timbaland and missy elli it's just like but but also she really was um insanely talented insanely beautiful like just primed so perfectly for show business yeah she definitely you know it's like such a corny thing to call it but like that it you know she had that thing where you just wanted to like watch her yeah at the time like in the late 90s I was into like emo and punk and hardcore like I was not and I bought her album I never fucking bought albums like I didn't own yeah anything I had like a boom box CD player on my car seat beside me because I couldn't afford a fucking car stereo and I I still have that album somewhere like it was so good yeah she was just incredible so the whole album one and a million ends up going multiple multi -platinum and Alia starts performing shows around the world.

[413] And at this point, she's a major star.

[414] Alan Light of Spin Magazine says, quote, there's a lot of popular interchangeable young pop and R &B singers and Alia had an element of mystery and sophistication.

[415] Okay.

[416] And at the time, Alia is not only releasing hit records and performing shows, she's also at this time attending the dance program at Detroit High School for the fine and performing arts and getting a 4 .0 GPO.

[417] my God.

[418] GPA.

[419] It's not a GPO.

[420] Right.

[421] I don't know what that is.

[422] Yeah.

[423] So she's fucking finishing high school at the same time.

[424] And she plans to attend college.

[425] I know.

[426] Amazing.

[427] In 1998, Aaliyah's song Are You That Somebody is featured on the Dr. Doa Little soundtrack and it becomes one of Aaliyah's most recognizable songs.

[428] She's nominated for her first Grammy and in the same year, she performs Journey to the Past on the Anastasia soundtrack and is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.

[429] Yeah.

[430] So that's 1998.

[431] Great year for her.

[432] So next, Aaliyah goes into acting because she can fucking do anything.

[433] And so in 2000, she stars in Romeo Must Die, a modern day martial arts version of Romeo and Juliet.

[434] Do you remember that movie?

[435] Yes, I do.

[436] I don't think I saw it, but I remember how popular it was and how much everyone talked about it.

[437] Yeah.

[438] Aaliyah was Juliet and Jet Lee was Romeo.

[439] The movies of box office success, and not only did she Elia star in the movie she also executive produced the whole soundtrack and performed the hit Try Again and once again she's nominated for a Grammy I love that fucking song but wait a second Is she like 18 now I mean like she's Yes Jesus Christ This is 2000 so she's Maybe she's 20 God old was I She's 20 or 21 Okay I mean Just just just doing her work Yeah, I was starting my drinking career at 20 and 21.

[440] Like, what are you talking about?

[441] Alia.

[442] Okay.

[443] Alia spends the rest of the year 2000 and the first part of 2001 recording a studio album and shooting the movie Queen of the Damned, which was a horror movie where she plays a vampire queen.

[444] Mm -hmm.

[445] And she's often working all hours of the day.

[446] But her hard work pays off.

[447] In July 2001, she releases her self -titled album.

[448] It sells over 2 .4 million copies and the songs more than a woman and rock the boat are like at the top of the charts.

[449] She also accepts more acting roles in movies like Matrix Reloaded, which she had started shooting, and also the movie Honey.

[450] And at the time, her love life's also going great, which she fucking deserves.

[451] She is dating co -founder of Rockefeller Records Damien Dash.

[452] They met in 2000 through his accountant and they became friends and then had, we're dating, but it was like kind of secretly.

[453] Dash said that they would quote, be in a room full of people talking to each other and it felt like everyone was listening, but it would just be us.

[454] It would be like we're the only ones in the room.

[455] So I think they were totally.

[456] True love.

[457] True love.

[458] Okay.

[459] So in mid -August 2001, plans to make a music video for Rock the Boat again.

[460] The production company scouts multiple beaches for locations and they settle on Miami, Florida and Acabo Islands in the Bahamas.

[461] On the 22nd, Aaliyah and her team shoot underwomen.

[462] water scenes in Miami.

[463] And the next day, they take a chartered flight to the Bahamas.

[464] So Aaliyah is a nervous flyer.

[465] She doesn't like to fly at all.

[466] And flying to the Bahamas scared her because it was a smaller, like a little plane.

[467] It wasn't like a commercial flight.

[468] But she's talked into going.

[469] She initially didn't even want to go shoot in the Bahamas at all.

[470] This team spends the 24th shooting in the Bahamas.

[471] The next day, Alia and her dancers filmed some scenes on a boat.

[472] Director Hype Williams later says, filming the music video was, quote, very beautiful for everyone.

[473] We all worked together as a family.

[474] The 25th was one of the best I've ever had in the business.

[475] Everyone felt part of something special, part of her song.

[476] It's a beautiful video.

[477] They put it out.

[478] With the boat scenes out of the way, the teams actually had a schedule.

[479] So they weren't supposed to leave until the following day, but they decide to get a flight out that day because they were done and take the flight back to Miami.

[480] So a last minute flight is booked through a small charter company named Black Hawk International Airways.

[481] This company only owns one plane and it's a small twin engine Cessna that can only hold eight passengers.

[482] There are two other charter companies with bigger planes, including the company that's been hired to fly them out as scheduled the next day, but they're not called for some reason.

[483] And Black Hawk is available.

[484] So they go with it.

[485] Alia and seven colleagues, including her hairdresser, a bodyguard and a record executive show up to the small airport in the Bahamas.

[486] So what happens next is up for debate.

[487] But a typical story that's accepted is that a fight broke out between the pilot and the passengers.

[488] The pilot saying that the plane is already overweight just because of the luggage.

[489] And so bringing eight more people on is going to be way past the limit and the body arm itself is like 300 pounds so it's like they can't have that many people but they all want to leave oh so and also the plane holds eight people including the pilot so the team allegedly is telling the pilot that they need they need to go anyways and take them to Miami like there's this big like hours long argument about whether they'll go or not you know there's a kind of like do you know who I am do you know sure type of shit happening probably time is money we're busy, blah, blah, blah.

[490] Yeah, that's my guess.

[491] I mean, yeah, absolutely.

[492] Okay, so no matter what the version of events is true, and I'll get into that a little bit later, Alia and her seven colleagues eventually board the plane and it takes off.

[493] At around 6 .45 p .m. almost immediately after the plane takes off, a witness is standing outside the terminal and sees everything.

[494] The plane takes off, banks left, and then almost immediately it crashes to the ground and bursts into flame.

[495] I know.

[496] The guy that witnessed Claude says, quote, it took less than a minute.

[497] It was a heavy blow when they hit a lot of the plane just basically disintegrated.

[498] So people rush to the scene and find a grisly sight.

[499] Bodies have been thrown out of the plane and they're now laying across the field.

[500] The wings were had been destroyed upon impact and the engines and landing gear were torn off.

[501] Leah, who's 22 years old, is found around 20 feet away.

[502] from the plane.

[503] She's still strapped into her seat and her cause of death is found to be severe burns and head trauma.

[504] Most of the remaining eight people, Anthony Dodd, Eric Foreman, Scott Galen, Keith Wallace, Gina Smith, Douglas Crats, Christopher Maldonado, and Luis Morales.

[505] They're already dead, although there are still a few alive in suffering terribly, but everyone on the plane eventually dies.

[506] musicians and actors around the world are devastated to hear that Aaliyah's died in a tragic accident.

[507] I remember I saw it flash on the screen.

[508] I was watching.

[509] I had to be watching MTV or something at my grandma's house.

[510] And I thought it was like fake because they showed the numbers like 79 to 2001.

[511] And I was like, oh, what is it her birthday?

[512] Like I had no fucking, I was so whatever.

[513] No, no. I was just really, really shocked because I was such a huge fan.

[514] And she had this.

[515] She was so young and full of life.

[516] and well and she was peaking she was like i remember queen of they damned how much people were talking about it and this was like pre -internet show business yeah and those the photos of um queen of the dam maybe there was the internet but it was just like she was clearly just leveling up leveling up so fast and killing it and yeah it was so shocking it was truly like the height of her career and what a tragedy like, you know, an avoidable tragedy to die in a plane crash.

[517] It's so sad.

[518] And so they all share stories of meeting her, of course, talking about what a genuinely good person she was.

[519] Hype Williams says, quote, she was a very happy person.

[520] She had nothing but love to give to others.

[521] And she selflessly shared much of who she was.

[522] I don't know if anyone really understands that about her.

[523] She had these incredible, graceful qualities as a person.

[524] Fans are inconsolable.

[525] Hundreds send bouquets to the hotel where her friends.

[526] family is staying while they await the return of her body and a private funeral is held on August 31st and fans of Line Park Avenue as Aaliyas caskets carried to St. Ignatius Loyola Roman Catholic Church.

[527] And it looks like Princess Diana's procession.

[528] It's just like so many strangers and fans just, you know, mourning her.

[529] Yeah.

[530] Of course, then, you know, it's August 31st, 2001.

[531] So that it quickly gets overshadowed, obviously, by September 11th.

[532] An investigation into the crash is conducted.

[533] Officials find a multitude of causes for the crash all preventable.

[534] So it's within 805 pounds without people even on it.

[535] And then they add nine people.

[536] Yeah.

[537] So according to the investigation, quote, every nook and cranny of that airplane was packed.

[538] According to one story, the baggage holders and pilot told passengers the plane was super overweight, but the passengers said they didn't care, they demanded to be flown home that day.

[539] But regardless of him telling all this, he still flew the plane out, you know.

[540] So in addition to being overweight, the weight wasn't distributed correctly throughout the plane.

[541] So basically, it mattered where the weight was placed.

[542] And so in this case, the plane was much heavier in the back, which can cause a pilot to lose control.

[543] So it's not evenly distributed.

[544] And there was another reason, the major reason why the plane crashed, It's the pilot.

[545] Not only was Luis newly on probation for possession of crack cocaine, he had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system when the plane crashed.

[546] And worst of all, he wasn't certified to fly a Cessna plane.

[547] Oh, no. I know.

[548] I never heard that.

[549] Yeah.

[550] In fact, he shouldn't have been a licensed pilot at all because he overly exaggerated the number of test hours he'd flown in order to get his license.

[551] He had actually been hired by the charter company Black Hawk International Airways just days before the fatal crash.

[552] I know.

[553] So Black Hawk was to blame for the crash as well.

[554] They weren't even authorized to operate charter flights in the Bahamas.

[555] Not to mention the fact that they've been cited by the FAA four times between 1997 and 2000 violations that included failure to follow drug testing rules and failure to perform proper maintenance.

[556] While there are other causes of the crash, none of them really explain how this flight came to fruition, how everything about it was wrong and it totally could have been prevented.

[557] Music journalist and author Kathy Iyndoli was one of those people who didn't understand how, like completely how this could happen.

[558] In August of 2021, this year, she released a book called Baby Girl, better known as Aaliyah.

[559] And in the book, Kathy wrote that the events that took place that, day never added up for her.

[560] She questioned why Aaliyah, who was known to be an anxious flyer, why she would have been adamant about getting on a plane that was being told to them over and over again was not safe to fly.

[561] Like, why risk it when she knew she could fly out on the scheduled flight the next day?

[562] It just didn't seem like something.

[563] Someone who's terrified of flying would have done.

[564] So as Kathy was writing her book, she saw a video where a man from Abaco Island, a man named Kingsley Russell, whose family ran a taxi and hospitality business there.

[565] He said what he saw leading up to the plane crash, and she ended up interviewing him for the book.

[566] He said that his mom drove Alia and some of her team members to the airport that day.

[567] And Kingsley, who was just 13 at the time, was riding along so he could help load the bags.

[568] And he said that during the ride, Alia kept telling her team that she didn't want to get on the plane.

[569] it was two hours late and she was stressed out and tired and when they got to the airport and she saw how small the plane was she was like I'm not getting on the plane so after the pilot said that the plane was too heavy for all the passengers luggage and equipment Aaliyah gets back in the car saying she has a headache and her team kept trying to talk to the pilot into flying them home without removing any of the weight like they also didn't want any of the baggage to come off then a team member came to talk to Alia.

[570] This is all allegedly, based on what Kingsley said he saw that day.

[571] A team member came to talk to Alia while she was still in the car and saying she didn't want to fly.

[572] And then Kingsley said he watched as the team member handed Alia a pill that knocked her out.

[573] And once the plane was ready to go, Alia was basically asleep and carried onto the plane.

[574] Never even knew she was boarding the plane, according to this statement.

[575] the story makes sense to Kathy, then she says it doesn't make her feel any better.

[576] Obviously, it's a very sad story.

[577] And we also don't know if that pill was given, if it could have just been an aspirin, she could have just fallen asleep.

[578] It's all one person's story.

[579] So it all could also have not happened.

[580] But yeah, but we do know the basics, which is what happened with that plane and the fact that it was overloaded.

[581] Exactly.

[582] So for the 20th anniversary of her death, Alia's estate made some of her music available on streaming services finally.

[583] Like you couldn't get any of her music before this.

[584] this was this year.

[585] So fans were finally given an opportunity to legally listen to her hits and also a ton of artists including Adele the weekend Beyonce Rihanna and Jay Cole say that she was a huge influence to them and actually Drake, Alia had the biggest influence on his career and he even has a tattoo of her on his back.

[586] Do you know that?

[587] I know.

[588] No, I didn't.

[589] And 20 years later, people still mourn the loss of the extremely talented and genuinely kind princess of R &B, Aaliyah.

[590] Wow.

[591] That is the tragic story of the death of Aaliyah.

[592] Great job.

[593] Thank you.

[594] All right.

[595] Mine is going to be a very strange left turn.

[596] When Jay sent me the research for this, I was like, oh, what's this story?

[597] Because we picked the, I picked this, you know, like five months ago.

[598] or something like that.

[599] And it kind of makes me laugh that, you know, this year isn't getting any easier.

[600] I'll just say that.

[601] The news isn't getting any better.

[602] We're not seeing stuff around that are making, that's making us feel like things are really eveninging out and everything's chill at all.

[603] Not in the least.

[604] So this story is kind of just makes me laugh because it's just the strangest and funniest and oddest timing.

[605] But this is the survival story.

[606] story of Maro Prosperi.

[607] Okay.

[608] So I'm about to tell you about this crazy, just, it's just kind of like a random survival story because I said to Jay, we were trying to, you know, find different ones.

[609] It's like, looking for this, you want this kind of story and this kind of story.

[610] And then I'm like, but then again, every once in a while, it's nice to just take a break and hear a story about somebody surviving.

[611] Oh, my God.

[612] You've got to, like sometimes we have to have these fucking stories that are in.

[613] tomb and gloom that's just it's just a break it's a real departure and this one this one really is so let me just read you some of these sources there's a BBC News article that I will read the subject line of later by Maro Prosperi used a lot of information from your favorite magazine Men's Journal there was an article called Crazy in the Desert by Hampton Sides that had a ton of information There's a website called Off Grid, and Patrick McCarthy wrote an article called Alone in the Sahara, the survival story of Maro Prosperi, Wikipedia, of course, and there's a nerdist article by Matthew Hart that I won't read the title of right now because it gives it away even a little bit more.

[614] So we begin on April 10, 1994, in the blistering hot Moroccan Sahara Desert.

[615] No. And you know why we're here in the Moroccan Sahara Desert?

[616] Because 80 runners are at the starting line in a place called Fon -Zeguid for the Marathon of the Sands.

[617] The French name of it is the Marathon de Sables.

[618] This is a six -day, a 155 -mile foot race through the.

[619] the Sahara Desert.

[620] Oh, how hot did you say it was?

[621] Or did you say?

[622] It reaches, I didn't say, but it sometimes reaches up to 115 degrees.

[623] Why?

[624] Yeah.

[625] And you're there, you're running an ultra marathon.

[626] And you probably paid a lot of money to get there.

[627] Oh, I'm sorry.

[628] I have so many issues with this.

[629] So, so many.

[630] So, and it's described in your favorite magazine Men's Journal as, quote, the equivalent of running six marathons back to back.

[631] in a convection oven.

[632] Oh.

[633] So, or an air fryer.

[634] It's, yes, exactly.

[635] Oh, my God.

[636] You're a human marathoner tater tot, which is quite ironic considering how much your average marathoner fear starches.

[637] Okay.

[638] So one of these participants, one of these 80 runners, is a 39 -year -old Italian man named Maro Prosperi.

[639] He's back at home in Italy.

[640] He's a police officer.

[641] but his passion is competing in extreme athletic events.

[642] So that includes several Olympic modern pentathlon.

[643] So the pentathlon is the one that has fencing 200 -meter freestyle swim, equestrian show jumping, and then a combination of pistol shooting and a 3 ,200 -meter cross -country run to capitals.

[644] Wait, I'm sorry.

[645] Could you do that again?

[646] The pentathlon in the Olympics, which maybe many people don't know, involves fencing a 200 meter freestyle swim some equestrian show jumping on a horse then some pistol shooting and a 3 ,200 meter cross country run I'm sorry those are all individual things that you get good at throughout your lifetime but then you have to do them all at fucking once you have to do them all at once at the Olympics against a bunch of other people who are like I also love to do this so out of my fucking way talk about showing off fuck Annie this is like let me show off time it's next level show off time because also it's it's the show off time for the rich because right between fencing and equestrian show jumping yeah these aren't just like your average kids from the town high school you know what I mean it's like serious okay so by 1994 Morrow has retired as a pentathlete so he's competed for a while okay but when his friend tells him about this Moroccan ultramarathon he cannot resist signing up oh god okay so let me explain how an ultramarathon this one in particular um gets broken down there are six stages okay one stage per day so on day one the runners they run 18 .8 miles on day two they run 18 .8 miles on day two they run 18 .8 okay 18 .8 miles on day one 24 .2 miles on day 19 .6 miles on day three.

[647] So are you catching on that these are, these are actually meters, but the reason the miles are so weird is because I'm taking it back.

[648] I'm taking it back out of the metric system for you.

[649] For you as an American.

[650] Day three, 19 .6 miles.

[651] Day four, the longest day, you run 53 .6 miles.

[652] That's illegal.

[653] Day five is just a regular marathon.

[654] 26 .2 miles.

[655] Thank you.

[656] And then on day six, you just cool it down with a nice 4 .8 mile run in the desert.

[657] RIP to those people's knees, I just want to say.

[658] And also just, I think about that where I'm like, sometimes when I, like, have to go back to the bathroom to, like, go get a brush or, you know, you mean?

[659] And you're like, ugh, kind of walking, like, a little bit like, ooh, my hip or whatever.

[660] And it's like, these people travel to Morocco.

[661] to run hundreds of miles.

[662] They went back and forth to your bathroom billion times.

[663] So many times with like with the heater with five sweaters on.

[664] Oh, I'm like sweating right now.

[665] And smiling the whole time.

[666] They're like that I love it.

[667] I love this high.

[668] Let me pay you money for this.

[669] I love living this way.

[670] I love this high.

[671] So each runner carries their own pack of supplies.

[672] So they have food, clothing, sleeping bag, a compass.

[673] But then aside from the checkpoints, throughout each leg where the runners are given water, they're basically self -sufficient.

[674] So Morrow trains for this race by running 25 miles a day.

[675] So he does like a little less than a marathon a day while he's steadily decreasing his water intake.

[676] So he gets his body trained to basically be running while dehydrated.

[677] To not die.

[678] You have to train your body to not die.

[679] That's how you know not to do a fucking sport.

[680] Yeah.

[681] That's how you have to go, hey, have you ever.

[682] considered being interested in video games or are you just going to run, run, run away?

[683] You know, it's great books and reading.

[684] Hey, you know what?

[685] Have you ever had a fucking twice baked potato?

[686] It will blow your mind and make you want to lay down for a while.

[687] Maro's wife, Sinzia, is supportive of his athletic pursuits, but she's very worried about him running in this ultramarathon in the desert.

[688] Oh, we have a smart person entering the building.

[689] Finally, someone shows up with a little bit of reason.

[690] The elements are so tough on runners that every participant must sign paperwork that designates where to send the body if they don't make it out of life.

[691] That's right.

[692] You have to get real, real at the beginning of this ultra marathon.

[693] You don't have to do that when you're about to eat a twice -baked potato.

[694] No, you don't.

[695] Although you do have to chew and swallow, chew at least 35 times.

[696] That's the old big twice -baked rule.

[697] okay so since zia worries that if this happens she's going to be left raising their three kids who are all under the age of eight at this time oh that's irresponsible of him i don't like that when people make decisions like when people are like parents of young kids and they make decisions that are like perilous to them but let let me give let me tell you what morrow told his wife to assure her he said he'll be fine he's the worst that's going to happen he's he's going to get a little bit sunburned.

[698] So there, perfect.

[699] Oh, all right.

[700] Bye, husband.

[701] So now we're back to the race, starting gun sound effect.

[702] And they're off.

[703] The Ultramarathon has begun.

[704] It's day one.

[705] Morrow is immediately taken with the beauty of the desert.

[706] So boom, he's off and he's like, this is incredible.

[707] So there is this thing about it that I think is really amazing and that I would really, I think would be an amazing thing to experience, which is you're just doing a thing most human beings can't do.

[708] Sure.

[709] So there is that kind of like you're getting your runners high, but then you're also like, you know, you're on like a screen saver.

[710] That's my screen savers like the desert with the dunes and the little patterns.

[711] So you're saying summer 2022, Karen Kilgariff is going to run this.

[712] I'm saying 58 miles in one day is not a big deal if you stay positive.

[713] if I stop eating twice baked potatoes now how many months will it take me okay so he's loving it he's bewitched by what he sees around him he says it gorgeous also his training is paying off because he maintains a very steady pace through the first three legs of this race and he ends up being in seventh place overall out of I think 80 runners so he's he's doing good so the final checkpoint hits and then you go and you set up your tent and you get ready to just like drink a bunch of water and I'm sure some like some weird gel out of a packet right a protein gel some kind of a gel some kind of an iv you look like you were going to say smoke a fatty the way you had to no that was the that's a protein pack but you know that might be an option too so morrow comes in he sets up his tent he hangs his Italian flag on his tent and that way the other Italian racers.

[714] When they get to the campsite, they can find him.

[715] Then they all hang together.

[716] And it's like the countrymen have a bonding time discussing their day and a little camaraderie.

[717] Smoking a fatty and talking about how afraid of carbs they are.

[718] So, okay, so they do that.

[719] Now it's the fourth day.

[720] And it's the day that's the most daunting leg of the journey, the 53 .6 mile day.

[721] Fuck.

[722] Uh -huh.

[723] So they've already been running this whole time.

[724] And now it's this day, Maro starts off with a bang.

[725] By the early afternoon, he's increased his pace significantly, and he's jumped up to fourth place overall.

[726] So he's doing really good in an ultra -fucking marathon, like killing it.

[727] But about 20 miles into the day, which is around 1 o 'clock in the afternoon, temperatures begin to rise, and they hit 115.

[728] Oh, fuck that shit.

[729] remember last summer when it hit 115 degrees was it last summer or this past summer i think it's this past summer it was like the hottest in fucking history or whatever and we it was the day it was july and it was scottie landis's birthday and we had a like covid birthday where there was only seven of us we'd all had tests and we were all clear and we're all just standing in my pool and you're so your body neck down was like pool temperature and then your head was blazing hot and it was windy.

[730] Hot head.

[731] Everybody had hot head.

[732] It was hard to be in a pool and this guy's running the long day of the ultramarathon in the same weather.

[733] It's amazing.

[734] Yeah.

[735] So then, but he's doing fine.

[736] He's in fourth place.

[737] He stops at the third checkpoint for the day to get his water and to wrap a blister and then he takes back off and 15 minutes into his continued run, the rise in heated surface air causes the winds to kick up.

[738] And Maro can start to feel the sand whipping at his face.

[739] And soon the winds get stronger and the sand dunes begin to lift into the air.

[740] What?

[741] And that's right.

[742] It's a sandstorm that kicks up.

[743] Yes.

[744] No. Yes.

[745] So prior to the race, all runners were instructed to stop running and stay where they were if a sandstorm starts.

[746] But Maro's first thought is the only way to avoid being buried by the sand is to keep moving through it.

[747] Also, he doesn't want to lose his place that he is, because he's in fourth place.

[748] Okay, dude.

[749] So he just keeps running through a sandstorm.

[750] The winds grow stronger.

[751] Few runners, Maro, can see around him, they disappear.

[752] And basically, the air is now so thick with sand that he cannot see it all.

[753] He thinks he's still on the trail and he just keeps running.

[754] Oh, no. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, the rest of the runners have all listened to the rules.

[755] They have stayed put.

[756] They wrap themselves in their sleeping bags along the trail, do their best to protect themselves.

[757] Some get bloody noses, some get respiratory tract abrasions from the sand being inhaled.

[758] Yeah, it's pretty serious.

[759] And the race staff actually decides to officially stop the race for the day saying that they can resume from where they are all currently at the next day.

[760] With the sandstorm in full force, Morrow tries to keep going.

[761] He's wrapped his head in like a shirt to protect it from the sand.

[762] He said it feels like a storm of needles hitting his face.

[763] And finally he can go no further.

[764] So he crouches beneath a small bush for shelter and he waits for the storm to pass.

[765] Guess how long it takes for the storm to pass?

[766] pass.

[767] No. Eight hours.

[768] No. And you'd go out of your mind from the sound and the very.

[769] And the small, helpless bush that's like, can I hide under you?

[770] You're trying to hide under me. But, I mean, horrifying.

[771] So now it's completely dark.

[772] And Morrow has not only lost sight of the trail, but of all his fellow competitor.

[773] So he doesn't know where the fuck he is.

[774] No. He's exhausted.

[775] He spends the night.

[776] sleeping out on the dunes he knows he's lost his fourth place standing that's his concern he's an ultra marathoner he's not you're not fucking around no he's not there to make friends with other italians he can do that back on he wants to win this fucking thing he plans on getting up and just continuing the race the next morning hoping that at least he'll finish to the best of his ability so yes he's not going to get you know fourth place but he can finish so when he wakes the next morning he finds the landscape is totally transformed.

[777] He has no idea where he is, and he is completely lost.

[778] Shit.

[779] Okay, so we'll talk about Morrow Prosperi a little bit.

[780] He was born on July 13th, 1955 in Rome, Italy.

[781] Roma.

[782] Romana.

[783] He's a natural athlete in 1973.

[784] He joins the Italian police force, and he works in crowd control, which he finds boring.

[785] the real reason that he joined a police force is because the very convenient for him perk Italy's police federation offers a generous subsidy for those training to be national caliber athletes.

[786] What?

[787] So essentially if you sign up to be a cop in Italy, but you're also like an ultramarathoner or a pentathlet like Morrow is, you get paid to do that.

[788] So you can do both, right?

[789] Because they want the, they only want the fit.

[790] sure on their police squad okay so in the 1980s while competing at a pre -olympic pentathlon event marl meets an english and russian language translator named sinzia pagliara sinzia is drawn towards maro's positive attitude his enthusiasm for taking on challenges and his competitive drive and he's also just a straight -up hot italian is he oh yeah he has those like italian eyebrows that kind of, they both go up, like, like, kind of like two little canoes that are tipped back that make him look really empathetic and, like, sweet and caring.

[791] He's one of those.

[792] The two get married within six months of meeting, and they settle in, I want to say, Achi Trezza, Italy, which is the Sicilian fishing village outside of the city of Catania.

[793] Can I go there, please?

[794] I know, for real.

[795] and then they have three kids so Morrow continues competing in pentathlons for as long as he can and he retires when he reaches his late 30s but he never loses his competitive edge so when his friend and fellow athlete Giovanni Manzo talks about the 155 mile ultramarathon through the desert that he plans on running Morrow immediately wants to sign up alongside him and he does so Giovanni this same man is the first one to realize Morrow is missing when he makes his way to the fourth and final checkpoint on the evening of April 14th, and he sees that Morrow, who should have beaten him by several hours, is nowhere to be found.

[796] So he reports this to the race staff, and they're confident that Morrow couldn't have strayed far, and they promised they're going to send out a search team the following morning.

[797] So when Morrow awakes to a wildly different desert landscape on the morning of April 15th, he's not in any way discouraged.

[798] he's mostly upset about losing his standing in the race guy yeah just such a bro and such a dude um he but he figures since he has his map and his compass um that he's sure to find his way back to the trail or he also thinks he's going to bump into another runner along the way at some point and then once he does he can team up with that person and they can finish together so with that in mind maro starts running again wow so he doesn't know where he is but he just starts running and here I go it's like the good faith he makes his way through the desert climbing up the larger dunes he passes to try to get a better view of what lies ahead but he doesn't see any signs of the next checkpoint or of any of the other runners and this goes on for four hours until reality finally sets in morrow is lost so meanwhile the search party takes to the surrounding desert by land in a fleet of land rovers and by air in one lightweight aircraft.

[799] They look all morning, they see no trace of Morrow anywhere.

[800] The race staff realizes that based on their water rationing system, Morrow has at most two liters of water on him, which is barely enough to sustain him for the rest of the day in this triple -digit heat.

[801] So with this in mind, they commissioned a Moroccan police helicopter to also help them search.

[802] So unaware of any of that Moroccan drama, Morrow decides he's going to stop running and just walk for a while.

[803] Okay.

[804] He's just still fucking going for it for hours.

[805] He figures there's no point in expanding all that energy when he doesn't even know which direction he should be headed.

[806] So as a precaution, and then it gets a little bit gross, but also it's this, it's what we all expect.

[807] He urinates into his empty water bottle.

[808] Because he knows that eventually it's going to get serious with him and water.

[809] He's a smart person.

[810] He's got enough food on him to last a few days, but without knowing when he'll hit his next checkpoint, water could be virtually impossible for him to come by.

[811] He is in the Saharan desert.

[812] Dude.

[813] Still, he figures that even if he can't find his way back to the trail, the race staff will surely come looking for him soon.

[814] He just needs to maintain, and keep going.

[815] No, don't go.

[816] You're going the wrong way.

[817] Yeah, he just needs, he's just like, you know what?

[818] I just got to do that thing that I love, which is to run in the blazing heat.

[819] Marl works with the desert conditions.

[820] Basically just, he's now only walking during the early mornings.

[821] And then again, in the evenings when the temperatures are at their coolest, he wears two hats.

[822] He covers his skin with long sleeves.

[823] And when the sun's beating down hard on him, protecting his skin.

[824] During the hottest part of the day, he, rests underneath anything in any shade that he can find this goes on for two days no before morrow hears another sign of life on the evening of april 16th he looks up to see a helicopter flying right toward him it's the morocan police helicopter that's on loan for the search of morrow and so he finally is like thank god i knew it i'd be rescued as the helicopter approaches it's so low in the guy, Marl will later say that he could actually see the pilot's helmet.

[825] It was that, like, kind of close to him.

[826] Yeah.

[827] So he takes out this pen -sized emergency flare out of his pack that basically the race provided for all the racers.

[828] And he launches it, but the flare is so small that the pilot can't see it or him.

[829] Oh, no, please.

[830] The pilot flies right past, totally unaware that Marl is directly beneath him.

[831] and as disappointing as a moment as this is, Maro does not give up hope.

[832] He just keeps going, sure that someone will find him eventually.

[833] So on the morning of the third day of being lost, which is, I think the fifth, no, I think it's the seventh day overall.

[834] He's just walking in the desert and then he spots the outline of a building off in the distance.

[835] He heads toward it as fast as he can, hoping that someone might be inside that can help him.

[836] But when he gets to it, he sees that it's a building called a Marabout, which is a small Muslim shrine, and they're common throughout the desert, where Bedouins stop and rest.

[837] The Bedouins are the nomadic Arab people of the Sahara.

[838] So this is what it looks like.

[839] See this.

[840] Oh, like a dwelling, a little dwelling.

[841] A little dwelling out of the sun.

[842] And basically, he discovers that inside this particular marabout, it's actually more of a mausoleum.

[843] There's no one alive here.

[844] There is a deceased holy man that's buried in one of the walls.

[845] And because of the sandstorm, this building has basically been filled with sand.

[846] So the floor is up close to the ceiling.

[847] Oh, no. Yeah.

[848] So Morrow can reach the ceiling from a standing position.

[849] and then up in the rafters, he finds a bird's nest with three eggs inside.

[850] Dude, he lucked out.

[851] He lucked out.

[852] The poor bird, too.

[853] The birds like, what could happen up here?

[854] Oh.

[855] So he eats these eggs for sustenance and for the hydration, which also allows him to ration some of the food that he has left.

[856] Then he goes outside and he hangs his Italian flag from a wooden post on the building, hoping that if any, like helicopters anyone flies over again they'll spot it and come look for him there he spends the rest of the day inside the marabout shielding himself from the sun it must have felt so good in there oh totally so for the next three days maro waits for rescue inside the marabout so again it's a bit of a bummer he has to use his own urine and a small portable stove to cook his dehydrated food rations I mean it's you know desperate times when those run out he turns to the small colony of bats that live in the tower of the marabout oh no yes so he needs the moisture that the bats have so he decides not to cook them at all instead he rings their head off and he uses a knife to stir up the insides and he sucks the bats dry turn about his fair play Dracula Who's the vampire now Motherfucker Oh can you imagine Oh Yes He he he he scrambled them He scrambled them and then kept them again like a gel packet But it's a bat Really intense I don't want that But would you want it more or less What's your pick Dehydrated food that you boiled in your own pee or a bat scramble.

[857] Remember, it's 115 degrees outside.

[858] Remember, I like staying home and reading.

[859] Remember, you're chafed, and this is a serious situation.

[860] Oh, my God, your nips.

[861] Can you imagine?

[862] Oh, God.

[863] Your motherfucking nips.

[864] So Marl wakes up on the fourth day at the shrine to an airplane flying overhead.

[865] He rushes outside, and he takes everything in his backpack that can catch on fire, and he sets it on fire.

[866] shit he's like i'm fucking done dude he's like i'm done with this shit i had too many bats i'm filled with i'm filled with inspiration to get out of here he also writes sOS and the sand beside the smoke signal hoping to catch the plane's attention yeah but just as the smoke starts to build the desert winds kick up and another sandstorm rolls in no yes this is why just go running in downtown like fucking Rhode Island or something.

[867] Why do you have to go to the most dangerous spot on earth?

[868] Yeah.

[869] Some people.

[870] So all of Maro's distress signals are blown away and so he goes back inside to shield himself from another raging sandstorm.

[871] Great.

[872] And once again, the airplane passes by without seeing Mara.

[873] So with another chance of rescue passing him by, he finally falls into a deep state of despair.

[874] Yeah.

[875] The reality sets in that he will most likely die in this desert.

[876] He considers his last remaining options, either to die a slow, painful death by dehydration or to take his own life.

[877] And he figures if he dies at the Marabout, there's a better chance of authorities finding his body more quickly, and this is what he wants because then his wife and kids will get his police pension.

[878] But if he's just merely declared missing, his family will have to wait 10 years to receive.

[879] any benefits.

[880] God, we're an awful choice.

[881] Awful choice.

[882] So he grabs a piece of charcoal from his failed smoke signal bonfire and he writes a note to his wife and then he takes his knife and he cuts his wrist.

[883] But to his surprise, when he wakes up the next morning, he's still alive because his body is so dehydrated that his blood is too thick and it clotted to bleed out.

[884] Oh, my fucking God.

[885] And in discovering this, Marl is so elated that he's basically, it's like he's beaten death and been given this chance that he takes it as a sign that is not his time to die.

[886] He's re -energized and he rededicates himself to getting out of this desert one way or another.

[887] Oh, my God.

[888] Right?

[889] Yes.

[890] So he remembers the race staff saying that the race would end in a mountainous village called Zagora.

[891] So he scans the horizon and he sees that there's a mountain range, you know, off in the distance, basically.

[892] So in the morning of April 21st, he gathers what little belongings he has left and he makes his way toward those mountains.

[893] Fuck.

[894] As he crosses the endless sands, he becomes tuned into his surroundings.

[895] So he starts to notice that there is like animals.

[896] life around him once he starts paying attention so there's beetles there's snakes um he so that's what he starts eating because he's like he's paying attention he's like basically desperate yeah um but he's also basically he later describes it as becoming one with his surroundings and becoming like of the desert to to survive he knew that's what what he had to do to survive he says quote well i was out there all those days, wandering alone, I became like an animal, a desert creature that lives by the rules of the sun and behaves entirely on instinct.

[897] I crawled as a reptile crawls over the ground, hunting for beetles to stab with my knife, searching for the shade of a tamaresque tree.

[898] Forging for roots to suck.

[899] I fell into a hyper -alert state.

[900] I became attuned to every shift of the wind, the promising wisp of a cloud building in the east, the sound of mice running over the sand at night.

[901] Every thought, every movement of my body was devoted to surviving.

[902] Damn.

[903] So along the way, Maro drops little items that are no longer of use to him as clues to his whereabouts so that if there are any searchers still looking for him, they might be able to find him.

[904] So he leaves behind a t -shirt, toothpaste, a shoelace, and more.

[905] He's just littering a trail of litter through the beautiful desert, hoping that the search party will find it.

[906] Oh, no. So two days after Maro's disappearance on the 16th, his wife, Sinsia, learns about her husband, having strayed from the race trail, by reading about it in an Italian newspaper.

[907] So no one from the race contacted her.

[908] So the next day, her brother Fabio flies out to Morocco to help search for his brother -in -law.

[909] Yeah.

[910] and because Morrow is a police officer and a national athlete for Italy, Roman officials and officials from Italy's embassy in Morocco now join the search as well.

[911] All right.

[912] They find small traces of Morrow in the desert, a sock here, a power bar wrapper there, and they even find that Marebout where Morrow was staying, complete with his Italian flag waving on the top of the building.

[913] But try as they might, they cannot find Morrow himself.

[914] on April 22nd, Maro does the thing that we've been waiting for him to do since this story began.

[915] He comes upon an oasis.

[916] I thought you're going to tell me he takes out his cell phone and calls 911.

[917] He's like, I finally, I'm going to break.

[918] I'm going to call it.

[919] No, he finds an oasis.

[920] A cartoon desert experience.

[921] Yes.

[922] This oasis is not like the ones in the movies, though, it's not super lush.

[923] It's actually just kind of a big puddle of water.

[924] But Maro was so overcome with gratitude.

[925] He throws himself into it as soon as he sees it.

[926] Yeah.

[927] He tries to drink the water, but his throat is so swollen from dehydration.

[928] He can barely get anything down without vomiting.

[929] Oh, my God.

[930] Yep.

[931] So over time, he manages to take slow, small sips every 10 minutes.

[932] He basically spends the day laying in the puddle drinking as much water as he can.

[933] Here's what he didn't consider.

[934] That puddle was 80 % camel spit.

[935] There's just no way it wasn't.

[936] It's a spittoon.

[937] It's discussed.

[938] We did that once.

[939] There was a creek behind our house that basically linked my Aunt Jean's house to our house.

[940] And we, you know, it would rain and get wider and smaller, but it was really tiny.

[941] Yeah, yeah.

[942] And then one time we came upon this widened, out section of it and we were like oh my god it's like a swimming hole and we all jumped in and went swimming and uh this was before stand by me we didn't think about leeches yeah there weren't leeches in it thank god that night we were eating dinner at my aunt jean's house and we were so excited and we told we told and my cousin's team he couldn't stop laughing and he goes that was completely cow spit and cow pee that you that you swam in looking stevie man he's always he's the But he's right.

[943] Did they just pick a place and do it?

[944] I don't get it.

[945] Well, yeah, or either that, or they just do it and then it goes downstream.

[946] Like, it's not a, it's not a rushing body of water.

[947] It was our little tiny creek, you know, that a lot of, a lot of livestock also enjoyed, basically.

[948] We didn't really think about that part.

[949] Anyway, but Maro would not care because at this point, he's experienced way.

[950] worse than just the little camel's bit.

[951] Give me some camel spit, he said.

[952] So the next day is April 23rd, and Morrow fills his bottles with the puddle water.

[953] So he's done with his own pee.

[954] He's like, I've fresh water now.

[955] Fuck you.

[956] And he continues his trek toward the mountains.

[957] But then in the middle of his path, he spots fresh animal dung.

[958] So next to the dung, he sees small human footprints.

[959] And he excitedly runs and follows the footprints over a dune to find.

[960] find a young nomad girl with a small herd of goats.

[961] Yes.

[962] She's the first human being.

[963] He's seen in nine days.

[964] It's been nine days.

[965] It's been nine days lost and wandering in the desert.

[966] Amazed and relieved, Marl rushes toward the girl, but his face is sunken.

[967] He's covered in dirt, and he's lost so much weight, he looks like a skeleton.

[968] So the girl screams and runs away.

[969] Yeah, she does.

[970] Good girl.

[971] Good girl.

[972] Good girl.

[973] He follows her all the way to her encampment beneath a few scattered trees.

[974] And there, Morrow meets the Turegs, a nomadic Saharan tribe, another nomadic Saharan tribe.

[975] The men of the tribe are out hunting.

[976] So the women tend to Morrow having him rest beneath the shade and feeding him mint tea and goat's milk.

[977] It was so delicious.

[978] Oh, my God.

[979] The best.

[980] So when the men of the tribe get back, they take Morrow.

[981] to the nearest village, which is a several -hour camel ride away.

[982] Wow.

[983] He would have never made it if not for this, if he hadn't happened upon this place.

[984] Yep.

[985] Yes.

[986] I mean, that's the kind of romantic, beautiful thing that you see in movies all the time is people lost in the desert and whatever.

[987] And then Bedouins, or in this case, the Toregs are the ones that save people because they're the ones that actually know how to live in the desert correctly.

[988] Yeah.

[989] So basically the men of the Toreg tribe, they're worried he might be a criminal.

[990] So they turn him over to the military police.

[991] Right.

[992] When they get to that village, the police hold him.

[993] They blindfold him in case he's a Moroccan spy.

[994] But when they question him, he explains that he's an Italian police officer.

[995] And then when he says his name, the police officers there recognize his name from the missing person's reports that have been sent out for the past nine days from the marathon.

[996] Wow.

[997] So with Morrow's identity confirmed, the officer questioning him says, Welcome to Algeria, sir.

[998] We have received a report about you from the Moroccan authorities.

[999] We must get you to the infirmary straight away.

[1000] Yeah, you do.

[1001] Yeah.

[1002] So on April 24th, 1994, Morrow Prosperi is finally strong enough to call his wife.

[1003] You know he was scared shitless.

[1004] It's evening.

[1005] She just put the kids to bed.

[1006] she picks up the phone and she hears her husband say Sinsia it's me did you have a funeral for me yet oh cold bro so he tells his wife he's alive he's being treated at the hospital in Tindof, Algeria so when he was thrown off course he wound up running and walking about 180 miles out of the way he went east and south he went over the mountains he actually crossed the border, the Morocco, Algeria border, and he went 25 miles into Algeria.

[1007] He was so, he was so off course.

[1008] So I can show you this little map, but it's, it's pretty funny.

[1009] The line of the actual race is like this, and he did this thing where he did this huge, insane loop and ended up, like, way over here.

[1010] So he's a great athlete, but he's not great with directions.

[1011] he's not great with being in a sandstorm and going you know what i'm not going to try to power through this one situation so when morrow is first admitted to the hospital he'd lost 33 pounds in nine days which is 20 % of his original body weight his eyes and his liver are badly damaged and he can only take liquids he's given 16 liters of inner venous fluids his skin is weathered to a leathery texture that he compares to that of a tortoise.

[1012] But he tells his wife, don't worry, I'm still beautiful.

[1013] Ah, yes.

[1014] There's that Italian.

[1015] Charm.

[1016] There's Italians.

[1017] Oh, wait.

[1018] And he is.

[1019] Look at that picture.

[1020] Okay.

[1021] That's him in the middle in the white shirt.

[1022] Oh, yeah.

[1023] Very handsome.

[1024] So Marl spent seven days in the hospital in Algeria before being flown back to Italy.

[1025] When he arrives at home, he's met with a hero's welcome.

[1026] Complete with the plotting crowds.

[1027] photos with Italian dignitaries, media interviews, and his face plastered all over the papers.

[1028] The Italian news outlets dub Morrow, the Robinson Crusoe of the Sahara.

[1029] I don't know.

[1030] Robinson Carissa had a plan.

[1031] I don't know.

[1032] Yeah.

[1033] Yeah.

[1034] This guy just kind of made the best of a really awful fucking situation.

[1035] Morrow's survival is nothing short of a miracle, and it leads some people to doubt it.

[1036] Some journalists consult sports physiologists about Morrow's story, and many of them believe that it would have been physically impossible for him to survive as long as he did if his journey truly unfolded the way he described it.

[1037] According to these physiologists, the dehydration alone would have led to his demise.

[1038] Worried about bad publicity for the Marathon De Sable, founder Patrick Bauer jumps on the bandwagon and accuses Morrow of making the story up or of at least exaggeration.

[1039] it for publicity and personal gain.

[1040] He theorizes Morrow and his wife teamed up to concoct some big dramatic story so that they could write a book or make a movie about his alleged survival.

[1041] Morrow, however, fights back.

[1042] He says, quote, if that was the case, then you'd never met two people who are more stupid than we are.

[1043] We never got any money for this.

[1044] At one point, Morrow even considers suing Patrick for defamation and for, um, poorly marking the marathon trail, but he never follows through with that, citing that his beef is personal rather than legal.

[1045] Morrow believes that Patrick, a lover of the desert himself, who created this marathon after his own walking journey through the Sahara, is jealous of Morrow's tremendous story.

[1046] To this day, Patrick and Morrow remain at odds, but the main points of Morrow's story have never veered from the original recounting, and later clues were found pointing to the validity of Morrow's story.

[1047] Like when a Roman film crew retraced Morrow's steps for a 1995 film and found the Marabout shrine, as he described, complete with leftover bat skeletons in it.

[1048] Not to mention the fact that Morrow was like dangerously ill when he was taken to the Algerian hospital.

[1049] So the idea that he would do that and then damages.

[1050] his eyes and liver for some possible future story makes truly no sense whatsoever.

[1051] It takes tomorrow two years before he's fully recovered from his time wandering in the desert.

[1052] But when he does, he's left with a passionate longing to return.

[1053] He starts, yes, listen to this shit.

[1054] He starts training for that marathon again as soon as he can.

[1055] And he returns and finishes the race in 1998.

[1056] Oh, my God.

[1057] Yeah.

[1058] He ends up running the Marathon Disabled six times after his disappearance in 1994.

[1059] And in 2001, he actually places 13th.

[1060] Okay.

[1061] Sadly, his love of risky endurance races leads to him and his wife getting a divorce.

[1062] It's an amicable one, but she just doesn't have the wherewithal to stand by him while he continues to put his life on the line.

[1063] Morrow has completed eight desert marathons and is still alive today at 66 years old.

[1064] Wow.

[1065] And his survival story has been featured on National Geographic Channel's Expedition to the Edge, Sahara Nightmare, the Netflix series Losers, and a feature in Discovery Channel six -part series, Bear Grills Escape from Hell.

[1066] And then he and his wife, his ex -wife, also partnered up to write a book in May of 2020, and it's called those 10 days beyond life.

[1067] Wow.

[1068] And in that, so the BBC article I told you, I was going to tell you the name of.

[1069] It was called How I Drank Urine and Bat Blood to Survive.

[1070] I'm glad you to tell me. Otherwise, spoiler alert.

[1071] That was a huge drinking urine spoiler alert.

[1072] But in that article, he actually says, these days the Marathon DeSafe is a very different experience with up to 1 ,300 participants.

[1073] So when he first ran it, And it had 80 people.

[1074] He said, with up to 1 ,300 participants, it's like a giant snake.

[1075] You couldn't get lost if you tried.

[1076] And that is the remarkable Saharan Desert survival story of Morrow Prosperi.

[1077] Wow.

[1078] I've never heard of it.

[1079] That's bananas.

[1080] It's super crazy.

[1081] And it's, you know, it's just a fun, it's just a little fun excursion.

[1082] Yeah.

[1083] And holidays.

[1084] It's the holidays.

[1085] Let's have a nice little...

[1086] It's the holidays.

[1087] And also, you know, what would you do?

[1088] Like, what would you do?

[1089] What would I do?

[1090] I wouldn't do it.

[1091] I wouldn't...

[1092] Hell yes.

[1093] Ever do it.

[1094] I'd love to go to Morocco.

[1095] I would love to see, like, do a one -day tour.

[1096] Sure.

[1097] Oh, I'd love to go to Morocco.

[1098] In the winter or like when the sun, I don't know.

[1099] I would need a next level sunblock, but...

[1100] It's crazy.

[1101] Both my parents have run marathons before.

[1102] My brother, I think ,'s done a half.

[1103] It's like a thing, you know, that you're supposed to do in my family.

[1104] You know, I have like, like, my uncle was a trail runner who, like, wrote books about it and shit.

[1105] But, like, I have no fucking interest.

[1106] My dad ran a bunch of marathons.

[1107] Really?

[1108] Oh, yeah.

[1109] In the, in, like, 70s, 80s, my dad was all about jogging.

[1110] Mine too.

[1111] And ran marathons.

[1112] But I, and he'd always be like, hey, like, while he was training, he always wanted me to, like, ride my bike with them or try to do it with them.

[1113] And I was just like, that's a nightmare.

[1114] I mean, it did it as my mom and I used to run together all the time But I was a little skinny kid Right I don't Who had energy I don't have I don't do that anymore Well You could if you just wanted to If you just applied yourself All right Well that was a great We did it We did it We did it guys Yeah Thanks for being here with us In this endurance race Of a podcast Just hours and hours of podcasting.

[1115] You have to get through while you drink your own urine and eat fats.

[1116] If you're not drinking your own urine and eating bats while you listen to this podcast, you're doing it wrong.

[1117] What are you even doing?

[1118] Stay sexy.

[1119] And don't get murdered.

[1120] Goodbye.

[1121] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[1122] This has been an exactly right production.

[1123] Our producer is Hannah Kyle Crichton.

[1124] Associate producer, Alejandra Keck.

[1125] engineer and mixer Steven Ray Morris Researchers Jay Elias and Haley Gray send us your hometowns and your fucking rays at my favorite murder at gmail .com And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at my favorite murder and Twitter at my fave murder and for more information about this podcast are live shows merch or to join the fan cult go to my favorite murder .com rate review and subscribe