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Just The Gist of Elizabeth Holmes (Rosie's Version)
In 2014, Elizabeth Holmes was hailed as the youngest female billionaire in America, promising to revolutionize healthcare with her blood-testing company Theranos. With just a drop of blood from a fingerprick, she claimed her Edison machines could run hundreds of tests faster and cheaper than traditional labs. But behind the black turtlenecks, deep voice, and Steve Jobs comparisons was one of the biggest frauds in Silicon Valley history. The technology never worked, patients received dangerous false results, and investors lost over $900 million. Holmes and her business partner Sunny Balwani were both convicted of fraud, with Holmes sentenced to over 11 years in prison, where she remains today still claiming her innocence.
We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - The definitive book on the Theranos scandal (2018)
Elizabeth Holmes Wikipedia page - Complete biography and timeline
United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes Wikipedia page - Full trial details and verdict
Sunny Balwani Wikipedia page - Holmes' co-defendant and former partner
BBC News coverage - "Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes loses fraud appeal" (2025)
People Magazine prison interview - Elizabeth Holmes breaks her silence from prison (2025)
People Magazine current status - "Where Is Elizabeth Holmes Now?" (2024)
The Dropout Hulu series - Amanda Seyfried's Emmy-winning portrayal (2022)
The Inventor HBO documentary - "Out for Blood in Silicon Valley" trailer (2019)
ABC News documentary series - "The Story of Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos" complete coverage
Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Produced and hosted by Rosie Waterland. Produced and edited by James Joseph. Additional production support by Kate Leaver and Hayley Staveley, along with Acast legends Guy Scott Wilson and Simon McDermott. Production Assistant: Pocket
Looking for Breakin’ Nooz? It drops on every Tuesday, along with a whole lot of other bonus audio, video and behind the scenes content, which you can access for just a couple of bucks via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Subscriptions.
Follow Just The Gist on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @JustTheGistPodcast and Rosie at @RosieWaterland
Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au
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34. UNLOCKED BONUS: Just The Gist of… Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
01:18:29||Season 1, Ep. 34While chatting this week in Breakin’ Nooz about 50 Cent’s new Diddy documentary ‘Sean Combs: The Reckoning’, Rosie mentioned the episode we did about ‘The Diddy Situation’ back in 2024 for Patreon members. We were travelling around the country and still calling Breakin’ Nooz ‘From The Van’! There’s obviously been a couple of updates in the case since then, but it’s a good breakdown of Sean ‘Puff Daddy’ Combs and the history that ended with him as such an awful criminal. NOTE: We literally recorded this in the Aussie Outback, so the sound isn’t the best! .CW: While we don’t go into any detail, this episode obviously does deal with the crimes of abuse that Sean Combs has been convicted of. Please take care listening, and reach out if you need (Australia):Lifeline (24 hours: 13 11 14)1800RESPECT (24 hours: 1800 737 732)13YARN - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Crisis Support (24 hours: 13 92 76)Blue Knot Helpline (1300 657 380)Bravehearts (1800 272 831).This episode was originally bonus content for Gistener Club members - to access more episodes like this, join via the JTG Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketWatch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.auDon’t forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently! Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.
35. Just The Gist of... The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping
01:00:27||Season 1, Ep. 35In 1976 in Chowchilla, California, an entire school bus filled with children disappeared without a trace. Less than a day later, all 26 of them, along with bus driver Ed, escaped from a hole underground with a terrifying story about being taken by three masked men. Soon, three very wealthy young men, from some of the most well-off families in town, were found with a piece of paper with the word ‘PLAN’ written at the top, followed by a list of the children's names. This is Just The Gist of the Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping - an eyerolling example of ‘Why Are Men’, but also an event that forever changed the way we look at the ongoing effects of childhood trauma. .We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketDon't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party..Watch CBS 2023 doco ‘48 Hours: Remembering the Chowchilla Kidnapping’: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-survivor-never-before-seen-interview/ Watch CNN 2024 doco ‘Chowchilla’: (On HBO Max): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O5c-qATo-I ‘How a 1976 mass kidnapping changed how the world sees childhood trauma’ (CNN 2023): https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/02/health/chowchilla-childhood-trauma Notorious Chowchilla bus kidnapper ran a goldmine from prison (CBS 2022): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-ran-a-gold-mine-and-christmas-tree-farm-from-prison/ ‘Little Heroes of Medicine Teach Experts How To Treat Childhood Trauma’ (CBS 2002): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/little-heroes-of-medicine-teach-experts-to-treat-childhood-trauma/
34. JTG MINI: That time Oprah gave everybody a car
39:33||Season 1, Ep. 34There was screaming. There was crying. It was one of the most iconic TV moments of all time - on September 13, 2004, Oprah gave all 300 members of her talk show audience a brand new Ponitac G6 Sedan. But, while the rest of us ended up with possibly the greatest meme in internet history, the audience members each ended up with a bill for thousands of dollars, because their brand new ‘free’ car wasn’t actually free at all..We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketDon't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party..Making Oprah (now part of WBEZ’s ‘Making’ podcast series): https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500692140/making https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303092/making-oprah/ THE MOMENT: https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/oprahs-entire-audience-are-surprised-with-new-cars-video Forbes:https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2016/09/13/a-look-back-at-oprahs-ultimate-car-giveaway/?sh=5a3c326d60ff Gayle King interview: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/gayle-king-oprah-winfrey-show-car-giveaway-1235083395/ Business Insider:https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktoker-recaps-oprah-car-giveaway-taxes-advice-2023-5
33. Just The Gist of... The Six Wives of Henry VIII
01:09:50||Season 1, Ep. 33DIVORCED, BEHEADED, DIED, DIVORCED, BEHEADED, SURVIVED. Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr (yes - there were that many Catherines). It’s Henry VIII’s wives bébé! But the way you wish it had been told in history class.…We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketDon't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party....Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wives_of_Henry_VIII Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-VIII-king-of-England ‘SIX THE MUSICAL: Live!’ coming to Aussie cinemas (hahaha again I promise this isn’t sponsored I just really love SIX): https://www.universalpictures.com.au/micro/six-the-musical
32. JTG MINI - Cocaine Bear
25:01||Season 1, Ep. 32In 1985, a man called Andrew Thornton II crash-landed in a random driveway in Kentucky after his parachute didn’t open. He was wearing a bullet-proof vest, night vision goggles and a pair of Gucci Loafers. He also had a duffel bag filled with 35kg of cocaine. But Thornton originally had 75kg of cocaine, and it wasn’t until two months later, when a North American Black Bear was found to have had a very, VERY fun time in the nearby woods, that the police were able to figure out what happened to the rest of Andrew’s stash. Cocaine Bear became a Kentucky legend, and its taxidermied body went on a decades-long journey that was almost as eventful as his two-week bender. This is Just The Gist of Cocaine Bear.We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketDon't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.…https://kyforky.com/blogs/journal/cocaine-bear?srsltid=AfmBOoo_lKrITvRqcxZsrFutkvoDw2uf22Hse9i-kd_Gu7rDqaco3YFQ
31. Just The Gist of… The Disturbing History of the Lobotomy
49:52||Season 1, Ep. 31Beginning in the 1950s, you could take any patient into a local doctor’s office, pay $200, have an ice pick inserted through their eye socket and then hammered into their brain. The whole thing took less than five minutes and was considered as unremarkable as getting a flu shot. Called the ‘lobotomy’, Dr Walter Freeman had invented the procedure as a ‘miracle cure’ for any and all mental illness - he figured by cutting up the part of the brain that controlled emotion, he could stop people being so… emotional. Men would bring in their wives with post-natal depression. Parents would bring in children who occasionally misbehaved. America was officially dazzled by Dr Freeman’s lobotomy technique. But most patients who received lobotomies ended up severely brain damaged (because, you know, they had an ICE PICK shoved into their brain), with many needing 24-hour care for the rest of their lives, if they survived at all.…We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: Pocket…BBC: ‘The strange and curious history of the Lobotomy’ (2011) - https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15629160 PBS documentary: ‘The Lobotomist’ (2008) - https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lobotomist/ Howard Dully’s story on NPR (2005) - https://storycorps.org/podcast/special-remembering-howard-dully-of-my-lobotomy/ PBS interview with Howard Dully (2005) - https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-original-interview-howard-dully/ The Guardian: ‘He was so bad, they put an ice pick in his brain’ (2008) - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/jan/13/neuroscience.medicalscienceHoward Dully wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dully#cite_note-8 Dr. Walter Freeman wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Jackson_Freeman_II
30. JTG MINI: The epic (and fleeting) love story Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson
27:31||Season 1, Ep. 30Right now Ariana Grande is getting Oscar buzz for her turn as Glinda in Wicked: For Good, but back in 2018 she was mostly making headlines for her intense romance with the guy who made ‘BDE’ a thing: comedian Pete Davidson. Within two months, they met, got matching tattoos, moved in together, got more matching tattoos, got a pet piglet, got more matching tattoos, got engaged and… got more matching tattoos. We were inundated with paparazzi pics of the two of them holding hands, Ariana looking up at Pete like she wished the lollipop she was sucking on was… something else. And then, barely 6 months later, it all ended as quickly as it began. Pete Davidson was soon branding himself with Kim Kardashian’s name, and Ariana Grande was marrying a dude who looked just like her brother (and don’t even get us started on Wicked co-star Ethan Slater).…We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketDon't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.…E News (2025): https://www.eonline.com/news/1413523/pete-davidson-ariana-grande-where-they-stand-after-breakup People Magazine (2022):https://people.com/music/pete-davidson-ariana-grande-relationship-timeline/ Business Insider (2018):https://www.businessinsider.com/ariana-grande-pete-davidson-relationship-timeline-2018-6
29. Just The Gist of... Return To OZ
01:29:48||Season 1, Ep. 29In 1985, Disney released a sequel to 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, with production involvement from legends of cinema George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola. It was directed by Oscar winner Walter Murch and starred a 9-year-old Fairuza Balk (who later went on to star in The Craft) as Dorothy. With that pedigree, you’d think an ‘Oz’ sequel would be a slam dunk, but this film did not have the celebrated reaction we later saw with ‘Wicked’. When the movie was released, parents stormed out of cinemas with their kids, saying it was more like a horror movie than something for children. It bombed at the time, but has since become a cult classic, this is just the gist of the 1985 sequel to The Wizard of Oz that Disney considers a complete disaster they would rather forget - Return To Oz. We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: Pocket…Return To Oz trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBPKgAXA-28 Guardian article ‘Hear Me Out: Why Return To Oz Isn’t A Bad Movie’ (2021): https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/11/hear-me-out-why-return-to-oz-isnt-a-bad-movieThe Hollywood Reporter article: How George Lucas Saved Return To Oz (2024): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/how-george-lucas-saved-return-to-oz-1235866485/ BBB article ‘How Return To Oz became one of the darkest children’s films ever made’ (2025)https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250616-the-darkest-childrens-film-ever-madeInterview with Walter Murch on the ‘It Happened In Hollywood’ podcast (2024): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/walter-murch-return-to-oz/id1437795866?i=1000651291941 ‘Remembering Return To Oz’ documentary (2021): https://www.rememberingreturntooz.com/ The Siskel and Ebert review (1985):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24kiDP1WRr4Return To Oz wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Oz
28. JTG MINI: The Man With a Penis on His Arm
36:28||Season 1, Ep. 28British man Malcolm MacDonald spent SIX YEARS with a penis grafted to his arm after complications during surgery meant it couldn’t be attached to… the regular spot. He thought he might spend the rest of his life with it just swinging there, but in 2022, Britain’s Channel 4 made a documentary about Malcolm called ‘The Man With a Penis on His Arm’. It detailed the infection that led to the loss of his penis in the first place, and the struggles he had endured waiting for the surgery to finally put his new appendage in the right place. A (Rosie’s Version) of a JTG classic.We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketDon't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.…Channel 4 documentary ‘The Man With The Penis On His Arm’:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLqb-FNxh4MGuardian article (2022): https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/may/03/the-man-with-a-penis-on-his-arm-review-tv-that-makes-you-proud-to-be-british Daily Mail article (2022): http://dailymail.co.uk/lifestyle/article-10779775/The-Man-Penis-Arm-Man-47-lived-six-years-penis-attached-ARM.html