Just The Gist

In 1987, there was a news event that brought the entire world together. People did not stop watching their TVs for days - the First Lady of the United States even postponed surgery until she knew the outcome. Eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure had fallen down an old well and was wedged almost ten metres underground for 60 hours. Every news channel that existed had cameras in that tiny backyard in Texas, while the world watched - live - and waited in suspense to see if she’d come out alive. .CW: This episode contains a brief mention of suicide. If you need, please contact (Australia):Lifeline (24 hours: 13 11 14)13YARN - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Crisis Support (24 hours: 13 92 76)Blue Knot Helpline (1300 657 380).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..‘Baby Jessica on the 30-year anniversary of her rescue from a well: Her life as a wife and mom’ (People Magazine 2017):  https://people.com/human-interest/baby-jessica-on-the-30-year-anniversary-of-her-rescue-from-a-well-her-life-as-a-wife-and-mom/ ‘Baby Jessica’s Rescue From a Well Capped Off a Terrifying Week in US History’ (Time Magazine 2017): https://time.com/4980689/baby-jessica-30th-anniversary/?amp=true 1987 archive footage of Jessica McClure being rescued (Film Archives NYC 2012):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afSChsWNcbQ ‘Baby Jessica rescued from a well as the world watches’ (History 2011, updated 2025): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/October-16/baby-jessica-rescued-from-a-well-as-the-world-watches ‘Helping to pull little Jessica McClure from a Texas well made firefighter Robert O’Donnell a star. But the limelight soon turned to darkness.’ (Los Angeles Times 1995): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-24-mn-5474-story.html ‘Death on the CNN Curve’ (The New York Times Magazine 1995): https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/23/magazine/death-on-the-cnn-curve.html Baby Jessica (Jessica McClure) wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Jessica_McClure

Being sucked out of a plane mid-air. Swimming away after his train crashed into a river. Being hit by a bus and walking away from a (different!) bus crash. His car swerving off the road and plummeting off the side of a cliff.Two separate car explosions. Over the course of his life, Frane Selak survived every single one of these accidents. "You could look at it two ways," Selak said in an interview. "I was either the unluckiest man in the world, or the luckiest. I preferred to believe the latter." This is Just The Gist (MINI) of the unluckiest, luckiest man to ever live (so he says...) Frano 'Frane' Selak..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..'The Seven Unbelievable Survival Stories of Frane Selak' (All That's Interesting 2024): https://allthatsinteresting.com/frane-selak 'Luckiest or Unluckiest Man in the World?' (Ripley's 2018): https://web.archive.org/web/20211205143729/https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/unluckiest-man/ '#BBCtrending: Is the 'world's luckiest man' being exploited?' (BBC News 2014): https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-27414609'Frano Selak, world's luckiest man' gives away his lottery fortune' (The Telegraph 2010): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7721985/Frano-Selak-worlds-luckiest-man-gives-away-his-lottery-fortune.html 'Doritos googles up unlikely spokesperson' (Ad Age 2004) https://adage.com/article/the-world-ad-age-global-news-data/doritos-googles-spokesman/99131/

In 1978, 909 people lined up, drank poison, and died. More than 300 of them were children.For decades, it was described as the largest mass suicide in modern history, and it remained the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until 9/11.But was it really a mass suicide, or mass murder?Jonestown was founded by Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple, a racially integrated American church that preached equality, socialism, and community care. By the time the world learned its name, 909 men, women, and children had consumed a cyanide-laced drink in a remote settlement in Guyana — while armed guards stood watch.Some believed. Some resisted. Many were too young to choose. But all became part of what the world now shorthand calls “drinking the Kool-Aid.”This is just the gist of The Jonestown Massacre..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 @JustTheGistPodcast 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.auJust 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..Doco: ‘Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown’ (2025)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYIUjavwqVoDoco: ‘Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple’ (2006)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_d1eVv0E8TV Movie: ‘Jonestown: Paradise Lost’ (2007)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLh7W5r4zS8Book: ‘Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown’ (1982) by David Chidesterhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/835279.Salvation_and_SuicideBook: ‘The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple’ (2018) by Jeff Guinnhttps://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/The-Road-to-Jonestown/Jeff-Guinn/9781476763835Casefile Podcast: ‘Jonestown’ (Three-Part Series)https://casefilepodcast.com/case-60-jonestown-part-1/Wikipedia: Jim Joneshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones

Alysa Liu just won Olympic gold for a figure skating routine that has already gone down in history. People are saying she changed the stuffy world of competitive skating forever. But just four years earlier, she had quit the sport entirely - and was thrilled at the thought of never skating again. So how does someone go from Olympic retirement at 16… to gold at the Milan Winter Olympics? Alysa Liu started skating at five, was a prodigy by ten, and was winning national titles before she was tall enough to climb onto the podium. Then, at 16, she shocked the figure skating world by saying: I’m done. She didn’t want her whole life to be medals, pressure and expectations anymore. Two years later though, she decided to make a comeback - but only on her terms. No chasing quadruple jumps for points. No extreme dieting. No giving up college or friends. She picked her own music, her own choreography, her own identity on the ice. She wasn’t chasing gold. She was chasing joy. And she skated better than ever. This is a story about Olympic pressure, burnout, retirement and comeback, mental health, and what it means to insist on being yourself in a sport built on control. It’s also about how a 20-year-old seems to understand life, boundaries and happiness better than most of us. This is Just The Gist of US figure skater Alysa Liu..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://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/alysa-liu-figure-skating-comeback https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/alysa-liu-retires-figure-skating https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/alysa-liu-hair-style-medal-olympics?_sp=faec963a-590f-48a4-9136-550d5ff5111e.1771905534964 https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/alysa-liu-champion-who-cant-stop-smiling

In 1997, a little film starring Nicholas Cage premiered in theatres called CON AIR. It was a huge blockbuster, helped massively by having a hit song to go along with it, called ‘How Do I Live’. But there were actually TWO versions of ‘How Do I Live’ released at the same time. Singers Trisha Yearwood and LeAnn Rimes both released their own version of exactly the same song, on exactly the same day, but only one was officially part of the movie Con Air, and most people, to this day, don’t realise which version they were listening to back in 1997. In fact, most people don’t realise that both versions of the song were nominated for a Grammy, but only one took out the prize. And only one went down in history as a record-breaking phenomenon..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://www.billboard.com/music/pop/diane-warren-leann-rimes-how-do-i-live-billboard-moment-8528199/ https://medium.com/@cherriebalictar/how-do-i-live-leann-rimes-vs-trisha-yearwood-what-really-happened-64550eed6508 https://americansongwriter.com/on-this-day-in-1997-leann-rimes-and-trisha-yearwood-simultaneously-release-different-versions-of-the-same-song/ https://americansongwriter.com/leann-rimes-reflects-on-having-her-song-rejected-by-hollywood-at-15-years-old-and-how-it-still-made-history/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbwuRKpfmCA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Do_I_Live https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/flashback-leann-rimes-trisha-yearwood-make-awkward-grammy-history-167853/ https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/09/05/yearwoods-on-the-rise-after-winning-song-war-with-leann-rimes/ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dFeYsl8Dsr0 https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/live-long-and-prosper-1044103/ https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1997/Billboard-1997-06-07.pdf

In 2002, five men were racing in the 1000 metre short-track speed-skating final at the winter olympics in Salt Lake City. The only Australian in the race - Steven Bradbury - was not considered a medal-contender. He spent most of the race in last place - far behind the four other skaters duking it out for the gold, silver and bronze. But then, with just 50 metres of the race to go, the four skaters in the lead all crashed out on the very last bend, and Steven Bradbury was so far behind them that he was able to avoid the pile-up and sail past them and across the finish line, to be awarded Australia’s first ever gold medal at a Winter Olympic Games, and bringing the term ‘doing a Bradbury’ - meaning being extremely lucky to unexpectedly come from behind and win because of someone else’s mistake - into everyday vernacular. BUT, what a lot of people don’t know, is that Steven Bradbury’s race wasn’t just about luck - he actually had a strategy that paid off in the end. This is Just The Gist MINI of Steven Bradbury. .....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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIEtSAwKIkw https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/jan/22/australia-greatest-sporting-moments-steven-bradbury-salt-lake-city-winter-olympics-2002-1000m-speed-skating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Bradbury https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX2BlOlRzG0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEIny4zg81c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jagh3l5lMvY

With this week’s premiere of Netflix’s ‘Reality Check: America’s Next Top Model’, it seemed like a good time to take a look into the history of the Smize Queen herself: Tyra Banks. You know her as the creator and host of America’s Next Top Model. You know her as a Victoria’s Secret Model. You know her as the woman who yelled, “WE WERE ROOTING FOR YOU. WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!”But do you know Tyra Banks as the boss of several (failed) businesses? A Twilight-style Young Adult novel/movie/product empire called ‘Modelland’ that was cancelled after one book. A beauty line called ‘Tyra Beauty’ that was actually an MLM and folded in less than two years. A theme park based on… ‘models’ that she said was too hard to describe but was essentially just a place to get $1500 glamour shots (also no longer in business). And now, of course, we have Tyra’s ‘Hot Ice Cream’ at her ‘Smize and Dream’ ice cream store (which has already had some food regulation dramas). .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..Podcast: ‘Curse of America’s Next Top Model’‘You Wanna Be On Top? A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation and Not Becoming America’s Next Top Model’ by Sarah HartshorneEpisode of ‘The Big Flop’ podcast: ‘Tyra Banks - America’s Next Top Business Woman?’Netflix doco ‘Reality Check: America’s Next Top Model’ trailerABC article by Casey Briggs: Tyra Banks' 'Hot Ice Cream' went viral. Don't expect to see it called that anymore (2026)‘Shake Ya Body’ music video ModelLand ‘sizzle reel’ from an ANTM episodeThe Cut article ‘I made a whopping $27.75 selling Tyra Banks beauty products’ by Kathleen Schaefer (2016)Tyra Banks Wikipedia 

On November 17, 2019, the world watched as Prince Andrew (since downgraded to regular person BUT WORSE), scored one of the biggest PR own-goals in history during a Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis. Convinced the interview would be his chance to get rid of those pesky Jeffrey Epstein rumours once and for all, it became clear within minutes - to everyone but him - that things were not going to end up the way he planned. By the time the 49-minute interview was over, all Andrew had proven to the world was that the only thing he lacked more than self-awareness was empathy, and the only thing he seemed to have in abundance was an astonishing sense of entitlement, that gave him an uncanny ability to prove that the Dunning Kruger effect very much exists.Today I am giving you Just The Gist of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s Newsnight Interview with Emily Maitlis.GISTEN to our episode ‘Just The Gist of… Andrew and Fergie’ right here. (Apple)GISTEN to our episode ‘Just The Gist of… Andrew and Fergie’ right here. (Spotify)(CW: While this episode focuses more on Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor’s Newsnight Interview rather than any specifics of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and Andrew’s alleged involvement in them, those crimes are obviously part of this story so they are mentioned, without detail, at some points. Take care when listening.)…Breakin’ Nooz eps are bonus content for Gistener Club members - 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.…Newsnight interview between Emily Maitlis and Andrew Mountbatten-WindsorWatch the trailer for Netflix movie 'Scoop'Watch the trailer for Prime TV series 'A Very Royal Scandal'BBC article 'Maitlis says Andrew lost respect after interview' (2024) - where she mentions King Charles being 'not unhappy' with the interview…If this episode was difficult for you, please contact (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)