Jonquilyn Hill hates pranks, which made her the perfect guest for today's tale of a townhouse torn apart by a prank gone wrong. Follow Jonquilyn on Instagram here and check out Jonquilyn's podcast Explain It to Me here.Subscribe to our newsletter for writing from Rachelle, Se'era, Jae, Alex, and Kelsey, plus blog recommendations and secrets!You can support Normal Gossip directly by buying merch or becoming a Friend or a Friend-of-Friend at supportnormalgossip.com.Our merch shop is run by Dan McQuade. You can also find all kinds of info about us and how to submit gossip on our Komi page: https://normalgossip.komi.io/Episode transcript here.Order Kelsey's book, You Didn’t Hear This From Me, here!Follow the show on Instagram @normalgossip, and if you have gossip, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 26-79-GOSSIP.Normal Gossip is hosted by Rachelle Hampton (@heyydnae) and produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks (@seera_sharae) and Jae Towle Vieira (@jaetowlevieira). Alex Sujong Laughlin (@alexlaughs) is our Supervising Producer. Justin Ellis is Defector's projects editor. Show art by Tara Jacoby.Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radiotopia. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Chapter 1: What is the premise of Normal Gossip?
The fellowship doesn't pay a ton, but what it does do is give Iris six months to find full-time employment. And it pays enough that Iris can afford to stay in the city as long as she finds roommates and doesn't stay downtown. JQ, what's the last group housing situation you were in and how did you find it?
Oh, my gosh. So I was working at a Washington bureau for a news organization. And, you know, I was not making a ton of money. The amount of money I was making is now an illegal amount to pay even a minimum wage worker. And I had to have a college degree for this job. Your girl was struggling. Yeah. So one of my friends at work was like, hey, you have to be at work early quite a bit.
I know you're tired of paying for Ubers at 3.30 a.m. How about you move into the house where I'm living? It's literally around the corner, walking distance. You can walk when it's dark out and not get kidnapped. And I was like, I love the sound of that.
Yeah.
The rent was cheap. It was like 800 bucks a month for this room. Incredible.
Yeah.
I know it was a Craigslist house. It had central air. I did live with a lot of men. I shared a bathroom with one of my guy friends. We're now friends because of this. But I was like, wow, sharing a bathroom with a man.
This is kind of a perfect segue into today's story. So one day, Iris goes to check out a place that seems too good to be true in her housing search. According to the pictures she had seen in a queer Facebook housing group, this place is a three-story townhome with beautiful red brick and white trim. There's in-unit laundry. The kitchen has a dishwasher.
And in the pictures, it seems not just clean, but also well-decorated. After the apartments that Iris has seen, this place looks like a palace. So the day Iris goes to check out this place, she's doing that thing where she's kind of telling herself that her expectations are low, when in reality, they're like sky high.
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Chapter 2: How has the show evolved this season?
Exactly. And this is all the information Iris has before she has to make a decision.
Wait, I don't like that. Hold on now. So would you take this room? Hold on. We need to have a little sit down. We need to talk. Hey, what is the choice situation like? What's the bill breakdown? I'm going to have a few questions. I probably would have brought a friend with me. We would bring a tape measure because I need to know how the furniture fits.
But admittedly, this is my 30 something brain and not my 20 something brain. So I probably would be like, how much is the rent? I can afford that. OK.
Yeah, so one of Iris' favorite shows is New Girl. So before she even finishes her glass of rosé, she says yes. Blake pours her another glass in celebration, and Iris is absolutely positive she has just made the best decision of her life. She moves in a few weeks later, and living in the townhouse goes great for the most part. What does that mean, the most part? What's that? I'm so glad you asked.
Everything Iris loved about the apartment remains true. Her room, absolutely gorgeous. When the weather is nice, Noodle the dog wears a little red bandana on her walks. And when it rains, she has a little yellow raincoat. Iris is just constantly on the verge of tears looking at this dog because she's so perfect.
And living with three men in their mid-30s as a 20-something fresh out of college has its perks. The chore chart is more detailed than most of Iris' final exams. But she hasn't seen so much as a fruit fly since she walked in. Plus, Michael and Blake take pity on Iris the first time they catch her eating ramen for dinner two nights in a row.
If they have any leftovers whenever they cook, which is almost every night, they let Iris have them. Since Aiden works nights, Iris almost never sees him. It's kind of a dream. Until the first roommate accountability meeting. OK, JQ, what do you think a roommate accountability meeting is?
You either have it when an issue pops up or if you're smart, you have it maybe regularly, maybe monthly, maybe other month where it's just like, hey, how are things going? I noticed there are some dishes left. Can we please work on that? I noticed that like, hey, you were a little late on your share of the Internet. Like, let's work on that or like, hey, I want to have a party.
Is that cool with y'all? Like, it's just the roommate check-ins. It could be healthy. It could also be a very big source of drama.
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Chapter 3: What does Jonquilyn Hill think about gossip?
And then it's like, no, we're just bound together by.
Wow. I'm so glad noodle and gold noodle are okay. We love noodle in this household.
Thank you for listening to Normal Gossip. If you have a gossip story to share with us, email us at normalgossip at defector.com or you can leave us a voicemail at 2679GOSSIP. If you love this podcast and want to support us, become a friend or a friend of a friend at supportnormalgossip.com. You can follow the show on Instagram and TikTok at Normal Gossip.
You can follow me on all social media at HeyDanae, H-E-Y-Y-D-A-N-A-E. This podcast was produced by Sierra Spragley-Rix and Jay Tolviera. The co-creators and dowager queens of Normal Gossip are Alex Sujong Laughlin and Kelsey McKinney. Justin Ellis is Defectors Projects Editor. Jasper Wang and Sean Kuhn are Defectors Business Guys. Alex Sujong Laughlin is Defector's supervising producer.
Tom Lay is our editor-in-chief. Dan McQuaid runs our merch store, which you can find in normalgossip.store. Tara Jacoby designed our show art. Thank you to Catherine Xu, Brandi Jensen, Louise Pais Pumar, Chris Thompson, Jasper Wang, Sabrina Embler, Dave McKenna, Patrick Redford, and Ray Rado for your help on this season. Thanks to the rest of the Defector staff.
Defector Media is a collectively owned subscriber-based media company. Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radiotopia. I'm your host, Rachel Hampton. And remember, you didn't hear this from me.
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