HistorySociety & CultureTV & FilmExplicit

Right Answers Mostly

Claire Donald & Tess Bellomo

History is just gossip! Join hosts Tess Bellomo and Claire Donald every Monday as they break down the juiciest stories from history and pop culture over a cocktail!

Play

Open in

35 episodes
weekly
Avg 1 hr 3 min
English

Episodes 35

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

Monday · 1 hr 38 min
Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady Who Changed Everything
This week, we're diving into the extraordinary life of Eleanor Roosevelt, from her heartbreaking childhood and complicated marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt to his infamous affair, her own rumored romances, and the love letters that have fascinated historians for decades. Along the way, Eleanor transformed the role of First Lady, fought tirelessly for civil rights and women's equality, and became a political powerhouse in her own right. Eleanor is the ultimate RAM icon and we are so excited to share her story. Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on socials, buy merch, and learn more about our show HERE Join our premium channel for 3 bonus episodes a month HERE Sources: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History , History.com, PBS, Smithsonian , Wikipedia , Autostraddle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
November 2 · 56 min
The Election That Was So Y2K
It's the year 2000. Britney Spears is dominating the charts, Sex and the City is in its prime, and two political nepo babies are fighting for the White House. What could possibly go wrong? This week, we're taking you back to one of the most chaotic and controversial presidential elections in American history: George W. Bush vs. Al Gore. From Bill Clinton's sex scandal and Gore's questionable campaign decisions to the rise of the Republican South, butterfly ballots, hanging chads, and a Florida recount that turned into a full blown political circus, we're breaking down the election that changed America forever. How did a candidate who won the popular vote lose the presidency? Did the Supreme Court decide the election? And did those infamous 537 votes in Florida help set the stage for the political division we know today? Grab your low rise jeans and butterfly clips, because history is just gossip, and this election has PLENTY of it. Created by Tess Bellomo & Claire Donald For more about us, where to follow us and merch, go here Interested in joining our premium channel? Go here ! VOTE IN PERSON TODAY!! Tag us in a pic, we might just repost it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
October 26 · 53 min
(SNEAK PEEK) Typhoid Mary: The Most Dangerous Woman in America?
Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant working as a cook in New York City when a string of mysterious typhoid outbreaks were traced back to her. The problem? Mary wasn’t sick and she refused to believe she could possibly be spreading the disease. This week, we’re getting into the true story of Typhoid Mary: the doctor determined to track her down, the science she refused to accept, and how she ultimately became one of the most infamous women in public health history. One thing we are taking away from this week...WASH YOUR HANDS, RAMMIES! Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on social media, buy merch, and learn more about our show HERE Join our premium channel for 3 bonus episodes a month HERE! Sources: PBS , CDC, Wikipedia, Dark History , History.com , Drunk History , museum.ie REGISTER TO VOTE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
October 19 · 1 hr 6 min
Mary Shelley, The OG Goth Girlie Who Wrote 'Frankenstein"
Spooky season continues, Rammies! Thank you to those who wrote in and suggested we cover the OG Goth Girlie, AUTHOR of "Frankenstein", Mary Shelley. We cover her unconventional but interesting childhood, from her philosopher parents, to her step mom trauma, and then venture into her teenage love affair with Percy Shelley, and of course, the weekend vacation that inspired the iconic "Frankenstein. " Girlies love horror, girlies love Science Fiction, girlies love monsters! Let's debunk the theories about Mary and get spooky! TW: This episode contains conversations around child loss and suicide. Created and produced by Tess Bellomo & Claire Donald Want to join our premium channel? We have a code for you! Three bonus eps a month for $4.99/month using code RAM SCHOOL. Please consider to support our show! Want to learn more about us? Book a cameo, buy our merch, see our socials? Go here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
October 12 · 1 hr 1 min
Elizabeth Holmes: The Spookiest CEO Of All Time
<p>In this weeks episode, Tess covers Elizabeth Holmes, the CEO who tricked the entire world into thinking she could revolutionize health care. From her intense and highly motivated family that influenced her CEO mentality, to her early and traumatic life at Stanford, to dropping out and starting a company at 19, this is a wild ride of deceit, a fake voice, and a lot of turtleneck talk. Hopefully you are not squish with the talk of blood...</p><p>TW: In the first 15 minutes of the episode, there
October 5 · 51 min
The Dancing Plague of 1518: Dance Till You Die!
The dancing plague of 1518, was a case of dancing mania that occurred in the Holy Roman Empire from July 1518 to September 1518. Somewhere between 50 and 400 people started dancing for weeks. Though it's not the only to occur, few were as large...and deadly. So what could have led people to dance themselves to death?! Let's gossip about it. Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on social media, buy merch, and find out more about our show HERE! Join our premium channel for bonus episodes HERE Sources: History.com , The Forgotten Doc , Euppublishing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
September 28 · 1 hr 7 min
(SNEAK PEEK) Yoko Ono: Give Her a Chance
PREMIUM EPISODE: The last 45 minutes will be left for our premium subscribers. We currently have a sale if you're interested for $4.99/month for THREE months. Support our show here! We are an entirely independently produced podcast. We host, research, edit, do our socials, etc, just us, this premium is the way this continue can continue to exist and thrive AND give you free content. And with that, our final episode of Back to School Month... Did Yoko Ono really break up The Beatles? Or did the world just need a woman to blame? This week, we’re diving into the fascinating, complicated, and wildly misunderstood life of Yoko Ono. From her unconventional childhood and avant-garde art career to meeting John Lennon, becoming one of the most hated women in music history, and rebuilding her life after his murder, we’re separating the woman from the mythology. Plus: Cut Piece, the Bed-Ins, Beatles drama, John and Yoko’s very complicated marriage, and why, decades later, the world may finally be catching up to Yoko Ono. TW: This episode contains mentions of suicide and pregnancy loss. Created and produced by Tess Bellomo & Claire Donald For more about our show, go here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
September 21 · 1 hr 12 min
The Habsburg Dynasty: The Most Inbred Family in History
We’re diving into one of history’s most powerful and dysfunctional dynasties, The Habsburgs. From strategic marriages and massive empires to generations of inbreeding that eventually caught up with them. Get ready for royal drama, a truly insane family tree, and a reminder that history is just gossip. Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on social media, buy merch, and more⁠⁠ HERE! ⁠⁠ Join our ⁠PREMIUM CHANNEL HERE ⁠ Sources: History Found , History Profiles , History Mapped Out , Ann Foster , Wikipedia, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
September 14 · 1 hr 10 min
Lizzie Borden: The Girl with the Axe
This week we cover the Lizzie Borden murder case, one of the most famous in American criminal history. Accused of brutally killing her father and stepmother with an axe in 1892, Lizzie's trial became a media frenzy. But here’s the twist: she was found not guilty. So was she a cold-blooded killer, or just a single woman in her 30s in the 1800s?! In this episode we break down the crime, the evidence, and bring it back to Bravo more than ever! Let us know your thoughts, Rammies! Created and produced by Claire Donald & Tess Bellomo Follow us here for more information about Right Answers Mostly including social media, merch, and announcements. Join our premium channel HERE where you get three bonus episodes a month (celeb gossip and personal catch up plus ONE more history lesson). You'll get added to our close friends on instagram and also get first access to merch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
September 7 · 1 hr 17 min
Girls Who Sleuth: The Nellie Bly Story
Welcome to Back to School Month all month long! Today we cover Nellie Bly: the original girl who sleuthed. After forcing her way into the male dominated world of journalism, Nellie became famous for going undercover inside a notorious New York insane asylum, where she exposed the horrific treatment of its female patients. But she didn’t stop there. She interviewed a serial killer, traveled through Mexico, reported from the front lines of World War I, and raced around the entire world in just 72 days. This is the story of the fearless, complicated and wildly ambitious woman who changed investigative journalism forever, and proved that women didn’t belong on the sidelines of history. They belonged on the front page. Created and produced by Tess Bellomo and Claire Donald. Find out more about RAM, where to follow us, our merch, and more here Want a discount on our premium channel where you get THREE bonus eps a month? We're having a back to school sale where you can get it for $4.99/month for THREE months! It is usually $7.99/month so this is an amazing deal! Sign up here to support our show! Once again, that is $4.99 PER month, every month, not $4.99 for three months total. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
August 31 · 59 min
(SNEAK PEEK) Marilyn Monroe: The Final Chapter, The Kennedys & The Conspiracies
In the final chapter of Marilyn Month, we’re covering the last years of Marilyn Monroe’s life and the mystery that still surrounds her death more than 60 years later. From her divorce from Arthur Miller and buying a home of her own, to her rumored relationships with the Kennedys and the infamous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” performance at Madison Square Garden. We’re also getting into Marilyn’s final photo shoots, her last days, and what we know about the night she died. Then, we’re breaking down the conspiracy theories that have followed her death for decades: the Kennedys, the conflicting timelines, the unanswered questions, and what we actually believe happened. Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on social media, buy merch, and more⁠ HERE! ⁠ Join our PREMIUM CHANNEL HERE Sources: Marilyn Monroe: The Biography , The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes , Vanity Fair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
S3 · E9
August 25 · 1 hr 5 min
Dolly Parton is An Angel on Earth
<p>Today we're taking a deep dive into the life of the one and only Dolly Parton - the queen of rhinestones, wigs, and big hair. We start in the Great Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee where Dolly grew up, singing and playing music from an early age. We find out how Dolly got her big break in Nashville, and how she met her very secretive husband of 57 years, Carl Dean. We break down Dolly's classic looks and phrases and her extensive philanthropy work including the Imagination Library a
August 24 · 1 hr 27 min
Marilyn Monroe: The Men, the Movies & the Myth
In episode three of our Marilyn Monroe Month, we’re getting into the height of Marilyn’s fame: the iconic movies, the scandals, and her marriages to two of the most famous men in America, Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller. While Hollywood wanted Marilyn Monroe the sex symbol, Marilyn wanted something more. We’re talking about her fight with the studio system, her determination to become a serious actress, and how she eventually took on Hollywood itself. TW: This episodes contains discussions of physical abuse Created by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on social media, buy merch, and learn more about the show ⁠HERE⁠ Join our premium channel ⁠HERE ⁠ ⁠Get $28 off your first month of Nuuly with code RAM ⁠ Sources: ⁠Marilyn Monroe The Biography ⁠, ⁠Interview with Jane Russell⁠, ⁠Interview with Lauren Bacall ⁠, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
August 19 · 50 sec
Marilyn Month on Right Answers Mostly: The Woman, The Myths, The Conspiracies
If you love history and gossip, this one's for you! All August long we're covering all things Marilyn Monroe- her childhood, rise to stardom, marriages, conspiracy theories and more- because history is just gossip! Subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts and share with your friends so we can gab together! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
August 17 · 1 hr 26 min
The Making of Marilyn Monroe
Welcome to our second episode of our Marilyn Monroe Month! Norma Jeane is gone... Marilyn Monroe is about to be born. This week, we follow Marilyn's extraordinary transformation from a lonely aircraft factory worker into one of the most photographed women in America. After being discovered on a wartime assembly line, she throws herself into modeling, bleaches her hair, signs with the Blue Book Modeling Agency, and quickly realizes that beauty alone isn't enough. Hollywood is a game, and she's determined to learn how to play it. We dive into the complicated, often exploitative relationships that shaped her early career, from powerful studio executives and photographers to the acting coaches and mentors who recognized her undeniable star power. Along the way, Marilyn navigates ambition, reinvents herself from Norma Jeane Dougherty into Marilyn Monroe, lands her first studio contracts, and begins chasing the movie career she believes she's destined for. We end with the now-infamous nude calendar photos, a $50 modeling job she never imagined would follow her forever. The images that could have destroyed her career instead became one of the most pivotal turning points in Hollywood history. Created and produced by Tess Bellomo & Claire Donald Find out more about our show here To support our show and receive three bonus episodes a month for just $7.99, go here! Sources: Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto Use code RAM to receive $28 off your first Nuuly purchase! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
August 10 · 1 hr 12 min
Norma Jeane And The Women Who Raised Her
WELCOME TO MARILYN MONTH! All month long, we're doing deep dives into Marilyn Monroe's life because she deserves so much more than just one episode. To kick things off, we're taking it all the way back to the beginning: Norma Jeane's childhood. In this episode, we cover everything from her toddler years through high school, ending on quite the cliffhanger for next week's episode. We dive into the foster parents who raised her, the women who abandoned her, protected her, and shaped her, and how those early relationships influenced the woman she would become. We also talk about the changes she began experiencing around eighth grade, her first crush, and the moments that marked the beginning of her transformation into Marilyn Monroe. Created and produced by Tess Bellomo and Claire Donald For more on RAM, go here If you're interested in joining our subscription for THREE bonus episodes a month, please support the show and sign up here! Thank you for dressing us, Nuuly! Use code RAM for $28 off your first order! TW: This episode contains multiple mentions of SA Sources: Marilyn Monroe, The Biography by Donald Soto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
August 3 · 1 hr 11 min
Trojan War: Before Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey
Release in honor of The Odyssey: This week we re-visit one of history’s juiciest conflicts: The Trojan War. It all starts with a beauty contest judged by a lil shepherd, and spirals into a decade-long war fought over the world’s most shtunning woman. We're talking forbidden love, bro betrayals, hunky men and intense battles. Turns out the gods have a lot of drama. Created and produced by Tess Bellomo and Claire Donald For more on RAM, go here For our SUBSCRIPTION, 3 bonus eps a month, sign up for $7.99/month! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 27 · 38 min
(SNEAK PEEK) Jackie Robinson Was So Much More Than Baseball
Jackie Robinson didn't just change baseball, he changed America. This week, we're rounding out American Icons month with the incredible story of the man who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier and the impossible pressure that came with it. We talk about how Branch Rickey chose Jackie to integrate the sport, why he was expected to endure racism without fighting back, and how Rachel Robinson became one of the most important partners in his legacy. This is the story of an athlete, activist, husband, and leader who changed far more than the game of baseball. Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on social media, buy merch, and more⁠ HERE Join our premium channel for 3 bonus eps a month ⁠HERE and save 15% when you buy annually! Try ⁠Nuuly ⁠and get $28 off your first month with code RAM Sources: Jackie Robinson documentary , Wikipedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 20 · 1 hr 18 min
How Madonna Changed Pop Music Forever
Long before pop stars built entire careers around reinvention, Madonna was changing the rules in real time. In this episode, we trace her journey from a broke dancer arriving in New York City with a lot of religious trauma and just a few dollars to becoming the best selling female recording artist of all time. Along the way, we unpack the controversies that made headlines, the reinventions that reshaped pop culture, her groundbreaking advocacy during the AIDS crisis, and the ambition that inspired generations of artists, from Britney Spears to Taylor Swift. Love her or hate her, modern pop stardom wouldn't exist without Madonna. Created and produced by Tess Bellomo & Claire Donald For our socials, merch and more about us, check out our website! TRY NUULY HERE! Code RAM for $28 dollars your first month! To join our premium channel with THREE bonus episodes a month, go here! It is just $7.99 and you get to support our show, get access to close friends and be the first to purchase highly requested merch! Link to Truth or Dare documentary Listen to Tess's best of Madonna playlist here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 13 · 57 min
American Girl Dolls were BRAT
RE-RELEASE: Join us in this MUCH requested nostalgic episode as we delve into the enchanting world of American Girl Dolls, exploring their rich history and the cultural impact they've had since their inception in 1986 by founder Pleasant Howard . We’ll trace the journey from the original dolls—each representing a different era in American history (THEY ARE RAMMIES)—to the diverse characters that reflect contemporary society. Discover how these beloved dolls not only sparked a passion for history in young girls but also fostered conversations about identity, diversity, and empowerment. ALSO SURPRISE: Enjoy two 90s quizzes to take at home! Created and produced by Claire Donald & Tess Bellomo Follow us here for more information about Right Answers Mostly including social media, merch, and announcements. Join our premium channel HERE where you get three bonus episodes a month (celeb gossip and personal catch up plus ONE more history lesson). You'll get added to our close friends on instagram and also get first access to merch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Showing 1–20 of 35 episodes