Traitors and transparency

Thanks to over 4,000 of you who took our survey two weeks ago. I’m completely overwhelmed with gratitude that you would all take time out of your day to provide such valuable feedback. Whether you started following at The Washington Post or just this year, one thing has always been consistent: I have some of the smartest, kindest and funniest followers on the internet. Thank you.

We will be incorporating your insights in the New Year, and in this very newsletter, starting with a “Table of Contents” at the top:

👀 What I’m watching: Traitors, season 1

📗 What I’m reading: ‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’

🎧 What I’m listening to: I Remember Everything

👨🏼‍💻 What I’m doing: Building out our transparency page

Some of you know I’m a massive Survivor fan. I’ve seen every season. I’ve made it deep in the rigorous casting process, only to be cut twice (for seasons 23 and 47). Despite this one-sided relationship I seem to have with the show, I continue to watch it faithfully, despite production’s paint-by-numbers approach to the New Era seasons.

But it’s not the only competitive reality show I love. If one good thing came from the obvious ploy for subscribers that Peacock pulled when they made a Chiefs game exclusively available on their app last year, it’s access to all the versions of Traitors in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

My wife and I started with season 2 last year because I’m a massive fan of Sandra and Parvati from Survivor. We made our way through most iterations of the show. As season 4 approaches, we realized that we had completely missed season 1 of the U.S. version featuring Cirie, another Survivor legend.

It’s incredible. Cirie is (unsurprisingly) incredible. I personally love the mix of reality TV stars and unknown regular schmegular Joe’s. I wish they would return to this 50/50 format, as the non-reality stars often can’t take off their rose-colored glasses. It’s the reason Boston Rob was able to win Redemption Island and keep Dylan Efron in his pocket for season 3 of Traitors. For better or worse, Americans can’t help but trust charismatic reality TV stars who gleefully manipulate them and stab them in the back. Sort of like my misplaced faith that Jeff Probst isn’t ruining Survivor with each season (why are you in the season 50 preview, Mr. Beast??).

All of this and more is why Traitors keeps winning awards and leaving Survivor in the dust. It’s fun. It’s emotional. It’s wacky. It’s got Alan Cumming. What more could you want?

Deep into paternity leave in 2023, running on fumes and casseroles, I picked up a book by Kevin Wilson called ‘Nothing to See Here.’ The premise, while nuts, is relatively simple: a woman becomes a nanny for two young kids who keep sponateously combusting and catching fire.

That caught my attention right away, but what kept me there was the voice of the author. He’s funny, witty, charming and emotionally grounded - all traits I love and try to replicate in my own writing and videos. So, when my wife told an employee at Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas that I loved Wilson’s books, they recommended a book by an author with similar qualities: ‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles.’

I’m 70 pages in and have only put it down out of loyalty to my family (toddlers need food and attention!). In the Before Kid Times, I may have read this book in one sitting. It’s about a 20-year-old woman who becomes pregnant by her English professor, decides to have the baby, and makes money by starting an OnlyFans account.

To be honest, it’s not the type of book I would normally pick up. The cover even somewhat resembles the beach reads that Emily Henry keeps cranking out (I once attempted to read one but quickly realized it’s not for me).

But the employee at Rainy Day Books deserves a raise. Unless they are the owner, in which case, you should go by books from them. Like Kevin Wilson, Rufi Thorpe’s voice and humor elevates an already fun premise. Her titular character Margo talks in first person or third person, depending on how connected she feels to what’s happening. She feels as real as any real person I’ve ever met. Certainly more real than iDave.

I haven’t finished it, so don’t spoil it! If you’re not a reader, fear not. It will soon premiere as an Apple+ series in April, starring Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer and Nick Offerman.

I think my music tastes are good, but you’ll quickly find that I am either living in the early 2000s still or on a one year delay from the rest of the world. Such is my curse as a millennial. I remember everything from those CDs I kept on rotation in my six disc changer.

I Remember Everything, by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves also happens to be the song I have on repeat at the moment. It’s the perfect song for someone like me, who loves Avett Brothers and spent my entire childhood listening to the four different Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) CDs my mom had on repeat in the Ford Windstar.

And, as always, I’m listening to Rob Has a Podcast, hosted by Survivor legend Rob Cesternino. I love their recent rankings of the best winners of the new era.

When we first launched LNI, we promised transparency, as well as a clear set of ethics and guidelines. With Lauren, Micah and Chris’s help, we’re building out that page, which also includes a link to report an error or ask a question. We’ll also start including this box in all our newsletters as a statement of our principles.

Also, as promised, we will soon post our annual list of funders. For example, our Harry’s ‘Will Dave Shave?’ series helped keep the lights on this year. Or the iDave series, which is funded by the Omidyar Network. Importantly, that series has no editorial oversight from Omidyar. We are free to report on AI without the influence of billionaires and politicians that have a stake in the technology.

I’m back behind the desk this week with more videos. I’ll be diving into the second Epstein file drop and a variety of other topics (which you asked for in the survey!). In case you missed it, here’s last Monday’s video on the first Epstein files drop:

Our latest iDave video talked about how AI chatbots are crawling the internet for information, sometimes accurate, sometimes not. We made an attempt in last week’s newsletter to showcase this, discussing how Sam the Spam Can won an honorary degree from Harvard.

… and it’s kind of working!

Great work, everyone! And great job, Sam!

Well, while you’re here …

In 2026, we’re excited to launch our weekly long-form show, to which members will have early access. I hope you’ll consider becoming a member today. Your membership helps us hire more people, for more hours, so you can get more coverage. Thanks for helping make my dream job possible.