Listener sentiment
The surrogacy episode controversy is fading in this window, and overall sentiment has settled back to mixed-to-positive: the core audience of long-time listeners remains devoted, describing Michelle and Zara as smart, warm company and calling the show the highlight of their week, with recent episodes on the Kim Kardashian interview, Macklemore and Gaza, and Ed Sheeran singled out for bravery and candour that fans say other pop-culture podcasts avoid. Lingering complaints follow two threads. One is the format and content drift that dates back to the switch to three episodes a week: recurring criticism holds that Dumb Stuff Fridays feels thin and designed for social media, that research has become TikTok-driven, and that looser editing leaves unpolished moments in episodes. The other is tone and relatability — a handful of reviewers, several of them long-time or paid subscribers, say the hosts' increasing focus on parenting and business ownership has made the show feel less relatable to child-free listeners, and occasional reviewers find certain hosts defensive or uninformed on topics outside their experience. These are recurring but minority themes against an otherwise loyal base, suggesting the churn risk flagged by the surrogacy backlash has stabilised rather than deepened.
Apple3.9 · 898
Summary generated Nov 12, 2026
