Episode 145: We Miss Spirit Airlines Now That It's Dead

Spirit Airlines vanished overnight (and a TikToker wants you to chip in $1.75 billion to bring it back). Survivor hits 50 seasons with MrBeast and Billie Eilish making cameos. AI chatbots are now inventing diseases that don't exist. And the guy who invented the Roomba wants to sell you a robot pet with bear-cub ears that drags you off the couch.

Plus: Dan survives post-prom trivia in small-town Minnesota, Nicole confesses her goth-era Winona Ryder phase, and we settle whether Jeff Probst is underpaid at $60 million.

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Dan and Nicole are back for EP144 and the wallet is taking hits. Gas prices have hit a four-year high (Dan's now coasting home in neutral), Minnesota became the first state to ban "nudification" apps (and yes, it's as dystopian as it sounds), McDonald's is quietly killing the self-serve soda fountain (RIP, suicide drink), and an 82-year-old Minnesotan named Anita just got the "Grandparents Happy Hour Bill" passed so nursing homes can serve booze. Plus: the public habit France is now FINING people for. It's called bare-beating, and your first guess is wrong. We promise.

Episode 143 of The Still Spinning Podcast is back after a week off, and Dan and Nicole are catching up on a packed lineup. Nicole returns from a New York City vacation where she actually disconnected (gasp!), saw Rocky Horror on Broadway from spit-zone seats, caught Oh, Mary! with John Cameron Mitchell and Simu Liu, and toured the Severance filming location in Red Bank.

Dan, meanwhile, did "absolutely nothing" except start a brand new project the day before a trivia gig (because that's just how he rolls).

Then it's off to the rant zone:

• Airline nickel-and-diming: Some carriers now want to charge you for overhead bin access. Dan's been preaching this gospel for years. Nicole shares her nightmare Newark luggage tram saga that should be its own short film.
• The $34 Taco John's incident: Two meals, a couple Mexi Rolls, and a fully malfunctioning AI drive-thru that tried to sell Dan two large Diet Mountain Dews when he ordered one. America is broken.
• Starbucks goes Nashville: The coffee giant is dropping $100 million on a new Nashville HQ and asking Seattle employees to pack their bags or take the pay cut. Plus, Dan reveals his Starbucks Reserve Black Card (yes, that's a real thing, and yes, he's in the top 1% of customers worldwide) and pitches his big idea: top-tier customers should automatically get bumped to the front of the mobile order line. You're welcome, Starbucks.
• Goodwill gold: A Chicago carpet cleaner buys a $5 plate at Goodwill and turns it into a $4,000 to $6,000 Sotheby's payday. Dan tells his own thrift store treasure tale that his wife will absolutely use as ammunition.
• Childhood chaos: Foam glider planes, M-80s, and the kind of stories that make you marvel anyone born in the '80s made it to adulthood.
• The fake "secret" menu: Starbucks emails Dan their official Devil Wears Prada secret menu, which... isn't a secret if you blast it to millions of people, guys.

Plus, after 143 episodes, the duo finally lands on the podcast name they should have used all along: Wait, What?

Tune in, laugh along, and remember: tell one person about the show. Just one. (And if you hate it, tell someone you hate. They'll probably love it.)

Keep spinning!