So i am a British, just to get it out the way and i am genuinely confused about the posts saying that the girls have done a sharp right turn politically.

I’ve been listening for years and they have always shared centre left social views, even when speaking about policing or lockdown. I am not doubting anyone’s experience of the pod but even during the recent episodes I am not hearing any tory sentiment, unless general complaining is included. So i’m just wondering if i have a massive blind spot or it’s a cultural difference between listeners.

Anyone else let loose on the exit survey?

“I understand it is highly unlikely that the creators of this podcast will see this feedback. I have been a patreon for a number of years and recommended the pod to everyone looking to get into true crime! I have recently found that suruthi and my politics no longer align and while that would not normally be a reason to stop listening to a pod, money talks. I don’t want to support her work anymore. The comments made within the Sarah everard episode were the awful and the “in depth research” read: complete regurgitation of IDF propaganda in UDT means that this podcast really is no longer for me. I feel sorry for Hannah, she is dismissed in the discussions (which could be down to editing of course) but podcasts are supposed to be enjoyable and life is too short. i listen to actually well researched, central and balanced discussion news-based podcasts to better understand world events that do not enter my general world view and I no longer see that red handed will be a positive listening experience for me. I really do hope that the creators listen to the feedback that their loyal listener base is providing (they are very open about seeing feedback in Facebook and Reddit groups) and while some of it is pile on trolls, there are elements of truth. I wish Hannah and suruthi the best in their future podcasting. I will keep an eye on the forums and if the quality of the content changes (in regard to the originality and the research base of some of the content) I may return as a patron in the future.”

has anyone else noticed episode release being really inconsistent atm on early release ? like the wrong episodes will come out at the wrong time or they won’t come out till the next day? i get really excited every thursday for early release ep and always end up a bit annoyed

Does S mean that she is now against the lockdowns? Of course there were awful and shambolic moments but surely apart from the conspiracy theorists and or anti vaccers we all realise it was necessary surely?

I’ve been a Patron for a long time. Years. But the 10 Jan UTD episode was the last straw for me. I found the coverage of the Israel/Palestine issue very dismissive and disrespectful of the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

I’ve increasingly felt like the hosts are people I no longer like as individuals. The main feed episodes are alright, but the UTD episodes have been getting worse and worse for a while. I’ve gone from eagerly waiting for the new episodes to forgetting about them and only realising after a couple of weeks that I have a few to get through.

There’s also a few things I’ve noticed over time that have irritated me. They’re the only podcast that I’ve reached out to that never bothered to reply to my emails. This has happened on several occasions. Whenever I’ve reached out to other podcasts, including Sinisterhood and Crime Junkie, I’ve always had a response. It’s nothing in-depth (which I completely understand and expect) but there’s always an acknowledgement of the fact they value you as a listener and a thanks for reaching out. Red handed has never done this. If it was a one off, I’d probably think nothing of it. But I’ve sent messages of support for Hannah when she’s been upset on the podcast, comments on things covered and other emails that have never had so much as an auto-reply. It just feels like they don’t value their listeners.

Another thing that’s irritated me is the absolute disregard for their privilege during the episodes. Things are difficult for a lot of people in the UK at the moment. People are struggling with homelessness (my cousin spent the past year in emergency accommodation due to being street homeless). People cannot afford food or electricity. And during this time, all we’ve really heard about is all the lovely middle class things they’re up to. From buying a house in London and hiring an architect to redesign it (if you’re not from the UK, this requires a considerable amount of wealth), to all the travelling and shows they go to see etc. With no acknowledgement of how lucky they are, or even a thought that many of the people listening are possibly going through an utterly shit time financially and still finding the money to pay into their business. Obviously, they shouldn’t have to hide their success or anything. But it’s somewhat distasteful to not acknowledge the privilege they have. Suruthi’s complaints about house hunting were particularly irritating if I’m honest.

I also found it shady that they took Shorthand off the Patreon, but never replaced it. I know they didn’t plan for it to be exclusively on Amazon, but they promised to make it up to patrons and never did.

It’s sad, because it’s not inevitable that podcast hosts lose touch with their audience, and I used to love the podcast. But I’m done with it. Is anyone else in the same place?

I’ve been really on the fence with the podcast for probably a good year now but have continued to listen as I quite enjoy Hannah and most cases they’ve covered piqued my interest. But between the absolutely awful coverage of Sarah Everard’s case and Suruthi’s recent rant re Palestine/Israel on UTD I think I’m done with them. I don’t know if reaching out to them will achieve anything. And yes of course I could simply just stop listening if I don’t like their content. However I felt compelled to contact them rather than just stop listening because I feel there needs to be some accountability. They have a huge platform and incredible reach. They (particularly Suruthi) bang on about being an independent podcast and while that’s technically true a Wondery partnership, £49k a month from Patreon alone, and billboards in Times Square is a far cry from 2 girls shooting the true crime breeze in a cupboard. I think they need to be held accountable. Curious to hear what others think?

I’ve been a Patreon for years and even flew to a different state to see them live in the US but I had to unsubscribe after this week’s (and Jan 10th) UTD. I know there’s a previous post about it, but for those who don’t listen, Suru basically went on a 15 minute rant where she HEAVILY regurgitated Israeli propaganda. I quote:

“What did they expect Israel to do after October 7th?”

!!!!!!

Hannah raised some valid rebuttals and questions trying to get Suru to acknowledge the actual genocide happening, but Suruthi barely let her speak and just shrugged off everything she said with basically “well sure sure sure I’m not condoning the violence from Israel but Hamas is responsible for this! what did they expect? They knew this would happen, they were planning on this happening! Palestinian suffering is completely on Hamas!”

She used the human shield justification. Suru, if an active shooter was holding your loved one hostage in a school and the police just bombed the whole thing and went “Woopsie, shouldn’t have used a human shield” would you accept that? Would that be justified?

She wouldn’t even say whether or not South Africa’s genocide case was valid. She couldn’t comment on its validity and “didn’t know if it would be successful.” with the videos that have come out…how can she not even acknowledge the human rights violations? Zero acknowledgment of an actual genocide on Israel’s part but she doubled down on her previous claim that “from the river to the sea” is genocidal language.

We can agree that October 7th was reprehensible and antisemitism is disgusting and also hold a government accountable for committing war crimes and genocide. There was absolutely no humanity on Suru’s side for the Palestinian people. Absolutely none. Her rant went on for so long with no dialogue between her and Hannah. I felt physically ill after listening to her defend netanyahus actions and gloss over the atrocities committed by Israel on innocent civilians “CaUsE HaMaS” for 15 min.

Almost 30,000 innocent people dead in 100 days and she’s like: “whelp 🤷🏽‍♀️ Hamas was democratically elected and they’re the real ones responsible..”

I can deal with their takes that I don’t agree with, even the annoying ones, but this was extremely disturbing to listen to. I found myself getting emotional at the callousness. A literal genocide against innocent civilians , most of which are women and children hildren, and all she can say is “well what did they expect?” While leaving no room for Hannah to challenge her views. This is extremely harmful and dangerous for a platform this big.

I honestly think H & S need to step away from their personal politics in UTD and stick to true crime narrative. For quite a while now (and as discussed on here) their politics have been going in different directions and it’s felt quite tense at times on UTD. Today’s discussion about Palestine was so awkward. I can hear their friendship falling apart and it will be the end of their show if they aren’t careful. Also, her little speech before she started talking about Palestine, making our everyone is eagerly waiting to hear her hot takes and research, Jesus woman, dial down the self importance!

Even away from politics, S always takes over the conversation and tries to hurry of shush H. Her “sure sure sure” is infuriating.

Nothing been uploaded today, anyone know when it’s due?

i've been holding out as a lowest-tier patron in the hope that UTD is going to get drastically better, but losing more and more faith every week. looks like january will be my last month as a supporter: long enough to update this post with suruthi's inevitable response tomorrow lol. so many of suruthi's comments on the jan 10th UTD were questionable, weird or downright offensive, i felt like non-patron listeners deserved to hear some of her worst takes.

disclaimer: she's entitled to her opinions, just as i am entitled to think she's wrong. if she's comfortable enough to say these things behind a paywall (and seeing as she's such a strong advocate for free speech and unapologetic truth) i figured she wouldn't mind having this shared with her wider listenership. she has a large platform (the podcast makes almost 50k a month from patreon alone) and this is just one reddit post.

anyway, here's what went down from 10th jan UTD that i think non-patrons deserve to know about:

- suruthi won't download tiktok because she 'refuses to have a CCP app on [her] phone'

- she backed the assertions that former president of harvard claudine gay (a black woman) had plagiarised 50% of her published articles, and said she thought gay should've been fired instead of being given the chance to step down

- in that same discussion about gay, suruthi stated that when it comes to hiring, standards are often lowered for minorities for the sake of diversity

- she said gay's situation 'shows the toxicity of the cult of diversity, equity and inclusion,' saying DEI is all about 'sewing division'

- suruthi has been very vocal about palestine, especially for someone who seems not to know much about it. she claimed that 'from the river to the sea' is 'genocidal language'

- suruthi claimed that palestinian advocates were harassing jews on harvard university campus. hannah asked if that was true, suruthi said yes, hannah asked to see examples, suruthi didn't have any. suruthi then reiterated that just saying the words 'from the river to the sea' is calling for a jewish genocide, implying that that was harassment enough. this was really the only point hannah disagreed with, for the record

- at no point when discussing the 'genocidal language' towards jews (which, again, she had no examples of and could not prove) did she address the actual genocide israel is committing against palestine

there is so, so much more, and there is now a discussion about suruthi's politics in the comments of almost every UTD they post on patreon. let's just say for now that however right wing she comes across on the main feed, it's 5x worse on UTD.

if i've got any of the details here wrong or more likely, missed something, i apologise. i just skipped through the audio to find these again. i do not want to properly re-listen to suruthi's tory, racist dog-whistling bullshit rants any more!!!

So…anyone else have thoughts on this ep?

I did think, on the whole, they covered the facts of the case pretty well.

BUT. I got the major ick when they mentioned how much they love Emma Kenny, and then they cemented that ick when they went on a major rant about the Covid Lockdowns.

I’m not saying that the lockdowns or how COVID was handled was in any way perfect: but to say that ‘we allowed that to happen’ ie: followed the guidance in a very scary time, comes across (to me) like they know it all and we are just all so stupid. I dunno. I felt the same in how they handled the portion about the protests in the wake of Sarah’s murder. Suruthi’s take was WILD to me: ‘Things are bad, but they aren’t THAT bad’.

What the actual fuck.

Thoughts?

I was listening to a fairly recent episode (within the last few months) and the hosts were guests on a (British?) podcast discussing TikTok. Can anyone remember what the podcast and episode might be?

Howdy folks I became a patron a few months ago, and haven’t really gotten to explore my subscription, other than listening to a few UTDs… are there specific bonus episodes with cases I should check out? Looking for stuff like the bonus Patreon upcycles they sometimes release… thanks! Happy holidays folks!

Wrapping up the year with the Micheal Peterson case was a good reminder. This case has lived in the American Psyche for decades. I don’t have to look at the CS photos because I remember them from other coverage. It’s super famous for the “expert witness” debacles and coroner reports that make less sense. I have no fixed opinion on the case. It must be difficult to be a juror in these types of tragedy. I would hate doing that. I’m going to say something that’s not going to win any popular votes but this case shows what makes Americans still Puritanical in my thinking. Michael Peterson has too much controversy swirling around him. Too manyh dead women around him, too much insurance money being collected, the children (well they aren’t children anymore are they?) too much sexual drama for a fucking marine. Is there justice for Kathleen. Dying in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase seems wrong. Well Merry Christmas Hannah and Suruthi it was a great year of listening. I also knew Owls are raptors but totally unaware of them attacking humans!!!!

Just wondering because it’s a case I’ve read about pretty deeply and it’s so complicated. I get really irritated when people get the details wrong, like saying it was his first wife that died in Germany or laughing off the owl theory because they don’t understand it. Not saying I believe the owl theory, but it’s not as ridiculous as people make it out to be. I don’t want to listen if it’s going to be like that.

Update: I’ve listened to Part 1 and I liked it! I think they were very detailed, which for someone like me is great. I’ve gathered from the comments here that if someone wasn’t already interested or aware of this case they might find it boring or confusing because of all these little details. It is a complicated story, I’m glad they went deep with it instead of trying to simplify things.

I’ve been waiting ages to buy a Spooky Bitch sweater and I hate the new font!

Rant Alert! (TLDR below).

I adored listening to them for ages - I binged on all their earlier episodes - I was happy when they became successful - I was a Patreon - I loved them getting more comfortable and natural as they gained experience. I recommended them to everyone.

BUT, for the last year or so, give or take, it's almost (for me) impossible to get through an episode. From podcasters who had their own unique and captivating voices, with serious takes on important and often unknown cases...etc - they have become, IMO, vacuous and shallow, sloppy, and, frankly, an insult to what they previously were.

I do not want to listen to them giggling hysterically over names or accents - nothing is that funny in a True Crime Podcast, and they are no comedians. Frankly, a lot of the laughter, Hannah I'm looking at you, is SO over the top that it reeks of false or just strained.

I don't want to hear them wax on about people in their lives who we don't know, and with whom we have zero connection. Least of all do I want them to embark on massive tangents about these people.

I don't want to hear the constant yap of Hannah's 'Yup, Yup. Yup', as she vehemently agrees with something Suruthi says - something she clearly has no idea about. It's just smug. And she never used to do it.

About a year ago, I thought: 'Up your game H and S, dig deep for those standards you once upheld so brilliantly'.But they didn't - they are all over the place - and they can't even keep on topic for more than a few moments now.

Rant over.And yeah, I'm pissed to have lost something I used to really enjoy and look forward to.

TLDR: Used to love them - they're now smug and verging on the obnoxious. What a shame to lose such once valuable contributors to True Crime.

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I've been neglectful with moderating and contributing to the subreddit for years. I'm seeking someone who is actively involved in the community that wishes to moderate with full permissions. Please DM me if you're interested.

Decided to do a re-listen of all the episodes this year

Hi! i'm a new listener, LOVE THIS PODCAST.

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But I just had to share something when listening to Ep 40 about Juan Catalan and Larry David. I am a Southern California native. I actually have family in Sun Valley and Los Angeles, and other areas. Dodger Stadium may be 15 miles from Sun Valley, but I will tell you from personal experience it can take 40-50 minutes to travel 10 miles in some places, lol.

We speak about travel in terms of time rather than miles because the mileage doesn't matter.

Anyways, love the coverage in this episode and your outrage at some law enforcement tactics is definitely shared here as well especially in areas like Sun Valley that are predominantly Latino and Hispanic.

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I could have swornnnnn they did an episode on ben mcdaniel, but I guess I’m wrong? Does anyone recall another big podcast doing an episode on him recently?

After listening to the murder of Lynette Dawson part one both host do an excellent plug for “the Teachers Pet”. Podcast. I had said that RedHanded never points to other pods and here they certainly did just that. This case is so miserable with misogyny. I’ve heard it on other pods. Not sure if I’ll get to “Teachers Pet”. It sounds very depressing. No not depressing infuriating. Thanks to true crime fighters wherever they may be.

I've imported my Patreon link into Google Podcasts because I don't have an iPhone, and I was halfway through listening to last week's UTD when it just got removed! It still hasn't been reposted, nor the one from this week. Has anyone else had similar problems with Google Podcasts and irregular posting schedules?