The reviews are in for Maci Bookout‘s new true crime podcast…and they’re not good.
As The Ashley previously reported, the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star has teamed with radio host Natalie Gard on The Expired podcast, which reviews crimes that were committed in the Chattanooga, Tennessee, area. While Maci and Natalie have been posting plenty of made-for-The-‘Gram photoshoot photos to promote their new project, the first episode of the podcast— which was released on YouTube on October 31— has received pretty awful reviews online.
Listeners slammed Maci and Natalie’s attempt at a true crime podcast, with one person calling the episode “disappointing,” while another labeled the project “an utter f**king embarrassment.”
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The first episode— which details the case of Angel Bumpass, who was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in Chattanooga in 2009— currently only has 703 views on YouTube. The comments left on the podcast episode were not positive, with some slamming Maci and Natalie for “half-assing” the podcast.
“I don’t see how y’all played this back like this & thought it was good to post.. it seems like you just thumbed through a ‘looks easy’ section in a catalog of ‘jobs that get attention and money’ with nothing remotely linking you to the job…” one person wrote. “I don’t know if you just don’t have the personality to do something like this or if this is due to you just half-assing everything about it. I expected a lot better & was actually excited, as I love true crime & love the TM franchise too! But this is seriously an all-around mess.”
Another person expressed their outrage that the girls had mispronounced the victim’s name.
“At least learn how to pronounce the victim’s name. It may not be a big deal to some people, but I guarantee it’s felt by the family members & friends who continue to love this person,” the person wrote.
“This is an utter f**king embarrassment. I am cringing,” someone else commented.
“Man I was so excited for this but this is awful,” another person wrote.
In the video, Maci says that she and Natalie have been talking about and researching the Angel Bumpass case “for what seems like a year now.” The girls go on to provide a confusing account of the case that is often difficult to hear, due to the Are You Afraid Of The Dark?-esque spooky music constantly playing in the background. They rarely, if ever, look at the camera or engage the viewer.
A few days after the first episode was posted, the girls responded to the criticism on the podcast’s official Instagram page.
“Thank you for all of your constructive criticism on our first episode. We have noted the changes that need to be made and we embrace them.”
Currently The Expired podcast is only on YouTube; however comments made by Natalie on Instagram state that they are working on getting it on Apple and Spotify.
Maci is certainly not the first person from the ‘Teen Mom’ franchise to give podcasting a try. Former ‘Teen Mom 2’ star Kail Lowry currently hosts/co-hosts three separate podcasts, while her (third) baby daddy Chris Lopez has his own. Ashley Jones and Debra Danielsen each have a podcast, and Cheyenne Floyd is a co-host of Think Loud Crew. Jade Cline and Leah Messer briefly dabbled in the podcasting world also.
You can watch the first episode of The Expired podcast below!
RELATED STORY: Mackenzie Edwards Appears on Debra Danielsen’s Podcast: Talks About Husband Ryan, Leaving ‘Teen Mom OG’ & Sneaky Things MTV Did
(Photos: MTV; YouTube)
17 Responses
Reminds me of her epic appearance on Naked and Afraid. Maci needs to take her earnings and find a career.
I cannot even stand to listen or watch her on Teen Mom the next chapter anymore..shes become so monotone and always chewing the inside or outside of her mouth, just way too annoying now…shes an amazing mom but doing something like this with her monotone voice isn’t for her
Didn’t need to listen to have a feeling this was a bad idea. Sorry Maci :/
I watched this and still believe her grandmother had something to do with it. There was a phone call and it was between granny and victim over her wanting some smoke. Is what the other show stated while she was going to court. I hope that the young girl gets freed and gets to go back home to her 2 babies in Alabama.
Ain’t nothing ever good enough for you Maci haters ?
The real crime here is this podcast. ?
Accidental downvote! I agree with you!
Maci constantly touching her face alone was so distracting. Made me want to scream..Stop it. Lol
Just awful. Disorganized. Couldn’t even tell what they were talking about.
When you can’t even understand what exactly the crime was until 10 minutes…hang it up ladies.
That was horrible… I turned it off almost immediately. Also, I’m sorry, but would it kill Maci to actually put some effort into her appearance also? Like, you’re doing this podcast on cam, and you’re not putting effort into anything else, so? She looks like she just rolled out of the damn bed and pooped on the record button.
Long winded and, and these two are aberrant.
Please don’t do anymore of these podcasts.
You couldn’t pay me enough to watch something Maci is on. She is so fake.
She probably decided to take on this venture because she thought it would be easy. Clearly she didn’t put effort into researching just how much goes into something like this. Even if she was actually prepared and provided good content, she just doesn’t have the personality suited for an entertaining and engaging podcaster/YouTuber. She can’t just ride the coattails of Teen Mom’s (waning) success into whatever she wants, especially if she’s not going to work hard at it.
One thing we can always count on is, if it requires any actual work, Maci isn’t doing it.
If bare minimum had a mascot it would be Maci!!
The first 10 seconds is them laughing their asses off.
What part of that makes sense?
They arent engaged at all. Just talking into the void. Maci is touching her face the whole time. The music is distracting.
Her speech is halted like she cant carry a conversation.
Give it up Maci. Time to get a rill j.o.b.
This is half arsed.
Possibly they are trying to copy the chatty true crime women podcasts but have no decent conversation to be successful.
Might have to give serial another listen as a pallet cleanser after this.
I could have predicted this, Maci is exceedingly boring to listen to. I agree with the commenter who said they need to get the victims name right. It’s incredibly disrespectful to not give that small dignity to the victim and the victim’s family. I can’t imagine painfully watching 32 minutes of this slow paced catastrophe. I barely made it through the intro.
unfortunately true crime has just become a cash grab, no wonder they ended up half assing it