Leon Neyfakh is a journalist and podcaster best known as the co-creator and host of Slow Burn, Fiasco, and Backfired. He has been a reporter for Slate, The Boston Globe, and The New York Observer and is the author of the book The Next Next Level. Listen to his newest podcasts here.

Season 3: OnlyFantasy

In this provocative investigation into OnlyFans— the adult platform where subscribers around the world spent more than $7 billion in 2024— journalist Leon Neyfakh teams up with comedian and OnlyFans creator Gracie Canaan for a one-of-a-kind exploration into the current state of human connection.

Throughout, they discover that the site originally built for spicy adult content has quietly and surprisingly become something more complicated— an emotional marketplace where desire, performance, care, fantasy, and vulnerability seemingly blur together.

As Neyfakh and Canaan navigate timely questions about autonomy, performance, and profit, a question emerges: is connection mediated by a screen still authentic? To find the answer, they meet creators building lucrative businesses, subscribers who believe they’ve found something real, professional “chatters” who are paid to simulate affection, and pioneers who have helped engineer intimacy at scale.

Captivating and tender, <i>OnlyFantasy</i> is ultimately about the cost of loneliness, the seductive power of desire, and how the rules of human intimacy are being rewritten online.

Is what’s happening on OnlyFans real? Or is it only a fantasy?

Season 2: Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer

Jerry Springer wasn’t supposed to become the host of The Jerry Springer Show. Before the chairs started flying and the fights became a daytime TV staple, the man then known as Gerald Springer was an idealistic rising star in Democratic politics, with ambitions to one day be elected governor of Ohio.

From Leon Neyfakh and Prologue Projects — the team behind Slow Burn, Fiasco, Backfired, and Think Twice: Michael Jackson — comes Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer.

You may think you know Springer, the notorious ringmaster of what TV Guide once called “the worst show in television history.” But long before Springer’s name became synonymous with outrageous guests, taboo confessions, and vicious on-stage brawls, he was the mayor of Cincinnati — a serious and popular politician who many believed was the future of the Democratic Party. So, what happened?

This series traces Springer’s unlikely transformation — from the son of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany, to a respected public servant, to the face of a show many called a symptom of cultural decline. Through intimate interviews with the people who kne...