Vault: Listeners Sound Off on Her Forbidden Crush

Summary

The Bert Show — Vault: Listeners Sound Off on Her Forbidden Crush

Release Date: June 11, 2026
Featured Cast: Host Charlie, Derek, Emily, Jeff, Jill (listener), Kristen (caller), Mike (caller), others
Main Theme: Navigating the emotional turmoil and ethics when a woman falls for a married bar regular, with lively debate from the show’s hosts and callers.

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the complexities of forbidden attraction, sparked by a listener named Jill who finds herself with deepening feelings for a married customer at the bar where she works. The Bert Show team, alongside calls from listeners, unpacks the moral, practical, and emotional dilemmas of Jill’s predicament, balancing candid advice with the program’s signature humor and real talk.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Jill’s Confession and the Setup

• Jill’s Situation: Jill is a bartender who’s developed feelings for a married regular. Sometimes he comes with his wife, sometimes with friends, and she nearly acted on her feelings recently.
• Emotional Conflict: She doesn’t want to lose her job or her social circle at the bar but doubts the feelings are reciprocated.
• Dilemma: Should she tell him how she feels, ask him not to come to the bar anymore, or keep it to herself?

Notable Exchange:

• Jill: “I don’t think that he has feelings for me. Also, I’m telling him because I want to ask him not to come to the restaurant.” (02:59)

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2. Panel Reaction: Should Jill Come Clean?

• Mixed Opinions:
  • Some hosts suggest Jill should not confess, as nothing good can come from telling a married man about her feelings.
  • Others probe whether she subconsciously hopes he’ll reciprocate.
• Practical Concerns:
  • Jill's wish to keep both her job and her crush’s absence is seen as “selfish” by caller and host alike.

Quote — Jeff (on how he’d react if roles reversed):

• “I would certainly still go to that restaurant, but I would never go alone. And I would be very aware of interactions with that person.” (03:16)

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3. Listeners Call In: Strong Opinions from the Audience

• Most Callers: Don’t Tell Him!

  • Caller: “Jill, I think you’re a little selfish. You don’t want [him] to come to the bar, but you don’t want to give up your social setting. I think you need to take the hit.” (04:48)
  • Hosts Encourage: Jill to change her own habits rather than disrupt the regular’s.

• Moral Clarity from Kristen:

  • “This girl needs to keep her hands out of other people’s cookie jars. … He’s a married man. She needs to let him be because she’s not thinking about his [wife’s] feelings.” (06:20)
  • Echoed by Emily: “It's a selfish thing to do. It's just the wrong thing to do.” (06:45)

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4. Underlying Motivations and Self-Awareness

• Hosts Unpack Jill’s True Motivations:
  • The possibility that what Jill really wants is to hear reciprocation (“I love you, too”) rather than closure.
  • Derek: “What I thought you were going to say is that you wanted him to be like, I’m in love with you, too.” (05:53)
  • Emily: "I don't think you want this to end. ... This is what affairs are about. Decision after decision. All affairs can be avoided." (10:30)

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5. Alternatives and Advice

• Panel’s Unanimous Advice: Don’t tell him.

  • Focus on her work, minimize solo interactions, and start emotionally detaching.
  • Consider finding a new job if boundaries can’t be maintained.
  • Derek: “If you feel like there’s gonna be no other way... you need to look for another job and only work there as long as it takes for you to find another one.” (09:45)

• Caller Mike’s Empathy:

  • Relates his own story of forbidden attraction, offering hope that the feelings pass and that self-control is possible.
  • “...it was hard for me to break away from it. But you will be able to do it if you put your mind to it and put your mind to something else…maybe one day, find somebody else that’s not married.” (08:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Charlie (On ego):
  “I want to know because I have a tremendous ego.” (04:16)

• Emily (On hard truths):
  “Don’t destroy a marriage just cause you’re selfish.” (10:58)

• Jill (Wishing for validation):
  “I guess I wanted to say, yeah, it’s very noble for you to tell him and ask him not to come to the restaurant and that if I was him, I would be totally okay with that.” (07:49)

• Charlie (Lightening the mood):
  “Let’s play a little game here called The Bert Show gives me advice I want to hear.” (07:39)

• Playful banter about feelings:

  • Jeff: “I think I’m in love with you.” (11:01)
  • Derek: “Hey Jeff, I think I’m in love with you.” (11:03)
    (The room laughs, breaking some of the episode’s tension.)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:24 — Jill’s story introduction
• 03:16 — Panel imagines being in the husband’s shoes
• 04:48 — First listener call: Labeling Jill’s motives as “selfish”
• 06:20 — Kristen’s strong moral stance
• 09:45 — Mike's call: empathy and alternative paths
• 10:30 — Emily: “You’re on a dangerous path. This is how affairs start.”
• 11:01 — Comic relief: “I think I’m in love with you” exchange

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Tone & Atmosphere

The conversation balances real emotional stakes, ethical debate, and playful banter. The hosts don’t hold back on tough love, but buoy the discussion with quick wit and moments of laughter — staying true to The Bert Show’s trademark mix of candid reality and comedic chemistry.

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TL;DR

The Bert Show crew, with passionate input from listeners, roundly advise Jill against confessing her feelings to a married bar regular, instead urging her to place boundaries, get over the infatuation, or even seek new employment if needed. Across the segment, they challenge Jill’s motives, emphasize empathy for the man’s family, and intersperse real talk with humor, delivering a rich and relatable discussion on longing, boundaries, and doing the right thing — even when it's hard.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Lady Luck]

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[Host Charlie]

Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. This is the bird show. All right, so we have Jill here who works in a bar and she's got a customer that comes in three times a week, sometimes with his wife, other times with his dudes. So he's a regular. And Jill here now has has big time feelings for this guy. She loves him now.

[Derek]

Yeah. She says she thinks she's in love with him and she's got feelings for him and she almost leaned in and kissed him the other night and she just doesn't know what to do with all these feelings or what to say to him.

[Host Charlie]

She doesn't want to quit her job. A it's her kind of. It's her Social place. Also, all of her friends hang out there, so she doesn't want to quit, that she doesn't want to lose the money. She's also a little bit nervous to tell him that she's having all these feelings for fear he's just going to take off. So what does she do at this point? Am I missing anything there?

[Emily]

No, but I just think it's so funny that, you know, she's afraid to tell him because she's afraid to run him off, even though that's really the reason why she should be telling him. So.

[Mike]

Right.

[Emily]

I don't trust her.

[Derek]

I want to know what you guys would do.

[Host Charlie]

She said she did have a brief moment with him a couple of weeks ago where they were one on one and, you know, these emotions overcame her and she almost leaned in for a kiss, but she didn't. But the situation was still there. She said that she didn't really get the sense that he was all that into it. Didn't she say that she didn't get

[Jeff]

the sense that he wasn't all that into it? I think she got the sense that he wasn't into it at all.

[Derek]

What? I think you just made that up.

[Host Charlie]

Did you tell us that he wasn't into the kiss party?

[Jill]

No, I don't think that he has feelings for me. And also I'm telling him because I want to ask him not to come to the restaurant.

[Host Charlie]

Right. She wants to say, look, don't come to my restaurant because I love you. So, Jeff, Jen wants to know, what would you do in this situation? Do you want to know if she's digging on him?

[Jeff]

Honestly? Yeah, I think. I mean, it would definitely change my habits. Like, I would certainly still go to that restaurant, but I would never go alone. And I would be very aware of interactions with that person.

[Emily]

Would you tell Jessica?

[Jeff]

I think so. And I think I would say. And I would think I would tell Jessica, like, hey, you know, just so you know, I'm not like, if there was a place that I always hung out and then all of a sudden I'm not hanging out, or if I. Or if she said, you know, hey, why don't you just go sit at the bar and wait for so and so to arrive early, whatever it is, you know, go early or something, I'll drop you off. You know, if I'm going out to meet somebody, Jessica might drop me off.

[Host Charlie]

I think you also need to tell. Let Jessica know that there are other women that are so hot that are into you, that if she gets a little out of line. You have options.

[Jeff]

Yeah, we have that list.

[Emily]

I'm sure that works real well.

[Host Charlie]

I would not want to know. I couldn't care less. Doesn't do me any good to have that information.

[Derek]

Zero.

[Host Charlie]

So why. Why know it at all?

[Jeff]

I want to know because I have a tremendous ego.

[Host Charlie]

Save that.

[Jeff]

I really don't think any of you can contemplate how large it is.

[Host Charlie]

No, we've seen it. We see it.

[Jeff]

You've seen the tip of it. You know, the majority of Titanic.

[Derek]

What are you talking about? Maybe save that, too.

[Jeff]

Bert has seen the tip of it.

[Announcer]

Nobody else has.

[Host Charlie]

Hey, Charlie. Good Morning. You're on Q100.

[Caller]

Hey, guys. What's going on?

[Host Charlie]

You tell us, man. What does Jill do here? Does she just shut up and not say anything to this dude or she come clean?

[Caller]

Well, you know, I'm with Hubert. I would have heard. I wouldn't want to know. But listen, Jill, I think you're a little selfish. You want to tell. You don't you want to tell this guy so that he doesn't come to your bar? But that's that guy's social setting. But you don't want him to come to the bar because you don't want to give up your social setting. So I think you're a little selfish in the situation here. I think I agree with the team here that you're the one who needs to take the hit and, you know, stop. Stop doing the behavior that is making you be attracted to him.

[Host Charlie]

Yeah, you've got options. But you sound like there's nothing I can do about this.

[Emily]

I don't trust.

[Derek]

I don't.

[Emily]

I don't trust her because I don't think that she wants to tell him. For him to not come to the bar. That would be the honorable thing to do. To try to. No, the honorable thing to do, Jill, would just change your habits to not be around him so much and to alleviate the temptation and not increase the chemistry between you two.

[Jill]

But I can't not work, you know, how are you guys going to tell me not to work?

[Host Charlie]

But he is un available, so why give him this information?

[Emily]

Like, yeah, don't concentrate on it. And yeah, you work. He's not your only client. You work. You, you know, you work the entire, you know, restaurant.

[Derek]

So I asked you that question before about how you envision the conversation going in your mind, because I thought I knew what you were going to say. And what I thought you were going to say is that you wanted him to be like, I'm in Love with you, too.

[Emily]

I'm tempted by you, too. It's going to be hard, but we can do things.

[Host Charlie]

Yeah, that I'm assuming. Dude doesn't have kids or he wouldn't be in a bar three times a week, right?

[Jill]

No.

[Host Charlie]

Okay. Hey, Lisa. Good morning. You're on Q100.

[Kristen]

Good morning.

[Host Charlie]

Good morning. Oh, that's the I'm getting ready to tee off voice.

[Kristen]

Oh, yeah, go ahead. This girl needs to keep her hands out of other people's cookie jars. I mean, this is crazy. He's a married man. She needs to let him be because she's not thinking about his life's feelings. If it was me, and I knew who she was, trust me, I would not like it. I would probably come and rip her freaking hair out.

[Jeff]

But why? Why would you do that?

[Kristen]

Well, if someone told my husband they were in love with them, then they're putting their self in a position they don't need to be in.

[Emily]

It's just. It's a selfish thing to do. It's just the wrong thing to do.

[Kristen]

Hello?

[Host Charlie]

Hey, Karen. Good morning.

[Kristen]

Hey, this is Kristen.

[Host Charlie]

Yeah, it is.

[Jeff]

Hey.

[Host Charlie]

Hey, Kristen.

[Jeff]

Karen.

[Jill]

How's it going?

[Host Charlie]

It's good. Double K. How are you?

[Kristen]

I'm good.

[Host Charlie]

What's up?

[Kristen]

I just wanted to call and say that I think if he's a married man, that she should leave him alone.

[Host Charlie]

Yeah, I mean, there's nothing. You really don't have a lot to gain. You don't have anything to gain here. You said that you're not feeling the chemistry on his side. He's a married guy, so telling him doesn't do anything any good at all unless you have the small piece in you, like Jen is saying that hopes he goes. I love you, too. I've still done dying, you said. Yeah. I mean, he's still not gonna leave his wife for you.

[Emily]

There's no reason for you to tell him, and you just need to get over it.

[Jill]

I don't know. How do you.

[Host Charlie]

How do you. You know, what do you want? What do you want us to say?

[Mike]

Let's.

[Host Charlie]

Let's play a little game here called the Birch Show. Gives me advice that I want to hear. So you called up. What do you. What's the advice you want us to hear that you want to hear this morning?

[Jill]

I don't know. I guess I wanted to say. Yeah, it's very noble for you to tell him and ask him not to come to the restaurant and that if I was him, I would be totally okay with that.

[Host Charlie]

All right. So you Want us to use the word noble that in this case. Wendy, why don't you go ahead and give her that advice?

[Podcast Host]

I think it would be. No, no, I can't say it. I really just tried.

[Derek]

No, it's a bad idea. And you shouldn't be in the bar

[Podcast Host]

with social settings anyway with one on one conversations.

[Derek]

Bring your friends in the bar, talk to other people.

[Jeff]

But she works there. Like, you can't be one on one if you're getting somebody a drink. You can't not be one on one.

[Host Charlie]

Hold on here. Mike wants to be on the voice disguiser with you. Go ahead, Mike. You're on Q100. You're on the voice disguiser.

[Mike]

Good morning. I was actually in a little situation, the same thing she's in, similar to it, but I was in love with my wife's cousin. And, like, probably 15 years. I was like, you know, I finally had. Told her and everything and.

[Host Charlie]

You told who?

[Mike]

I told my. I told my wife's cousin.

[Host Charlie]

Okay, okay.

[Mike]

And, you know, she was like, why? And, you know, because, you know, she was a nice person and everything. And I, you know, and I was up to the point, if I heard her voice, you know, I would feel good when I see her, you know, I had a tingling in my body. Even if she texted me, if I text her, she text me back. It seemed like I heard her talking to me while I'm talking, you know, texting her and everything. And I felt happy. I felt real good around it. And then I finally realized I can't do that, you know, and, you know, break off of it. But it was hard for me to break. Break away from it. But you will be able to do it if you put your mind to it and put your mind to something else. You know, I know you working into it. You know, you work in a restaurant and everything like that, but, you know, wait on other customers, you know, and forget about the guy and maybe, you know, one day, you know, find somebody else that's not married and, you know, and that person might, you know, tingle you the same way this guy tingle you.

[Derek]

I think that the thing you need to do is look for another job. Like, to be honest, if it's this, like, if it's this much of a compulsion and it's this much, you say you can't. Like, Melissa's suggestions didn't work for you because you're like, well, you're telling me not to work. I have to work. And I understand that. Part of being a bartender and being a good one is Talking to your clients, relating to them, have great conversations with them because then they leave you better tips and that kind of thing. So if you feel like there's gonna be no other way to break away from this guy and no way to ask him to leave the bar, then I think you need to look for another job and only work there as long as it takes for you to find another one and start over again. A new social circle, a new everything else.

[Host Charlie]

There's not one person calling and saying, go ahead and tell him, yeah, don't, don't tell him.

[Derek]

I mean, I start looking for another.

[Emily]

I don't think you want this to end. I don't think you want your feelings for him to end. I don't think you want this flirtation to end. And I'm just saying you're on a dangerous path. Because this is what affairs are about. It is a process and a decision. And after decision after decision. That's why it's so hurtful. All affairs can be avoided. All of them. Because it takes this long for them to happen.

[Host Charlie]

Let it go, Jill.

[Jill]

All right, well, thanks for listening, guys.

[Host Charlie]

Okay. Be sure not to take our advice and continue on the path you're on.

[Emily]

The don't destroy a marriage just cause you're selfish.

[Jeff]

Hey, Jill.

[Jill]

Yeah?

[Jeff]

I think I'm in love with you.

[Derek]

Hey, Jeff. I think I'm in love with you.

[Host Charlie]

That was really noble. You guess

[Announcer]

this is the bird show.

[Podcast Host]

Hey, everybody.

[Lady Luck]

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