Podcast Summary: "Inside Intervention: Candy Finnigan on Alcoholism, Family, and Recovery"
Podcast: We're Out of Time
Host: Richard Taite
Guest: Candy Finnigan
Date: December 16, 2025
Episode Overview
In this deeply personal and candid episode, host Richard Taite sits down with Candy Finnigan, pioneering interventionist and familiar face from the show "Intervention," for an open exploration of addiction, recovery, and the realities of intervention work. Both share intimate stories from their own lives and careers, offering raw insights into the challenges and triumphs within the field of addiction and family healing. The episode is underscored by a theme of authenticity—being true to oneself and showing up honestly for suffering individuals.
Main Discussion Points & Insights
1. Candy Finnigan’s Journey into Recovery and Intervention Work
- Early Days & Personal Experience
- Candy describes herself as a “good Irish alcoholic” (01:37), admitting to hiding wine in creative places and being confronted by her mother-in-law, a social worker.
- Her recovery: “I was still high functioning... She [mother-in-law] came to visit and busted me. I hid my wine in the back of the toilet tank. It was always cool, no one could see it.” (02:34)
- The threat of her kids being taken prompted her to seek sobriety: “She was going to take my kids away. And I'm adopted. Your mother in law taking my kids away.” (02:51)
- Candy highlights the importance of getting clean early for her children: “So, you got there in the nick of time.” (04:31)
2. Family Impact and Living Amends
- Candy emphasizes the reward of seeing her children thrive: “My kids are spectacular. My daughter is a nurse... My son is another musician.” (03:56)
- Discusses her fear of relapse as a motivating factor: “I was so frightened to ever relapse because I’m the egomaniac and the, you know, wonder woman. And I knew I would never go back.” (04:31)
- “I'm not getting another one of those poker chips. Are you out of your mind?” (04:47)
3. Memorable Interventions
- A Champion’s Story (05:08–14:54)
- Candy recounts a profound intervention with a former lightweight boxing champion living in a Circle K in New Canaan, Connecticut.
- Unconventional beginnings: the mailman, not family, requested the intervention (05:46).
- Humanity and dignity: “The show never meant to embarrass anybody... We kind of let him get acclimated in a hotel and bought him some clothes...” (06:35)
- Emotional reunions and family healing, including meeting twin sons who hadn't seen him since infancy: “His sons didn’t know his name. They called him Champ.” (07:55)
- Discovery of a third son, emotional reconnection with family: “He introduced himself and shook hands...and she [his sister] jumped up, bawling, and said, ‘I’m your sister, Evelyn.’” (09:45)
- Treatment journey: Champ spent 8.5 months at a treatment center for professional athletes, was able to attend his son’s wedding, and began reparative relationships: “He had this cry, this catawaling cry that was so guttural that it was like a primal scream of what he, for an instant, even in his cognitive delay, realized what he'd done to his family.” (10:24)
- Champ’s final years: He lived about six years post-intervention, dry and trying to make it up to his family: “He kind of didn't remember ever drinking good. But he knew he'd been a bad person and a bad dad, and he tried to make it up to his kids.” (13:31)
4. Richard’s Story of Intervention and “Failure”
- A Personal Failure Turned Inspiration (15:19–20:10)
- Richard recounts one of two failed interventions—the story of a woman at Tivoli Cove who refused help: “This was the closest thing I've ever seen to a wet brain ever, without being a wet brain. She was gone. And after 25 minutes, I just started hysterically crying.” (18:32)
- The emotional toll of feeling responsibility: “I told her, I said, sweetheart, I am sorry. I have run out of time, and you are going to die for sure. And I am never wrong about this stuff.” (18:35)
- Years later, he learns she survived, became a renowned children’s author, and wrote messages to his children in her books: “The dead woman became a world renowned children’s author. And every year she writes a note inside the flap to tell your children who her father is.” (20:01)
5. Reflections on the Calling and Message of Intervention
- Candy and Richard reflect on their roles as messengers, not saviors:
- “Our life work is helping people who suffer get better. We can't make them better, we can offer them to get better. And our reward is being authentic human beings.” (00:00 and echoed again at 20:19)
- “Whether you like us or not doesn't matter. We have learned how to be true to ourselves.” (00:00)
- The unpredictability and power of surrender: “80, 90, 100% of them hear it in that split second of surrender if they believe it.” (20:58)
6. Authenticity and Human Connection
- Candy shares why she avoids websites and is old-school about contact:
- “I don't have a website because I think they lie... There's pictures of me 15 years ago. Mean, I'm not that, I'm old, so you can go to Candy Finnegan at AOL and get a hold of me.” (21:20)
- Instagram: “I have Instagram is Irish Stew.” (22:01)
Notable Quotes
-
On their professional purpose:
"We are the messenger and we have a message. Our life work is helping people who suffer get better. We can't make them better, we can offer them to get better. And our reward is being authentic human beings."
— Candy Finnigan (00:00, 20:19) -
On family and recovery:
“So you got there in the nick of time.”
— Richard Taite (04:31)
“I would have had to kill him [if my kids ended up like me].”
— Candy Finnigan (04:07) -
On memorable intervention moments:
“His sons didn’t know his name. They called him Champ.”
— Candy Finnigan (07:55)
“He had this cry, this catawaling cry that was so guttural that it was like a primal scream of what he, for an instant...realized what he’d done to his family...”
— Candy Finnigan (10:24) -
On the difficulty of letting go:
“I have run out of time, and you are going to die for sure. And I am never wrong about this stuff.”
— Richard Taite (18:32)
“The dead woman became a world renowned children's author.”
— Patty (Richard’s massage therapist, 20:01) -
On authenticity:
“I don’t have a website because I think they lie...you can go to Candy Finnegan at AOL and get a hold of me.”
— Candy Finnigan (21:20)
Key Moments (with Timestamps)
- Candy’s entry into intervention and recovery: 01:23–04:47
- The “Champ” intervention story: 05:08–14:54
- Richard’s “failure” and its twist: 15:19–20:10
- Reflections on being a helper and messenger: 20:19–21:10
- Candy’s approach to staying reachable and authentic: 21:20–22:07
Tone and Final Thoughts
This episode is deeply honest, warm, and, at times, heavy with emotion. Candy and Richard speak with a blend of humility, humor, and heartache, revealing their passion for helping others and mourning the cases that didn’t go as hoped. The show closes with both a call to action and a reminder—every addict's life can matter, and the message sometimes lands when you least expect it. The emphasis is always on connection, authenticity, and the lifelong process of recovery for both addicts and their families.