S2 Episode 1: Speed Dial

 On the last season of Hang Up, shit got wild.

Maxine: mind if I take a bong rip?

Charlie: they like to slap that ass like a drum, for sureskies

And realistic.

Sabo: I think everyone has done exactly what they wanted to 

Maxine: I have not smoked enough weed for my liking. I would like to just know what you picked.

And now, we’re about to do it all over again. This time with a brand new Star and cast of Callers. And things are about to get spicy.

Caller: We will basically say that this podcast is not gonna be on PBS…

Caller: A strip show outside on the farm.

Caller: Slutty twink femmeboy

Star: And it was hot. Oh my god it was hot.

Friend: That is fucking rad.

They’re dialing in from New Mexico. It’s Season Two baby!

Welcome to Hang Up, a reality dating show with no rings attached. I’m your host, Zakiya Gibbons. Here’s how the show works. There’s one Star, the person everyone is pursuing

Star: I haven't been on a single date in 18 months.

And six Callers who must break through the static and stand out from the crowd

Callers: Hello. 

Every week, our Star goes on a themed date with each Caller. All of these dates happen exclusively over the phone.

Caller: Not being able to see, smell, touch the person. It's just mind boggling.

The Star and their Callers never see each other and at first, can’t describe how they look. And they all change their names so they can’t find each other outside of the show. 

Caller: I'm a little bit aflutter. 

The Callers only have one date per week to stand out from the crowd and woo the Star. But if they can’t establish a clear connection, they risk getting the hang up. Eliminating them from the show.

The Star hangs up on a Caller each week until there’s one final Caller remaining. That’s when the tables are turned: the winning Caller gets to choose their prize: Will they ride off into the sunset with the star? And take an all-expenses-paid vacation, sponsored by Both & Apparel? Or will they snub the Star and take a cash prize instead? Of one thousand dollars.

Will this unconventional approach to love help them escape their dating hang ups?

Caller: Okay, which one makes me seem like a better person?

Caller: I plead the fifth.

Caller: No I won’t hurt you, I promise.

Caller: What if I fuck this up?

Trigger Warning: Just a heads up that this next section includes a mention of child sexual abuse and domestic violence, please take care while listening.

Next up, we’ll meet our Star. I’ll get to know them just like they’ll get to know their Callers— voice only, no video— our producer Caitlin is on the line with us— I’m in the studio in Brooklyn, and our Star is in the studio in Albuquerque.

Zakiya Ahh Hello! 

Star: Hello. I am so excited to be speaking with you. 

Zakiya I feel like I have first date jitters. Okay. Hello, and welcome to Hang Up. 

Star: Thank you. Thank you. I am I am just beyond excited. My hands are sweaty. Palms sweaty, mom spaghetti. Yeah I'm ready to go.

Zakiya You know, we have to first start off with a cornerstone of Hang Up.

Star: Yes. I know what this is. 

Zakiya I was going to say, you know where I'm going with this? You and each of your callers are all going to be using a different name so that it's less likely that you'll find each other. So what name are you using? 

Star: So I had it down to two, but I think I settled on the one. I think I'm going to go by Timo. 

Zakiya Timo. Oh, I love that. What's the story behind that name? Why did you choose that one? 

Timo So I'm a really big science fiction nerd, and I just finished this Space Opera by Adrian Tchaikovsky and one of the main characters who’s sort of this anti-heroine she is, she’s just like so powerful, she's a badass. And she is called the Unspeakable Ollian Timo. 

Zakiya Wow. That's. That's her name. The unspeakable Ollian Timo?

Timo Yes. Yes. So she gets the title unspeakable through the process of, like, various heroic acts.

Zakiya Timo. Okay. You are officially Timo. What was, I'm just out of curiosity. What was the other name you were considering?

Timo Sir. I just wanted everybody call me sir. 

Zakiya Oh, wait. I like you so much. Well, maybe you'll get to a point with the Callers that one of them is calling you Sir, who knows?

Timo Yeah. Dreamy. 

Zakiya Yeah. Very sexy. Um, what's your sign? 

Timo Do you want my big three?

Zakiya Yes please

Timo So I'm a Libra. And then a Sagittarius rising. And here's the one, guys. Here's the one Scorpio Moon. 

Zakiya Okay, you have a you have a good big three. You're very dynamic. Everyone loves a Libra. Yeah. Libras are flirty.

Timo A lot to love about a Libra. We're the charmers, you know. 

Zakiya Yes, yes, yes. Y'all are very charming. So how I want to. Yeah. Get more. Get to know you more. Like broad strokes. Like, how do you typically fill your time? 

Timo I just started a new job. I'm a curator, and I work in cultural heritage and interactive design. I have been pursuing that career for about 10, 15 years now. And I’m a passionate activist and in particular I’m a Land Back advocate and an antiracist. So that’s my serious side

Zakiya Ooh I like.

Timo And I have worked really hard to have a stable and happy home life. And like, I'm a single mom, so I do spend a lot of my time in that way. And I love to cook. So I like to cook my for my friends. I love to have them over and make elaborate meals or even girl dinners or whatever it is. 

Zakiya Oh, that's amazing. Yes, chef. Okay. 

Timo Yes, sir. 

Zakiya And you said you you're a single parent. Can I ask how old they are? How many kids do you have? 

Timo Sure, I have two kids and my oldest is 17 and my youngest is nine. 

Zakiya Yeah. Oh, wow. Those are amazing ages.

Timo Kind of a big gap there. 

Zakiya I was going to say. Yeah, I. I mean, this is such like a big question, but, like, what's it like being a parent? 

Timo I feel like it's the most important role of my life. And they are incredible, incredible humans. And we're really close, they’re great, playful, and, yeah, just emotionally intelligent kids. 

Zakiya I mean, it sounds like they got it from you. I want to learn more about your background and your childhood. 

Timo Yeah, I will. I will preface it. And I'm also, you know, in my activism also encompasses, you know, survivors of domestic violence, childhood sexual assault and other types of of assault. So. That's my background. It's pretty heavy, pretty traumatic. It's another one of the reasons why I think I've shied away from dating. Um, And both my parents came from very, very difficult backgrounds. They're both the first to go to college in their families, in their village or town in my dad's case. He came here on a USAID grant and he barely spoke English. And, you know, he made a life here and he, Yeah. And he met my mom and I'm first generation born in the U.S. from my dad's side and from I'm just from the Swana diaspora. So North Africa. My mom's family is, you know, settlers, settlers from, you know, the Mayflower, yeah, so they were kind of an odd match back in the seventies or whatever when they met. It was just a really abusive relationship and it went on for a really long time. It was one of those like, we have to stay together for the kids, but it's, you know, making everybody's life hell and we moved around a lot, my parents ended up taking jobs that moved us around internationally so we moved every two to three years. So there was also a disjointedness, which was amazing in a lot of ways. I have experiences that I just wouldn't trade. But with that came the legacy of of abuse on it in each of their own families and in their own lives was just compounded. You know, I'm I'm here trying to break or at least start to heal generational curses. It's heavy stuff. So I'm actually no contact with all of my family except for a few cousins on either side. 

Zakiya Okay. 

Timo Yeah. And it's been the most empowering and incredibly affirming thing for me to do. And it's, you know, it's also part of that commitment of giving my children a different life. 

Zakiya So you made the choice to put space between. 

Timo Yeah. 

Zakiya You and your fam— I honestly really commend that, especially that goes against a lot of mainstream ideals of quote unquote family and the shoulds and should not, which oftentimes perpetuates a lot of harm and abuse. And so to override that and make your own choice on how you want to live your life in the pursuit of healing, that is the bravest thing.

Timo Thank you. And that's been re parenting myself as well. And the kid that you know that I that that didn't get that opportunity. Who lives within me. 

Zakiya Yeah. And you know and speaking of, you know. Re parenting oneself, one's inner child. I'm curious to know what you were like as a kid. 

Timo I was a goofy, introverted child in a lot of ways. But the put on an impromptu play or tell a silly joke or climb a tree, like doing those kinds of antics are still very much a part of me as well. 

Zakiya I mean, I feel like you have to have those qualities to sign up to be on a reality dating show, you know what I mean? You know, And so what…

Timo Can't believe it. 

Zakiya I'm so curious. What made you do this? Can you tell me the entire story from the beginning? 

Timo Oh, my God. Okay. It really comes down to my daughter. 

Zakiya Oh, really? The eldest? 

Timo Yes. She is obsessed with reality dating shows And here's the thing. Part of what she she loves is that it makes me so uncomfortable and upset, like because I yell at the TV. And so she just loves to, like, work me up. And then I was out with my friend at this gay bar here in town. And so he and I were there for I'm not like a I don't watch Drag Race that much, but like once in a while to catch an episode, whatever. They were doing the finale for that season. At the at the bar. And then Caitlin walks up and is like announcing that she's casting for this show. And I was like, You've got to be kidding me. And so my friend and I both decided we were going to apply, although I don't think he actually did in the end. But I did. And I kept texting him and I was like, What is this? Do you think this is legit? And he's just like, Do It, do it, do it. And so I did. And then when I told my daughter that I got it, and not only that I got it, that I'm that I'm like the star. Oh, my God. The look on her face. I will never forget. She's beside herself. She's like, really, really, excited for this. 

Zakiya Wait I want to go back to that moment where OK so Caitlin is on the mic making this announcement. What was going through your head? Like, how does it go from you're just minding your own business to being like, I am signing up for this reality dating show? 

Timo Well, actually, to quote a song that I will play on repeat, “Give me one margarita and I’ll open my legs.”

Zakiya I love that song. Give me one margarita, I'll open my legs. Give me two margaritas. I'm going to sign up for hang up. I love that. Okay. 

Timo Yeah. 

Zakiya You're in Albuquerque, New Mexico, right now. And all of our callers are New Mexico as well. What's the dating scene like in New Mexico? 

Timo You are asking the wrong person. I don't know. I haven't, so embarrassing. I haven't really dated a lot because partly I am recently divorced. I haven't been on a single date in 18 months. 

Zakiya So what are you looking for now in your romantic relationships? 

Timo I'm an expansive person. I have my own, you know, independent arts practice I'm ADHD. I do a lot of things. So somebody has to be able to hold their own, you know? That we're able to both be expansive and not smother the other person. 

Zakiya That is the dream. 

Timo That is the dream. And like really hot sex. That too. You know, really, really hot public sex. 

Zakiya Ooh OK Timo 

Timo What? I don't know if I should even put that in there.

Zakiya I love that. No like genuinely. I love that you named that because I love that you're naming what's important for you.

Timo Yeah. Because I finally feel like I have the experience, that I understand myself well enough that this is when being daring with my emotions is has the best potential of actually paying off. 

Zakiya Speaking of being daring. Mm hmm. Are you dying to know who the callers are? 

Timo I am dying to know. I didn't even know if I was going to find out today. Oh, please tell me. 

Zakiya We have someone who's from the East Coast and now lives in Albuquerque because it was the cheapest one way ticket that they could find. 

Timo Oh.

Zakiya We have a team captain in dog sports. 

Timo Oh, my God. That's so cute. 

Zakiya I know. I don't quite know what that means, but I love it. 

Timo It's like with the hula hoops. And the like. 

Zakiya Oh, my God. Like Westminster shit. Like that. Okay. Hula hoops and dogs. Okay. Wow. Okay. We have someone who's a drag king. 

Timo Yes. Are you serious, though? Oh, my God. Yes. Be still my heart. I would be very thrilled to get to know somebody who has taken on that very sexy art form.

Zakiya And then we have a rock hounder. 

Timo Ooh. 

Zakiya Do you know what that is?

Timo Somebody who looks for rocks and then tumbles them, maybe?

Zakiya That's a good guess. I literally have no guess. I also don't know what it is. And so Caitlin is letting me know that a rock founder is someone who searches for gems out in nature. 

Timo Yes. Oh, my God. This is hitting all my nerdy. Oh, I love it. I used to collect rocks and semi-precious stones as a kid. 

Zakiya Wait a rock hounder. Okay, let me not get excited for your Callers. I was like, I would love this rockhounder. Okay, But we have someone who is a self-described mama's boy who is the primary caretaker for their grandma. 

Timo Oh, that's sweet. The mama's boy thing put me off a little bit, but the grandma caretaking is very kind. I like that. 

Zakiya Okay, we have one last Caller. This caller is both a farmer and a stripper. 

Timo Oh, my God. Solidarity across sex work and food production. That is hot, that has my Commie heart singing. Yes. 

Zakiya That is like, the dopest combo ever. 

Timo This is good. 

Zakiya OK, so now you know a little bit about all the Callers. Are you ready to meet the Callers? 

Timo Yes, I am ready to meet these callers. I'm ready to meet these rock hounds and ready to meet these farmers. And I’m ready to meet their dogs.

Coming up, Timo goes on six first dates… will the Callers get a clear signal?

Muriah: Dang check you out.

Or will there be bad reception?

Billy: Wanna date? Want to try a date?

Stay on the line to find out! 

Robot voice: Welcome to the Hang Up Hotline. Our Star Timo and all Callers are already on the line. To enter, please say the password.

Zakiya: Yes Chef.

Robot voice: You may enter.

Zakiya Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Hang Up hotline. 

Callers Hi, Hello, Hey.

Zakiya We have all six of our callers on the hotline. Are you all ready to meet our Star? 

Caller Yes, definitely. 

Zakiya Well, here's Timo. 

Timo Hi. I'm 40 years old. I'm trans non-binary and a single parent, and I moved to Albuquerque eight years ago, and I work as a curator at a museum, and I'm really excited to meet everybody.

Callers Awesome. Nice to meet you. Hi. 

Zakiya Remember there is no caller ID here. Timo is not their real name. Everyone has chosen a different name to use during the show so that y'all don't internet stalk each other because over the next six weeks you'll get to know each other exclusively through phone calls. So let's hear a little bit from each of our callers. Our first caller, Ryan is 37 years old. 

Ryan Hi, I'm Ryan. I love roller skating, draglesque and karaoke. 

Zakiya Our next caller, Muriah, is 41 years old. 

Muriah Hi, I'm Muriah. I love hiking. I love camping. I love roller skating and everything that has to do with horror. 

Zakiya And then we have Cedar, who is 37 years old. 

Cedar Actually 36. But I'll take 35. Hey what’s up Timo? I am a big foodie. I'd love to cook. I also like to create art. I'm a very artistic person and it's going to be fun. 

Zakiya And then we have Salix, who is 31 years old. 

Salix Hi. I’m Salix. I love dogs, Dungeons and Dragons and plants.

Zakiya Our caller number five, Billy, is 41 years old. 

Billy Hey, I’m Billy, I love floating not boating, dance parties, and hope for some movement together with you, perhaps. 

Zakiya And finally, Ness, who is 36 years old. 

Ness Hello, my name is Ness. I love lots of different things depending on the day. Today I'm particularly into laughing, just having a good time, and my dog.

Zakiya So while I love being here with all of y'all, today will be our last time all together. And that's because after your first dates today, Timo will choose one Caller to hang up on and eliminate from the show. 

Cedar Goodbye to y’all, bye. I’ve got this in the bag, so you might as well just hang up now. 

Caller: The confidence is amazing. 

Zakiya If you make it through to the end and you're the final winning caller, the power will be in your hands to make the final choice of either taking an all expenses paid vacation with Timo or walking away from them and taking a cash prize instead of $1,000.

Our first date’s theme is speed dial. When it comes to dating, the first impression is really important, and here, if you make a bad one, you might even get the hang up. You'll only have 7 minutes for this first date, so enjoy your 7 minutes in heaven. 

Let’s dial in and hear a bit from each of Timo’s dates. First up is… Ness.

Timo Well, we don't have super long, so since this is speed dial. I guess I'll just start firing some questions at you.

Ness I’m ready

Timo What was the last book you read or a series you watched that you were really excited about? 

Ness The last thing I did watch, I looked I wanted to watch Ren and Stimpy, the cartoon. 

Timo Oh, Ren and Stimpy. Yeah, yeah. I used to watch that as a kid.

Ness So yeah, it just came— I was talking with a friend of mine and we were talking about like cartoons that we used to like, you know, and I just remembered Ren and Stimpy and I really was interested in watching the entire series from beginning to end. And so I did start that. But prior to this, I think the last series I watched was Murder she wrote. 

Timo Oh my god like Angela Lansbury. That is so cute. Yeah, the contrast between those two things is like, so wild. 

Ness I'm in the stage of my life where I'm like revisiting things that mattered, you know, when I was when I was younger. And so I'm just kind of trying to figure out why those things stuck with me. 

Timo I'm going to give you this weird one. Would you rather look ten years older from the neck up or from the neck down? 

Ness Oof! Oh. From the neck up. 

Timo Neck up. All right. Okay. What hairstyle did you have as a freshman? Your freshman year of high school? 

Ness I used to wear my hair in cornrows when I was in high school. 

Timo Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cute. Yeah. I feel like it's so telling, though. Like, especially freshman year when you're first going into high school. Like, I don't know. It's just such a funny time. Yeah. 

Ness Yeah. I'm actually glad I made that choice. In retrospect, it could've gone either way. 

Timo You made a smart, you know, stylish. Yeah, like, fairly no miss kind of choice. I'll do this lightning round of questions. Okay. Sweet or salty? 

Ness Sweet. 

Timo Red, green or Christmas?

Ness Christmas. 

Timo Summer or winter?

Ness. I plead the fifth. Winter. Winter. 

Timo Lake or ocean? 

Ness Ocean. 

Timo Okay. All right. So I'm building my little profile. I'm going to make a spreadsheet. 

Ness Perfect. I love that. 

In the words of Ren and Stimpy: 'happy happy joy joy', for Timo's first speed dial date! Let’s hear how things go with our next Caller, Billy.

Billy Hi Timo

Timo Hi. How do you usually ask people out? Like, give me a line. Like, how do you. How do you do it? Asking for a friend, I need to know. 

Billy Yeah. Oh, I do think I would kind of be like, “Oh, you want to date? Want to try a date?” Right. I think I'd probably be excessively direct, that's kind of my jam. 

Timo Oh my god "Hey wanna date?". 

Billy Yeah, right. It's like the activity. We can kind of unpack that together or however works. 

Timo This is really. I love the directness. And also, like, it's very, you know, it's. It's very genuine. I like that because, like, I fumble over that all the time. And I think “hey wanna date?” is really great, I think we overthink it so much, right? Like, we think we can keep it simple. Okay. If you could choose a language to become fluent in immediately, which one would it be and why? 

Billy Yeah, for sure Spanish. And then I think my second and third place would be like ASL and then MSL Mexican sign language. 

Timo Oh, awesome. Oh, very cool. 

Billy A bunch of people in my life are Spanish speakers and I would love to be able to share that kind of fluency and exchange. And also my favorite places to be are in Mexico or in the borderland, like doing migrant support. So I think just some fluency, especially like living in New Mexico, where that was a primary language on top of the indigenous languages, feels really sweet. 

Timo You are speaking to my soul right now. Yeah. All right. Next. If you could create a museum exhibit, what would it be about? 

Billy Oh, my gosh, I. Wow. This is so dense, I think I think as someone who’s like worked facilitating in museum spaces and not really been a curator, but the things I feel like really nerdy about, plant uses over the area. And then like, intersections with, like colonization and like all of that kind of like social justice aspects, that interrupt and change the way that we interface with like plants and plants and animals. But I, I also am a little bit of a facilitator brain, so I'd love for it to be like a choose your own adventure kind of a game. I'd have to really work on this, but those are some of my thoughts. 

Timo I'm just fanning myself not only because my fans are off, but because I'm very excited about this conversation. 

Billy Oh cool, same, I'm happy to hear that, that's awesome. 

It’s gettin’ hot in here!! Sounds like Timo might… “wanna date.” Let’s hear if their next Caller can keep the temperature turned up. That Caller is… Salix.

Timo I guess I'm going to, like, put you through the paces now. Are you ready? 

Salix As ready as I'll be.

Timo Okay. Awesome. Can you tell me something that you're already good at that you'd like to be better at?

Salix I make my own webcomic and I feel like I'm still in, like, I've been working on the project for a long time. A few years, but just in the last year started releasing it. I feel good about my, about where I'm at, but I would also like to improve. 

Timo Awesome. That sounds like a really interesting project. If you could choose a language to become fluent in immediately, which would you choose and why? 

Salix I would choose Quechua, which is one of the indigenous languages of Peru. My family is Peruvian on my dad's side and I did go to I was I was lucky enough that I got to go to like a Quechua language program for eight weeks in Cusco a few years ago, and I got like an introduction to it. But I have a little bit of a hard time picking up languages. And so if I could choose to be fluent in one language, it would definitely be that. 

Timo Okay. How do you usually ask people out? Like, how do you like? I'm kind of terrible at it. So actually, I'm looking for tips. 

Salix Oh, I'm so terrified of asking people out also like, I tend to I tend to the people that I would maybe want to ask out tend to be, I tend to develop crushes on friends because it takes a little while, like getting to know people before I like kind of develop feelings for them. And then I'm like, Well, I just don't want to like. What if they say no? Like, I don't want to ruin our friendship. It'll be so awkward. So it's like another it's like, hard enough as it is. And I'm like, What if I fuck this up? 

Timo I know exactly what you mean. Yeah, I relate for sure. 

Uh oh… sounds like Timo and Salix both have similar hang ups around dating and friendship. But is that enough for Salix to get the hang up? We’re halfway there— our next caller is… Ryan.

Timo Okay, Here we go. Would you rather look ten years older from the neck up or from the neck down? 

Ryan I don't know. Like, I'm thinking about, like, my parents and my grandparents, and they all still look good. I don't know. Maybe I'll say from the, from the neck up. I feel like I have some good aging genes. I don't know. 

Timo Yeah, Hell, yeah. I like that. That's a good that's a good way to look at it. 

Ryan What would you pick? 

Timo Um… neck down. 

Ryan Yeah. 

Timo Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Maybe that's vanity. 

Ryan I was like, okay, which one makes me seem like a better person? 

Timo No, There's no right answer to it, I think. And you can slice it so many different ways. I think I like it as a question just because it makes me ask myself some, you know, this makes me sort of like, look at some stuff I don't always look at. If that makes sense. 

Ryan Yeah. Like, kind of like the sort of uncomfortable areas. 

Timo Yeah, totally. All right, I have another one for you. How do you ask people out? Like, can you give me one of your lines? 

Ryan Okay, so it's like, “Hey, I like that thing that you just did.” 

Timo Yeah, okay. 

Ryan I don't know, I. I feel like it's just, like, super awkward all the time, cause I'm like, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but, like, I also want to give vibes, but, like, not too much, I guess. 

Timo It's hard. It's so hard to try to gauge the right amount of enthusiasm and interest without being like… Yeah, it's just tricky. Okay, I got to do a lightning round. Okay. Sweet or salty? 

Ryan Salty. 

Timo Red, green or Christmas?

Ryan Definitely green. 

Timo Definitely green. I like it how you were like definitely green. Summer or winter?

Ryan Oh, like late spring. So I guess summer? 

Timo K, fair, I like how you stretch it a little bit. Lake or Ocean? 

Ryan Ocean. 

Timo All right. That's the end of the lightning round. Yes. Oh, my gosh. This is really fun. It just feels like it goes so fast. 

Ryan You know, I never got the chance to play 7 Minutes in Heaven as an adolescent, so, like, I'm a little bit aflutter. 

Timo Ooh, atwitterpated. 

Sounds like Ryan likes that thing Timo just did… but is Timo picking up their call? Let’s keep it moving with our next Caller… Cedar.

Timo Hey, is this Cedar? 

Cedar What's up? 

Timo You're like, number one. Number one. Head of the race of the pack. 

Cedar Oh, of course. You know you have to do. You know you. When you want something, you have to be in the front of the pack. 

Timo I love it. I'm gonna fire a bunch of questions at you. And actually, I'm really excited to ask these questions. What's something you already know? Like something you are already good at that you want to be better at? 

Cedar Oh, yeah. Damn, we're going that deep? I think having a voice is my biggest thing. Just not feeling like I had one. But now that I do. It's amazing. But it does have its ups and downs. But I don't also discredit my negativity, my downfall, my trauma that I have through the years because it's made me the person I am today. 

Timo Mm hmm. Look at you. Look at you. I swear I asked a lot. And you, actually, you really delivered. That's a great answer. Thank you for sharing that. And I. I agree. I have had to cultivate my own voice to try to speak up about things, and it's not easy. So I admire that. That's awesome. Okay, here's a little lighter one. Can you tell me what hairstyle you had when you were a freshman in high school?

Cedar Oh, wait, freshman, damn. You know what? I was raised by a single mother and by, like, strong matriarchy. Yeah, And sometimes we, you know, we thought the good ole bowl cut. If that makes sense. I mean, we couldn't afford the $16 J.C. Penney. We just got the bowl cut. I rocked that, I guess, you know, I rocked the bowl cut. 

Timo It's so cute. Oh, my God. Mom's doing her best, and you're just like, All right. 

Cedar Yeah, a little back story. Me, I'm an only child. My mother actually wanted seven children, but I tell my mom all the time, I equal about three of those children. 

Timo That's right. 

Cedar Yeah. So that, you know, when when if you were ever— when we meet, when we have our dates, when we go on our little vacation. Um, I hold enough space to to, to make you laugh, protect you, and we're going to. Yeah, we're going to have a good time. 

Timo Oh, I love that Cedar. Thank you so much. 

OK Mama’s boy tryna get that vacay! Let’s see if our next Caller can match that energy in our final date with… Muriah.

Muriah Hi. 

Timo Hi, Muriah. How are you? 

Muriah Yes, I'm doing well, thank you. How are you? 

Muriah I'm really having fun. I wasn't sure. You know, like, you know, it's not the typical kind of like way to meet people or even spend a Tuesday night really, I’m like joking around, like I’m going on six dates tonight. 

Muriah Dang, check you out. That's awesome. 

Timo All right, Question number one, If you could choose a language to become fluent in immediately, like, instantly, which one would it be and why? 

Muriah Oh, goodness. So I have two. It's either Dine, which is Navajo or Spanish, because you get paid more to be able to speak different languages. So yeah, probably Spanish. 

Timo Well thanks that's a great answer. Okay. Next question. What's something you're already good at or you already feel like you know pretty well that you want to be better at? 

Muriah Basketball. 

Timo Basketball awesome. 

Muriah Yes. I grew up a jock and I love basketball. I love acting. You know, I love being on stage. I love being in film. I love doing all of that. But like basketball, like I love basketball and roller derby. I used to do roller derby. I used to do all that stuff. So, yeah. 

Timo Woah, roller derby. So you're like, you're like, pretty tough. So I know, I know. I'm like, I, you know, I've seen some roller derby. I mean, I’ve seen some roller derby go down. I won't mess with you, all right? 

Muriah No, I won't hurt you. I promise. 

Zakiya: Muriah says she loves acting and being on stage… Has Timo met their drag king? After the break, one of our Callers gets the hang up.

Timo Everybody's so cool. I really enjoyed my conversations with everybody.

Zakiya: Stay on the line to find out who!

Zakiya Welcome back to the Hang Up Hotline. You've all been on a first date with our Star. Five of you will remain on the line and continue to the next round. But for one of you, your call ends with a hang up. Timo, have you made your decision? 

Timo Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It's been really… I guess so. I don't know. 

Zakiya I know it's so hard because, you know, you're having to make a snap judgment here. So what was going through your mind as you were trying to make your decision? 

Timo Everybody's so cool. I really enjoyed my conversations with everybody. So, yeah, what’s going through my mind is this really hard. 

Cedar So what Timo is saying is, can we have nobody go home this week? 

Timo That's right. 

Zakiya I wish because I love all of y'all's energy. But unfortunately, we're about to say goodbye to one of you all. So, Timo. Which caller are you choosing to hang up on? 

Timo Oh, okay. The caller I decided to hang up on is Ryan. 

Ryan Aww.

Timo Sorry. Oh, my God. Oh, I'm sorry, Ryan. Thank you so much, Ryan. Appreciate it. 

Zakiya What are you feeling right now? 

Ryan I just got dumped, but I'm feeling good. I don't think that I'm, like, my best under pressure. And also, it's hard to like. It takes a little bit more time to get to know someone. And, you know, maybe other people seemed more interesting or more vibey than me. And that's totally fine. I’m not everyone's cup of tea. 

Zakiya Do you wish you could have done or said anything differently? 

Ryan I was thinking about the red or green question, and I was like, you know what? Actually, that takes a little bit of nuance because if it's like, like cheese enchiladas, I'm going to go red. But right off the bat, always the choice is going to be green. And it needs to be a snap decision, always green. 

Zakiya Wait I'm so confused-- I'm like enchiladas? So can you. And also because I'm not from New Mexico, so. I’m like yeah. Can you explain what what you are talking about? 

Ryan Yeah. Yeah. It was actually like some elementary kids. They created our state question, which is red or green? Red or green chili. Or you could do Christmas 

Zakiya Oh, so you're regretting the color you chose. 

Ryan Yeah. I mean, like, I think especially as a New Mexican, I'm not like, I'm definitely going to snap decision choose green. But there are definitely some instances where it's like red for sure. 

Zakiya Timo Was it the chilies? 

Timo Oh, no. Honestly, I wish I had, like, something I could point to and say, Oh, you know, it was this one thing or, you know, it really wasn't anything specific. I enjoyed our conversation. Ryan. And, I'm sorry that you're the first to go, and I'll probably see you around town at some point. 

Ryan Talk to y'all later. Well, I guess not, but I'll think of you. 

Zakiya Billy, Ness, Muriah, Salix and Cedar. Congrats on surviving the first hang up. But. 

Muriah Wait you said but

Zakiya No this is a good but. 

Cedar We love a good butt, though. 

Zakiya We do. And this is a good one because I was going to say. But stay on the line because we have five more dates to go. And now that you got the first date jitters out of your system, it's time to go deeper. The theme of next week's date is Touch Tone. Even though y'all are physically apart, doesn't mean we can't get tactile up in here. In this date, you'll curate a special mystery box to send to Timo, and during the date, they'll dig into everything you sent them to get a better feel for who you are. So do your best to impress.

Cedar So I'm going to win that. 

Muriah No, I'm going to win it. I got it. 

Cedar So we'll see what you send. We'll see what you send. 

Muriah No. Okay. All right. 

Cedar All right. Let's go. 

Zakiya You’ve reached the Hang Up Voicemail. Leave a message at the <beep>

Ness Hello? It's me, Ness. My first impressions of Timo. They seem pretty good humored. I also appreciated that this person is a single parent who has found time to participate in this. I think it's pretty cool. I look forward to next week. 

Salix My first impressions of Timo or that they seemed really cool. I like their sense of humor. They were fairly easy to talk to. I was pretty nervous for the first date, so but they made me feel pretty comfortable. So yeah, I'm looking forward to the next date. 

Muriah This is Muriah. I really like them and their voice is very, very sexy. 

Billy Hello, Billy aqui. I like their voice. I really like the enthusiasm, it felt like a lot of like sparkly possible conversation, considering it is just that 7 minutes. And I'm ready for more. 

Cedar Hey, what's up it's Cedar and I just finished up my date with Timo and it was great. It's really cool to meet a new person not being able to see, smell, touch the person. It's just mind boggling. So it's going to be a fun experience. Hopefully I'm there to the end, but you never know. 

Hang Up is created and produced by me, Caitlin Pierce.

Our host and story editor is Zakiya Gibbons.

Our sound designer, mix engineer, and story editor is Ben Montoya.

And that’s it— our whole team is just three people. We put so much time and love into Hang Up because we believe in this show— And we get to make it weird and silly and queer and exactly what we want it to be because we are independent.

But to stay independent, we need your support. Here’s a few ways you can help:

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We can’t do it alone— thank you for your support.

Our sounding board is Allison Behringer, Karla Corrales, Chioke I’Anson, and Grayum Vickers.

Music by Jeff Carter and Stephen Pathe of Sandy - hear more at sandy-sounds.com

Show Art by Alex Teschel.

Season Two Art by Marquez Torres.

Studio recording by Josh Wilcox of Brooklyn Podcasting Studio and Sid Fendley of Mountain Road Recording.

This episode uses many sounds from Freesound, for the full list check out our website— hangupshow.com.

Special thanks to Bess Friedman, Trevor Birt, Toni of Albuquerque Social Club, Michael Burdick of Sidewinders, Quinn Heraty, Nellie Giles, and the Radio Diaries team. 

Thanks also to the people supporting us at Radiotopia and PRX— Yooree Losordo, Audrey Mardavich, Apu Goteh, Carolyn Willander, Molly Perkins, Sher Delva, Gretchen Borzi, Maggie Gourville, and Audrey Davidson, just to name a few.

Hang Up is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, creator-owned, listener-supported podcasts. Discover audio with vision at Radiotopia-dot-f-m.