Thirst Aid Kit

Thirst Aid Kit is a podcast about celebrity lust and sexual desire hosted by journalist Bim Adewunmi and writer Nichole Perkins. The podcast premiered on November 1, 2017 and was officially produced by BuzzFeed until January 2019. The podcast was named to "best podcast" lists by Time and Entertainment Weekly.[1] The podcast was picked up by Slate, and returned on September 26, 2019.[2]

Thirst Aid Kit
Presentation
Hosted byBim Adewunmi & Nichole Perkins
GenreFeminist, talk
FormatPodcast
Created byBim Adewunmi & Nichole Perkins
LanguageEnglish
Length45 - 90 minutes
Production
ProductionBuzzFeed (2017-2019), Slate (2019-present)
Theme music composed byTanya Morgan
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes25+
Publication
Original releaseNovember 1, 2017 – present
ProviderSlate
Related showsAnother Round
Websitethirstaidkitpodcast.tumblr.com

History

Adewunmi and Perkins worked together at BuzzFeed and mutually enjoyed discussing pop culture and their celebrity sexual interests. This encouraged them to pitch the idea of a podcast about celebrity crushes to BuzzFeed executives.[3]

The purpose of Thirst Aid Kit (TAK) is to openly discuss celebrities they find attractive and do so in an unabashed manner.[1][4] According to Perkins, "It's really important to give women a space to show what we are interested in and what women want."[3][5] They also use TAK to highlight people whose work may be well known, but their face is less familiar, such as director Ryan Coogler.[6] The name Thirst Aid Kit refers to the slang meaning of the word thirst, which refers to sexual desire.

The first episode premiered on November 1, 2017. On January 25, 2019, it was announced that BuzzFeed would no longer produce the podcast and the hosts are currently looking for a new sponsor.[7] One day prior, BuzzFeed announced company-wide layoffs which eliminated 15% of their staff.[8]

In August 2019, it was announced that Slate had picked up the podcast. It relaunched through the company on September 26.[2]

In addition to the return of the podcast, TAK also hosts live events such as "Thirsty Movie Nights."[9]

In February 2020, BFI announced a forthcoming series curated by Christina Newland called Thirst: Female Desire on Screen that had similar artwork to the TAK logo and a similar description.[10] Journalist Musa Okwonga and Twitter users accused BFI of stealing the concept.[10] Perkins and Adewunmi stated that they had been called "deluded narcissists" for noting the similarities.[10] Newland denied the accusations of plagiarism and stated she had been working on the topic since October 2017 and had not heard of TAK until 2019, after which she approached Perkins twice to collaborate on her book.[10] BFI released a statement apologizing for the similarities and promised to change the series imagery "as we accept that it was too similar to their logo when coupled with the word Thirst."[11][12]

Format

Each episode typically focuses on a single actor who the hosts find sexually attractive.[6][13] The podcast begins and ends with either host reading an original short passage of fan fiction, which they call a drabble.[1] The short reading features the focal actor in an intimate, and sometimes sexual, situation with the writer.[1] Next, they explain what makes the actor desirable. Finally, they dissect the actor's persona in the context of Hollywood and society at large.

Guests

Thirst Aid Kit sometimes features the person who the episode is about, such as Charlie Cox and Rahul Kohli. On January 28, 2018, the hosts had a phone interview with Chris Evans who was on the set of Avengers: Infinity War.[3][14] Evans made comments about not perceiving himself as "hot," which were picked up by media outlets such as E!,[15] W,[16] and InStyle.[17]

Accolades

References
  1. Kang, Inkoo (2018-06-18). "Thirst Aid Kit Celebrates and Examines Celebrity Lust". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  2. "Exclusive: Nichole Perkins And Bim Adewunmi's 'Thirst Aid Kit' Is Joining Slate". Essence. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  3. Kahn, Mattie (2017-11-14). "Someone Pour Me a Cold Drink, the Thirstiest Podcast on the Internet Is Here". ELLE. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  4. "Pleasure". Bitch Media. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  5. "Lusting after celebrity men in the #TimesUp era: It's complicated". Salon. 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  6. Shure, Marnie. "The love doctors of Thirst Aid Kit on why it’s important for women to lust out loud". AUX. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  7. Kit, Thirst Aid (2019-01-25). "Thirst Aid Kit's time with BuzzFeed has come to an end. Thank you to @TastyKeish @Camilalalaa @juliastmi for producing this past season. If you have the means to support @ThirstAidKit so it can live again elsewhere, please contact @bimadew and @tnwhiskeywoman. We love you!". @ThirstAidKit. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  8. "'Upsetting And Disappointing': BuzzFeed To Cut 15 Percent Of Its Workforce". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  9. "'Thirst Aid Kit' Podcast Moves To Slate For September Return". All Access. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  10. Arts, Lanre Bakare; correspondent, culture (2020-02-17). "BFI accused of stealing concept of Thirst Aid Kit podcast". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  11. "A Crying Public Shame". Longreads. 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  12. "https://twitter.com/bfi/status/1230845995396849664/photo/1". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-06-11. External link in |title= (help)
  13. "The face-fanning, lust-driven podcast Thirst Aid Kit". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  14. James, Becca. "Want to Try Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins's Thirst Aid Kit? Start Here". www.vulture.com. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  15. "Chris Evans Doesn't Think He's Hot—and for Good Reason". E! Online. 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  16. Munzenrieder, Kyle. "Chris Evans Only Person on Earth Who Doesn't Think Chris Evans is "Hot"". W Magazine. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  17. "Somehow Chris Evans Doesn't Think He's Attractive". InStyle.com. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  18. Club, The A. V. "The A.V. Club's 2018 podcast superlatives". AUX. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  19. "The best podcasts of 2018". EW.com. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  20. "The 50 Best Podcasts to Listen to Right Now". Time. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
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