Something News Network

Author: Kai

  • How a Cheating Scandal Landed Arianna Madix on to Peacock’s hit show “Love Island US”

    Arianna Madix has garnered praise and attention hosting the popular reality love competition show “Love Island US”

    Maddix’s witty commentary and extraordinary outfits has often been a welcome  relief on the tension ridden love show. 

    Audiences may be surprised to find out Madix is no stranger to a tumultuous love story. 

    Many audiences first met Ariana Madix, 40 years old, on the Housive series spinoff “Vanderpump Rules”.

    Madix was a bartender at “Sur”, a restaurant owned by Housewives veteran Lisa Vanderpump. 

    Her first seasons on the show were plagued with cheating allegations as Madix came between one couple on the show, Tom Sanadavol, 42, and Kristen Doute, 42. 

    However, Madix quickly became a fan favorite. As Madix and Sandavol’s relationship grew she was known to be a more level-headed member of the eccentric cast.

    “Vanderpump Rules” was rife with cheating, lying, and manipulation, but through the year Madix and Sandavol remained a strong couple. 

    That was until March 3rd, 2023.

    After more than 9 years in a relationship, news broke that Sandavol was cheating on Madix with another cast members ex-girlfriend!

    This might have been par for the course in earlier seasons. 

    However, as the characters on the show neared their 40, many had moved away from their more scandalous behaviors.

    This came as a complete shock to viewers. 

    Madix and Sandavol had recently purchased a house together and had almost started the IVF process, leaving many confused about his decision to cheat. 

    Through the fallout, Madix found out that Sandavol had been cheating for months.

    Many times, shortly after cameras went off, Sandavol and one of Madix’s best friends at the time, Raquel, would sneak away to hook up.

    This went on for months, with Sandavol even taking Raquel to meet his parents while Ariana was distracted, grieving the loss of her grandmother and her dog.

    The intensity and cruelty of the affair were so extreme that news stations nicknamed the event “Scandavol”.

    Madix’s performance at the season’s reunion with both Sandavol and Raquel gained attention from many viewers as well.

    The two-part reunion pulled in a series high 4.1 million viewers.

    Bringing a show with decreasing relevance back to the forefront.

    However, Madix had no interest in sharing the stage with her cheating ex-partner.


    After pointing out several biases within production that seemingly favored Sandavol and set him up for redemption, Madix refused to film with him.

    Madix’s decision to disassociate from Sandavol left many in the cast enraged, and after a season of chaos, Madix decided it was her time to go. 

    But let’s be clear, she left with something!

    Madix has soared since her breakup.

    Madix was the lead in the Broadway musical “Chicago”, where she played the iconic black widow Roxie Hart.

    Ariana Madix was named the host of Love Island in 2024.

    Additionally, Madix has multiple projects coming down the pipeline recently, including acting on ABC’s “Will Trent”.

    If you want to explore deeper click this link for the Vulture article with an detailed timeline.

  • Breaking Update: Georgia woman, Adrianna Smith, to be taken off life support after Emory doctors perform emergency cesarean section. Smith’s newborn is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit, weighing only 1lb and 13 ounces.

    Breaking Update: Georgia woman, Adrianna Smith, to be taken off life support after Emory doctors perform emergency cesarean section. Smith’s newborn is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit, weighing only 1lb and 13 ounces.

    Emory doctors have delivered the child of medically dead patient, 30-year-old Adrianna Smith. 

    In February, doctors dismissed Smith, who was experiencing extreme headaches, without performing medical diagnostic tests. Smith was found to have brain clots hours later. 

    These brain clots caused Adrianna Smith to pass away.

    The nightmare did not end there as Smith’s family has waited weeks for a legal resolution, as Emory doctors claimed they could not legally remove the woman from life support. 

    Interestingly, the Republican Attorney General of Georgia had released a statement weeks prior clarifying that Georgia laws were not to criminalize the action of removing a pregnant woman from life support.  

    Leaving many to question why Emory doctors would not allow the family to decide on Smith’s life support options.

    Smith’s family believes the child will recover in the neonatal unit. They are asking for prayers at this time.

    Smith’s family told news reporters they planned to take Smith off life support on Tuesday.

    Smith leaves behind her newborn and a 7-year-old son.

  • Following the first Black artist win for the “Best Country Album” in 60 years, the Grammys are changing the rules

    Following the first Black artist win for the “Best Country Album” in 60 years, the Grammys are changing the rules

     Don’t You Love the Meritocracy!

    The Grammys are splitting the Best Country Music Album Award into two categories, Best Traditional Country and Best Contemporary Country, just months after Beyoncé, the highest-awarded artist in Grammy history, became the first black woman to win the award since it started in 1965.

    The CEO in charge of the Grammy Awards stated this change came from longstanding requests within the Country community. 

    According to the CEO, artists have been asking the show to introduce a Contemporary Country category to address the expanding art styles within the Country genre. 

    Billboard notes that Pop, R&B, and Jazz also make distinctions between traditional and contemporary music and performances. 

    The Grammy’s CEO stated the recent change “makes country music parallel with what’s happening in other genres.”

    However, is Country truly paralleling other categories ?

    In 2020, Tyler the Creator criticized the Grammy’s for their “Best Urban Contemporary Album” award, the category was seen by many as ambiguous and racially charged.

    After backlash,  the award show renamed the category “Best Progressive Rap Album”.

    So both these genres have new labels: Rap has a Progressive category, and Country has a Contemporary category.

    Still, the Billboard CEO pointed out that Country music once encompassed genres such as Americana, Folk, and Roots styles of music.

    These sub-genres have each gained awards for Best Album.

    Once labeled Country artists, these musicians now have four different album awards categories, all derived from Country music. 

    Now there are 5.

    The Best Americana Album category, honoring a style deriving from Country music, was created in 2023. 

    This recent change from the Grammys’ marks the two additional Country Album awards category , three news awards for Country sub-genres have been added to the show in the last 3 years.

  • 3 Body Problem on Netflix: The Hate You Give Scientists F**ks Everybody

    3 Body Problem on Netflix: The Hate You Give Scientists F**ks Everybody

    Opinion

    Netflix’s new series “3 Body Problem” is science-fiction gold. 

    The new show from the creators of “Game of Thrones” has wowed audiences and critics alike.

    This series takes place across different times and civilizations.

    In one, a brave young scientist navigates her imprisonment under the Chinese Communist Party, and in the other, the world’s greatest scientific minds are dropping like flies from a series of mysterious deaths.

    This shows explorations of environmental issues, authoritarian societies, and the attack on intellectuals seems perfectly made for the climate of 2025.

    However, this hidden gem released in early 2024, follows a group of old college friends as they navigate the death of a former associate and fellow scientist.  

    Scientist Auggie (Eiza Gonzalez), Jack (John Bradley), Saul (Jovan Adepa), Jin (Jess Hong), and Will (Alex Sharp) find themselves challenged in various ways when an alien force threatens the freedom of Earth.

    In the series, scientists find themselves locked in a death countdown as enemies with advanced technology attack their scientific work.

    Another portion of the show, explores as ambitious intellectuals are invited to an extra-worldly video game challenging their scientific knowledge through a series of missions. 

    All the while, Detective Da Shi (Benedict Wong) is given an assignment from one of the most powerful government agencies in the world to figure out who is causing these mysterious occurrences and untimely deaths. 

    “3 Body Problem” is based on the book of the same name, it is the first book in Liu Cixin’s trilogy “Remembrance of Earth’s Past”.

  • Twitch Has Never Been Profitable, and its Recent Decrease in Revenue is Going to Affect Creators’ Money

    Twitch Has Never Been Profitable, and its Recent Decrease in Revenue is Going to Affect Creators’ Money

    The Most Popular Twitch creators seem to be living lavish Hollywood lifestyles with 6-figure a month checks. For the past couple of years, live streaming has grown into a popular style of social media. 

    However, the glitz and glamorous lifestyle led by these online personalities may be even more unreachable than they already seem, as creator profits are set to go down.

    In the beginning of 2024, Twitch’s CEO claimed the company was in a financial crisis. 

    Twitch’s most popular streamers have negotiated lucrative deals. 

    Twitch allows top users to keep high percentages of subscription profits, and popular personalities on the platform have signed multi-figure branding deals.

    In addition, Twitch offers multiple sources of income as the ad revenue system allows creators to collect revenue based on subscriptions, in-app purchases, and the number of ads watched by their audience.

    All That Is About To Change 

    Twitch broke records in terms of viewers and subscriptions in 2024, but the company that has been non-profitable for 14 years has recently seen a decrease in revenue.

    Twitch broke subscription and viewership records in 2024, and they also implemented more ads on the platform, but multiple analytics sites expect the company to have had less financial returns in 2024 than in 2023, when Twitch’s record revenue still did not show a financial profit.

    Essentially, in 2024, Twitch generated billions of dollars, gained subscribers at a rapid rate, and increased ad revenue on its content. Yet, it was still projected to be unable to make a profit. 


    Why?

    Businesses are only profitable when the amount of money they make (the revenue) is more than the amount of money they spend (the expenses). 

    When Twitch reported in early 2024 that it had not been profitable, it did not release its entire budget; however, we can conclude that its expenses for the year were in the multi-billions.

    Twitch’s CEO admits that in 2023 alone, Twitch paid over 1 billion dollars in creator payouts.

    As a result of Twitch’s failure to make a profit, workers have been laid off, ads have increased, and opportunities for users to make streaming their income are getting smaller. 

    All these things have the potential to be hurtful to the consumer experience and economically stressful for creators on the site.

    Twitch, like other struggling online media platforms, announced plans in 2024 to reduce creator payouts by 28%. 

    Twitch plans to take away the 70/30 pay out model, where creators receive 70% of the total revenue in subscriptions each month; to a 50/50 payout model where creators receive only 50% of the money made from their monthly subscriptions. 

    For example, a user making 70,000$ a month would have their monthly salary decreased to 50,000$ a month, for an overall decrease of 240,000$ dollars a year before taxes.

    In addition, Twitch’s ad revenue program, which allows users to profit directly from the ads their viewers watch, has reportedly dropped in value by up to 95% for some users in 2025.

    And that is not all

    Twitch is currently owned by Amazon, which may have the marketing network and profit margins to support the streaming business while it struggles to find a profitable business model. 

    However, recent last year firing of about 35% of the Twitch staff, the closing of Twitch’s operations in South Korea, and the Twitch CEO recently indicating the company will be giving less creator investment in the years to come suggest serious changes are looming. 

    Twitch often finds itself embroiled in controversy. In the past two years, live streamers have caused media storms, crashing cars, committing crimes, partying, and engaging in risky behaviors on their streams. 

    Twitch’s audience is primarily male teens and young adults, which could give Twitch a special marketing advantage for male-focused businesses. 

    These demographics could also be a huge downfall for Twitch if upcoming government regulations on social media succeed in preventing and/or deterring young people’s ability to create accounts on the Twitch platform and others. 

    Though these regulations may not affect current Twitch users, they will restrict Twitch’s ability to capitalize on its influence and popularity with young children in the future. 

    Potentially stunting a market that has already struggled to gain traction and reach profitable standings.

  • By Force or Fired ? The Democratic Party Will See Changes in the 2026 Election

    By Force or Fired ? The Democratic Party Will See Changes in the 2026 Election

    David Hogg, Democratic National Committee Vice President, has promised a multi-million dollar campaign donation toward progressive candidates in the 2026 congressional elections. Faced with low approval numbers, is the Democratic party “failing to meet the moment”

    The Democratic Party of the United States suffered a huge loss in the 2024 national and state elections.

    Losing both houses in Congress and the presidential election, many have speculated about the potential cause of these sweeping defeats for Democrats.

    However, criticism of the Democratic Party extends beyond their election losses, with current DNC leader David Hogg calling for progressives to challenge current Democratic congressional seats.

    Another sign that the party seems to be struggling with messaging as they are coming up on the serious political moment of the 2026 congressional elections.

    The Democratic members in Congress have met the Trump campaign with varying degrees of caution, concern, and, at times, forceful pushback against the Trump administration’s various affronts to federal and state systems.

    In just a few weeks, the Trump administration has crashed stock prices and raised the cost of everyday items through an international tariff war.

    In addition to weakening political/ security relations through their forceful tariffs policies, the Trump administration has also managed to have three security breach scandals in just the month of April. That is only to name a few of the headlines coming out of the Trump administrations first 100 days. 

    CORY BOOKER SETS THE RECORD FOR LONGEST SENATE FLOOR SPEECH IN 25 HOUR ADDRESS AGAINST TRUMP ADMINSTRATION POLICIES

    Despite the many debacles coming from the Trump Adminstration in the last three months, the Democratic party can not seem to gain political favor.

    In fact, the Democratic party is polling worse than they were after Trump’s election in 2016 amongst young voters according to the latest Harvard Youth polls.

    This is a contiuantion of a concerning trend of lack of voter turn out amongst young people and overall dissastissfaction in the politcal landscape both in general and specifically with the Democratic party.

    In addition the youth polled expressed distrust with both the current administration and the federal system in general.

    The poll also showcased Trumps approval amongst young black americans continues to outpace his 2016 election. While this limited poll paints a grim picture for Democrat success in the upcoming election cycle, leadership in the Democraitc party are also expressing a need for a change. 

    Notably, Democratic National Committee Vice President David Hogg, has publicly promised to devote 20 million dollars in collaboration with his political action committee or PAC Leaders We Deserve in support of progressive candidates challenging democratic congressional seats in the 2026 elections.

    This may not sound like a radical idea, but the Democratic National Committee encourages unity amongst the democratic party and though they claim to avoid bias towards any candidate, the DNC has historically been accused of favoring incumbents in congressional elections.

    Leaders We Deserve has a website: https://leaderswedeserve.com/ that showcases their messaging and a diverse list of current local and state representatives that the Leaders We Deserve PAC supported in 2024.

    In their website the Leaders We Deserve state their desire for fierce political voices on the national stage. In his own interviews Hogg has stated that the public perceives the Democrats as failing to “meet the moment”. 

    Hogg has received pushback from many notable figures in the Democratic Party. Hogg went so far as to claim that the Democratic National Committee might seek to change their bylaws to prevent Hogg from running this campaign while holding his position as a Vice-Chair of the DNC.

    Hogg is not the only member of the Democratic party to call for leadership changes; however, earlier this year Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives Hakeem Jefferies proclaimed the DNC would be getting new leadership after current Democratic Leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, voted with Republicans to cut 18 billion dollars in federal funding helping the Republican-lead Congress continue to fund the government as they seek to push through 800 billion dollars in federal funding cuts to programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.

    In all, these messaging issues appear to have a basis in reality, as voter turnout presents itself as a significant challenge in the 2026 election cycle. Across the state and at the federal level, legislators seek to diminish voting rights and increase the difficulty of voting for Americans.

    The lack of participation in the youth bloc and the diminishing support in the black and Latino blocs of voting were a defining factor in the Republican victories in 2024.

    So I will leave you with these questions: Is the Democratic party willing to forfeit control to younger, new-fashioned candidates? What messaging will break through for the democrats in the 2026 elections? Is the Democratic Party simply out of Time? 

    Next post I will be talking about political messaging. Whats working, whats not working, what people are ready to see. In that I will be talking about some recent elections, the social state of politics and podcasts.