DTG Christmas Quiz 2025 with Helen Lewis
Decoding the Gurus
Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2025
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this special Christmas episode, Helen’s annual Guru Quiz returns, lightly dusted with Trump, podcast tours, and the unsettling realisation that the Guru-sphere and the MAGA-sphere have quietly fused into a single, monetised, vibes-based organism.
That's right, the regular decoding team are joined by renowned journalist, author, podcaster... and occasional DTG quiz master, Helen Lewis, who once again brings her festive cheer, an uncanny ability to identify exactly who will be unbearable next year, and a quiz designed to torture Matt.
Points are awarded, dignity is lost, and Matt briefly considers revising for the quiz before remembering that preparation has never helped him before.
The episode also covers MAGA and UK political manoeuvres, the movers and shakers of the Gurusphere in 2025, and a lament for the collapse of the ancient boundary between editorial content and hawking pants.
So join us for a festive episode about gurus, geniuses, authoritarian comedy festivals, and the slow erosion of shame. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night... and that includes you, Bubbles!
Links
- Helen Lewis on Substack
- Helen's Article on the Riyadh Comedy Festival
- Helen's Article on Olivia Nuzzi's Book
- The Genius Myth
- That Dave Chappelle picture
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm Hello and welcome to decoding the gurus, the podcast, or anthropologist of sorts, and the psychologists of sorts. |
| 0:35.1 | They decode gurus and talk about things |
| 0:37.8 | and do other stuff, read books, |
| 0:41.0 | other things. And occasionally, |
| 0:43.3 | we have very nice guests join us, right? |
| 0:47.3 | For various reasons. |
| 0:48.9 | In this case, it's the first time |
| 0:51.6 | we've had triple, quadruple. |
| 0:55.4 | I suppose it depends how you break down the way that we split up the recordings. |
| 0:59.8 | But we have themed British writer, presenter of podcasts, of documentary series, |
| 1:09.3 | writer of books, which we've reviewed on the Dakota and Academia series. |
| 1:15.7 | You've got to hurry this along, Chris. They're going to be expecting Malcolm Gladwell, |
| 1:18.6 | and it's going to be a horrible disappointment. |
| 1:20.8 | No one likes him. Shush, that voice might have given away. Right, Fredd, it's that time of year. |
| 1:26.5 | Co-host of page 94, the Private Eye podcast. |
| 1:30.8 | And strong message here with Armando Ian Nucci. |
| 1:34.1 | Staff writer at the Atlantic. |
| 1:35.8 | It is. |
| 1:36.9 | Helen Lewis. |
| 1:40.9 | Yeah, it's like my little Christmas, |
| 1:42.7 | a little Christmas elf that comes and visits you. |
| 1:46.1 | Yeah. |
... |
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