Jenny Craig: Cashing In On Crash Diets with Ronald Young Jr. and Emmy Blotnick | 90

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the '90s, Jenny Craig wasn't just selling frozen meals – she was selling the American dream, one tiny chocolate cheesecake at a time. But between shady advertising claims, the Fen-Phen crisis, and a jaw injury that silenced their spokeswoman, this weight loss queen discovered that even the most carefully counted calories couldn't save her empire from crumbling.

Ronald Young Jr. (Weight for It) and Emmy Blotnick (The English Teacher, Bust Down) join Misha to shed some light on the many missteps of this dieting heavyweight.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we dive into today's tale of catastrophe, I have to tell you about Wondery Plus.
0:06.4	If you're someone who craves the juicy details behind the biggest flops, Wondery Plus is
0:12.5	exactly what you need. Add free episodes and early access to new stories that will take you
0:18.7	even deeper into the world of business blunders.
0:22.4	Trust me, it's a game changer.
0:24.7	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcast.
0:36.7	Imagine it's the 90s, and you've invested in Jenny Craig's frozen diet meals, and they've sent you some dessert.
0:47.0	You defrost your triple chocolate cheesecake and pull back the lid to reveal one bite of cheesecake.
0:57.0	Where's the cake, Jenny?
1:00.0	Everybody wants to lose weight quickly and easily.
1:03.0	At Jenny Craig, we get results.
1:05.0	Weight loss giant Jenny Craig may shudder its corporate office as soon as this Friday.
1:10.0	The company struggles, just one sign of a seismic shift in the $75 billion diet industry.
1:20.8	What happens now?
1:25.9	What happens now?
1:29.3	How will I cope? How will I cope?
1:30.3	Sometimes you don't want to talk about cancer, the people you know.
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	...

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