Bridges designed the logo for “They Don’t Deserve You” by using upside down heads to represent the topsy-turvy lives of her and Gonzalez, as well as their conversations on their weekly podcast that tend to be all over the place. Courtesy of Anna Bridges
By Taylor Tew
Every week, Anna Bridges and Jackie Gonzalez relive old times with a drink and 1,000 miles between them.
Bridges, a senior at USF St. Petersburg majoring in management, and her friend, Gonzalez, a financial analyst who lives in Maryland, recently dove into the world of podcasting with their show, “They Don’t Deserve You.”
In their weekly episodes, they discuss topics like terrible friends, dating older men and blocking unpleasant people from their lives — all while getting slightly drunk with an alcohol they paired to the episode topic.
While some topics are comedic, they have covered — and hope to continue to cover — heavier subjects that might help listeners who can relate to their stories.
The two met in 2018 at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, where they became fast friends.
Gonzalez said that while she and Bridges both knew they wanted to start a podcast, they didn’t realize that doing one together would be more fun. With the distance between them, they use the Zoom conference app to record each episode.
Their third episode, “Block that B*tch!,” aired recently. The duo talked about the power of blocking toxic people on social media while drinking Shiner Bock.
“This whole idea was really just a chance for us to grab a drink, go back to the roots of our friendship and be the friends we’ve always been, even though we aren’t in the same room,” Bridges said.
Although states apart, the two always sip the same drink while recording.
Sometimes they drink beer, and sometimes they drink tequila. Bridges said that her only concern about consuming alcohol on the podcast is not being coherent and concise about the topics they discuss, so they try their best not to overdo it.
However, they admit that the alcohol does lend a hand in providing interesting content for their episodes.
“Alcohol definitely makes you open up,” Gonzalez said. “I am 100 percent honest by the end of an episode.”
Bridges said that the conversations on each episode are nothing short of candid — just like the conversations that she and Gonzalez have off-air.
They recently recorded another episode, titled “Robbing the Cradle or Robbing the Grave?” In it, Gonzalez tells a personal story about a British man, well above her age, whom she met on Tinder. On their first outing, he wanted to see her ankles.
Awkward.
Their caption reads, “Grab your bourbon, set your Tinder settings to 31+ and decide if they deserve you or not.” They decided the appropriate drink would be whiskey bourbon because, according to Bridges, it is “the signature old man drink.”
This is only the beginning for Bridges and Gonzalez, who have many more topics to discuss and drinks to share.
Up this week: Four Loko.
Find They Don’t Deserve You episodes on Spotify and follow them on Instagram @tddypodcast.
