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Speaker 1: Yeah, welcome to the show of Friends and neighbors. Fellow

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Speaker 1: would be Antarctic explorers. My name is Ben. My name

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Speaker 1: is no Ben. Are you a fan of fruitcake? I

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Speaker 1: am a fan of food history, nol and I am

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Speaker 1: a fan of food mysteries. But fruitcake itself, I don't

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Speaker 1: have the same problem with it a lot of people have.

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Speaker 1: I'm just not super you know. I don't lay awake

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Speaker 1: at night dreaming of it. Oh yeah, do you think

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Speaker 1: anyone does? I feel like there's some guy in England.

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Speaker 1: I feel like there's one guy in England. It has

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Speaker 1: such a storied history, the confection itself, but it really

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Speaker 1: has this reputation as just being something you could build

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Speaker 1: a fireplace out of. Did you see Coco, the new

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Speaker 1: Pixar movie. I think we talked about this in a

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Speaker 1: previous episode. I have not, but I do remember the

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Speaker 1: conversation you and I had, particularly about the the opening

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Speaker 1: act for that film. Yes, the much maligned Frozen themed

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Speaker 1: featurette that involved Olaf, the re animated snowman, wandering around

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Speaker 1: the snowy woodland tundra of Aarondel in search of Christmas

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Speaker 1: tradition and one joke that's in search of Christmas tradition. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's basically trying to help out on and Elsa and

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Speaker 1: help them find a tradition because they don't have any

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Speaker 1: family Christmas traditions. So the whole short is him wandering

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Speaker 1: around talking to different people in the town about what

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Speaker 1: their Christmas traditions are in song form. But one joke

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Speaker 1: that that I thought kind of landed is there's this

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Speaker 1: fruitcake that is just indestructible, and it it gets burned,

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Speaker 1: it gets you know, run over by a sled, It

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Speaker 1: even gets taken by a hawk and eventually dumped back

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Speaker 1: into the scene. So you know, fruitcake has this reputation

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Speaker 1: as being this bulletproof material, and that is very much

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Speaker 1: the case with today's story. Yes, absolutely, today's story puts

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Speaker 1: a little truth to the stereotype people have about fruitcake.

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Speaker 1: Often considered one of the more lowly desserts of the world,

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Speaker 1: combination of candied fruit, nuts, and spice is often heavy

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Speaker 1: with rum and brandy. It turns out as ridiculous as

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Speaker 1: it might sound, there is some sand to the rumor.

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Speaker 1: A one hundred and six year old fruitcake, still in

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Speaker 1: the original box, was discovered at an outpost in Victoria Land,

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Speaker 1: East Antarctica. That's right. And according to the Antarctic Heritage Trust,

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Speaker 1: which is a nonprofit based in New Zealand that seeks

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Speaker 1: to preserve artifacts and history surrounding Antarctica, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of that, as we talked about in our Who Solves

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Speaker 1: Murders and Antarctica episode, involves researchers and expeditions. So according

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Speaker 1: to the Trust, the cake likely dates back to the

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Speaker 1: Cape a Dare based Northern party of Scott's Terra Nova expedition,

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Speaker 1: which took place between nineteen ten and nineteen thirteen. And

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Speaker 1: that is Robert Falcon Scott. You beat me. That's one

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Speaker 1: of my favorite facts of this place is that guy's

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Speaker 1: middle name is Falcon. Yes, Captain Robert Falcon Scott a

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Speaker 1: British Royal Navy officer. Uh. Famous. We're leading two separate

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Speaker 1: expeditions to the Antarctic area, the Discovery Expedition and then

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Speaker 1: the Terra Nova expedition. Uh. He set a couple of

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Speaker 1: world records in his time exploring, and luckily Antarctic is

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Speaker 1: not a place that is very peopled nor very populated,

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Speaker 1: so it's easier for experts to trace back. Uh. This

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Speaker 1: fruit cakes Providence and you're probably asking yourselves, uh, super

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Speaker 1: producer Casey Pegrom, Noel Ben, how long can we regularly

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Speaker 1: expect a fruit cake to last? The answer is easily

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Speaker 1: three decades and still be eaten. And as Noel said, Uh,

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Speaker 1: this is you know, a lot of the history of

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Speaker 1: Antarctic is based in research. This was found in a

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Speaker 1: research station and the fruitcake was one of about fifteen

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Speaker 1: hundred artifacts discovered in these huts at the Cape Dair Outpost.

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Speaker 1: An interesting point of fact about this research station um

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Speaker 1: is that it was a series of huts and they

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Speaker 1: were actually the first ever built on Antarctica, so they

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Speaker 1: were historical in and of themselves even at the time.

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Speaker 1: They were built in eight by a man named Carston

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Speaker 1: Borsch Grevin who is a Norwegian explorer and then was

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Speaker 1: used for several of Captain Scott's expeditions and also other

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Speaker 1: members of his party. And here's how it went down.

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Speaker 1: Two months after the expedition had launched their endeavor to

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Speaker 1: reach the geographic South Pole, they finally made it. It It

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Speaker 1: took him two months, but they made it just at

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Speaker 1: the very beginning of nineteen twelve January seventeen, and when

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Speaker 1: they got there, they discovered a real, real kick in

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Speaker 1: the pants for explorers. Yeah, they had been beaten by

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Speaker 1: I think it was mere weeks, my right, been by

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Speaker 1: a Norwegian expedition had thirty three days prior to Scott's

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Speaker 1: expedition reaching the pole. Uh. An expedition by a Norwegian operative.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm saying, like he's a spy

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Speaker 1: UH named rold Amundson had reached the pole and as

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Speaker 1: an additional complication, and additional and terrible kick in the pants,

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Speaker 1: blizzards delayed the return, and this delay became permanent. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's true they did not make it back alive, but

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Speaker 1: they did have some pretty lap of luxury as far

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Speaker 1: as Antarctic expeditions go, moments um prior to that. In

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Speaker 1: these huts that we talked about earlier. There's a fantastic

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Speaker 1: image on an article from How Stuff Works by Lori L.

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Speaker 1: Dove that pictures Scott and his team gathered around a

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Speaker 1: gramophone listening to music, puffing on their pipes. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: then I found an article from the BBC with another

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Speaker 1: image inside where they're gathered around a table with beer

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Speaker 1: and all kinds of different foods and they apparently had

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Speaker 1: access to fresh bread, rhubarb pie, and they would make

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Speaker 1: their own stews and curries a lot of times out

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Speaker 1: of seal meat. That's according to Joseph Coulson Um in

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Speaker 1: the article Scott's Antarctic Diet stewed penguin and champagne. So right,

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Speaker 1: stewed penguin Um. Apparently they used penguin blubber to try

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Speaker 1: to cook with, but they realized that that was a

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Speaker 1: pretty foul tasting cooking oil, so they kind of ditched that.

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Speaker 1: But they would have several courses to their meals, including

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Speaker 1: things like roast beef, turtle soup, and stewed penguin breast

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Speaker 1: in various jellies and crystallized ginger, and they had champagne

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Speaker 1: of flowing. So you know, at least when they were

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Speaker 1: trudging to their death through the frozen wasteland, they could,

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Speaker 1: you know, have some fond memories of them of hanging

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Speaker 1: out and you know, partying down with with penguin meat

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Speaker 1: and champagne. Especially it's such a brutal Antarctic climate. It's

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Speaker 1: it's tough to fathom how important even the smallest luxuries

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Speaker 1: can become. Uh, there's a reason they took fruitcake as

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Speaker 1: well because it has this staying power. And although fruitcake

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Speaker 1: is often a punchline in conversations in here in seventeen,

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Speaker 1: as we record this, oh, at the very end of

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Speaker 1: sen for ages past, fruitcake was both a reliable food

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Speaker 1: stuff and it was itself it seemed to be luxurious.

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Speaker 1: According to an article in the Smithsonian by Jesse Rhodes,

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Speaker 1: ancient Romans made something that was fruitcake esque, a mishmash

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Speaker 1: of barley, pomegranate, seeds, nuts, and raisins, and the descriptions

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Speaker 1: of it all make it sound kind of like an

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Speaker 1: energy bar. Quick backstage peak. Here at the Ridiculous History Office,

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Speaker 1: we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to

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Speaker 1: energy bars, and we're trying different ones. But I gotta say, man,

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Speaker 1: maybe that's why I'm off fruitcake. Maybe an energy bar

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Speaker 1: is too close. The modern fruitcake can be traced back

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Speaker 1: to the Middle Ages because dried fruits became more widely available,

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Speaker 1: and fruited breads in tured Western European cuisine. It's not

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Speaker 1: a fig Newton, it's fruited cake, yes, exactly, exactly, uh,

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Speaker 1: And there are different regional variations of this. But It

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Speaker 1: makes sense when you are thinking from the viewpoint of

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Speaker 1: an expedition, right, you want to bring stuff that you

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Speaker 1: can transport easily so it doesn't weigh much and it's

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Speaker 1: not going to spoil because your only other alternative is

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Speaker 1: going to be catches. Catch can pursuit of the resources

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Speaker 1: in the area, like the penguins. Lizzie Meek, who is

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Speaker 1: the artifacts manager for that Antarctic Heritage Trust UM, says

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Speaker 1: in a statement regarding the the ancient fruit cake that

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Speaker 1: it was ideal for Antarctic conditions because it was high

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Speaker 1: energy and it's actually still a favorite today when people

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Speaker 1: are making these kinds of journeys. And it turns out

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Speaker 1: that the company that manufactured this fruitcake is a company

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Speaker 1: called Huntley and Palmer's, a British um confection maker, and

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Speaker 1: they were very popular and they exported their products all

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Speaker 1: over the world, and the company itself actually boasts that

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Speaker 1: their products have turned up in some of the most

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Speaker 1: unexpected places, and that is no joke. Um. When this

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Speaker 1: fruitcake was discovered, folks from the Trust described it as

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Speaker 1: having a very very slight rancid butter smell, but other

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Speaker 1: than that it was in pretty good shape. Yes, they

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Speaker 1: transported this time capsule fruitcake for lack of a better term,

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Speaker 1: to a lab in christ Church, New Zealand's uh, the

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Speaker 1: lab that was operated by the Canterbury Museum. And the

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Speaker 1: plan is to clean the fruitcakes container, which is a tin,

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Speaker 1: so they want to remove the rust from that, they

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Speaker 1: want to stabilize it chemically, and they want to repair

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Speaker 1: the wax paper covering the cake. And then to me,

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Speaker 1: the weirdest thing is after they restore the fruitcake, they're

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Speaker 1: taking it back to the hut where it was found.

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Speaker 1: And that's because it is considered an Antarctic Specially Protected Area,

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Speaker 1: which I'm imagining does this mean they're recreating those conditions

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Speaker 1: so that you can go check it out sort of

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Speaker 1: like a moment out of time or like going to

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Speaker 1: you know, visit, uh the boyhood home of a president

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Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah, that's a great question. So

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Speaker 1: especially protected areas start showing up around nineteen sixty four

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Speaker 1: as part of several international agreements, and since its inception, UH,

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Speaker 1: the a t c M has emphasized the need to

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Speaker 1: protect sites or monuments of historic interests. So you're absolutely right,

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Speaker 1: that is one of their primary goals along with you know,

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Speaker 1: environmental protection and conservation. So if we as a group,

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Speaker 1: you me casey, everyone listening, and a mysterious stranger that

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Speaker 1: you'll meet eventually, if all of us high tail it

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Speaker 1: to Antarctica and we build something and hopefully we don't die,

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Speaker 1: if it is deemed of historical significance, these would be

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Speaker 1: the people protecting it exactly. And The New York Times

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Speaker 1: spoke to a guy named Matthew Williams who manages the

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Speaker 1: Reading Museum, which is where this biscuit maker was headquartered.

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Speaker 1: In his headquarter, I believe, and he says this. Modern

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Speaker 1: research has shown that the Polar parties daily ration of

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Speaker 1: forty calories was eight hundred calories short, and their diet

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Speaker 1: was deficient in vitamins as well as energy producing elements.

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Speaker 1: So part of their downfall was that they just kind

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Speaker 1: of did the math wrong as far as what their

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Speaker 1: rations were. And apparently also they focused much more on protein,

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Speaker 1: too much on protein, and less on vitamins, minerals and fats.

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Speaker 1: And this is hugely important. I'm really glad you brought

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Speaker 1: this up, because there's a thing that can occur when

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Speaker 1: you are subsisting off entirely protein and it's something it's

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Speaker 1: called rabbit starvation. That's how I heard of it. But

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Speaker 1: I think the more property aim is protein poisoning. So

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Speaker 1: it is absolutely possible to feel like you're eating an

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Speaker 1: adequate amount of sustenance but slowly undergain yeah, slowly undergoing terrible,

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Speaker 1: terrible medical consequences, which, by the way, this is a

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Speaker 1: dark fact, Noll. But that's one of the reasons I

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Speaker 1: think you and I talked about this on a different show,

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Speaker 1: that cannibalism survival. Cannibalism is such a bad decision because

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Speaker 1: by the time people finally violate that taboo and consume

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Speaker 1: human flesh, they're consuming the flesh of someone who was

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Speaker 1: already starving, and they're only really getting protein, so they

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Speaker 1: us to enter a different stage of starvation. Speaking of

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Speaker 1: fantastic segways, I I don't want to stop on a

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Speaker 1: cannibalism note. I looked into other old foods and I

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Speaker 1: found this great article by Mental Floss, by an author

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Speaker 1: named Teresa O'Neill. And Folks, if you're a fan of

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Speaker 1: our show, then uh, you probably already are aware of

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Speaker 1: Mental Floss. We actually hang out with the founders, who

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Speaker 1: are super cool Will and Mingesh and they have a

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Speaker 1: show called Part Time Genius, which we appeared on. It's

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Speaker 1: true we talked about Ikea furniture. They quizzed us and

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Speaker 1: they were a much more kind, gentle quiz master m

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Speaker 1: than than we're maybe used to. Casey, can we get

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Speaker 1: a little foreshadowing music? Just a little there we go? Yeah, No,

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Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. But first we'll explore a couple of

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Speaker 1: other examples of ancient foods, and I want to see

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Speaker 1: what you think of these. So first wine, right, how

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Speaker 1: old can wine be? Isn't it like the older the

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Speaker 1: better kind of and that's what people seem to say,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes have mishandled it can turn to vinegar, but

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Speaker 1: the people talk about a good year, and some of

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Speaker 1: the ones that aren't like really revered are quite old. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So excavators in Germany found the oldest known wine that

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Speaker 1: is still in the liquid state. It dates back to

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Speaker 1: the Roman era. They found it in a sarcophagus along

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Speaker 1: a bunch of other wine bottles that had dried up,

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Speaker 1: and it's been aging for sixteen hundred years. Jeez, do

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Speaker 1: you think I would get you really really lit or

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Speaker 1: with the alcohol kind of diminish over that longer period.

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Speaker 1: Apparently it's the ladder and the alcoholic content has gone

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Speaker 1: after that long, so there's probably a window of time

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Speaker 1: for good wine. Burnt British bread was discovered that was

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Speaker 1: five thousand five years old, not edible, I'm sure. Um

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Speaker 1: Bone soup, which does sound like something I would try,

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Speaker 1: was discovered having turned green over its two thousand, four

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Speaker 1: hundred years of storage. It's still contained bones, but they

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Speaker 1: did not eat them. This was discovered in China. Soup

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Speaker 1: like broth, the broth evaporated, so they really just found

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Speaker 1: the bones that have been sitting there for a while

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Speaker 1: with a green, gelatinous sludge of some kind. Yes, yes, uh.

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Speaker 1: And then people have also found beef jerky that was

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Speaker 1: buried in Wanly, China. I was hoping so man it had.

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Speaker 1: It was two thousand years old and it was a

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Speaker 1: black and green carbonized mess described by the archaeologist. None

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Speaker 1: of the people are trying to eat this, which is

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Speaker 1: I guess I understand it. But out of all the

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Speaker 1: old foods that you and I found when we're looking

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Speaker 1: into this, the fruitcake is unique because again, despite that

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Speaker 1: very slight rancid taste, it could still be at a well,

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Speaker 1: and one of our questions today is what's your opinion

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Speaker 1: of fruitcake? Do you think that we have been doing

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Speaker 1: a disservice to this noble noble I don't know, to

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Speaker 1: this culinary tradition, you know, ben I, I don't think

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Speaker 1: us spilling any ink over fruitcake is going to really

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Speaker 1: change its legacy. I think it's pretty well entrenched. You

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Speaker 1: don't think we're fruitcake influencers. I don't know, man, I

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Speaker 1: just I just feel like it's it's it's day in

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Speaker 1: court has passed, you know. I feel I feel like,

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Speaker 1: you know, the cultural place of fruitcake is is pretty

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Speaker 1: pretty solidified, and nothing we say or do is going

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Speaker 1: to change that. It's pretty congealed. No, this is not. However,

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Speaker 1: the end of our show, is it? No, it's not.

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Speaker 1: And what is that ominous music? Oh boy, I'm getting nervous.

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Speaker 1: This seems like such a good idea before where it

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Speaker 1: was actually happening. I'm scared. It's time. Jonathan Strickland, that's

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Speaker 1: the Quizster to you, guys. Yeah, yeah, no. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: the most cringe worthy segment in all of our podcasts,

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Speaker 1: across all of our brands. Gentlemen, where did you even

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Speaker 1: come from. Have you actually have been under the table

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Speaker 1: the whole time and been you've been kicking me for

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Speaker 1: the last twelve minutes. I got restless legs. Man, I'm sorry,

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Speaker 1: I noticed. So here's the thing, gentlemen, I have decided

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Speaker 1: that to truly become experts in ridiculous history, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to test you on your knowledge of truth versus fiction.

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Speaker 1: I will present to you occasionally a scenario, and you

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Speaker 1: must decide within the time span of three minutes, man,

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Speaker 1: whether or not the scenario I give you is real

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Speaker 1: or fiction. Now you will be able to talk amongst yourselves.

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Speaker 1: You may even pose questions towards me the quister, should

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Speaker 1: you feel that necessary. May the questions be posed in

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Speaker 1: the form of questions They maybe. But I'm glad you

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Speaker 1: brought this up, Noel, because I think this is far

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Speaker 1: too simple if I just give you a scenario and

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Speaker 1: you just give me an answer. But I respect you, Ben,

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Speaker 1: so i'd like you know. So, I am going to

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Speaker 1: make an arbitrary rule every time I appear on this

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Speaker 1: show that will pertain to that and that time only,

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Speaker 1: So next time I'm here this rule will be totally different.

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Speaker 1: But today the rule is should you wish to pose

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Speaker 1: a question to me, you must preface it with the

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Speaker 1: phrase quister, I have a quick query, followed by your question. Quister,

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Speaker 1: I have a quick query. Quick every I have a

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Speaker 1: quick queer every time you want to ask me a question? Now,

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Speaker 1: do you have a timer ready for three minutes? We do?

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Speaker 1: We do excellent? I like I like that. It's a wow.

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Speaker 1: That's enormous. It is a cartoonishly large time. It takes

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Speaker 1: up an entire wall of the studio. I don't know

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Speaker 1: how I missed it. It's a grandfather timer. I will

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Speaker 1: I will point to you Ben to start it. But

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Speaker 1: I'm going to read out the scenario first, so that

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Speaker 1: way you will have a full three minutes and feel

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Speaker 1: free to answer before the three minutes are up. Should

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Speaker 1: you feel confident and let's alright, here is your scenario

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Speaker 1: for this week. Gerald Jerry Scrivener not only made history

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Speaker 1: but ate it when he mistakenly consumed a ten box

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Speaker 1: filled with one hundred ten year old chocolates which were

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Speaker 1: actually meant to be a museum piece sponsored by the St.

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Speaker 1: Andrew's Preservation Trust. Begin the time, okay, so he ate it,

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Speaker 1: he ate it, but quick quiz quiz master, I have

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Speaker 1: a quick query, close enough, mister whatever did he work

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Speaker 1: at the museum? He did? Okay, so he worked at

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Speaker 1: the museum, says him. Yeah, like he's he's the most

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Speaker 1: unreliable narrator we could possibly have here. Quister, I have

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Speaker 1: a quick query. Yes, are the answers that you give

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Speaker 1: us true? Yes? Wait? I didn't think that out very well,

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Speaker 1: did i? Okay? Um, quister, I have a quick query. Yes.

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Speaker 1: Could you briefly restate that? Certainly? All right? Um? There

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Speaker 1: was this box of chocolates, boxes made out of ten

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Speaker 1: t I n Okay. The chocolates themselves date from well

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Speaker 1: a d ten years to the point where he ate them.

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Speaker 1: The actual box of chocolates was first gifted to someone

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Speaker 1: in nineteen o two, and this museum employee, Jerry Scrivener Gerald,

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Speaker 1: to some mistakenly consumed the chocolates, thinking they were simply

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Speaker 1: chocolates and not realizing they were meant to be put

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Speaker 1: upon display. Okay, I would argue that Jerry Gerald worked

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Speaker 1: at a museum, he would know pretty well whether he

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Speaker 1: was looking at an artifact like an old ancient box

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Speaker 1: of chocolates, or if it was something to be consumed.

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Speaker 1: So I am leaning towards faults. Okay, I think that's

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Speaker 1: a really good point, because you know, you would expect

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Speaker 1: there to be some sort of bar for employment in

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Speaker 1: a museum, you would think, and not a chocolate bar. Uh.

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Speaker 1: But I'm I'm wondering because of the specificity. I'm wondering

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Speaker 1: if it's true. Huh. But Jonathan is a very pedantic

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Speaker 1: quiz master. He's going to, you know, down to the detail,

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Speaker 1: try to trick us every chance he gets. So I

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Speaker 1: I don't know it rings true, but it also I

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Speaker 1: really think Jerry Gerald, you know, if he was worth

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Speaker 1: his salt as a museum employee, would know he was

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Speaker 1: looking at an artifact and not a delicious treat for

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Speaker 1: him to consume. Also, and let's be honest, Jerry Gerald

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Speaker 1: doesn't sound like the most plausible name. Jerry Gerald. Scrivener

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Speaker 1: Gerald is his name, Jerry is what is in air quotes? Okay, man,

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Speaker 1: I gotta tell you we've got thirty seconds. No, you

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Speaker 1: didn't follow the rule those you get an electric shock.

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Speaker 1: Sorry about that. I I was so excited to just

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Speaker 1: follow along with your your amazing journey. Okay, I I

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Speaker 1: feel like it's true. Wow, yeah, we're at it in past.

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Speaker 1: I feel like it's false. Do you want a deathmatch?

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Speaker 1: Rock paper sis? Second? One two three? Shoot? One two

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Speaker 1: three shoots? Okay, first with scissor scissor. That was scissor paper,

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Speaker 1: which means we're going with false. All right, because you

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Speaker 1: said false, you won enough, okay and that's our time. Ah,

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Speaker 1: time is up, gentlemen. Congratulations, The ants is false. Yes.

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Speaker 1: In fact, the St Andrew's Preservation Trust did have a

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Speaker 1: ten year old ten of chocolates. They were gifted from

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Speaker 1: a mother to a daughter. After the mother had received

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Speaker 1: them as a as a gift, upon King Edwards ascension

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Speaker 1: to the throne, handed them over to her daughter. She

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Speaker 1: did the same to her daughter, so on and so

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Speaker 1: forth until they gave it to St Andrew's Preservation Trust.

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Speaker 1: It is in a museum, It is on display. Uneaten

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Speaker 1: Scrivener was a complete fabrication. All right. Hey, I hated

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Speaker 1: that with every being, but I'm I feel good about it.

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Speaker 1: That was a lot of fun. I we did not

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Speaker 1: think it was going to go down to a rock

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Speaker 1: paper scissors death match. I like it because it tells

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Speaker 1: me two things. One, you are both very clever, and too,

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Speaker 1: I'll get you next time. I'll be gone, Ladies, a

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Speaker 1: gentleman our evil quiz mass or Jonathan Stricklands. I can't

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Speaker 1: get some won't open the door, like, oh, I can't

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Speaker 1: open the door from the site. That's true. Well, thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for coming, and Nol, I owe you

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Speaker 1: a personal thanks because we would have We would have

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Speaker 1: gotten that incorrect on our very first time out. And

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Speaker 1: coddenly knows what happens when when you get it wrong.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you got an electric shock just for not

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Speaker 1: following his sinister rules. And it already had jittery legs.

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Speaker 1: It's gonna be a rough afternoon for me. I've developed

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Speaker 1: jittery leg just from this whole thing. It has stressed

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Speaker 1: me out. But we hope you guys found it at

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Speaker 1: least a little bit enjoyable. It really was like there

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Speaker 1: was high anxiety going on there. Yeah, we hope you

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Speaker 1: enjoyed it. Um, this is not the last you have

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Speaker 1: heard of our historical quiz centric arch nemesis. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: have a feeling he'll probably materialize again. I'm still here.

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Speaker 1: I think he's still here and we are going to

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Speaker 1: head out. We hope you have an excellent end of

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Speaker 1: the year. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

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Speaker 1: We do not have a my Space, No well, I

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Speaker 1: I I do still floating around out there somewhere you

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Speaker 1: can look at. You can look for it. Noel Brown

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Speaker 1: my space dot com slash Noel Brown. I was one

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Speaker 1: of the first to get like a you know, personalized

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Speaker 1: U R L. Nice. Yeah, I was. I was one

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Speaker 1: of the original verified my spacers. In fact, oh well, hey,

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Speaker 1: I was friends with Tom getting to know you. You

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Speaker 1: wouldn't even mention that this is kind of a Christmas

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Speaker 1: themed episode, um holiday theme? How about that? Because freecake

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Speaker 1: does hold a special place. It's not even Christmas centering.

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Speaker 1: It's just like a weird thing your grandmother gives you

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Speaker 1: whatever her religious is. And if you were a fan

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Speaker 1: of a fruitcake and you have a really amazing fruitcake recipe, uh,

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Speaker 1: send it to me and I'll try to make it

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Speaker 1: and maybe we can all get together here in the

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Speaker 1: office and give it a shop and watch sail Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: and we will lest sale. And for now we're going

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Speaker 1: to was with sail Away. Save me here. Man. Let's

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Speaker 1: say lo wait, say lo, wait, say lo, way, but

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Speaker 1: send us your fruit kake. Recipes, ridiculous at how stuff

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Speaker 1: works dot com, all the social media stuff that Ben

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Speaker 1: mentioned except Pinterest, and we hope to see you next

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Speaker 1: time on a new episode of Ridiculous History. And happy

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Speaker 1: holidays everyone,