Sympathy Pains


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Hosted by Laura Beil (Dr. Death, Bad Batch), Sympathy Pains is a six-part series from Neon Hum Media and iHeartRadio. For 20 years, Sarah Delashmit told people around her that she had cancer, muscular dystrophy, and other illnesses. She used a wheelchair and posted selfies from a hospital bed. She told friends and coworkers she was trapped in abusive relationships, or that she was the mother of children who had died. It was all a con. Sympathy was both her great need and her powerful weapon. But unlike most scams, she didn’t want people’s money. She was after something far more valuable.
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Hosts & Guests
Captivating
2023-01-19
Laura Beil never fails to produce a top quality podcast. Well researched and told so well. The guest interviews were used perfectly to create an atmosphere of empathy for the listener.
Too many ads
2023-12-03
iHeart is becoming notorious for too many ads. Sad.
Great story telling
2022-08-22
Amazing investigation and love podcast done in this style. Interviews and real world people speaking, no voice acting.
Highly Recommend
2022-07-20
If you loved Bad Batch you’ll love this one too!
Worth the Commercials
2022-06-07
This story is insane!!! I can’t even really believe it! I can’t imagine being the victims in all of this.
Nothing but Melodrama
2022-06-10
Wow this podcast was… bad. I made sure to listen to the whole thing before leaving a review to be as balanced as I could. This podcast was so one dimensional. I understand why the “victims” were traumatized but some of their actions were concerning. You could do an entire episode about setting healthy boundaries but the only ones that tried to set boundaries discovered Sarah’s secret in less than 3 weeks. Then there was the whole Dr. Phil thing. Like seriously?? You thought this woman needed serious psychiatric help and thought a reality tv show quack was the appropriate solution? No doubt that Sarah was a scam artist but she was also severely ill and the series concluded with “damn I really hope she gets help”. Like what was the point of this? I’m a huge advocate of highlighting victim’s stories before that of the perpetrator but this podcast didn’t do that. The story was undoubtedly about Sarah but not in an insightful way, rather in a way that reads like a click bait article. Furthermore the victims seemed horrified they couldn’t criminally charge her for their mental pain. They called Sarah a sociopath but never stopped to consider why all these women were becoming extremely emotionally invested in a virtual stranger. There were so many ways the narrator could have added insight, commented on bigger systemic issues, and just failed to achieve any kind of true depth. She brought the ending back to a social “crisis of empathy” which resonated about as well as the conclusion of a 9th grader’s English essay. Great for burning time, but lacked insightfulness or dimension.
Great story, but ads ruin it
2022-06-10
Such a fascinating story but OMG the sheer amount of ads is just unbelievable. Two to three minutes worth of ads in the middle of a podcast really drags you out of the story. I’d definitely recommend scaling back. Way too distracting
Wonderfully Narrated and Informative
2022-05-25
I really enjoyed the way this story was told. Gave great insight into the damage that one person can cause with no regard for the victims left in its wake. Well done!! ( as for the commercials, I understand that you have to have them, so it’s okay. That’s what the fast forward icons are for)
Good story too many ads !!!!!
2022-06-01
Interesting story but soo many ads really took away from the experience
Laura Beil
2022-05-09
I will listen to anything Laura writes or narrates. She is the best!
About
Information
- Channel
- CreatoriHeartPodcasts
- Episodes7
- Seasons1
- RatingClean
- Copyright2025 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
- Show Website
- ProvideriHeartMedia + Entertainment, Inc
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