Transcript

Wyna Wink, Justin Garcia, Anniversary Blessing | Fact Check for Justin Garcia

From Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 51 min · 10,093 words · 266 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Wyna Wink, Justin Garcia, Anniversary Blessing | Fact Check for Justin Garcia", an episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard published February 11, 2026 (51 min, about 10,093 words). It mentions 35 people, works and ideas, including Connections, Dak Shepard, tigers, orangutans, Wordle.

What this episode is about

The content celebrates the eighth anniversary of the hosts while sharing excitement about their special guest, Wyna Wink, the creator of the popular game Connections. The discussion revolves around their theories about Wink's creative process and the joy of connecting with influential figures in the puzzle community.

Key takeaways

  • Anniversaries remind us milestones matter; some celebrate eight years while others hit the thousand mark.
  • Puzzle editors are like chefs: their clues are ingredients, and their puzzles, the final dish that wows diners.
  • Rainy days equal snowstorms for some—wisdom lies in how we report from either dimension.
  • In a niche community like puzzles, connections matter; your work is your resume, waiting to be submitted.
  • Chinese radio: the original podcast, proving that storytelling has always been a global affair long before streaming.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: New York, New York, puzzle editor, Connections, crossword puzzle
  2. – 10:00: New York Times, New York, New York, Oberlin College
  3. – 15:00: Connections, Wordle, crossword puzzle
  4. – 20:00: Connections, Armchair Expert, Golden Globe
  5. – 25:00: Golden Globe, New York Times, New York, New York, 8x8x8 foot cage
  6. – 30:00: Dak Shepard, Armchair Expert, New York, New York, Emily Burger
  7. – 35:00: tigers, Mike Tyson, Howard Stern, India
  8. – 40:00: Bible Belt, tigers, Philly cheese steaks, Matu
  9. – 45:00: orangutans, chimpanzee
  10. – 50:00: orangutans, chimpanzee, gorillas

Notable quotes from "Wyna Wink, Justin Garcia, Anniversary Blessing | Fact Check for Justin Garcia"

  • The creator of Connections, our favorite game.
    about Connections · at
  • So, wow. Would I be right to assume you're living in New York?
    about New York, New York · at
  • It's sort of a niche job, being a puzzle editor and I think, I came into it through crosswords. So, I joined the times in, 2020 as a cross word editor, which is something that…
    about crossword puzzle · at
  • Some of my amazing colleagues. basically what happened was like in 2021 the times acquired Wordle and then there was like this pivot towards new games and so like they brought…
    about Wordle · at
  • All right. Well, I have to give it up. I have to give it up to you, Dax Shepard.
    about Dak Shepard · at
  • Oh, yeah. They're beautiful. I don't agree with it, but I like kind of viscerally understand the desire to.
    about tigers · at
  • Philly cheese steaks. Thank you. Wagoo.
    about Philly cheese steaks · at
  • Cuz you go you ob you definitely are going. Which one do you go to? okay. Do chimps decide what sperm they're picking?
    about orangutans · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Dak Shepard — Person · Host · 1 mention · first at
    He leads the interview, presses the 'wink' question, shares analogies about creative grind, and later discusses tigers/Mike Tyson and does the lion scenario bit.
  • Mike Tyson — Person · Referenced celebrity (example in tiger discussion) · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as an anecdote about owning/sleeping with tigers, referenced via an appearance on Howard Stern; prompts discussion about danger, trauma, and animal ethics.
    Saying, Yeah, Howard, I was so crazy back then. I had these two tigers and I slept in bed with them and sometimes Howard would I'd wake up in the middle of the night. They were fighting each other.
  • Howard Stern — Person · Referenced media personality (source of Tyson anecdote) · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the interviewer to whom Mike Tyson described sleeping with tigers; used to frame the story.
    Whenever we talk about tigers, but I'll always think of it when I think of tigers is Mike Tyson on Howard Stern saying, Yeah, Howard, I was so crazy back then. I had these two tigers and I slept in bed with.

Companies & orgs

  • New York Times — Company · Business focus · 4 mentions · first at
    Synonymous with 'The New York Times', mentioned in the context of the guest's employment.
    It's sort of a niche job, being a puzzle editor and I think, I came into it through crosswords. So, I joined the times in, 2020 as a cross word editor, which is something that…
  • Matu — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the source of Philly cheese steaks enjoyed by the hosts.
    And they only serve them like at certain times. It's a whole thing at the bar.
  • Oberlin College — Company · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the alma mater of the guest.
    But when you major in art? You majored in art.
  • Kinsey Institute — Company · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of studies on human behavior.
    Yeah. Had you looked up any of his facts, it would have brought you to the Kinsey Institute.
  • UG — Company · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of conducting studies.
    I have some peeps over there still.
  • Michigan State — Company · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of conducting studies.
    You study the kids at Michigan State versus U of M versus Stanford versus who are we kidding? I know all these studies are really based on like these very unique populations of.
  • U of M — Company · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of conducting studies.
    You study the kids at Michigan State versus U of M versus Stanford versus who are we kidding? I know all these studies are really based on like these very unique populations of.
  • Stanford — Company · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of conducting studies.
    You study the kids at Michigan State versus U of M versus Stanford versus who are we kidding? I know all these studies are really based on like these very unique populations of.

Products & tech

  • Connections — Product · Primary discussion focus (NYT game) and reason for guest interview · 7 mentions · first at
    The episode centers on interviewing the editor of Connections about how the game is made, difficulty calibration, and a specific 'wink' to the hosts.
  • Wordle — Product · Referenced NYT game (context for Connections creation) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the acquisition that triggered NYT’s push for new games and the internal pipeline that led to Connections being developed.
  • Philly cheese steaks — Product · Celebratory food item (anniversary treat) · 1 mention · first at
    They eat Philly cheesesteaks on-air as an anniversary treat and recommend listeners get one; sourced from Matu in Beverly Hills.
  • Emily Burger — Product · Joke food item (closing quip) · 1 mention · first at
    A humorous line implying meeting in New York and eating 'Emily Burger'; no clear real-world product details are provided in the transcript.
    I sure hope I meet you in New York and we can eat Emily Burger.

Concepts & topics

  • tigers — Concept · Core topic · 7 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of conservation efforts and their current population status.
  • orangutans — Concept · Core topic · 6 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of their mating behaviors and physical characteristics.
  • crossword puzzle — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Central to the guest's profession and discussed in detail regarding creation and editing.
  • chimpanzee — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of their mating behaviors and physical characteristics.
    Unlike the longer taper glands penis of chimpanzees.
  • puzzle editor — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Central to the guest's profession and discussed in detail.
    The times in, 2020 as a cross word editor, which is something that I still do. And so, all of the puzzle editors, at the times, in addition to like managing their own games and…
  • 8x8x8 foot cage — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Part of a riddle discussed by the hosts involving a lion.
    You are in a 8x 8 by 8 foot cage and there is a an adult male lion asleep in the corner and he's going to be asleep for 30 seconds.
  • gorillas — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of their physical characteristics and mating behaviors.
    Silverbacks, the males don't all develop a silverback. They only develop the silverback if they have taken control of the troop.
  • Chinese radio — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of the guest's parents' profession.
    My parents are in the radio business.

Places & events

  • New York, New York — Place · Setting · 7 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the location where the guest lives and works.
  • Golden Globe — Event · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in the context of a wink from the guest to the hosts.
    Yes. With armchair and expert being in the same thing the day after the Golden Globes. And we're I'm I'm I'm wondering if it was a wink or not.
  • Bible Belt — Place · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of its definition and the states it encompasses.
    Sure. Speaking of ding, go dogs, Georgia, football, Super Bowl's coming up, Rams lost. First fact, Bible belt. What constitutes what is the Bible belt specifically?
  • India — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the primary location where tigers are found.
    That there's only like 5,600 tigers left or maybe a specific type of tiger and they're in India. They're all in India.
  • Manhattan — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the part of New York where the guest grew up.
    Always on the east side of Manhattan. So I grew up on like 23rd and second and just kind of moved around.
  • Russia — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of the locations where tigers are found.
    There are estimated 5,500 to 5600 tigers left in the wild with numbers slowly oh increasing in some areas like India, Nepal, and Russia due to conservation efforts but declining in parts of Southeast Asia. That's not a lot.
  • Beverly Hills — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the location of a Philly cheese steak restaurant.
    It's in Beverly Hills and it's amazing.
  • Nepal — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of the locations where tiger populations are increasing.
    There are estimated 5,500 to 5600 tigers left in the wild with numbers slowly oh increasing in some areas like India, Nepal, and Russia due to conservation efforts but declining in parts of.
  • Southeast Asia — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of the regions where tiger populations are declining.
    Increasing in some areas like India, Nepal, and Russia due to conservation efforts but declining in parts of Southeast Asia. That's not a lot.
  • Pasadena — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the location of a new Philly cheese steak restaurant.
    It's in Beverly Hills and it's amazing.
  • Super Bowl — Event · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in passing in the context of sports.
    Sure. Speaking of ding, go dogs, Georgia, football, Super Bowl's coming up, Rams lost. First fact, Bible belt. What constitutes what is the Bible belt specifically?

Media & podcasts

  • Armchair Expert — Media · Host platform · 2 mentions · first at
    The podcast where the discussion is taking place, mentioned in the context of a wink from the guest.
    That's a great start. That's a great start. Okay. Now, I'm sure it got to you, but I was very suspicious as were the armchairs that you were winking to us.

Full transcript with timestamps

Stay tuned for the fact check. It's where the party's at. Happy anniversary. Oh, it's the anniversary. This is too much stuff is happening today.

No, it's for our anniversary. Oh, this is for our anniversary. Oh, I you know, it's like one of those you make it work.

Happy crossover. Yeah. Um, happy accident. But we are going to be joined live. I feel like we're doing a telecast. Like we're going to talk to someone on a mountain reporting on a snowstorm.

Uh Winoo is going to be joining us. The creator of Connections, our favorite game.

She's a cross puzzler. She does it all. She does it all. And we're going to find out. As you guys know, we have a theory that perhaps she winked at us.

You have a theory. I have a theory. I'll stand by it and then I will sh you. I will not share the glory if I'm right

because you'll have been on the other side of the fence. Okay, that's fair. Okay. I was excited to share the glory.

Oh, no. I can't. No, we're on opposite sides of the of the spectrum here. We're gonna find out.

Okay, great. Um, but also we're just so excited to talk to her. Yeah. How does she do this? Happy anniversary. Let's talk to Wina.

Okay, here comes WA. I'm nervous. Me, too. Hello. Oh, can you hear us? Hi. Yeah. Yeah. Can you hear me?

Yes. Oh my god. And it's Wen, right? Not wina. We mess that up. It's w We mess that up a lot. I'm so sorry.

No, not at all. You want to see? Oh, there's a puzzle. How cute is This is Polo.

Polo. Does Polo help you write your puzzles? Polo is my muse. Yeah, for sure. Oh my god, I'm starruck.

I am too. I am too. I feel like we've crossed like we've um we've entered a different dimension. Like when exists in another dimension where the New York Times exists.

Yes. Um, but now we're here in the same dimension is it's our 8year anniversary. So, we're really happy to have you.

And it's also your your thousandth. You just had your thousandth episode, right? So congratulations.

We're bordering on too self- congratulatory cuz we had a thousand and now we have eight. And so, we're going to we'll just let everyone know. We're going to cap it at celebrating after today.

Well, it's not our fault that there's just so many good things happening, so many milestones.

So, wow. Would I be right to assume you're living in New York? Yes, that's right. And how long have you lived there?

I was actually grew up here. Really? What part of town? Always on the east side of Manhattan. So I grew up on like 23rd and second and just kind of moved around.

And what did mom and dad do? Uh my parents are in the radio business. They're in

They're in Yeah. mostly Chinese radio. Chinese radio. That's cool. The original podcast.

Yeah. Can they get us big in China? I feel like that would really move the needle.

It would. I think the the the stations are here, so no. Okay. Well, can you get us big in New York? Cuz that would also be good.

Yeah. Well, I think she's trying. I think she's trying. Okay. Now, of course, let's I want to find out how you've come to be a puzzle creator. And then, of course, we have a billion dollar question at the end. But yeah, what is the route one takes to where you're at? And and also explain all your duties as a puzzler. Ah.

Oh, okay. Okay. Um, uh, yeah, it's a it's sort of a niche job, um, being a puzzle editor and I think, um, I came into it through crosswords. So, I joined the times in, uh, 2020 as a cross word editor, which is something that I still do. And so, all of the puzzle editors, um, at the times, uh, in addition to like managing their own games and projects, also, we all work on editing the Big Cross together. Yes. And so that it's like it's a very small sort of sweet community of like of just like puzzle enthusiasts of cross enthusiasts.

And so like everyone kind of knows everyone and like you know everyone kind of like a fan of everyone's work. And so um I think that when you start submitting your puzzles to different venues then like the you know you get a sense of like like the puzzles that people make and the clues they write and things like that. And so I feel like that played a big a big part of it because being a cross a puzzle editor, a lot of it is just like writing clues. And so um yeah, I feel like the puzzles you make are like your resume. So I feel like that really helped.

Yeah. And do you think that are you like a Simo where you can look at a cross word puzzle in any random newspaper in America and have a pretty good sense of who wrote it? Like can you identify the authors through their different uh patterns?

I would say that there's definitely some styles. Yeah. I don't know if I would be like exceptionally good at it, but I bet that there are people who would and they're definitely like constructors with like their own flare and I feel like their work is

I feel like you have a real fingerprint because I was doing I think maybe minis. You sometimes do minis, right?

Occasionally. Yeah. Yeah. I think I was doing a mini and I was like I'm I wonder did this and then I went and you had

what can you remember the giveaway the same wavelength? Yeah. I But I think you you're like f It's like fun. It's cheeky.

Okay. Cheeky brand. Enchanted. Enchanted. Yeah. Enchanted's the word. But I did

nicest things anyone's ever said to me. Thank you. But but when you major in art? You majored in art.

Yeah. Yeah. From where? From Oberlin College. Okay. So it was, you know, my mom was always like, my mom, who I'm very close with and who's an amazing, lovely person, was always just like, you're not going to be an artist or real. Um, and so I feel like it was, you know, and she was she was right, but I think I feel like

the art thing the art thing was always Yeah, it's um it's always been like a an interest of mine.

How did you start making your own cross I assume you started making your own crossword puzzles for your own amusement? And then what do you submit them to the New York Times? like how does one gain employment in this field?

Yeah. No, that's exactly it. You just kind of realize So for me, I started going to cross word tournaments and that's where you meet like other cross word freaks and it's just really fun and um what becomes kind of intimidating. It's like even the idea of going to a cross tournament like oh I'm not that good of a solver, you know, I'm not smart enough, I'm not fast enough, whatever. And it's like do you think it's fun to sit in a room for two days solving puzzles? If you do, then you belong. like this is, you know, like like no one actually cares how like good you are at solving puzzles. And so it's just a lot of like-minded people who love puzzles getting together and that's where you kind of meet, you know, the sort of like luminaries in the field and you're like, "Oh my god, I love their work. I love their work." And then you realize just because everyone's like so sweet that it's like, "Oh, it's just

normal people that make these puzzles and like I am normal per you know, it's like you're like maybe it occurs to you that maybe it could be you."

Right. Right. So I Yeah. And and you've already said a couple adjectives, but if you had to say there was some um throughine of the Puzzlers, do do you think there is a personality type?

It's interesting because it's not like a fulltime thing. I feel like it's cool that people come from all sorts of different backgrounds.

Um but there is like there are like a lot of like computer science people. There are a lot of musicians. And I feel like there is a certain like maybe brain that like also overlaps like puzzle word play things like that and maybe something computational as well.

It is your full-time job though, right? Yes. Okay. Phew. How are you calibrating? As people may or may not know, but the New York Times cross word puzzle gets increasingly hard throughout the week. And I'm wondering how you know what level Thursday is versus like sitting down to do Tuesday versus Saturday. What what's the criteria that makes it harder?

Yeah. No, that's a great question. I think that Monday through Thursday are and and also Sunday are the themed puzzles. And so the nature of the theme will actually tell you a lot about the day of the week that it'll be the most appropriate for. So like Thursday is the day that's like the most known for like tricks. So if you have like a rebus, right, which is when like you know more than one letter is in that box or when you have like something funny like the words are turning directions or going backwards or flipping or something like weird is happening. then that's going to like almost always run on a Thursday. Um, and if it's like a more Sorry, go ahead.

No, this is just ooing and aawing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm amazed. But like there there are other themes that are like a little bit more straightforward. Um, and those might be good for an early week. And also there's stuff about the grid. This is this is a little like interrupting this is like too weedsy or whatever, but there

get esoteric. There's like a on an early week puzzle, you actually they're actually really hard to make because you have to make the grid super clean, which means when you're constructing the grid, you know, you might want to like include all these like fun entries, but then you might get like these weird little like four-letter words that no one knows that are kind of obscure and like those don't really fly on like a Monday or Tuesday. You really want that vocabulary to be super familiar and not sort of like crossword insidery. And when you're in your like creative mode where you're coming up with, are you prone to think of like a great clue for a great word?

You're eating breakfast and do you have like a notes section in your phone where you're going to like, oh, this is a word I want to use or do you more visualize the full grid and how it's going to work together?

Ideally, it sort of changed for me. And I think that you're identifying a really smart what a really smart person would do which is like yeah sometimes you if you think of like a really amazing like clue answer combo you write it down then you can build your puzzle around it. I think that for a long time when I when I started making puzzles especially um I would kind of just make a grid with the most fun words that I could and then I would clue it

reverse engineer it right and then sometimes you kind of you don't actually want to do that because sometimes you can't write quite the clue that you thought you could like it might be a fun answer but like it's really the clue answer combo that makes it a good puzzle. So, I think that you're thinking about it in a more kind of holistic way, which I believe is kind of the ideal way.

How are you handling your new fame, like also because people have a lot of eye towards you because they can't, you know, if if the puzzle's too hard or you do the one with the pictures and then people are mad and then they're sending you bad vibes.

I admit I've once sent a few bad vibes that are bad. Yeah, you we were on a connections chain and sometimes Yeah, she would be like that [ __ ] when

I know, but I didn't mean it for real, but I was mad. If she couldn't solve it, it was your fault, not hers. Yeah,

that's right. I I take responsibility and I welcome the bad vibes. I think um Yeah, I think that's fair. I think uh it's great. I think um it's really fun even when people are mad. It's like I love being mad at stuff, so I get it. I think it's very I'm in like a very lucky position where um the thing that like making games is something that like we love doing. It's like it's so fun to do and people love solving them but it's super low stakes. There's like zero stakes but high passion so it like doesn't really matter as opposed to like other jobs like you know like the journalists or whatever or like news it's like extremely high stakes and extremely high passion you know.

Yeah. When you screw up there's lawsuits. I doubt you've ever been sued over the crossword puzzle

yet. Okay, now let's move to connections. How did you think of that concept? Who thought of the concept?

I I did not think of connections. Connections was pitched internally um by some of my amazing colleagues. Um, basically what happened was like in 2021 the times acquired Wordle and then there was like this uh pivot towards new games and so like they brought on this like amazing you know new games team and then they created these sort of like pipelines for pitching and developing new games and like a green light process and all that and so connections was pitched and like developed internally and then when it got to the uh stage where they wanted to like release a 60-day public beta trial um they needed an editor to write those 60 boards. And so at the time I was the only editor that like didn't have a game and they were like, "Wena, do you want to try writing this game?" And I was like, "Yeah, that sounds amazing." So I I was assigned connections um after it had already been like developed and stuff.

So I got I got really really lucky. Okay. I think of sometimes the how daunting your job is. I compare it to back when I was in this sketch comedy theater and we had a new show every single Sunday and there had to be 25 sketches and it just like the the on it never ended and you kind of run out of inspiration and anyone that was around me in that period I would be at lunch and someone would put you know a napkin down weird on the table as a waiter and I'd be like oh there's a sketch. What if the person always puts things down? So are you like are you kind of crazy? Are you like to be around you? Are you like looking around you constantly trying to feed that inferno of like what?

Yeah. Like what's your process for it? It's extremely relatable what we said about the napkin. I'm taking notes now. It's like napkin funny.

So look out for that. Um no, I I feel like yeah, it's um in the beginning I feel like people are like oh is it kind of like ideas kind of come to you and maybe in the beginning a little bit but not for a while. I feel like after, you know, it's been like a couple years and I feel like

you couldn't rely on Yeah. to be inspired from the cloud to do seven. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I wish. Yeah. So, it is a little bit more of a grind. So, it's like you sit down, you go, I'm going to just look at some words, you know? I'm going to look Google a list of flowers or like a list of parts of a ship or like I don't know how about some fish or whatever, you know? And then you like look at words or sometimes, you know, you have a seed of an idea. There's like like you know I was thinking about the other day it was like there's a lot of free associating. So it was I was thinking of like computer stuff and there was like you know storage drive so there's like thumb thumb drive a zip drive a flash drive. I was like oh like those words like are like kind of interesting. Thumb zip flash together. And so I kind of like I I work in a in a spreadsheet so like as like a digital sketch pad. So I can kind of click and drag words around.

And so I was like trying to make a category of that. But then I was like, "Oh, you know, like thumb drive and zip and like flash drive are sort of the same thing. So maybe it's better." It's like a fake category and you kind of click them around and you try to see if there are other

The fake categories really piss me off. Well, that's the fun of the game. You get me. Sometimes you really get me.

Yeah. Yeah. Congrats. The thing the times I've been mad at you, to be honest, have been

solely when we got obsessed with solving the the the the colors. Yes. When you had to go purple, blue, green, yellow, that was like that's how you get an A on it in our thread.

And so so often I'd be like, "Well, definitely that's the hardest." And I would do it and it would be [ __ ] green. I'm like, "When? No way. This this purple's way easier than this green." Those are the times I've been upset. How are you delineating what's harder in your mind? I guess it's just you're arbitrarily. It's whatever.

Can I guess something? I want to guess. Yes, please. I feel like the purple is almost always a word play.

That's exactly what I would say. Okay, that's exactly what it is. It's There's always like they're joined by a word that we're missing or there's

or a letter is missing off of a word or something. It's always word play. I'm Purple's my favorite. purple is, but then sometimes purple isn't always that though, right? Purple's not always word play.

There's not always a word play category in the board. And sometimes um if there's like a So I I do you want to hear my like very loose very loose rubric for like assigning colors? Okay. Yes.

Um so Monica, you're exactly right with the the purple. If there's like word play, which I guess I'm defining as like

the group of four words, the category is not based on the meaning of those four words. So maybe those are all words that like, you know, go with another word. So like the fill in the blank categories, right? Like blank tape, right? All the words that go with tape, those words that have anything to do with each other, but that's word play. Or like yeah, the change a letter, the homophones or you know, things like that. Um, so that'll like basically always be purple. Um, blue is for uh if there's like trivia. So if it's like kind of more like know it or you don't, if it's a reference to like

movie. Yeah. Actors been in all four of these movies. Exactly. um that'll like be blue and then red and green is a little bit more, you know, maybe a little bit more uh uh ambiguous,

a little bit more of a toss up. Like it's extremely subjective and I feel like the way I do it is if I see a word that like is pretty unambiguous in terms of it's part of speech or like it like kind of squarely like it can't it like identifies the category. If it's like ambiguously like a definition of something and it can't really mean other stuff, whatever that category is might be yellow and the green one might be like a group of synonyms or something that's a little harder to see. Maybe their part of speech is more ambiguous.

There's like the words have multiple meanings, stuff like that. Yes. Yes. But it's it's a very vibes based. So I it's understandably kind of I think it's it's subjective. Yeah. And what is harder for you to create, connections or the the crosswords?

Like, are you wearing golden handcuffs with this? Uh, you got to sign this. It's like it's a hit. You you've cracked it. You're known for it. And you're like, "Wait though, I'd rather be doing crossword."

No, I actually Connections has like this kind of like free association like like structural like freedom like you can kind of take liberties with like the like thinking. It's like fun to think about all the different things a category could be. So there's a flexibility in it that I think is likely whereas like um crosswords are in some ways like at least grid making it's it's quite formal like it's hard to like make a good grid and to like not have too many crappy words and and things like that. So I I kind of appreciate the looseness of connections.

Do you get a bang out of thinking of like how many people play the game? I would

I think yeah it's it's really I mean I it's I think it's it's it's very cool. I'm very I feel very fortunate that like something I really love doing is something that people like playing.

Now, given the the pace of how it comes out, do you how can you take a vacation? How are you getting time off? Can you do multiple in a day and build a little war chest as we do

right now? Yeah. Yeah. There we're like about like four weeks ahead. Um so the boards that like I'll write this week will run in about like yeah in about a month. Um, so there's a little bit of a buffer, but you know, I think I it's hard to get like if if I'm going to be gone for a week, it's hard to get like, you know, a week ahead. So, it's just I don't I don't mind kind of working when I'm, you know,

I have an idea. I have an idea for a purple based on napkin. Okay, great. You got a pitch is what you got. cuz you said napkin earlier and I've been thinking that a a good purple

would be like napkin and then some like fair child something son like the last the end of the word is family child son

probably not daughter that seems hard but you need a fourth if that shows up oh he'll spray Okay.

Okay. Okay. I'm going to get to my million dollar question and I guess first I would ask, have you listened to Armchair Expert?

Yes. Okay. Wow. That's That's a great start. That's a great start. Okay. Now, I I'm sure it got to you, but I was very suspicious as were the armchairs that you were winking to us.

I want you to be honest, though. I really want you to be honest. Yes. With armchair and expert being in the same thing the day after the Golden Globes. And we're I'm I'm I'm wondering if it was a wink or not.

I can confirm that this was definitely intentional that it was a wink. That is so Wow.

I know. That's better than a Golden Globe. I'd rather have that than us having won the Golden Globe.

It is. Which we had lost the day before. So, it was a really big moment. But I was too I couldn't I couldn't receive it.

You were your self-esteem was too low to even consider that that Look, it's also a phrase that it doesn't mean us.

Yeah. Yeah. Next next time next time I'll put Dax and Monica in it. So, you know, it'll be like like Star Trek characters and like Santa blank or something.

Or you could be using Axe from Dax and I don't know what we're doing. Monica's tricky.

Yeah, it's going to be rough. There you go. Friends characters maybe. Oh my god.

Oh, wa. This really made my whole year. Oh, I'm so grateful because if you had said no, then then that would have immediately confirmed I was a narcissistic megalomaniac,

which is my and now I'm just observant. That was like that's the the stakes were very high for your answer for me.

Oh, that's so kind. So, I guess my curiosity is a you're still doing a ton of art, right? You're still a very active artist.

And so, what is are you at the pinnacle of puzzling? I'd imagine it would be New York Times. So like are you at the the place you set out to be and and then what is what do you desire next?

I feel really happy about yeah the sort of being able to like make this game and and be able to like work with these people um and to be able to work at the times and stuff. Um yeah, it's really amazing. And in terms of like I just like want to keep making stuff. I've always just loved, you know, kind of just like taking classes or, you know, just tinkering with different like um tools and different mediums and yeah, so I

uh You're such a Whoever Whoever's caught you is so lucky. You're such a fun cat.

I know. How fun. Also, you like doing games in bed. A dream. I like that it's like it's a mix of approval and disgust when you you're like also annoyed that she's so productive.

I know. Impressed and annoyed. I'm I'm embarrassed for myself. Wow, this is so fun. I love this.

Me, too. Me, too. Really happy you chatted with us. Thank you so much. Are you ever thinking of um new games? Do you think of like full new concepts? Do you think of

I that is not really I don't have a lot of experience doing that. Maybe like some little puzzles here and there, but but no, I mean, do you have new games? You want to talk about new games? I I'm a person who thinks of a lot of things. None of them would really practice. Yeah. My riddles that Monica hates, but I stand by. They're very good riddles.

Oh, they're Well, one of them is Oh, boy. Yeah. You are in a 8x 8 by 8 foot cage and there is a an adult male lion asleep in the corner and he's going to be asleep for 30 seconds. What do you do? And this is what Monica hates is I have decided what the perfect thing to do is. And so if you don't answer that,

it's not a riddle. It's just a It's just like, oh, what would you do in this scenario? And it has to be what Dax thinks you should do,

which is the correct thing. So I guess my question is when what would you do with that 30 seconds?

Yeah. I'm sorry. I would. And you only have your body. You only have your body, right? You don't have any tools or anything. In fact, you're nude. But don't worry, no one's looking. No one's looking.

I'm wearing shoes. No, you're nude. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because if you were wearing shoes, you could make a lace noose and strangle it somehow. But no, you're naked. It's It's beast on beast.

I feel like the chances of of me going against a lion would go extremely poorly for me. I don't think that I would have a chance. So, like maybe trying to um be friends with the lion would be like a better a better attack to maybe like go up to the lion and like just be like extremely non-threatening which I don't think I need that much help doing and maybe I'd be like this would be a waste of time for the lion in the lion's mind to to go after me.

You're introducing a new concept I hadn't considered which is like maybe you could do um reverse psychology which is like put yourself in its mouth and then it wakes up and it's like what's in my mouth? I didn't pick this.

Oh, right. That's kind of interesting. That's kind of what you're suggesting. What were your answers?

Okay. So, well, here's the answer. The correct answer is you pluck its eyeballs out immediately. Pop them out. Okay. And and then you're not going to like this part. You do have to put your fingers in your butt and you have to rub it on his nose. So he wakes up and now his he's so disoriented because his eyes are looking down at the ground and his smell his sense of smell which is very keen is all [ __ ] up because you've put your butt on it and then you climb up on the cage as high as you can. So as he's walking around he can't find you but he's not going to be leaping at you because he can't see and he can't smell. So that is the correct answer to how to survive the 8 by8 by 8.

Isn't that a great riddle? Isn't that like the best riddle you've ever heard? What do you think of that game plan?

Uh, it sounds hard to execute. It does. What part? The popping the eyes out. Yeah,

I think that Yeah, starting with that is like that's a I think you'd be surprised at what you'd be capable of doing if you knew you were about to get eaten in 30 seconds. I think you get your thumbs in there and pop them right out. Pop, pop, pop.

I just He's already so close and like I don't know. He's What if it turns out it's really hard just to get their eyelids open? You're like, "Oh god, I got this eyelid so huge."

Yeah. You haven't even done research on it. What if I like David Blaine because I got so hellbent on this was the right answer that I set up this performative stunt to test whether this was the right answer. Forget the humane society would be all over me for doing this. But I don't know. I think I think that's the best solution we have. Okay.

Or make friends. Monica, what was your Did you have a Did you have a thought? Well, no. I thought it was a riddle. So, I thought there was like, you know, a tricky answer or like

like lions don't slay, right? That's what a riddle is. That is. And then um it was that. So hated that. Hated that.

Oh, well, this was a blast. We're so delighted that we got to talk to you on our anniversary. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I sure hope I meet you in New York and we can eat Emily Burger.

Yeah, that would be okay. Wonderful. Have a great rest of your day. Nice chat. You too. Yeah. Thanks so much. It was great.

Take care. See you later. Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. That was just a dream come true.

Better than I thought. And I thought it was going to be great. All right. Well, I have to give it up. I have to give it up to you, Dax Shepard.

Big wink from winnow. A wa wink. I can't believe she winked it up. Wink for the win. Uh, it doesn't work.

We'll get there. That is so flattering. I can't even handle it. The arms knew it. Let's be honest. They knew it before I knew it. They alerted me.

They're allowed to know it, but like I also maintain that I'm glad that I didn't assume it.

Uhhuh. I like I I want to be a person that doesn't assume Yeah. compliments. I don't know if that's something you should be defending.

Through line of my life. I was just going to say like it perfectly mirrors us as daters.

I'm like, yeah, I don't know. That girl might say no. Well, big deal. I'll go ask.

Yeah. And I'm like, well, they hate me, right? They obviously hate me. And I'm like, I don't know. There's not a ton of better options here.

Oh god. Even if I'm not like the dream option, I'm I think I'm better than this turkey I've been talking to next to me.

Yeah. I can't do that. I can't do that. Well, that was just so fun. What an anniversary surprise.

What a blessing. That was It was a blessing. It was a It was not a curse. And it was

And she didn't pass the riddle, which is a little bit of a shocker because she is so intelligent. So intelligent. Although she did lead me to maybe another great I do like the putting yourself in its mouth.

That's two things more of a No, none of it's a riddle. Well, here's the thing. I think if I'm you guys and I have given up like you can't do anything then at that point I want to get eaten as fast as possible. I don't want to delay this you know agony of

so at that point I I would just get in its mouth get it over with but I put my neck it would wake up with my neck between its jaws if I thought I had no chance. But there is something interesting about him going like what the [ __ ]

Like no one want even if you your favorite thing is let's say it's Domino's pizza

but you're dead asleep and you wake up and there's a mouthful of Domino's pizza. You're like what the why is there pizza in my mouth? You immediately hate it.

I know. But then where do you go? You're still in there. You're still in the cage.

Yeah, but then he's like get away from me. And then you just go sit like a minute and then it's like oh actually it's Oh my god. Domino.

Now that I'm awake, that tasted pretty good now that I'm licking my chops. I think that's good. I um a real answer to the riddle is like, well, it's actually an impossibility to out um outwit a lion, so the answer is to die. Like that's more of a riddle where it's where like you're thinking and you're thinking and actually there's no answer. There's a famous and I've said this before when we've had this debate, but there is a famous story of a a very old man. I want to say he was in his 70s in Africa. He was a farmer and he got attacked by a leopard and he survived by putting his hand in its mouth and pulling it tongue and then it bled and choked to death. Because their tongues have those needles on them that go backwards so that they can lick the skin off things. They have like needly tongues. Ew. So, you could get the ultimate grip of your life on its tongue. And I guess if you put your feet

on its shoulder, may maybe you could rip the lion's tongue out. That might be a better solution.

But if it has needly tongues, then aren't your hands just cut when you're done, but you'll be alive. You'll heal from cut hands. You won't heal from a neck bite from a lion.

Watch me. I liked WA's um idea like befriended and then it's like you're in a story book and it's like this lion is my friend and he eats people but not me because I'm his buddy.

Yeah, I think I'll pitch that. I'll say, "Hey, hey, hey, how about we try? Let's call the truth."

A story. We could sit here and hurt each other. Yeah, we could. Or we could be friends. We could go against our nature and become friends. It's a beautiful story.

And then you hop on its back and it trots around the cage. I would like that. It's going to get hungry though.

We could just die together and not eat each other. That's a That's the nice ending.

That's the Romeo and Juliet. It is. You would pick Romeo and Juliet. I would. And I'd go gladiator.

Yeah. Well, that's the difference between very male of me. Um, speaking of there, I saw an article that there's only like 5,600 tigers left or maybe a specific type of tiger and they're in India. They're all in India.

Do you not remember when we were in India? I looked up the list of all the known tigers in the world.

Yeah. And yeah, India has like 80% of them. There's a there's tigers in Russia. There's tigers in lots of parts of Asia, but they're mostly hanging in India. There are estimated 5,500 to 5600 tigers left in the wild with numbers slowly oh increasing in some areas like India, Nepal, and Russia due to conservation efforts but declining in parts of Southeast Asia. That's not a lot.

No, it's not. But I don't know that they were ever hugely populous. I don't know what their original numbers or their height. I don't want to include saber-tooth tigers or anything. Let's see what it says. Based on historical estimates, the highest number of tigers that existed at one time was approximately a 100,000 wild tigers. That was in 1900, its peak. Um,

what did it say? 100,000. So, yeah, that's a terrible decline. That's a 94% drop.

Yeah. Five 95%. But also, there weren't a million of them. Right. That's true. But still 5,000 left. It's not a lot. And you get you really get into a genetic diversity issue.

Yeah, I did start. Well, they brought the buffalo back. I think the buffalo is down to thousands and now there's millions of buffalo.

Well, yeah. It says the low point was 2010, record low of 3,200. There we go. So, they've doubled it.

Yeah, they're getting The problem with tigers and having a ton of population is they're solitary and they have a territory. So, lions are a pride. There's 15 of them in one group and they have a territory. So, it's like these solitary animals take they need so much space that you're never going to have tens of millions of them.

Yeah, there is a small part of me that understands like wanting one of these baby tigers as my pet.

Oh, sure. They're gorgeous. Look how cute that is. Oh, yeah. They're beautiful. I don't agree with it, but I I like kind of viscerally understand

the desire the desire to Who would you rather have a tig baby tiger or a baby panda?

Oh, can I love baby pandas? Oh my god, they're so rolly. Yeah, I got to now I tell this a lot whenever we talk about tigers, but I'll always think of it when I think of tigers is Mike Tyson on Howard Stern saying,

"Yeah, Howard, I was so crazy back then. I had these two tigers and I slept in bed with them and sometimes Howard would I'd wake up in the middle of the night. They were fighting each other.

I know. Talk about waking up with a piece of pizza in your mouth. You waking up and you're in bed with 900 lb of tiger fighting each other. I mean, that is that is the apex of madness.

It it is. It's madness and it's sad. Of course, it's really sad. It's like you want companionship so bad and you want like you want to feel loved by something dangerous.

Yeah, I think it's the LA I I'm lean more towards the ladder and Oh, baby panda. Um Oh, there's Mike with his one of his tigers. Look how cute he's in a cute little white shorts.

I feel that's upsetting. You're upset by this photo. We're looking at a photo of Mike Tyson in a tiny pair of white swim trunks and he's got a white tiger on a leash in a little

I feel bad the tiger's on he's rrestling it and see I think it's more personally that Mike was severely bullied as a kid and he got beat up non-stop in his rough neighborhood and I think he had to push through the fear of people picking on him and this thing represents presents the scariest thing on earth. And if he cannot be afraid of that, he'll not be afraid.

Yeah. And he finds himself in bed with two fighting tuckers because of that damage. Yeah.

Oh, Howard. Oh my god, that's so crazy. Um, fakies. Yeah. Well, I No, one more thing. For our anniversary.

Okay. Um, we have a special treat. We're not going to eat it on air cuz misophonia.

Uhhuh. But we have a special treat in the garage. We have Oh, it's already here. Yeah, that's right. They're right there.

Well, no. Let's definitely take a bite in public. You want to take a bite in public? Yes. Yes.

Okay, we're going to take a bite in public. We have a special lunch. Philly cheese steaks. Thank you. Wagoo.

Philly cheese steaks from It's from a place called Matu. Matu. It's in Beverly Hills and it's amazing. And they only serve them like at certain times. It's a whole thing

at the bar. At the bar. And they just opened one up in Pasadena. No, it's incredible. I've had this one time in my life and it was just And I'm going to eat bread right now.

You are. I am. I am. Oh my god. Oh, baby. Oh, baby. Guys, get yourself a Philly cheese steak tonight.

Oh my god. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, happy anniversary. All right. Facts. Love you. do some backs.

Okay. Just a few facts for Mr. Garcia. Yeah. Had you looked up any of his facts, it would have brought you to the Kinsey Institute.

I know. That's why. And like full studies they did. Mhm. I can't do a study that fast.

You're not wellunded enough. I'm not. Um, you don't have access to college students.

Well, you got to have access. I do cuz dogs, you know, like I think I can. Are you interfacing along with

I think I can put out an over at UG. I have some peeps over there still. That's how that's how temperamental social sciences are. Like if you study the kids at UG

Oh, yeah. you're going to get a specific outcome. You study the kids at Michigan State versus U of M versus Stanford versus I mean, who are we kidding? I know

all these studies are really based on like these very unique populations of who goes to what college.

Yeah. Even the fact that it's even college kids is bad. Yes. And then within that,

but I do trust this one more than most cuz it's it's in Indiana. Yeah. And and these aren't called he they went around town.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But the initial work of the Kenzie Yeah. Sure. Speaking of ding ding ding, go dogs, Georgia, football, Super Bowl's coming up, Rams lost. First fact, Bible belt. What constitutes what is the Bible belt specifically?

Does it list the states? Yes, that's what I wanted to know. Sure, you can try. Arkansas.

Um, no. Hold on. Let me Okay, this is AI. Maybe I should look at Let me look at Wikipedia. The way this chart is doing it is by proportion of evangelical Protestants per state in the American South.

Okay. Um, yes, Arkansas's on here. Uh, Arkansas, Oklahoma. Oklahoma's on here. Missouri.

Yep. Kentucky. Yeah. But this Okay. This chart just has all the states in the south and then it has percentages.

Although, is Texas in that? Yeah, it is. Why don't you try to do the top 10? Okay.

Okay. Arkansas is one. Arkansas, Oklahoma? No. Oh, wow. Missouri is 10. Uh, Kentucky.

Yes. Tennessee? No. Really? Mhm. Uh, Mississippi? Yes. South Carolina. No. No. No. No. No.

But close. But no. All right. Hit me with the rest. Okay. I'll start from the top. Alabama.

Oh [ __ ] How do I forget Alabama? Arkansas. Delaware. I reject that one. Continue.

This is p. This is science. Yeah. Although it is weird. It is. Ohio. No. Okay. Nope. This is not right.

Bunk. This is not right. I don't like this at all. I'm going to go back to AI. The Bible belt is a region in the southeastern and south central United States characterized by a high concentration of evangelical Protestant churchgoers and socially cons conservative political views. Coined by journalist HL Min in 1925. The term generally covers states like Mississippi Alabama Tennessee Georgia, North Carolina, and parts of Texas.

I should have included Georgia. Yeah, it's in there. But there's I I associate Georgia with black folks so much because of Atlanta.

I know it's very and they're very Baptist. Even though I'm from the suburbs of Atlanta, I don't think of I I I do not think of Georgia

as Atlanta. As Atlanta at all. Yeah. And it's not what I It was I never went to Atlanta.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I only went to Atlanta when I went to Georgia on the drive like from Callie's house to my house. Uh-huh. Which is how many miles?

Oh, great cue. Um, not your strongest. Not my strength. How How long does it take you to drive there?

10 minutes. Okay. And you're probably averaging 35 miles an hour. So, let's say it's 3 miles.

Okay. I would maybe even less. Okay. Um, you pass 26 churches. It does boggle the mind when you're in the south. I see this in Tennessee where where we're at, which is like,

how many people are in these churches? Five, six. It's like it doesn't seem like the population could support this many churches. And it does make me think that many of them are empty but they're probably not

full. And there'd be days like when my friends would invite me and I would go cuz like e you got to go. Um and like you know so I'm at my friend's church which is like the Methodist church

but then like across the street is the Presbyterian church and like we see our friends there too. Like they're just all there's a Catholic church, Santa Monica. Shout out to the Catholic church. That's where Callie OG's the OC's. The original Christians.

Yeah, I had friends. It was weird because it was like I'm the only one not at any of these.

Uhhuh. Cuz even like Callie and Christina, they weren't like churchy, but they went to Santa Monica's or St. Detroit was not like that to be honest. Like I would go to my grandparents and we drove a while to go to the Baptist church cuz they were Southern Baptist.

Yeah. A lot of But in my in Highland, you know, there was a Catholic church by my neighborhood and then there was maybe one or two others and certainly there was zero pressure to be at church.

No one, no kids in school were ever like, "Why don't you go to church?" Oh, really? Now I had friends whose parents were quite religious

and those were the ones I felt judged by that we were living in sin in this broken marriage home and those kids weren't allowed to sleep at sleepovers at my house.

So they were there but I don't it wasn't the cultural norm. It was more secular for sure.

No, it's it was it was like what church do you go to? Right. Cuz you go you ob you definitely are going. Which one do you go to? Um okay. Do chimps decide what sperm they're picking?

Not chimps, orangutans. Okay. Well, I typed in chimps. Okay. Um, the claim in the episode though, what has been theorized is that these

I thought I thought he said chimps, but maybe not. Okay. It does say chimpanzeee females do not directly choose individuals sperm, but they influence fertilization outcomes by preferring mates with different genetic backgrounds to avoid inbreeding. That just means regular

mate selection. Okay. So, I'm going to do orangutans cuz they have a lot of nonconsensual sex.

Okay. This says they gave it a scientific name, but it's rape. Yeah, exactly. Female orangutans do not. Is it rape? If it's like

if the male grabs and forces the female to stay still while it Now, yeah. In humans,

Yeah. it is rape. Yeah. Yeah. in a species where that is how procreation happens. Is it

I just think the minimal definition of rape would be that the female's trying to get away from the male and doesn't want to have sex with the male and the male forces her to have sex.

We must agree upon that definition. I Yeah. Yeah. And so by that you don't see that really in chimps much. Um, you see it in orangutans and they have the unique ability. They can clasp because their their feet clasp.

They can clasp every part of the female, right? They can get their feet around its ankles so that can't run.

Like a male, you know, a human could still run or what? Whatever. You understand? It's like they're uniquely

set up. The women the male don't want to. No. Yeah. Do they want to with some? Yeah, they have consensual sex.

Oh, they do. Yeah. And then they have then they try to not have sex and then the male has sex with them anyways.

And yet what the pimeatlogist has observed is that their offspring is more often than not from the chosen mate.

Yeah. Not the one that raped them. So how are they doing that? Right. Okay. So this AI

want to be with a grain of AI. This female orangutang do not consciously choose specific sperm cells, but they exert significant control over paternity by selecting mates based on ovulatory timing and reducing the risk of infanticide. Near ovul near ovulation, females prefer mating with dominant flanged males while engaging in more forced or unflanged mings during less fertile periods.

Interesting. Okay. Um, you got to have those flanges. Oh, it's called flanged. Flanges.

I said flanged. All of the orangutan stuff and as you know why I say orangutans, all of it is done by Germans. So all these words

Oh yeah, that makes sense. Flanges, which are distinct facial features. They're the big plates that come out the sides of the big males.

Yeah. Yeah. They're crazy looking. Wow. Do you ever see that dock where Julia Roberts did on orangutans and one of the males grabbed her? They all freaked out. Yeah. Yeah. Very scary.

Very scary cuz they're like 350 lbs and they can like reach up and pull themselves up. I mean, they're so strong. It's crazy. He looks grumpy, doesn't he?

Yeah. No, I was just gonna say what's with the go I can't remember the name of the gobbler, but they have a big old lower flange, too. It's a big pancake.

Do they all Can you look up another one, Rob, and see if they all do or if that was just, you know, this guy.

He's really well flanged. Um, they grow as they get older. Are they hair? Is that part have hair on it?

You know, I do wonder cuz, you know, the silverbacks, the males don't all develop a silverback. They only develop the silverback if they have taken control of the troop.

And once they are the alpha male, then the silverback comes and each troop only has Oh, this guy's got a [ __ ] 50 gallon trash can hanging off his

bottom. Oh. Oh, he looks more fun. He's confused. I think the bigger the flange, the more they have that

dominant they are. Yeah, it looks like a huge tongue coming out of their neck. Or just like a if a human lived to be 900, what their neck would look like. I don't want that gobbler. It's coming. It's coming.

I don't want it. I just keep working out my neck and trapezius. Hopefully I'll just keep making my neck wider. Hopefully it'll

Okay. Um I don't Oh my god. We go back to that. Did you see THIS ONE, MONICA? HOLY [ __ ]

That guy looks swing. He's He's like drowning in his flanges. Oh god. It looks like a big testicle sap is what it looks like.

I don't like the way that looks. I Yeah. One of the questions here is how big is an orangutang pee pee?

Okay. Okay. Relatively small around 3.3 in long. It says and has a visible glands.

Well, glands is the head of a penis. Unlike the longer taper glands penis of chimpanzees. Yeah,

with size varying between primate species and often linked to mating competition dynamics with orangutans generally having smaller penises and chimps but larger ones than gorillas. So, how big are gorilla pee peps? I'm going to look at

Well, gorillas have tiny pees and mo more importantly tiny testicles cuz they're not competing with other males. Whereas chimps are competing with a ton of other males. So, they have humongous testicles. Hey, look at this little guy. He's got a little tiny dinger.

Look how tiny his balls are, too. This is 3 cm. You zoomed in on his big barrel belly. Yeah, look at that.

Ew. I don't. But you can see the glands or the mitus is also the name of that. The head.

Ew. What the [ __ ] is that? I I don't like that. You think that's aw. What? You said that like a like it's cute.

Me? That was a cute little penis. No, I hate it. It look like a mushroom. I know. Ew. I

That was on a gibbon though. Oh, I think What does it say? M what's that animal?

It doesn't I did not like that. They they are monogous. Oh, so they're they don't

they can have those goofy looking penises and there's no competition. Okay. Now, another fact I did look up was how big are the chimp testicles. Uh they often weigh 150 to 170 grams, but you know, I'm not good at that.

What's a humans weigh? It says three times larger than human testicles. Yeah. I'm so envious of their testicles.

Really? Yeah. Absolutely. It looks great. I'd love to have a 300 g set of testicles. I don't know why. I just would. Rob, would you like that?

Uh, I don't think so. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that sounds It would make b my bicycling hobby a little more challenging, I guess.

Yeah. Um, all right. Okay. Well, that's it. Oh, wonderful. I I think a lot of pimeatlogologists are yelling at their radios right now, but I bet we got some of it right.

Feel free to write in. This is what the internet's saying. Yeah. Um so, and as I said, I didn't do any studies, so like I I don't this is all I got the world in front of me at my fingertips.

Um Okie do. All right. Love you.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Wyna Wink, Justin Garcia, Anniversary Blessing | Fact Check for Justin Garcia"?

Dax Shepard (Host), Monica Padman (Host), Wyna Wink (Guest).

What is "Wyna Wink, Justin Garcia, Anniversary Blessing | Fact Check for Justin Garcia" about?

The content celebrates the eighth anniversary of the hosts while sharing excitement about their special guest, Wyna Wink, the creator of the popular game Connections. The discussion revolves around their theories about Wink's creative process and the joy of connecting with influential figures in the puzzle community.

What is mentioned in this Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard episode?

35 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Connections, Dak Shepard, tigers, orangutans, Wordle, crossword puzzle. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Wyna Wink, Justin Garcia, Anniversary Blessing | Fact Check for Justin Garcia"?

The episode runs 51 min; the transcript is about 10,093 words in 266 timestamped sections.

More from Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 11, 2026.