Worst Thing Ever – Details, episodes & analysis

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Worst Thing Ever

Caylan Ford

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/10d. Total Eps: 3

Guests share stories about the worst thing that has ever happened to them — or in some cases, the worst thing they have ever done. These stories are told as a vindication of suffering, though which we are initiated into deeper stages of life, and gain insight into what it is to be truly human.

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Data updated on 04/07/2026

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Score global : 63%

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Lost in the labour camp — Chinese prisoner of conscience Jennifer Zeng

Season 1 · Episode 3

Monday, July 20, 2020 • Duration 44:42

In the 1990s, Jennifer Zeng was a model citizen of the reform era in China. She had earned a Master's degree from Peking University, and worked as a research scientist at an institute affiliated with the Chinese state. She was a wife, mother, and a member of the Communist Party.

But her life was radically upended in July of 1999, when the Communist Party launched a campaign to "eradicate" Falun Gong, the Buddhist faith system to which she belonged.

Jennifer was sent without trial to a reeducation-through-labour camp, where authorities employed physical and psychological torture methods to forcibly "reeducate" her. She details the use of sleep deprivation, stress positions, electric batons and violent sexual abuse, and describes the torment of watching helplessly as her co-religionists were tortured.

The greatest torment, however, was psychological. Jennifer felt a responsibility to document the horrors of the labour camp system and expose these abuses to the wider world. But the only way to guarantee her escape from the labour camp was to comply with the guards' demands that she betray her principles.

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The power of gratitude: former Olympic hopeful Crystal Phillips on her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, and finding new purpose

Season 1 · Episode 2

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 • Duration 54:19

At 19 years old, Crystal Phillips was among the top-ranked national team speed-skaters in Canada, and was an early hopeful for the 2010 Olympics. Her plans changed when, in 2005, she woke up one morning without sensation in her lower limbs. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and told that she would never skate again.

The diagnosis was life altering: Crystal's identity, her social life, and sense of self had, until that time, been bound up with her athletic career. But with her health and her future in question, she maintained a deep sense of gratitude for all that she had been given in life, and ultimately discovered a new purpose. After several relapses of the disease—and after fighting her way back to the Canadian national team—Crystal founded the Branch Out Foundation, which has seeded millions of dollars in research grants for non-pharmaceutical treatments for neurological disorders.

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Life after loss — Stevie West on early widowhood and the gift of suffering

Season 1 · Episode 1

Tuesday, June 30, 2020 • Duration 01:03:48

Welcome to my little podcast, where I talk to new and old friends about the worst things they have ever experienced.

This podcast is premised on the belief that suffering not only cannot be banished from the world, but that it should not be. Just as much as we need love, beauty, and connection, we also need trials and challenges. It is in the combination of these things that our lives take on depth and meaning. And sometimes, by connecting with others through our suffering, our losses can be redeemed.

In this inaugural episode I interview one of my oldest friends, Stevie West, who was widowed with two children before the age of 30. She describes the often overwhelming despair and sense of detachment from the world that followed the death of her husband, and explains how her belief in the ultimate goodness of the universe allowed her maintain an appreciation for the comic dimension of life (the comic being closely related to the tragic).

Because we hadn't caught up in a couple years, in the latter part of our conversation Stevie turns the tables on me, so listeners will also get a little bit of my personal history, helpfully devoid of context.

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Worst Thing Ever – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Worst Thing Ever – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities