Big Cat's rescue mission for Ben Fredette, stuck in Blythe
TLDR: Barstool teased Ben Fredette's return, he ended up stranded in Blythe, California, and 48 hours later Big Cat has the mayor pushing a key-to-the-city ceremony.
It started as a straightforward welcome-back. Dave Portnoy posted that he couldn't wait for the Buddha Ben era to begin, teasing some kind of return for the fan-favorite former Barstool staffer. It did not go according to plan.
Whatever the trip was supposed to look like, Fredette ended up nowhere close to it. He got stranded in Blythe, California, a desert stopover town along I-10 near the Arizona border that most people only see through a gas station window on the way to somewhere else. Big Cat took it upon himself to be the guy who fixed it, and it did not go well.
The failed rescue op became its own bit on the Yak, with hosts riffing on Fredette's demands and fans joking about the odds of anyone actually making it out to the desert to grab him. Then, out of nowhere, the story got an actual civic official involved.
With the mayor's office suddenly part of the storyline, Big Cat stopped trying to get Fredette out and started pushing for the opposite — full civic recognition. "Get that key to the city!" he posted that same night. Less than a day later, it stopped being a joke request.
2 days ago none of us knew Blythe California. Now we have a ceremony in the Mayor’s office at City Hall. Only the @BarstoolYak
What began as a botched travel plan turned into an actual sit-down at Blythe City Hall, with Big Cat crediting the Yak for pulling off, in his words, something none of them knew existed two days earlier. It's the kind of escalation that only happens when a whole podcast audience decides to run with a bit.
Whether Fredette actually walks out of City Hall with a key to the city or just ends up a permanent Blythe resident is still to be determined. Either way, a town most of Barstool couldn't have found on a map a week ago is now part of the lexicon.
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