For veteran reality TV stars and B-list celebrities looking to shake off their latest scandal, Nick Viall’s podcast The Viall Files is often the number one pit stop on every press tour.

The weekly podcast – co-hosted by the Bachelor Nation alum Viall, 45, his wife Natalie Joy Viall, 27, and their ‘household’ of on-staff pop culture experts – ranges from topics like reality TV recaps to interviews with celebrity guests and Viall’s unfiltered advice segment titled ‘Ask Nick.’

Since 2019, The Viall Files has amassed more than 250 million downloads worldwide. He expanded his podcasting empire in 2024 by launching his own audio lifestyle media company, Envy Media, and has developed his own network of talent à la Call Her Daddy maven Alex Cooper.

And last April, Viall signed a four-year deal with podcasting platform Libsyn worth an estimated $30 million.

So why is it then that, according to multiple industry insiders who spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail, Viall is also regarded by some of his peers as being one of the most ‘hypocritical’ and ‘wildly insensitive’ voices in podcasting?

It would seem that Viall’s wife Joy – who gave birth to their daughter River Rose Viall in February 2024 and recently announced she is pregnant with twins – would serve to soften the Bachelor star’s otherwise ‘negative’ perception among his fellow podcasters.

Nick Viall, 45, is the host of the popular pop culture podcast The Viall Files, which launched in 2019

His wife Natalie Joy Viall, 27, serves as a co-host of The Viall Files, along with their ‘household’ of on-staff pop culture experts

The couple also announced on February 4 that they were expecting twins, after Joy publicly shared she had suffered three miscarriages in 2025.

But Joy, who began dating Viall when she was 20 and he was 38, has earned her own reputation with insiders as having ‘no qualifications’ and a ‘lack of empathy’ that is needed to conduct such hard-hitting interviews.

The latest uproar began after a January 7 episode in which guest Austen Kroll was asked a jarring question about his late sister’s childhood passing.

The reality star, 38, dropped by the podcast studio to chat about Southern Charm season 11, which is currently airing on Bravo. What he likely didn’t expect, however, was to be asked about the death of his sister Kyle, who tragically fell off a cliff during a family hike at Chimney Rock, North Carolina, when she was just nine years old and Kroll was seven.

Kroll first opened up about his sister’s death on season four of Southern Charm, and the transformative role it has played in his life after witnessing his sister’s fall. 

In a clip from the podcast episode, Kroll appeared taken aback when Joy switched gears during the conversation to discuss the traumatic event. She then asked the reality star specific details about his sister Kyle’s death, including the question, ‘What was this cliff?’ 

Kroll appeared visibly uncomfortable as he began to shake his leg and stutter over his words, before telling Joy, ‘I won’t even say the name of the town.’

The podcasters went on to ask Kroll about his romantic relationships and his experience filming Southern Charm, but the unsettling moment still weighed heavy on listeners of The Viall Files.

Joy abruptly asked Kroll about the death of his older sister Kyle less than ten minutes into the show, asking him, ‘Were you there when she fell?’

Kroll appeared visibly uncomfortable as he shook his leg and stuttered over his words, while listeners called out Joy as being ‘unprofessional’ and ‘extremely insensitive’

In the YouTube comments section for the episode, the top comment read, ‘Natalie, that was the most unprofessional and rude segway [sic] into a question about his sister I’ve ever seen. Extremely insensitive. 

‘This is the problem with any influencer having a podcast, maybe get some training on how to do your job professionally and with class.’

Someone else wrote, ‘You guys could not be more careless with your words. Austen was so kind as you both were so careless and flippant about his grief.’

A third person said, ‘Honestly would sign petitions for you to end this podcast and never be able to interview anybody, you are TERRIBLE PEOPLE.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Kroll for comment. 

When Jordy Cray – a pop culture commentator with 647,700 followers on TikTok – listened to the podcast episode for the first time, he said he was appalled and ‘disturbed’ by what he had heard, but not surprised.

Cray, 36, has been posting videos on the internet since 2022, gaining a loyal following for his ‘politely messy’ takes on pop culture. After recently transitioning into content creating full-time, Cray made it his career to be knowledgeable about all the goings-on in entertainment news.

That’s why, according to him, he believes Viall and his wife are underqualified for the position they’ve earned as popular podcasters.

‘For me, I just don’t think they’re that knowledgeable about the subjects they choose to bring on to their platform,’ Cray told the Daily Mail.

‘I mean, they have very impressive guests, but I don’t think they are well versed in whatever they’re discussing, and I don’t think that they’re equipped to handle the empathy that’s required in certain conversations.’

For fans of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, Viall’s rebrand from arrogant bad boy and villain of Bachelor Nation to relationship and life advice guru is quite an impressive feat.

He made his first television appearance in 2014, when he competed for Andi Dorfman’s affections on season ten of The Bachelorette. The software sales rep made it to the finale, but he was dumped by Dorfman for winner Josh Murray.

The rejection wasn’t enough to stop Viall from competing on the following season of The Bachelorette starring Kaitlyn Bristowe, where he came in second place yet again. 

Pictured in 2017: Viall competed twice on The Bachelorette before he landed the spot of The Bachelor for season 21

Viall proposed to contestant Vanessa Grimaldi (seen in May 2017) during The Bachelor season 21 finale, but they broke up less than a year later

During that season, winner Shawn Booth called Viall arrogant, cocky and manipulative to his face.

His redemption arc came in season three of Bachelor in Paradise, where he struck up a brief fling with contestant Jen Saviano. While their relationship didn’t last beyond the beach, he did land the spot of becoming The Bachelor for season 21 in 2017.

After dating 30 women over the course of a few weeks, Viall popped the question to teacher Vanessa Grimaldi during the finale. They broke up less than a year later.

Following a series of failed on-screen relationships, Viall used that experience to launch The Viall Files podcast in 2019, where he would dish out dating advice to listeners and recap the latest episodes from Bachelor Nation. 

That same year, he met his now-wife Joy, a surgical technologist and model from Georgia who is 18 years his junior, when she slid into his Instagram DMs.

They began dating in July 2020 and in November, she moved into his home in Los Angeles, the New York Times reported. 

They confirmed their relationship on Instagram in January 2021. By 2022, Joy was making regular appearances on The Viall Files.

It seems there has been a growing sentiment among listeners of The Viall Files that the tone of the podcast has shifted since Joy joined as permanent co-host.

Viall met Joy, a surgical technologist and model from Georgia who is 18 years his junior, in 2019 when she slid into his Instagram DMs. They confirmed their relationship in January 2021

Viall and Joy announced their engagement in January 2023 and welcomed their daughter, River Rose Viall, in February 2024. They tied the knot in April that year (pictured in November 2023)

The couple announced this month that they are expecting twins

Under a recent clip, one fan wrote they had been a big fan of the podcast ‘since day one,’ but ‘once you brought Natalie on I stopped listening.’

Another listener agreed, writing, ‘Oofff Natalie has zero media training or basic communication instincts, I always thought she was underqualified for a podcast.’

Josh Banfield, 25, has gained over 100,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram for his pop culture recaps and particularly for calling out the Peter Pan-syndrome behavior of most men on reality TV. 

While he isn’t as quick as critics on the internet to blame Joy for the so-called demise of The Viall Files, he did suggest that just because someone can afford a microphone and podcasting equipment doesn’t mean they should broadcast their opinions to the world.

‘I am reluctant to buy into the narrative that the woman ruined everything,’ Banfield told the Daily Mail.

‘I think it is more a situation where Nick still says dumb things on a somewhat frequent basis, but it felt like he had started to learn and course correct some of the crazy things that he would say.’

Banfield claimed that when Joy joined the podcast, it appeared as if she ‘had no qualifications or understanding of how to talk about these things in an empathetic way.’

He added, ‘I think there is a general feeling about Nick and Natalie that they just kind of invaded the space as people who weren’t really having the knowledge or qualifications to do that, and this just made that perception so much worse.’

A source claimed to the Daily Mail that when Joy joined the podcast, it appeared as if she ‘had no qualifications or understanding of how to talk about these things in an empathetic way’

This isn’t the first time The Viall Files co-hosts have been under fire for controversial comments made on their podcast.

In fact, less than two months ago, Viall and Joy were accused of ‘mom-shaming’ Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt for landing a job on Broadway so soon after her recent stint on Dancing With the Stars.

In an episode of the podcast on December 2, 2025, the co-hosts questioned how Leavitt, 32, would parent her three children while starring as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway beginning in February.

‘She just did Dancing With the Stars for three or four months. She has kids on a school level – maybe they are homeschooled. I don’t know. To shift to Chicago in New York, that takes so much of her time. How is she managing being a mom?’ Joy said.

‘How is she managing, prioritizing being a mom and her kids who I imagine have some sort of schedule and routine? And I know their home base was Utah… I’m just so curious.’

The backlash was swift, as listeners claimed Joy’s comments had insinuated that Leavitt’s children weren’t her top priority. Others aptly pointed out the double standard that there would be less concern if a man with three kids was offered the same career opportunities as Leavitt.

Viall and Joy have yet to publicly apologize to Leavitt or address the negative response from fans. In fact, the co-hosts haven’t issued a public apology to Kroll either, despite demands from listeners calling on them to do so on the podcast.

Viall and Joy were accused of ‘mom-shaming’ Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt (pictured) for landing a job on Broadway so soon after appearing on Dancing With the Stars

After getting backlash for his harsh line of questioning during the SLOMW season two reunion, Viall said the ‘perceived lack of accountability’ from Leavitt was ‘something that I wanted to have a chance to address with her’

Accountability – or rather, holding guests accountable for their on-screen and off-screen behavior – has become one of the major selling points of The Viall Files.

During his stint as host for the first-ever Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reunion last year, Viall defended his harsh line of questioning for Leavitt, saying that the ‘perceived lack of accountability of Whitney is something that I wanted to have a chance to address with her.’

When disgraced Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval appeared on The Viall Files less than one year after his cheating scandal with co-star Rachel ‘Raquel’ Leviss made headlines, Viall made it a point to hold Sandoval’s feet to the fire.

Even when it comes to his own family, Viall and Joy aired their ‘family drama’ on a recent podcast episode, as they complained about hosting his family at their lake house in Wisconsin over the Christmas holiday.

Viall has seemingly built his brand on accountability, suggested fellow content creator Midori Collusion, who preferred not to publicly share her name. 

But when it comes to acknowledging how their own words may upset listeners of The Viall Files, Viall and Joy’s so-called ‘hypocrisy’ shines through, she said.

‘In my view, it’s the hypocrisy that has rubbed people the wrong way,’ Midori Collusion, who has 10,200 followers on TikTok, told the Daily Mail.

‘Nick has built this podcast platform in part off the back of giving life and relationship advice. He does not hold back from telling mostly female callers where they are going wrong in their lives and relationships, what they should be doing better, to take accountability.’

Multiple sources told the Daily Mail that Viall has built a podcast empire on ‘accountability,’ yet they don’t foresee him publicly apologizing to Kroll any time soon

‘They are creating and monetizing content based on the difficult moments in other peoples’ lives, and holding themselves out as authorities on human relationships, and yet they don’t seem to practice what they preach.’

While Kroll has yet to receive a public apology from The Viall Files co-hosts, Viall did leave a comment under a viral clip from the episode, writing, ‘We love Austin,’ but notably included the incorrect spelling of Kroll’s first name.

However, insiders in the industry agreed that the husband and wife aren’t likely to address the backlash any time soon.

After all, it wouldn’t be in line with Viall’s million-dollar brand as a brash, no-holds-barred podcaster to apologize.

‘I think that the saddest part about all this is that I don’t think Nick or Natalie even care about the backlash, because all they care about is numbers at this point,’ said Cray.

‘Even when people are talking about it, it is still driving people to their podcast and to their social media. I think they enjoy any type of attention, unfortunately, but I truly hope they take this in because what they did was not okay.’

Representatives for Viall and Joy did not respond to requests for comment.