About the show

The podcast Historical Hotties is a place for sister duo Whitney Nelsen and Lindsey Nelsen to discuss prominent figures in history. They research, argue, and debate amongst themselves to determine which person is the hottest in this humorous and educational podcast. Every episode we tackle a different category of real-life historical people, from Horror Writers to Con Artists. Who will win!?

It's a little bit equal parts debate team, history lesson, sibling rivalry, sexy gossip, and joke time humor-fun!

It is important to both siblings that history -which has always been an interest of theirs- feels fun and accessible to people. Turning historical figures into water-cooler "who's hotter?" conversation is a great way for them to expose listeners to fascinating events and people in a light-hearted, sexy way.

It is equally important for them to convey the message that anyone can make history. Sure, you'll hear a lot about straight white cisgendered men of privilege in history class, and it makes sense that those with money and power can make a lasting impact. But it's so, so important for people to understand that women, people who had no status or wealth, disabled folks, people of color, people all across gender and sexuality spectrums, and even people with criminal pasts have all been able to make a lasting impression in this world. Making change is all-inclusive.

the format

We release new episodes every Wednesday morning.

Historical Hotties episodes range anywhere from 25 minutes to over an hour, depending on how many guest hosts there are, and how long it takes to debate each hottie picked. They tend to hover right around the 60 minute mark, on average.

We pull guests hosts from all over, with varying levels of expertise and podcasting experience, from authors to archivists to hosts from other podcasts online to just plain ol' history nerds that want to come on and geek out with us.

Once a category is chosen, each host secretly picks a person to talk about that fits into that category. Previous episodes include categories ranging from Horror Writers to famous couples whose relationships ended badly in Ill-Fated Romance. Each episode we give a brief bio on who we chose, but the real meat comes in after the bios, where we discuss the merits of each pick in four categories:

• Mental Attractiveness (because hotness isn't just about looks)

• Physical Attractiveness (because sometimes hotness IS about looks)

• Social Impact (all of our picks made an impact, but just how did each person chosen leave a mark on the world?)

• Je Ne Sais Quoi (that indefinable allure that just makes someone attractive)

We score points on a scale of 1-5 for each person in each category, and the totaled scores reflect the winner, the person crowned hottest of the bunch!

The Origin story

The idea for Historical Hotties began as a small seed, many years ago, when Whitney made fun of Lindsey for only having crushes on people who were either dead or fictional. 

Super close growing up, becoming bi-coastal siblings was tough on us. We wanted to start a project as an organized way of having fun together and being in touch more regularly. Initially, Historical Hotties almost became a YouTube series, but ultimately we decided that a podcast was the best format for the things we wanted to say!

Whitney Nelsen, a lady gadabout, gentleman misfit, and nerd enthusiast, specializes in Online Reputation Management as her day job, is the newest rotating cast member on the video game podcast Almost Better Than Silence, and you can see more of her at WhitneyNelsen.com

Lindsey Nelsen is a writer and a gourmet gelato chef as her day job, and she is a history nerd who loves any excuse to wear a costume.  

They both were, at one point, Civil War reenactors and professional living historians.

Where to find us

favorite episodes

Lindsey's favorites:

Whitney's favorites:

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