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  • The Eagles won’t play another 1 p.m. game for a while

    The Eagles won’t play another 1 p.m. game for a while

    The Eagles (5-2) will host the New York Giants (2-5) at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday on Fox. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m., which won’t happen again for a while.

    Next week is the Eagles’ bye, and when the Birds come back they’ll play five straight national games — three in prime time, one in the late afternoon window on Fox, and one on Black Friday.

    They won’t have another 1 p.m. kickoff until Week 15, when they host the Las Vegas Raiders (2-5) at the Linc on Dec. 14. That could also be their last, with two games against the Washington Commanders (3-4) yet to be scheduled.

    In Week 16, the Birds will play the Commanders on Saturday, Dec. 20, which will be either a 4:30 p.m. or an 8 p.m. kickoff. They’ll also face the Commanders in Week 18, a game that could be elevated to late afternoon or even prime time, depending on what’s at stake.

    So why did the NFL lump the Eagles’ two Commanders games into a three-week span at the end of the season? Onnie Bose, the NFL’s vice president of broadcasting (and a Lower Merion High School grad), said the league tries to schedule as many divisional games late in the season as possible, and it just rolled out this way for the Eagles.

    “Division games late in the season matter,” Bose told The Inquirer in May. “Playing a team in the division twice in three weeks might feel like a lot, but it does happen.”

    The remaining schedule also means it’s not likely you’ll see the Eagles flexed into Sunday Night Football or Monday Night Football this season, unless the Raiders somehow become a compelling story over the next eight weeks.

    Tom Brady is back to call his third Eagles game. It won’t be his last.

    Tom Brady ahead of the Eagles’ Week 4 game against the Buccaneers on Sept. 28.

    Eagles fans will hear a familiar voice Sunday.

    Super Bowl LII loser Tom Brady will be in the booth for Fox, calling his third Birds game this season. If that seems like a lot, that’s because it is — last year Brady called just two Eagles games during the regular season (though he added three playoff games, including the Super Bowl).

    And it won’t be Brady’s last Birds game — he’s slated to call the Eagles’ Week 12 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 23 and Philly’s trip to Buffalo to face the Bills in Week 17 on Dec. 28.

    Joining Brady will be play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt, who is also hosting Fox’s pre- and postgame World Series coverage. Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will report from the Linc.

    The last time Fox’s No. 1 crew called at least five Eagles games in one regular season was back in 2014, when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were still at the network.

    Traditionally, Fox broadcast NFC games and interconference games where the NFC team was on the road. In 2023, the league loosened up those restrictions, but Fox is still guaranteed a certain number of Eagles games every season (including at least one Birds game against each divisional opponent).

    How to stream Eagles-Giants

    Eagles-Giants will stream on Fox One, Fox’s new subscription streaming service. It will also stream on the Fox Sports app, though you need to log in with your cable provider.

    If you’re looking to stream the game for free and you live in or around Philadelphia, your best option is to use a digital antenna, since the game will air on broadcast television on Fox 29.

    Eagles-Giants will also air on the radio on 94.1 WIP, with Merrill Reese and former Eagles receiver Mike Quick on the call. WIP host Devan Kaney will report from the sidelines.

    Rickie Ricardo, Oscar Budejen, and Dave Gerhardt will call the game in Spanish on La Mega 105.7 FM in Philadelphia, 93.9 FM in Atlantic City, and 103.3 FM in Vineland/Millville.

    Both radio broadcasts can be streamed from anywhere on the Eagles’ website, while fans in Philly can also stream them on the Eagles app.

    Eagles look to remain undefeated in kelly green

    Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts warms up next to the Kelly green logo before a game against the Miami Dolphins at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023.

    When the Birds take the field Sunday afternoon, they’ll be decked out in their throwback kelly green uniforms.

    It’s the first of three games in which the Eagles will wear their classic, fan-favorite jerseys, which they’ll also don in Week 12 against the Dallas Cowboys and Week 18 against the Washington Commanders.

    While the throwbacks are beloved by fans and players alike, the kelly greens represent an era where the Birds couldn’t win when it really mattered (including three playoff games).

    Despite that, the classic jerseys have been good luck for the current Eagles squad. Since bringing them back in 2023, the Birds are 4-0 while wearing kelly green.

    The Eagles were technically wearing kelly green throwbacks during a 2010 loss to the Green Bay Packers, but those were replicas of the Birds’ 1960-era jerseys.

    Eagles will remain in first place through the bye

    Nick Sirianni has the third-best coaching record (53-22, 0.707 pct.) in the Super Bowl era (minimum 50 games).
    NFC East standings

    The Eagles enter Week 8 atop the NFC East and will remain there through next week’s bye, regardless of what happens Sunday against the Giants.

    If the Eagles lose and the Cowboys defeat the Denver Broncos, the Birds will still have a higher winning percentage. Even if they had the same record, the Eagles defeated the Cowboys in Week 1, so the Birds hold the tiebreaker. They’ll play again in Dallas in Week 12 on Nov. 23.

    The Commanders are two games back of the Eagles, so win or lose against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football, there’s no way for Washington to overtake the Birds anytime soon.

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    NFC standings

    It’s crowded at the top of the NFC.

    Thanks to their tie against the Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers currently sit in first place because of their higher winning percentage.

    The Eagles are one of six teams with a 5-2 record heading into Week 8, but they find themselves in third place behind the 49ers because San Francisco has a better conference record (5-1 vs. 4-1).

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    Other NFL Week 8 games on TV in Philly

    Aaron Rodgers will face the Packers for the first time since being traded away in 2023.
    Sunday
    • Bears at Ravens: 1 p.m., CBS3 (Ian Eagle, J.J. Watt, Evan Washburn)
    • Cowboys at Broncos: 4:25 p.m., CBS3 (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson)
    • Packers at Steelers: 8:20 p.m., NBC10 (Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, Melissa Stark)
    Monday
    • Commanders at Chiefs: 8:15 p.m., ESPN, 6abc (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters, Laura Rutledge)

    Eagles-Giants live updates

    Staff writers Jeff McLane, Olivia Reiner, and Jeff Neiburg will be covering the action live on Inquirer.com.

    Notes and observations about the game can be found at Inquirer.com/Eagles. Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Sports Daily newsletter.

    Eagles-Giants: Live updates

    Eagles news and notes

    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown walks off the field after the Eagles lost the the Denver Broncos 21-17 on Sunday, October 5, 2025, in Philadelphia.

    Eagles 2025 schedule

    • Week 1: Eagles 24, Cowboys 20
    • Week 2: Eagles 20, Chiefs 17
    • Week 3: Eagles 33, Rams 26
    • Week 4: Eagles 31, Buccaneers 25
    • Week 5: Broncos 21, Eagles 17
    • Week 6: Giants 34, Eagles 17
    • Week 7: Eagles 28, Vikings 22
    • Week 8: Giants at Eagles, Sunday, Oct. 26, 1 p.m. (Fox 29)
    • Week 9: Bye week
    • Week 10: Eagles at Packers, Monday, Nov. 10, 8:15 p.m. (6ABC, ESPN)
    • Week 11: Lions at Eagles, Sunday, Nov. 16, 8:20 p.m. (NBC10)
    • Week 12: Eagles at Cowboys, Sunday, Nov. 23, 4:25 p.m. (Fox 29)
    • Week 13: Bears at Eagles, Friday, Nov. 28, 3 p.m. (Amazon Prime Video)
    • Week 14: Eagles at Chargers, Monday, Dec. 8, 8:15 p.m. (6ABC, ESPN)
    • Week 15: Raiders at Eagles, Sunday, Dec. 14, 1 p.m. (Fox 29)
    • Week 16: Eagles at Commanders, Saturday, Dec. 20, TBD (Fox 29)
    • Week 17: Eagles at Bills, Sunday, Dec. 28, 4:29 p.m. (Fox 29)
    • Week 18: Commanders at Eagles, TBD (TBD)
  • Benita Valente, revered Philadelphia soprano with Met Opera and one of America’s great lieder artists, has died at 91

    Benita Valente, revered Philadelphia soprano with Met Opera and one of America’s great lieder artists, has died at 91

    Benita Valente, 91, a revered lyric soprano whose voice thrilled listeners with its purity and seeming effortlessness, died Friday night at home in Philadelphia, said her son, Pete Checchia. In a remarkable four-decade career, she appeared on the opera stage, in chamber music, and with orchestras.

    In the intimate genre of lieder — especially songs by Schubert and Brahms — she was considered one of America’s great recitalists.

    Even during an era of towering, individualistic voices, Ms. Valente stood out as something special. With pinpoint-precise technique, she deployed no vocal cheats or affectations. Her recognizable sound and honest approach were adored by aficionados.

    “She is as gifted a singer as we have today, worldwide,” wrote John Rockwell in the New York Times in 1983.

    Her voice had a natural quality, said pianist Richard Goode, who recalled that it was Ms. Valente who introduced him to the lieder repertoire. “There was an extraordinary distinctive sweetness of the timbre. Very clear pitch. Very focused,” said Goode, who recorded with her. ”And a kind of natural charm that came through in everything that she sang.”

    Pianist Rudolf Serkin with soprano Benita Valente at Marlboro Music, 1960s.

    A longtime resident of Rittenhouse Square, Ms. Valente sang in the opera houses of San Francisco, Santa Fe, N.M., Germany, and Italy, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She appeared with the Metropolitan Opera more than 70 times between 1960 and 1992 — as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Almirena in Handel’s Rinaldo, Gilda in Rigoletto, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and others.

    With the Juilliard String Quartet, she gave the world premiere of Ginastera’s String Quartet No. 3 in 1974, and was the voice for the Juilliard’s recording of Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 in a collection that won a 1978 Grammy Award.

    In 1999, she became the first vocalist to win Chamber Music America’s Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award.

    Critics pronounced her voice “incomparable” and “almost miraculously lovely.”

    She had something more: “that special projection of personality that distinguishes the great artist,” the Times wrote.

    The artist had her beginnings as a self-described shy tomboy growing up on her uncle’s farm in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Ms. Valente was born Oct. 19, 1934, in Delano, Calif., the daughter of an Italian father and a Swiss mother. A high school teacher noticed her gifts and recommended her to Lotte Lehmann, and as a teenager she traveled from home to Santa Barbara to study with the celebrated soprano and Lehmann’s brother, vocal coach Fritz Lehmann.

    “She didn’t know what to do with me,” Ms. Valente told The Inquirer. “I’d sing something she thought was very touching, and then there were lapses where I was as green as all get-out. She finally said, ‘I have contacts in Hollywood, I could get you to a screen test. I think you’d do very well.’ But I wanted to go into opera.”

    Benita Valente with her husband, Anthony P. Checchia, at the Marlboro Music Festival.

    It was Fritz Lehmann who suggested that she audition for the Curtis Institute of Music with Mozart, and she got in. Ms. Valente attended Curtis from 1955 to 1960, where her primary teacher was French baritone Martial Singher, and later studied with Wagnerian soprano/mezzo-soprano Margaret Harshaw. She was still a student when she won a Philadelphia Orchestra student competition that brought a 1958 debut with the orchestra.

    The next year she married Anthony P. Checchia, a bassoonist she met at the Marlboro Music Festival who would go on to lead both Marlboro and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. They became one of classical music’s power couples, and had a special understanding because of their modest backgrounds — he from Tacony, she from a farm — said their son. “I remember my dad pulling over on Lombard Street once when she was on the radio. He was more nervous than she was,” Pete Checchia said. Anthony Checchia died in 2024.

    Ms. Valente became a regular soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, appearing with the ensemble 60 times — in core repertoire of Mozart and Beethoven, but also in contemporary works. She gave the world premiere in 1981 of David del Tredici’s All in the Golden Afternoon from Child Alice, Part II, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphians.

    The work was in an ecstatic, neo-romantic musical language, thickly orchestrated with amplified soprano. Ms. Valente’s performance was “an essay in vocal purity,” wrote Inquirer music critic Daniel Webster.

    For the Academy of Music 130th Anniversary Concert in 1987, she sang an evening of Puccini arias with the Philadelphia Orchestra led by legendary conductor Klaus Tennstedt. ‘’O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi seemed an ideal choice, Webster wrote, “in which her sun-filled voice illuminated the joyous text.”

    American soprano singer Benita Valente, Germany, 1970s.

    Ms. Valente was soloist the previous season for one of the orchestra’s most notorious programs. She was Mélisande in a concert version of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at which an unusual number of listeners, apparently unimpressed with one of Western civilization’s great achievements, walked out. One man in the Academy of Music’s second row stretched out a newspaper and was asked to leave, she recalled.

    “It has too much mystery, that Pelléas,” Ms. Valente told The Inquirer years later, pointing out that the audience seemed similarly disenchanted with the work at a Metropolitan Opera performance she attended.

    Ms. Valente was never a household name, which often confounded critics. Some put it down to her lack of diva-ness. But it was perhaps more the fact that Ms. Valente was never a careerist. She was known to turn down prestigious opportunities — like a chance to sing Berg’s Altenberglieder with the Boston Symphony Orchestra — when she felt the part was not right for her voice.

    She retired from singing in 2000 and was awarded an honorary degree from Curtis in 2001.

    Benita Valente with soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon in 2021.

    Ms. Valente taught and mentored young singers.

    “She was so meticulous about connecting the vowels and would listen in between the notes to how you got from one note to the next,” said soprano Sarah Shafer, who studied with Ms. Valente at Marlboro and in Philadelphia. “That trained my ear and my voice to pay attention to those things and brought me to a different level of detail.”

    Her knowledge of the repertoire was vast, said pianist Lydia Brown, with whom Ms. Valente worked in vocal coachings at Marlboro and the Met. “Every rehearsal she came to was a piece she had sung many times, or she commissioned it or premiered it. There were so few pieces that Benita didn’t have active performing knowledge of.”

    In recordings she is particularly renowned for a collection of Handel and Mozart duets with soprano Tatiana Troyanos; Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ with the Juilliard String Quartet; and two discs in Bridge Records’ “Great Singers of the 20th Century” series, including a classic recording of Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock” with pianist Rudolf Serkin and clarinetist Harold Wright.

    “She was in the old-school style of singing, where the singer is just a vessel for the music. Not selfish, not about herself, she was just delivering the music in as clear and undistorted a way as possible,” said Shafer, who learned “The Shepherd on the Rock” from Ms. Valente and has made it a calling card of her own.

    ”The result is this sparkly, silver jewel of her voice that you hear in these recordings. There’s just no singing like it now.”

    In addition to her son, the Philadelphia photographer Pete Checchia, Ms. Valente is survived by her “daughter by choice,” Eliza Batlle, Checchia said. A memorial concert is planned for a later date.

  • At Philly’s first and only vampire beauty pageant, contestants compete for cash and a chance to feel immortal

    At Philly’s first and only vampire beauty pageant, contestants compete for cash and a chance to feel immortal

    There were Irish step-dancing vampires and opera-singing vampires. Vampires who claim to hunt billionaires and vampires who moonlight as emergency medical technicians. And, in at least one instance, a vampire who doubled as a heavyweight champ.

    Such was the lineup of the first-ever Miss American Vampire Philadelphia pageant, where 13 wannabe bloodsuckers donned their best vampiric drag to compete inside heavy metal bar Doom Friday night. Contestants were thirsty to show that vampires contain multitudes (and, perhaps, for a little bit of blood).

    Doom owner and former Royal Izakaya general manager Justin Holden decided to go all in on the unorthodox pageant after bartender Sonja Delgado showed him a black-and-white photo of Miss American Vampire New Jersey staring hauntingly at the camera during her 1970 crowning.

    Back then, MGM hosted the regional beauty competition to promote the movie House of Dark Shadows, with finalists going on to compete in Los Angeles for title of Miss American Vampire and a guest-starring role on the long-running vampire soap opera Dark Shadows. Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather won the crown, though she never redeemed her prize.

    The stakes of Doom’s pageant were far lower than a TV appearance and eternal life, though just as competitive. Contestants were judged by a panel of full-time goths and burlesque performers on their creativity and vampiric presence as they competed in the standard pageant categories: A costume parade, an interview, and a dark art — or talent with a touch of the occult.

    The crowd reacts as Ezra Markel’s vampire persona “Isolde the Saturnine” eats the human heart she concocted during the talent portion of the Miss American Vampire Pageant at heavy metal bar Doom in Philadelphia on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025.

    Prizes included $100 cash, a new set of fangs, and comic books donated from Atomic City Comics. Skull and mixed metal artist Sue Moerder prepared a Bob Mackie-inspired gothic crown, with feathers and pearls sprouting from an arrangement of ornate obsidian gems.

    “Vampires represent the alternative, the occult, the bat-brained, the gothic … [people] on the outskirts of civilization,” Delgado told The Inquirer. “We just wanted to show that this bar is a safe cave for vampires to commune.”

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    Both floors at 421 N. 7th St. were packed as contestants flitted across the makeshift stage in costumes that highlighted the full expanse of vampire-dom. There were homages to both the German and Transylvanian versions of Dracula in peasant blouses and bejeweled collars, as well as more contemporary interpretations, with floor-length evening gowns, corseted waistlines, and lots of red lips.

    Lilith Lobotomy — a blue-haired vamp whose bio alleged she bakes cakes and stalks billionaires — was an immediate favorite, earning thunderous applause when she turned away from the audience to drop her floor length duster. Emblazoned in sparkling blood red font on the back of her black dress was the phrase “Eat the rich.”

    Logan Laudenslager performs as “Lilith Lobotomy” during the talent portion of the Miss American Vampire pageant held at Doom. She performed a rendition of “Phantom of the Opera.”

    Madame Lobotomy would go on to win the coveted title of Miss Off Putting — Delgado’s spin on Miss Congeniality — after belting out the song “The Phantom of the Opera” while twirling a lit candelabra.

    She was still no match for Norah Morse, who took home the Miss American Vampire Philadelphia crown after shocking the judges with her interview. When asked how she prepared for the competition, Morse scoffed.

    “I don’t know what you mean,” she said in a thick Transylvanian accent. “I’m a vampire and I showed up.”

    Contestants get ready backstage to performing during the Miss American Vampire Pageant at heavy metal bar Doom.

    Judge and burlesque performer Caress Deville said Morse represented the commitment she was looking for. “I was gagged,” Deville said. “That’s exactly how you would answer if you were a real vampire.”

    During her crowning, Morse’s human mother rushed to the front of the crowd to take photos. Even vampires, it seems, yearn for mom’s approval.

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    In the world of us mortals, Morse goes by Alex Decker, a 29-year-old from Bellmawr who has been drawn to vampires since she was a child. Decker lives with contamination OCD, she said, and envies the freedom of the undead.

    “Life would be a lot easier if I was a vampire who could just drink blood all the time,” Decker said. “I have been weird and creepy and insane my entire life.”

    Jenna Painter, of Willow Grove, performed as a naughty ‘Count Orlok” during the Miss American Vampire Pageant at heavy metal bar Doom, throwing off a trench coat to reveal a leotard and garters.

    Competing to be America’s next top vampire

    For some contestants, Miss American Vampire Philadelphia was an opportunity to transform their mortal selves into bolder and braver versions that were battle-tested from centuries of living.

    When Doom announced the pageant on Instagram in early October, the post received more than 4,500 likes, Delgado said, and hundreds of shares. More than 50 hopefuls sent in applications via a Google form that asked for their vampiric backstory and talent, forcing Holden and Delgado to spend hours deliberating.

    Delgado was unsurprised that the pageant took off. They were, however, shocked by the lack of trolling.

    “I didn’t know how serious everyone who applied was at first,” Delgado said. “It’s supposed to be campy.”

    On Friday, the beauty competition toed the line between a drag show and an actual Miss America preliminary. The judges pressed contestants on tough questions, such as how they choose their victims, and if it’s ethical to let them live post blood-sucking.

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    For Mira Castigin, of Camden, the most important quality to look for in a vampire is fun.

    “What’s the point in being immortal if you let life pass you by?” she told the crowd.

    Castigin’s vampiric persona is Elmira, a bewitching goth girl who shares Castigin’s day job as an EMT in hopes of atoning for her sins. The competition was an excuse for Castigin to air out some special pieces from her vintage clothing collection, including a petticoat and a pair of London Underground shoes.

    Mira Castigin’s vamprie persona “Elmira” is applauded after performing during the Miss American Vampire Pageant at heavy metal bar Doom. For her talent, Castigin sang opera.

    “I think it’s always fun to do your makeup and get dressed up no matter what day it is,“ Castigin, 25, of Camden, said. ”And this is like a more thought-out version of that.”

    Castigin opened the talent portion by singing an operatic aria, setting up the audience for a night of bewitching tricks. One vampire played the violin, while another danced an Irish jig to a Type O Negative song. Cassius King — a silent movie star turned vampire — wowed the audience by performing feats of strength, at one point picking up his assistant and turning him upside down.

    Rachel Rushmore — aka “Vampire Rachel” of Philadelphia — waits backstage during the Miss American Vampire Pageant at heavy metal bar Doom.

    Rachel Rushmore, 34, of Fishtown, had a simpler talent, using sleight of hand to summon a tiny bat. Rushmore said she felt called to compete after 15 friends — including several who don’t even live in Philly — sent her Doom’s Instagram post.

    Onstage, Rushmore transformed from mortal Rachel to Vampire Rachel, a temptress and philanthropist who had been around since “the age of powdered wigs and Ben Franklin.” Vampire Rachel wears maroon floor-length gowns and bedazzles her face with gems borrowed from Marie Antoinette. The real-life version works in children’s book publishing and had never performed in front of a crowd before.

    “I called myself Vampire Rachel because it’s hard for me to be somebody who I’m not,” Rushmore said. “Tonight I’m Rachel, but more.”

  • Malala Yousafzai has never watched a football game and will gladly start with the Eagles

    Malala Yousafzai has never watched a football game and will gladly start with the Eagles

    When Malala Yousafzai hit world headlines in 2012, she was 15 and lying comatose in a hospital in Birmingham, England. She had been shot in the head by Taliban militants while on her way back from school after an exam, in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.

    “I was getting defined as a brave, courageous activist, a girl who stood up to the Taliban and fighting for girls’ education. But I had still not opened my eyes and figured out what had happened, where I was supposed to now live and restart my life,” said Yousafzai, 28, whose new memoir, Finding My Way, came out this month.

    Malala Yousafzai’s “Finding My Way” is a delightfully candid memoir of her journey through her teen years, finding love, defying expectations, and reconnecting with her mission to empower girls.

    The book begins with the words, “I’ll never know who I was supposed to be.”

    She thinks about that often.

    “Maybe I would have lived a life where I felt less pressure and didn’t have to meet so many expectations. But then, I would be facing so many challenges in my own education, let alone fighting for other girls.”

    Earlier this year, the first class of girls graduated from the high school she started in her native village of Mingora. “The first class in the whole village,” she asserted, breaking into a smile on Zoom.

    Delightfully candid, the memoir speaks of Yousafzai’s high school years in Birmingham. She struggled to make friends. “By the end of it, I had only made one friend,” she said.

    Apparently, a Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t make you cool enough. “Not with friendships anyway,” she said. “Maybe the work you want to do for girls’ education, but not with making friends.”

    Malala Yousafzai during her years at the University of Oxford, where, in the summer of 2018, she met Asser Malik, her now husband

    The memoir details her college years in Oxford, where she nursed heartbreaks, smoked weed, met Asser Malik whom she’d eventually marry, and, yes, made friends.

    As one reads on, the eternal image of the 15-year-old in a veil splashed across TV screens and newspapers, slowly begins to shift. Yousafzai has stepped into womanhood, and she has embraced all the heartbreak and hormones that come with it and is not ashamed to talk about it.

    “In a way, this is a reintroduction of me,” said the author. “I have talked about my love life, friendships, and mental health. It’s been a wild ride from nearly failing my exams to getting ghosted by my crush, to reconnecting with my mission of educating girls.”

    Malala Yousafzai at her matriculation at University of Oxford, where she studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Lady Margaret Hall.

    For someone who won a Nobel at 17, topped school in Pakistan, and became a beacon of hope for girls who dream of getting an education, talking about almost failing in college wasn’t easy.

    “I realized that I cannot miss this opportunity to prioritize making friends,” she said, recalling sitting in the library and looking outside to see friends sitting in the sun and laughing.

    “I realized I wanted to be with them more than anything … It’s not just about having fun and socializing. I think learning from people can be life-changing, and it can stay with you forever.”

    Malala Yousafzai during her years at University of Oxford, where she joined all the societies she could find and took up rowing

    At Oxford, she attended Lady Margaret Hall, studied philosophy, politics, and economics, took up rowing, joined every society that she could find, organized social events, and attended parties.

    It’s also where, in the summer of 2018, she met Malik through mutual friends and bonded over a shared love for cricket.

    After a string of secret dates, a desire to never get married, and an eventual change of heart, she decided to tell her parents.

    Malala Yousafzai (right) with her family in England on Oct. 10, 2018. From left: Father Ziauddin, brothers Atal and Khushal, and mother Toor Pekai.

    She first told her forever cheerleader and father, Ziauddin, who was a schoolteacher back home in Pakistan, and asked him not to tell her mother, Toor Pekai, just yet.

    “Because I knew she would freak out.”

    Her father, she said, “took no pause and called my mom. I was like, ‘Dad, how could you do this?’ And then my mom told me off.” It felt like a betrayal. But eventually, “after all of that hide and seek, they finally approved us.”

    “I love my mom,” said Yousafzai. “Her upbringing, childhood, and experiences were so different from mine. I understand her fears, and that she wants to protect me. We constantly have these conversations. I keep telling her that we have to resist these pressures, so we can make it comfortable for more girls to be able to express themselves.”

    Malala Yousafzai visiting a Pakistani classroom as part of the Higher Education Readiness (HER) program.

    Toor Pekai, her daughter says, is “a work in progress.”

    “She just started reading the book. So we’ll find out how much more work needs to be done on her,” Yousafzai said with a laugh.

    She and Malik were married in 2021, but it wasn’t an obvious decision just because they had dated for a while. Yousafzai, running schools for girls in Pakistan and Lebanon, wondered if “embracing love and taking a big decision like marriage” would take away from everything she had achieved.

    Asser Malik and Malala Yousafzai on their wedding day in November 2021 at her parents’ home in Birmingham, England.

    “I had so many questions and doubts about marriage. We all know the issue of forced marriages and child marriage. We also know how, historically, marriage has meant more compromises for women. So I took my time, I did my research, I learned, and more than anything, I asked Asser questions.”

    One of them was, “What if I earn more than you?”

    “He would say something like, ‘If my wife earns more than me, I’ll be the luckiest husband, and I would love to just sit at home and enjoy my life.’ So I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is funny as well.’”

    “We need better men, better boys,” said Yousafzai.

    Which she said, makes her Team Conrad, referring to the Prime Video show The Summer I Turned Pretty that she binge-watched with Malik.

    For someone who was forced out of her home country, she has now learned to find a sense of belonging. “It is the home that we have in Birmingham now, where my family lives. It is when I’m with my friends, or when I’m with my husband, and we have a moment of joy together. It’s when we’re watching our favorite TV show, or holding hands. All of that is now home to me.”

    Her book tour brings her to Philadelphia on Tuesday, where she’ll be in conversation with Kylie Kelce.

    “I’m really excited to be in Philadelphia,” said the cricket fan, “and open to going to an Eagles game. I don’t think I’ve been to any of the games.

    “What is it called? American football?”

    “Malala Yousafzai: Finding My Way Book Tour,” Oct. 28, 8 p.m., the Fillmore, 29 E. Allen St., Phila., livenation.com

  • The Fishtown burger that broke Philly internet | Weekly Report Card

    The Fishtown burger that broke Philly internet | Weekly Report Card

    The Schuylkill sinkhole — D

    Philly’s favorite running path is at it again. A “chasm”-sized sinkhole has swallowed part of the Schuylkill River Trail between Race and JFK — big enough, officials say, that you could almost park a car in it. (“Almost” feels like a challenge.)

    The Schuylkill Banks crew fenced it off and called in Parks & Rec, the Water Department, and engineers — basically the full Avengers lineup of Philly infrastructure — to figure out what caused the hole and how to patch it before joggers start treating it like a new obstacle course.

    The Schuylkill Trail might be cursed. Every year it’s something — floods, fallen trees, now this. Until it’s fixed, cyclists and runners are being detoured, which in Philly terms means “good luck.”

    In Task, Robbie (Tom Pelphrey) uses Sixpenny Creek Quarry as a meeting place.

    Delco goes “rural”…at least according to the NYT — C-

    Somehow, the New York Times looked at Delco — home of Villanova, Swarthmore, and approximately 47 Wawas — and decided, “Ah yes, rural America.” Because nothing says “farm country” like the Blue Route at rush hour and a Target every three miles.

    To be fair, Task creator Brad Ingelsby does paint parts of Delco as working-class, gritty, and hollowed-out, which, yeah, that’s real. But “rural”? Come on. The county has fewer farms than vape shops. The only livestock most Delco residents see are on a roast pork sandwich.

    Still, the show does get something right: that weird in-between space so many towns around Philly live in — not city, not country, just post-industrial limbo where people are hustling to hang on. It’s not the backwoods. It’s just… us. Blue-collar, blunt, and way too online to ever be called rural again.

    Philly’s 52-week flex — A-

    For America’s 250th, Philly’s not settling for a parade — we’re throwing a 52-week-long brag about how we basically invented everything. Every week in 2026 will spotlight something that started here: the first hospital, zoo, flag, computer, hot-air balloon, even the penitentiary (because nothing says “city of firsts” like also being the first to lock people up).

    It’s peak Philly — proud, weird, and wildly specific. Some of these firsts are legitimately world-changing (first medical school, first abolitionist society), while others are pure “only in Philly” energy (first Slinky, first ice-cream soda). The lineup’s got range. We went from inventing democracy to inventing dessert.

    The ‘Six-Seven’ confusion — C-

    Philly might’ve given the world democracy, the cheesesteak, and now… “six-seven,” a phrase that means absolutely nothing and somehow everything to a generation of teens who can’t stop saying it. It possibly started with Kensington rapper Skrilla’s song “Doot Doot (6 7)” and spiraled into TikToks, classrooms, and apparently South Park.

    It’s not code, it’s not deep — it’s just two numbers. Maybe it’s a street, maybe it’s a mindset, maybe it’s proof that the internet’s broken our brains. Teachers hate it, parents are confused, and kids are out here saying “six-seven” like it’s a personality trait.

    Still, if you hear it echoing down Broad Street, just nod and say it back. Six-seven. Whatever that means.

    Owner of Two Robbers – Response to Burgergate
    byu/Born-Chemistry-1303 inphilly

    Two Robbers burgergate — A+

    Philly drama doesn’t get juicier than this. Someone plastered a flyer around Fishtown calling out Two Robbers for serving a sad, gray burger — complete with a date stamp and the caption, “This is literally the burger that came out.” Reddit, of course, lost its mind.

    Comments ranged from pure joy (“I f***in love love love this level of petty”) to the perfectly Philly (“This is what you get for ordering a burger at a craft seltzeria”). One guy even chimed in with, “They got robbed — by two robbers.” Another declared the poster was “doing the Lord’s work.”

    But plot twist: the burger wasn’t theirs. The photo was actually from 9GAG, posted seven years ago under the title “Nasty Burger.” The owner jumped into Reddit like a man defending his honor, posting receipts side-by-side — the fake, the meme, and their actual burger, which, to be fair, looks great — and calling the whole stunt “diabolical.”

    Now the thread’s full of conspiracy theories that the whole thing was a genius marketing stunt (“If it is, it worked on me”) and locals promising to stop by just to try the burger. So whether this was sabotage, performance art, or Philly’s pettiest PR move — Burgergate proves one thing: in this town, we don’t do calm, we do chaos. And we’ll probably Yelp about it after.

    Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham during practice at the NovaCare Complex on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025 in Philadelphia.

    Brandon Graham’s encore — A+

    Philly’s loudest legend just couldn’t stay away. After seven whole months of “retirement,” Brandon Graham is back in midnight green for his 16th season, saying he’s still got “juice left.” The Eagles desperately needed both sacks and smiles, and no one brings either like BG.

    At 37, rookies call him “the OG,” veterans call him the engine, and everyone calls him the guy who won’t stop talking in practice. “You thought you wasn’t gonna have to deal with me?” he said on his podcast. That’s the guy who strip-sacked Brady — not a man easing into retirement.

    And honestly? The timing couldn’t be better. Missed tackles, blown assignments, no spark — the Eagles’ defense has been ugly. BG can’t fix everything, but he can sure as hell remind the Birds what fight looks like.

    A rendering of the garage planned for Fishtown, looking west towards Center City.

    Philly’s year of the parking garage — D+

    In a city that loves to say it’s all about bikes, buses, and tree-lined streets, somehow 2025 has turned into the Year of the Parking Garage. Three new standalone garages are in the works — in Fishtown, University City, and Grays Ferry — because apparently we looked at the skyline and thought, “You know what’s missing? More concrete boxes for cars.”

    Developers say people need somewhere to park near all the shiny new apartments, but urbanists are screaming into their reusable coffee cups. We’re talking a 1,000-car garage from CHOP (in a neighborhood already struggling with air quality), a 495-space one in University City (for a city lab and staff), and a Fishtown “garage-with-a-view” that’s trying to make rooftop parking sound sexy.

    Parking pros say it’s a losing game — sky-high taxes, slim profits, and way too many empty spaces already. Even Parkway Corp. and E-Z Park, the kings of concrete, have looked at the numbers and said, “Good luck, you’ll need it.”

    It’s the most Philly thing ever: everyone agrees it’s a bad idea, but someone’s still building it.

    Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe shoots the basketball against Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jaylen Clark during a preseason game on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 in Philadelphia.

    Sixers start with a spark — B

    Nobody in Philly was expecting the Sixers to look this good out the gate. Rookie VJ Edgecombe dropped 34 points in his debut — the third-highest in NBA history — and helped the Sixers steal a 117-116 win over the Celtics. That’s right: Wilt, LeBron, and now a 20-year-old kid who apparently sleeps like a baby before facing Boston in the Garden.

    Edgecombe didn’t just show up — he looked like he’d been here for years. Calm, confident, and already saying the kind of humble stuff that makes you want to buy his jersey before Christmas. Tyrese Maxey poured in 40, and even his gentle clowning (“77 definitely got scared at the free-throw line”) couldn’t hide the fact that Philly might actually have a backcourt worth believing in.

    It’s still early, but this team has something it hasn’t had in forever: fun. For once, the Sixers aren’t pretending to be contenders — they’re just hooping. No melodrama, no birthday banners about Daryl Morey being a liar, no Teletubby coats. Just fast breaks, fresh legs, and a rookie who already has his name next to Wilt’s.

    We’ve been hurt before, so no one’s saying “This is the year.” But after one game, it’s hard not to feel a little something.

  • Leaf peeping, murder mysteries, and mountain charm in Jim Thorpe | Field Trip

    Leaf peeping, murder mysteries, and mountain charm in Jim Thorpe | Field Trip

    When you think of fall in the mountains, the quintessential image that probably comes to mind is of Jim Thorpe. Even if you’ve never set foot in this petite Pennsylvania town — wrapped like an amphitheater in a vertical forest that changes color by the day — photos of it have become the calling card of the Poconos, luring day-trippers and weekenders long before ski season begins.

    Named for the multi-sport athlete and the first Native American to win Olympic gold, the town flares out on either side of the Lehigh River in checkerboards of boutiques, breweries and Victorian manors. There’s plenty to do within its small footprint, and the rest of the Poconos waits right at its doorstep.

    The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway is known for its Autumn Leaf train excursion.

    Ride: Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway

    Imagine gliding through a kaleidoscope of gold, russet and amber leaves. That’s why the ticket booth for the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway opens early — 7 a.m. on weekends, 9 a.m. on weekdays — for its wildly popular Autumn Leaf train excursion. Tickets are sold only in person, the day of, so plan ahead. The 45-minute round trip offers stunning views best seen (and photographed) from the open-air carriages.

    📍1 Susquehanna St., Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229

    Stay: Harry Packer Mansion

    A five-minute walk from the station, the Harry Packer Mansion counts quirky arched dormers, a copper-topped bell tower, and a grand sandstone veranda among its many eccentricities. Built in 1874 by railroad tycoon Asa Packer as a wedding gift for his son, Harry, the mansion (and adjacent carriage house) features eight rooms with ornate woodwork and vintage décor. Check in on the second or fourth weekend of each month for an immersive murder mystery, where costumed characters bring the mansion to life.

    📍19 Packer Hill Ave., Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229

    Race: Pocono Raceway

    About 20 minutes east of Jim Thorpe sits Pocono Raceway, the legendary 2.5-mile track that’s hosted NASCAR races since 1971. For an adrenaline rush, hop into a Dodge Charger Hellcat for a ride-along with a professional driver around the “Tricky Triangle,” hitting 60 mph in just over three seconds.

    📍1234 Long Pond Rd., Long Pond, Pa. 18334

    Eat: Pocono Organics Café

    A raceway and organic farm might seem like unlikely neighbors, but the Poconos are full of surprises. One of the largest regenerative agricultural projects in North America, Pocono Organics has a can’t-miss café with an epic grass-fed cheeseburger, a beet salad dressed with tahini, harissa and pistachios, and house-baked pastries worth saving for the morning drive home.

    📍1015 Long Pond Rd., Blakeslee, Pa. 18610

    Shop: Downtown Jim Thorpe

    Back in town, stroll down Broadway, the main drag lined with boutiques that feel far more cosmopolitan than you’d expect in a mountain village. Browse plus-size consignment at BawdyPlus, bespoke stationery at Somersault, indie paperbacks at Sellers Books & Art, and 18th-century curiosities at Antiques on Broadway.

    📍77 Broadway, Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229 (BawdyPlus);📍65 Broadway, Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229 (Sellers Books & Art);📍52 Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229 (Antiques on Broadway)

    Drink: Bright Path Brewing

    Cross the bridge over the Lehigh River to the east side of town for pre-dinner drinks at Bright Path Brewing, a relaxed taproom with forest-green walls and pipe-legged tables. Bright Path has been brewing German-accented beers since 2022; the smoked Maibock may be meant for spring (“Mai” = May), but its subtle smokiness pairs perfectly with crisp autumn air.

    📍1215 North St., Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229

    Dine: Café Arielle at the Stabin Museum

    End the evening with art and ambiance. Step into The Stabin Museum, where artist Victor Stabin’s genre-bending naturalist paintings line the walls, before dining at the adjacent Café Arielle. Red-curried salmon and roasted duck with blueberry gastrique fill the tables of this stone-and-wood hideaway, glowing like a lantern in the mountain night.

    📍268 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229

  • Please Touch Museum to reduce hours but programming will remain unaffected

    Please Touch Museum to reduce hours but programming will remain unaffected

    The Please Touch Museum is reducing its days of operation from six days a week to five days a week, closing on Mondays.

    Its new hours are Wednesday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and select holidays. The museum is also pausing its monthly First Wednesday evening program.

    The changes go into effect on Oct. 29.

    The reduction in hours is a response to a 15% drop in attendance numbers from 475,000 a year pre-pandemic to 400,000 a year. Mondays, the museum found out, are the lowest visitation days.

    “This change in operations reflects post-pandemic visitation trends at Please Touch Museum and cultural institutions across Philadelphia and beyond,” Ivy Brown, spokesperson for Please Touch Museum, said in a statement. “We take seriously our responsibility to ensure the museum’s continued financial stability while delivering exceptional learning experiences for generations of children and caregivers to come.”

    O’Shon (Matthew Law) chaperones the ‘Abbott Elementary’ field trip to the Please Touch Museum in the season four finale that aired on April 16 on ABC.

    The reduction in hours doesn’t mean that museumgoers will have limited experiences. The beloved museum, featured in the season four finale of Abbott Elementary, boasts 18 permanent exhibits, including the popular Front Step where kids play on the stoop of a make-believe house.

    “Food & Family” is a 3,650-square-foot exhibit, presented by the grocery chain Giant, that introduces tots to food systems in a supermarket, a home, an industrial kitchen, and a neighborhood festival. Kids can shop for parties and grill hot dogs at their own block parties.

    The museum recently opened “AlegreMENTE | Happy Brain,” a bilingual exhibit, sponsored by Conshohocken-based pharmaceutical company Cencora, centering the relationship between children and their caregivers.

    “AlegreMENTE” invites visitors to play in a magical, make-believe forest where they can invent stories, draw, and explore emotions with an emotion wheel.

    The exhibit is open through Jan. 4.

    Please Touch Museum

    📍4231 Avenue of the Republic, Phila., 🌐 pleasetouchmuseum.org, 💵 $20.

  • Colman Domingo to receive the 2025 Lumière Award at the 34th Philadelphia Film Festival

    Colman Domingo to receive the 2025 Lumière Award at the 34th Philadelphia Film Festival

    As the 34th Philadelphia Film Festival wraps up on Sunday, organizers have a parting gift.

    On Friday, the Philadelphia Film Society, which is the parent organization for the festival, announced that Emmy-winning actor and West Philly’s very own Colman Domingo is the recipient of the society’s 2025 Lumière Award.

    The award honors Domingo’s “extraordinary contributions” as an actor, writer, and director, as well as his deep ties to Philadelphia, according to a statement.

    Colman Domingo poses for photographers upon arrival at the amfAR, foundation for aids research, gala at the Arsenale di Venezia during the 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

    “[Domingo’s] impressive ability to channel raw emotion, compassion, conviction, intensity, humor, and charisma into each of his roles is truly remarkable,” Andrew Greenblatt, CEO of the Philadelphia Film Society, said in the statement. “I couldn’t be more excited to honor Colman Domingo with our 2025 Lumière Award.”

    Domingo grew up in the city with his stepfather, Clarence Bowles, who sanded hardwood floors, and his mother, Edith Bowles, who worked in a bank. He attended Temple University, where he studied journalism before dropping out at 21 to make headlines of his own as a stage actor.

    In the years since, he has emerged as a transformative talent on the Broadway stage and in Hollywood. He starred as Billy Flynn in the Broadway revival of Chicago in 2010 and was nominated the following year for a Tony for his work on the musical The Scottsboro Boys.

    His starring roles in films such as the 2023 biopic Rustin and the 2024 drama Sing Sing earned him consecutive Academy Award best actor nominations.

    Colman Domingo attends the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

    Domingo joins former Lumière Award honorees M. Night Shyamalan, Bruce Willis, Adam McKay, and Lee Daniels, who were all recognized for their cinematic achievements and meaningful contribution to the City of Brotherly Love.

    Along with Domingo’s honor, PFS presented its Audrey Evans Impact Award for Social Change to boxer Christy Salters and the film Christy.

    The award is named after Evans, a pioneering pediatric oncologist and Ronald McDonald House cofounder, who worked for decades at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

  • Philly rapper Armani White criticizes TMZ coverage of his arrest

    Philly rapper Armani White criticizes TMZ coverage of his arrest

    Philly-raised rapper Armani White is pushing back on the media coverage of his arrest earlier this month.

    White, 29, born Enoch Armani Tolbert, was arrested for disorderly conduct on Oct. 12 after police found the artist and members of his tour bus filming a music video on I-75 in Newport, Ky.

    TMZ covered the arrest, releasing Tolbert’s mug shot and police bodycam footage of the arrest, as well as remarking on the nature of his hair in the mug shot.

    “My father didn’t raise me to be a criminal. My grandfather didn’t raise me to be a criminal. The only reason why I smiled in that mug shot is because I refuse to let anybody paint a picture of me as a criminal on TV, on the internet, anywhere,” White said to a packed crowd in Birmingham, Ala., last weekend.

    Armani White performs during the NFC Championship show as the Eagles face the Commanders Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, in Philadelphia.

    Tolbert was in Kentucky as part of a nationwide tour alongside Grammy-award-winning singer T-Pain when his tour bus stopped on the interstate to film a music video. White did not respond to a request for comment.

    According to a police citation, the police were called to the highway after reports of people running on the road. When they arrived, police reportedly found White dancing on the concrete median of the interstate.

    White grew to international fame in 2022 after his bass-bumping, Neptunes-sampled track “BILLIE EILISH” birthed a viral TikTok challenge reaching millions. White later joined the track’s namesake, Billie Eilish, the 23-year-old Grammy and Oscar award-winning singer, to perform the song together in 2023.

    Rapping since the 2010s, White grew an underground following before joining the lineup of Jay-Z’s Made In America festival in 2018, which he had been attending as a fan before hitting the stage. Earlier this year, White performed his first NFL halftime show during the NFC championship, with the Philadelphia Eagles against the Washington Commanders.

    White released his debut album, Keep In Touch, in 2019, followed by the EP, Things We Lost in the Fire, referring to a house fire in which White lost family members at a young age.

    This week, he released a music video for the single, “MOUNT PLEASANT.,” a teaser for what’s to come on the release of his next album on Oct. 31.

  • Philly’s Maya Nazareth lands $300,000 deal on ‘Shark Tank’

    Philly’s Maya Nazareth lands $300,000 deal on ‘Shark Tank’

    Philadelphia entrepreneur Maya Nazareth, the founder of Alchemize Fightwear, delivered her pitch to celebrity investors on ABC’s Shark Tank on Wednesday.

    In hopes of striking a deal for her women’s combat sports apparel company, the Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree appeared on episode four of the hit show’s 17th season.

    When she was 17, Nazareth said, she transformed her passion for jiujitsu into a woman-centered, high-performance fightwear brand from the ground up. Today, Alchemize makes a range of apparel for women training in martial arts, boxing, wrestling, and jiujitsu.

    “I think it’s so much bigger than combat sports,” Nazareth said of her company’s appeal. “We’re for the fighter in every woman.”

    Investor and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary testifies before the Senate Banking Committee about cryptocurrency and the collapse of FTX, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

    After noticing a lack of womenswear options in combat training, which often “makes a lot of women quit,” Nazareth said she started the business as a University of Delaware college student in 2020.

    The apparel brand founder presented in front of regular “sharks” Daymond John, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary, and Kendra Scott, and guest investor Alexis Ohanian.

    Ohanian, the cofounder of Reddit and husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, expressed early interest in Nazareth’s company. He cited data explaining why a lack of properly-fitting sports bras turns school-age girls away from competing in athletics.

    Nazareth initially sought a $250,000 investment in exchange for a 5% stake in Alchemize. The sharks were hesitant about the price tag and competition from apparel giants like Nike and other major retailers.

    “You’re competing against folks that have built brands that people will tattoo on their bodies,” Ohanian said. “The brand you’re going to have to build is going to have to be something very formidable and compelling.”

    In response, Nazareth pointed to her brand’s strong social media engagement and $1.8 million in lifetime sales at the time of recording. In 2024 alone, Nazareth said the company had nearly $500,000 in sales.

    Alexis Ohanian, cofounder and former chairman of Reddit, speaks during a Bloomberg Technology interview in San Francisco, California, on Feb. 1, 2017. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by David Paul Morris

    After a series of counter offers, Ohanian, Greiner, and Scott teamed up for a $300,000 offer in exchange for a 15% stake in the business, split equally among the three investors.

    Nazareth attempted to negotiate the equity stake down to 12%, but ultimately accepted the three sharks’ offer. “We’re about to build a world-class community in movement for the fighter in every woman,” Nazareth said on-screen.

    In an interview with CNBC Make It, Nazareth declined to confirm whether the deal was finalized off-screen. But she said her plans are to use the capital to scale up marketing and “continue to amplify the brand.”

    During the episode, Nazareth was joined by the founders of an at-home sprout grower and a pet-first aviation service. Other competitors included Orka Bar founder Stephen Longo, of Belmar, N.J., who pitched his high-protein dessert. The Jersey Shore business owner secured a $100,000 investment for a 25% stake in the brand.

    To watch the episode, visit abc.com or stream “Shark Tank” on Hulu.