One last confession: Campus Confessional says goodbye after three seasons

Three seasons, countless confessions and plenty they probably should have kept to themselves. Campus Confessional signs off by looking back at where it all began.

‘Who the fuck? My hamster just died. Okay, you’re an adult.’

Yes, that was apparently something somebody once said on Campus Confessional. Who? That is exactly what Kevin, Thalassa and Michela have to figure out in the final episode of the podcast.

And this time, final really does mean final.

After three seasons of dating disasters, questionable life advice, hot takes, dilemmas, oversharing and a suspicious number of reminders that they are ‘not licensed therapists’, Campus Confessional is coming to an end.

For their farewell, the hosts abandon the usual format and dive into the Campus Confessional archives instead. Their first challenge is Who Said That?, in which old quotes are pulled from a bowl and everyone has to remember who was responsible for them.

There are plenty to choose from. AI, Tinder, Grindr, dead hamsters, spending problems and Kevin’s dating life all make another appearance. So does the immortal question: ‘What do you mean you replied in your head?’

Back where it started

There is another familiar face at the table too. Sasha, one of the original hosts and part of the creation of Campus Confessional, returns for the goodbye episode.

Her appearance brings the podcast full circle. Looking back at the first season, the presenters can hardly recognise themselves. They were quieter, less confident and, according to Kevin, had ‘no idea about etiquette’.

That did not last long.

By season two, the hosts had become comfortable enough in front of the cameras to create a different problem: getting through an episode without requiring endless cuts.

But some of their favourite memories happened when the cameras technically weren’t supposed to be capturing anything useful. Thalassa remembers the coffees before recording and conversations with the crew before and after filming. Kevin chooses all the moments when somebody messed something up and immediately begged the producers to cut it.

‘Those funny moments’, he says, were among his favourites.

‘It brought me out of my shell’

Looking back also makes the hosts realise how much Campus Confessional changed them.

Asked what she learned from the show, Michela says presenting the podcast ‘really brought me out of my shell in lots of ways’.

Confidence is mentioned more than once. So are patience, creativity and simply learning to enjoy being in front of a camera rather than worrying about getting everything right.

Their three-word descriptions of the experience perhaps sum it up best: ‘chaotic, iconic’, ‘loud’, ‘challenging’, ‘whimsical’, ‘original’ and ‘creative’.

And yes, they know ‘out of the box’ is technically more than one word.

Five years from now

Then the joking briefly stops.

Asked where they hope to be five years from now, the hosts leave messages for their future selves. Michela hopes she will have started a business, travelled the world and surrounded herself with good people. Thalassa hopes for happiness, new experiences and ‘a whimsical, lovely job’. Kevin wants to keep working in media and appearing on ‘bigger and better screens’.

There is also a thank you to Sasha, who helped create the show and presented its first season, and to everyone behind the scenes who turned the original idea into three seasons of Campus Confessional.

Because what began as a new student podcast eventually became something the hosts clearly didn’t expect. There were new presenters, new segments and even an Instagram account they admit they were perhaps disproportionately excited about.

And, of course, there were the confessions.

So it seems fitting that Campus Confessional gets to end with one.

‘Having a podcast will change your life. If you’re thinking about it, just do it.’