The Viall Files

E1081 - Going Deeper with Rosanna Pansino

February 18, 2026

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  • Rosanna Pansino's early career success on YouTube was nearly derailed by traditional media gatekeepers who failed to see the value of new digital platforms. 
  • Navigating the modern YouTube landscape requires creators to balance passion with an understanding of the complex, metric-driven algorithm ("Al"). 
  • Rosanna credits her resilience and commitment to consistency, even through personal tragedy, to the grit instilled by her military-influenced family background. 
  • Rosanna Pansino actively limits her social media presence, particularly Instagram, because focusing on content creation ruined her ability to enjoy moments, turning experiences into work. 
  • Rosanna Pansino detailed the deeply personal and symbolic process of honoring her late father by growing cannabis from his ashes, a request he made on his deathbed, and discussed navigating the subsequent online backlash. 
  • Rosanna Pansino believes in speaking up against egregious behavior from powerful figures like Mr. Beast, stating that fear should never stop someone from doing what is right, even if it leads to being 'outcasted' within the YouTube community. 
  • Rosanna Pansino views the rise of YouTubers getting their own shows as a long-hoped-for validation for digital creators, while also emphasizing that speaking up about safety concerns (like regarding the Beast games) leads to necessary positive changes. 
  • Live streaming is viewed with significant caution, primarily due to safety concerns like swatting and the potential for viewers to exploit streamers' public locations, suggesting it is likely unhealthy for most personalities. 
  • The conversation highlights a concern that platform leaders are not adequately enforcing policies to protect creators, as the pursuit of views and money incentivizes extreme and sometimes psychotic behavior, such as filming an injured passenger instead of rendering aid. 

Segments

Coop Pillow & Progressive Ad Reads
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The Coop Sleep Goods pillow offers adjustable firmness and a 100-night risk-free trial, while Progressive’s Name Your Price tool helps budget insurance.
  • Summary: The Coop pillow is highlighted for its cooling properties and ability to adjust fill for personalized comfort, backed by an 86% reported improvement in sleep. Listeners can receive 20% off their first order via a specific URL. Progressive Insurance promotes its Name Your Price tool for finding budget-fitting coverage options.
Neighborhood Halloween Traditions
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(00:02:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna describes her neighborhood’s elaborate, movie-like Halloween setup involving street closures and actors.
  • Summary: Rosanna expressed excitement about her local neighborhood’s dedication to Halloween, noting that the entire street participates in decorating and blocking off roads. This contrasts sharply with her first experience trick-or-treating in LA, which was unexpectedly quiet. She identifies herself as a ‘social butterfly’ who enjoys engaging with people.
Social Styles and Mike’s Personality
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(00:04:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Nick identifies as a ‘cat’ (introverted) post-LA move, contrasting with Rosanna’s social nature and her husband Mike’s ‘social introvert’ tech-nerd tendencies.
  • Summary: Rosanna describes her husband, Mike, as a highly intelligent tech enthusiast who could happily spend his time gaming alone, contrasting with her need for social interaction. This difference became apparent during COVID lockdowns, where Rosanna experienced severe cabin fever while Mike remained calm. The hosts use the cat/dog analogy to describe their differing social energy levels.
YouTube vs. Traditional Media Tension
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(00:07:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna’s first agency threatened to drop her for making YouTube videos, illustrating the early conflict between new media and traditional entertainment.
  • Summary: Rosanna recounted being given an ultimatum by her first agency to stop making YouTube videos, despite her channel having already secured her a Sony commercial. This conflict highlights the industry’s initial fear and division regarding the emerging new media landscape. She ultimately chose YouTube, which led to her finding her professional footing after struggling post-The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars.
Pursuing Trauma Therapy (EMDR)
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(00:12:49)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna began EMDR trauma therapy after years of suppressing difficult experiences, realizing her ’trauma tank gets full.'
  • Summary: Rosanna started working with a trauma therapist about five months prior to the recording, prompted by a lack of tolerance for ‘bullshit’ as she ages. She attributes her past tendency to suppress feelings to her Italian/Irish background, dealing with issues via whiskey shots. Nick encouraged her to seek therapy, and she found EMDR to be a life-changing, recommended treatment for trauma.
Transitioning from Glee to Full-Time YouTube
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(00:15:29)
  • Key Takeaway: The agency ultimatum forced Rosanna to commit fully to YouTube, a decision she might not have made otherwise, despite the platform barely monetizing then.
  • Summary: Rosanna left Glee after season two and began focusing entirely on YouTube, a path solidified by the ultimatum from her agency. She recognized YouTube’s potential as a future distribution wave even when she was making minimal money from it. She fought to resolve the relationship with her former agents but ultimately accepted their decision, dealing with the setback by having a shot of whiskey.
New Fox Deal and Mentorship
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(00:18:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna secured a new deal with Fox, aspiring to build an internal food network similar to Gordon Ramsay’s brand, driven by a desire to produce and feature other talent.
  • Summary: Rosanna gained experience producing after hosting Food Network shows and an executive-produced HBO show, developing an ‘itch’ to produce content. She credits former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki as a vital mentor who gave her a ‘seat at the table’ during Project Beacon. Wojcicki balanced business ethics with caring for creators, a quality Rosanna misses under new leadership.
Grief and Channel Recovery
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(00:22:05)
  • Key Takeaway: The loss of her father caused Rosanna to operate on autopilot for years, but the heavy feeling of grief has recently lifted, allowing passion and joy to return to her channel.
  • Summary: Rosanna described the period after losing her father as the weirdest part of her career, where she continued uploading content out of commitment but without her heart in it. She felt like the ’lighthouse lost the light’ during that time of intense grieving. Now, the heavy feeling has lifted, and the channel is organically reflecting renewed passion and happiness.
Advice for Aspiring YouTube Stars
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(00:24:38)
  • Key Takeaway: Aspiring creators should focus on what specific creative interest they want to pursue on YouTube, rather than just seeking fame for fame’s sake.
  • Summary: Rosanna notes that kids today want to be YouTubers, but she advises them to identify their core passion—be it baking, podcasting, or gaming—and use YouTube as the platform for that art. She emphasizes that early creators were ‘creative nerds’ not seeking fame because it wasn’t possible, unlike today’s environment. Trying everything is key to discovering what truly resonates.
Finding the Niche and Algorithm Shift
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(00:30:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna’s channel took off after posting a ‘geeky baking video’ for gamer friends, capitalizing on an algorithm that favored tutorial content at the time.
  • Summary: The turning point for Rosanna’s channel was community feedback demanding more geeky baking content, which was unique on TV or online. She learned that success requires feeding the algorithm by hitting specific metrics early in a video’s release, a necessity that did not exist when the algorithm was a ‘baby’ of just a few lines of code.
Rosetta Stone & Bilt Ad Reads
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(00:34:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosetta Stone offers an immersive, English-free language learning experience with real-time pronunciation feedback, while Bilt rewards renters and now mortgage payers for housing expenses.
  • Summary: Rosetta Stone provides access to 25 languages, focusing on natural learning without English translations, and offers a 50% discount for Viall Files listeners on a lifetime membership. Bilt is a loyalty program that converts rent payments into points usable for travel, retail, and more, expanding rewards to include mortgage payments.
Baking Credibility and Science
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(00:37:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna gained culinary credibility by hiring a Cordon Bleu-trained producer who explained the science behind her grandmother’s traditional, correct baking methods.
  • Summary: Rosanna faced elitist pushback from formally trained chefs but countered this by hiring a producer who taught her the scientific vocabulary (like ’emulsification’) for techniques her Italian grandmother already used. Her audience and fellow bakers validated her recipes, confirming her family’s innate baking expertise was scientifically sound.
Nightmare Recipes and Consistency
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(00:43:45)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna abandoned a tiered Sonic the Hedgehog cake after knocking it onto the floor late at night, but maintains an unwavering commitment to weekly uploads.
  • Summary: Rosanna threw away an episode involving chocolate that turned ‘globby’ due to temperature issues, and another involving a multi-tiered cake that fell, leading her to sob instead of cleaning it up. She has maintained a commitment to uploading at least one video per week for over 13 years, filming even while sick or grieving her father.
Work-Life Balance and Socializing
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(00:53:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna prioritizes socializing, often forgetting to film moments with friends because she prefers to be fully present rather than constantly documenting experiences.
  • Summary: As a self-described social creature, Rosanna prioritizes attending friends’ events and spending time with her three bulldogs, often organizing trips and ladies’ nights. She admits she is bad at vlogging because she forgets to film when enjoying moments with friends, contrasting with the pressure to constantly create content that can ruin experiences.
Social Media Presence & Enjoyment
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(00:56:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Constant content creation ruins the ability to be present and enjoy moments, turning experiences into work.
  • Summary: Rosanna Pansino finds that constantly thinking about filming or posting ruins experiences, citing how wedding planning became focused on collaboration tagging rather than enjoyment. She prefers not to do talking head content because it keeps content creation on her mind. She admits she is bad at Instagram and often forgets to film things entirely.
Accidental Live Stream Incident
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(00:58:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna Pansino accidentally went live on Instagram during a Sabrina Carpenter concert while having fun and being inattentive to her phone.
  • Summary: While enjoying a concert with a margarita keg, Rosanna’s phone accidentally went live, and she was unaware until later. Her partner, Mike, had to contact her friends to let her know she was streaming. She was not mortified by the incident because she felt she does nothing in private she would be embarrassed about.
New Podcast Season Details
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(00:59:42)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna Pansino’s podcast was renewed for Season 2 with a new co-host, Olivia Lopes from the H3 podcast.
  • Summary: The podcast received a renewal for a second season, introducing Olivia Lopes as the new co-host. Lopes will cover pop culture news, while Pansino will focus on providing ‘vibes,’ making drinks, and sharing random animal and science facts. Pansino shared a fact about raccoons self-domesticating to survive near humans.
Longevity and Public Scrutiny
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(01:03:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna Pansino maintains longevity by only caring about the opinions of her family and friends, not strangers.
  • Summary: She processes negative public opinions by dismissing them, asserting that what strangers think is their business, not hers. She learned early on that some negative comments, like those about her lighting, were actually constructive feedback she could use to improve her content. She credits this perspective for helping her handle scrutiny over honoring her father.
Honoring Father’s Last Wish
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(01:04:24)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna Pansino fulfilled her father’s last dying wish by having his ashes mixed with soil to grow cannabis, working with a licensed grower.
  • Summary: The process of growing cannabis from her father’s ashes took five years before she felt comfortable doing it, and she worked with an expert grower in California. She chose to be open about the atypical memorialization to control the narrative, despite facing accusations of cannibalism and illegality from others, including Tana Mongeau. She found support from those in cultures where similar practices exist, like growing remains into trees.
Lessons from Father’s Life
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(01:12:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Her father taught her to surround herself with more talented people and exemplified love by bridging conservative and liberal social circles.
  • Summary: Her father’s advice was to ‘always play with musicians who are more talented than you’ to learn from them. He was a unique individual who successfully maintained close friendships with both conservative people from his military background and liberal, hippie friends. This ability to bring disparate groups together stemmed from his genuine love for people.
Critique of Mr. Beast’s Behavior
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(01:15:54)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna Pansino views Mr. Beast as manipulative, sexist, and driven solely by money and power, citing years of being screwed over in business ventures.
  • Summary: Pansino states she has been screwed over in every business venture with Jimmy Donaldson over six years, and his apology regarding Creator Games 3 was fake because he refused to take accountability for intentional editing. She believes his focus on money and power leads him to manipulate interviews, blame others (like editors), and engage in behavior that harms the community, such as hiring a convicted sex offender.
Consequences of Speaking Out
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(01:35:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Speaking out against Mr. Beast resulted in Rosanna Pansino being ‘outcasted’ by many long-time YouTuber friends due to fear of professional repercussions.
  • Summary: She distinguishes being ‘canceled’ (public backlash) from being ‘outcasted’ (losing friends professionally). She understands friends feared professional repercussions because Mr. Beast has deep ties within the YouTube media ecosystem, including ownership stakes in awards shows and publications. Despite the heat, she believes fear should not stop people from doing what is right, referencing her Han Solo mentality.
Creator Success Without Being an Asshole
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(01:46:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Financial success on YouTube does not require being an ‘asshole’ or constantly chasing viral moments, as many kind creators achieve multi-million dollar success.
  • Summary: Pansino argues that loud, controversial creators are often the loudest assholes, but many successful creators maintain kindness and grow their numbers annually. She notes that Logan Paul’s need to constantly escalate content was driven by money and power being his ’true north,’ a mindset she rejects. She emphasizes that there are many examples of financially successful people who do not need to be ‘douchebags.’
Grace for Jenna Marbles
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(01:48:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Jenna Marbles deserves grace because her reaction to past mistakes demonstrated genuine remorse and heartbreak over hurting people.
  • Summary: Pansino believes Jenna Marbles deeply felt the impact of her inappropriate comedy videos, realizing how comedy standards have evolved, and beat herself up over it. Unlike those driven by money, Jenna’s reaction was rooted in genuine remorse for breaking others’ hearts. Pansino would love for her to return but respects that the experience broke her heart.
YouTuber Success and Safety Advocacy
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(01:53:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Advocating for safety, even when misconstrued as cancellation attempts, results in tangible safety improvements.
  • Summary: Mark’s Iron Lung’s success in theaters demonstrated fan demand driving wider distribution. Rosanna Pansino views YouTubers gaining executive producer roles as a long-awaited milestone for digital creators. Speaking up about safety issues, such as those related to the Beast games, directly led to positive safety changes being implemented.
Grace and Accountability in Mistakes
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(01:53:56)
  • Key Takeaway: True problem resolution requires genuine change, not just behavior modification to avoid public exposure.
  • Summary: The era before ubiquitous phone cameras allowed for making and learning from mistakes privately. Many individuals, however, only adjust behavior to avoid being caught publicly rather than fixing the underlying issue. This distinction is crucial for genuine personal growth and accountability.
Live Streaming Mental Health Impact
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(01:56:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Live streaming is a new digital entertainment genre that poses significant mental health and physical safety risks for most participants.
  • Summary: Live streaming is likely unhealthy for most personalities unless they fit a very specific profile. The primary concern surrounding live streaming is safety, as public location information makes streamers vulnerable to threats like swatting. Streamers should proactively contact local law enforcement to establish protective protocols.
Extreme Live Streamer Behavior
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(02:00:02)
  • Key Takeaway: The pursuit of views and money drives some streamers to exhibit sociopathic behavior, such as prioritizing filming over rendering aid during emergencies.
  • Summary: An example cited involved a streamer continuing to film an injured passenger while checking view counts, behavior described as psychotic or sociopathic. Consequences for severe actions like swatting are reportedly serious, often resulting in significant legal trouble. Platform leaders must enforce policies to stop incentivizing children to endanger themselves for views.
Future Collaboration and Wrap-up
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(02:03:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Rosanna Pansino agreed to participate in a future ‘Ask Nick’ episode to offer relationship advice.
  • Summary: The conversation concluded with mutual appreciation for the open discussion, noting the time flew by quickly. Rosanna Pansino mentioned that season two of her podcast, ‘Rodiculous,’ is forthcoming. She accepted the invitation to join Nick Viall on an ‘Ask Nick’ segment to share her learned wisdom on relationships.