• Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Perfect Match" season two.
• In the new season, "Love Is Blind" alum Micah Lussier couples up with "Dated & Related" star Kaz Bishop.
• Here's an update on their on their relationship. 

Micah Lussier and Kaz Bishop may have rekindled their relationship in the "Perfect Match" season two finale, but it seems they are no longer dating.

Micah is on her second attempt at a reality TV romance after trying and failing to find a husband on Netflix's most popular reality show, "Love Is Blind."

She appears in the latest season of "Perfect Match," a Netflix crossover series in which fan favorites from other shows compete and date to find their partner.

In episode two, Micah pairs up with "Dated & Related" alum Kaz Bishop, and the pair wins two couples' challenges in the season.

But their relationship is constantly tested in the second half of the series. First, Kaz is sent on a date with Holly Scarfone, who previously starred in "Too Hot To Handle" season three.

When Kaz returns, he struggles to decide who to pick between Holly and Micah. Micah gets angry about this situation and calls Kaz a liar. They make up in episode seven and match together again.

However, in the following episodes, Micah and Kaz are caught in more fights when he chats with other women.

In episode nine, the pair have a screaming match. Micah is angry with Kaz this time for talking to a third new contestant, Christine Obanor, and kissing Holly in a game. Kaz is annoyed that Micah told other contestants that they are the weakest couple.

They finally break up and Kaz matches up with Christine, and Micah pairs up with Izzy Zapata.

In the following episode, Kaz has second thoughts and speaks to Micah about rebuilding their relationship. Micah doesn't immediately give in but eventually decides to match with Kaz.

At the end of the season, they are still coupled up.

Here are the clues that the couple probably isn't together anymore.

Micah has posted on social media about other dates

Netflix reality series are often filmed months or even years before they premiere. This means that contestants often do not post anything about their relationships from the reality show or new relationships until after the series has aired.

While we do not know exactly when "Perfect Match" season two was filmed, it was likely before the fall of 2023, when some contestants had other TV commitments.

Since September 2023, Micah has shared three TikTok posts about going on new dates. In the first post shared on September 16, 2023, Micah shows the man she is dating, and he doesn't look anything like Kaz.

Micah has not confirmed that she has a new partner, but the fact that she is dating other people means her romance with Kaz probably didn't work out.

Correction: June 17, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the number of episodes in the spoiler warning. There were nine episodes, not six.

• Warning: Major spoilers for "Perfect Match" season two.
• Harry Jowsey is in hot water with Jessica Vestal after being accused of kissing another contestant.
• Here's what we know about the kissing scandal involving Melinda Berry.

Harry Jowsey and Jessica Vestal broke up in the "Perfect Match" season two finale after he was accused of kissing another contestant.

Harry was obsessed with Jessica from episode three, and the pair became one of the more consistent couples of the season.

But in episode eight, Harry begins flirting with Melinda while at a party without Jessica. Harry offers to carry Melinda twice in the episode, and the second time, Harry allegedly kisses Melinda.

The "kiss" apparently happens off-camera, turning the incident into an argument between Melinda, who is adamant that the kiss happened, and Harry, who says it didn't.

The next day, Melinda tells Jessica that she and Harry kissed, causing a big fight between the three contestants.

Fans were hoping to find out the truth during the cast reunion in the season two finale, but Harry never confirms what happened.

Harry does apologize to Jess for his behavior, at which point the show cuts to a series of clips from the party that seem to indicate he and Melinda deliberately attempted to kiss out of view of the camera.

In one of the clips, Harry asks the production crew if they caught the kiss on camera.

The scandal became one of the biggest controversies of "Perfect Match" season two, especially since the audience never sees the alleged kiss.

Here's what we know so far about the kissing scandal between Melinda and Harry.

'Perfect Match' season two, episode eight: Melinda and Holly say the kiss happened off-screen

The kissing scandal begins in episode eight after all the couples are split up and sent to separate parties. The boys' party is ambushed by a group of female contestants who are trying to tempt the men away from their original partners.

Frustratingly, "Perfect Match" never reveals if the kiss happens in the episodes released on June 14. Either it occurred off-camera or the producers have decided to withhold the footage.

But we do have some potential witnesses. In episode eight, Holly Scarfone and Justin Assada were talking to each other right next to where the kiss is thought to have happened.

Holly is actually the first person to claim they kissed.

Justin says: "Woah, what's going on there? huh"

Holly replies: "Boys' day. They kissed."

The camera also pivots to Stevan Ditter, who seems to be looking in the direction of Harry and Melinda.

Stevan and Justin both say they didn't see anything, though they could be trying to defend their friend.

The camera then goes back to Melinda and Harry, and Harry begins to talk about his great relationship with Jessica.

When Melinda mentions the kiss, Harry denies it, laughs without looking directly at her, and walks away.

Harry doubles down when they get to the rest of the group, saying that Melinda is making up the kiss to boost her fame.

"No one saw it," he tells the rest of the group. "That was fake news. I did not kiss her. Where's the video evidence?"

'Perfect Match' season two, episode eight: Harry doesn't mention the kiss when he first sees Jessica

Later in the episode, the original couples return to the house, and Jessica finds Harry crying in his bed.

Harry tells Jessica he hasn't been the best example for her or her daughter Autumn.

Harry says he was too playful during the boys' party and carried Melinda to the toilet at one point in the day. Harry never mentions a kiss and instead accuses Melinda of trying to lie about what happened earlier in the day.

Jessica and Harry have a brief argument, as she doesn't initially believe him but Jessica eventually forgives him.

'Perfect Match' season two, episode eight-nine: Jessica tells Melinda off for telling everyone about the alleged kiss

At the end of episode eight, the female contestants from the "boys' party" arrive in the house to give them an opportunity to steal any of the men.

All the women decide to congregate around a table to reveal if any of the men cheated during the boys' day out. Melinda immediately tells Jessica that she and Harry kissed three times the day before.

"He just kissed me," Melinda says. "And then does it again, so I kissed him back."

Harry and Dom Gabriel walk past, so Jessica asks Harry to comment on Melinda's story. Harry again denies kissing Melinda, saying that no one saw anything.

Melinda then turns to Brittan Byrd, who was nearby during the incident, to support her claim. Brittan says Melinda's makeup was on his nose.

Jessica begins questioning Melinda's motives for kissing Harry and not telling her this information privately.

The pair argue over this for a minute before Jessica says she will ask for both sides of the story before deciding whether to stay with Harry.

Meanwhile, Harry walks away and complains about the situation to Dom. Harry tells Dom that Melinda set up the conversation about the kiss and says Melinda was the one who tried to initiate a kiss, but he turned away.

'Perfect Match' season two, episode nine: Melinda says Harry also said he wanted to have sex with her

Jessica spends most of episode nine asking multiple contestants about what she should do about the Harry situation.

It is not the first time Harry's loyalty has been questioned. Harry has a poor dating track record, and multiple contestants have brought this up to Jessica.

Jessica speaks to Alara Taneri, Stevan, Dom, and Bryton Constantin, who all defend Harry. Jessica also speaks to Harry for his side of the story.

Harry denies the kiss but adds another element to the story.

"I did look at her stomach, and I said, 'It'd look good if you were pregnant.' But it was not in that sense," Harry says.

When Melinda speaks to Jessica privately later in the episode, Melinda says Harry wanted to have sex with her.

"He was like, 'I'm 30 years old. I'm ready for some babies.' He goes, 'You ready for some babies? I'll put a baby in you,'" Melinda says. "He goes, 'They'll come out handsome and tall and athletic.'"

'Perfect Match' season two, episode nine: Jessica confronts Harry

Harry and Jessica sit down again at the end of the episode to discuss the kissing incident.

Harry says he has been vomiting all evening because of the stress of the situation and apologizes again for the incident. However, Jessica is still not convinced Harry is telling the whole truth.

The episode ends with Harry making another plea for Jessica to match with him.

June 14-17, 2024: Harry and Melinda joke about the kissing drama on social media

Ahead of the season two finale, Harry and Melinda appeared to joke about the kissing scandal on social media.

In one of Melinda's two TikTok posts about the kiss, she captioned the video: "All I know is the truth #theperfectmatch #perfectmatch #Netflix all will be revealed."

Meanwhile, Harry shared an Instagram reel of him wearing a T-shirt that said "I ❤️ gaslighting" while reading a book titled "gaslighting."

June 18, 2024: Harry says he was told to create drama during the boys' day.

Harry seemed to suggest that he lied about the "kiss" in the latest episode of his podcast, "Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey," which aired on Tuesday.

Harry said he was a "gaslighting king" during episodes seven to nine of "Perfect Match." Harry never addresses the kiss directly but said he would talk more about the situation next week.

"I just want to let you guys know it's a lot worse than you think, so buckle up," he said.

Later in the episode, Dom appeared as a guest on the podcast and said he didn't agree with Harry's "gaslighting" and "lying" during the kissing drama. But Dom said Harry's actions wouldn't have been as serious in the real world.

These comments seem to indicate that Harry kissed Melinda and lied about it.

Harry also said there were "no hard feelings" between him and Melinda, implying they've made up.

Harry added there was no excuse for his behavior, and listed multiple reasons for his actions.

Harry said he wasn't in the right headspace when filming "Perfect Match," and he was drinking a lot before and during the boys' day outing.

"There was no limit on that alcohol," Harry said. "I was so fucking drunk that I don't remember leaving that place. I don't remember the second half of that night. All I remember is like the shit that went down and then being back at the house with food poisoning."

In last week's episode of "Boyfriend Material," Harry said he didn't remember much of the show because he was always drunk.

Later in this week's episode, Harry said that someone in the "Perfect Match" production team told the contestants to create drama to make the series more interesting.

"There was someone on the team that came up to both the girls and the guys and said, 'Hey, if you guys don't do anything or create any drama, we don't have a fucking show,'" Harry said.

Representatives for "Perfect Match" did not immediately respond to a comment request from Business Insider outside business hours.

In "Perfect Match" season two, episodes eight and nine, Harry looks very sick and tells Jessica he vomited because he was worried about their relationship.

On his podcast, Harry said he just had food poisoning from undercooked salmon that he made.

"It looked like I was vomiting, crying, and freaking the fuck out from Jess," Harry said. "But, in that moment, I was just violently ill."

Harry said he should have spoken to Jess after the boys' party and taken accountability, but at the time, he was blackout drunk, sick from food poisoning, and had a victim mentality.

"I was only thinking about myself," Harry said. "Looking back at that, there's a lot of shit I would have done different."

Perfect Match season two finale: The show suggests Harry deliberately kissed Melinda off-camera.

The beginning of the season two finale returns to the conversation between Jessica and Harry, in which she tells him she doesn't know whether to trust him.

Though she believes Harry wants to change, Jessica says she doesn't want to settle for a man who makes her question the truth, so she doesn't match him. Both Harry and Jess then leave.

At the end of the finale, the cast, excluding Justin, reunites to discuss their relationships and vote for a winner.

Before the vote, host Nick Lachey gives the cast a chance to speak about their journey. Harry takes the opportunity to say he is disappointed with his behavior on the show but grateful for the experience and for his relationship with Jess.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed in the whole situation, and I made some silly decisions, and I embarrassed myself and wasn't honest with someone that I really cared about," Harry says.

The show then cuts to numerous clips from the party in episode eight. There is a clip of Harry telling Melinda he wants to get her pregnant, followed by clips of Melinda and Harry whispering about doing something off-camera.

Melinda says, "No Cameras. Go ahead, no one's looking," while a camera is pointed at a tree.

In the next clip, Melinda and Harry can be seen on-screen again, and Melinda says, "Treacherous kiss. I wanted to just dog your face out."

Harry replies, "Oh yeah, I wanna fuck you."

Later, Harry tells Chris Hahn that he's done "something really bad" but refuses to say what he did on camera.

In the final clip, Harry asks the production crew, "Did you guys get footage of me and Melinda kissing or not? I didn't mean to do it."

These clips suggest that the kiss happened, but Harry and Melinda tried to do it off camera.

The show then cuts back to Harry's speech, where he says it is important for men to own up to their "fuck-up," but he still doesn't admit to the kiss.

When it's Jessica's turn to speak, it seems she believes in Harry but is not ready to date him again.

"I think Harry is a good man. I think he wants to do better," Jessica says. "But is he the kind of man that I want to lead my life right now? No, but I don't regret it."

• Social-media influencer is a highly sought-after job these days, especially among Gen Zers.
• The first step to becoming an influencer is posting consistently on apps like Instagram and TikTok.
• Creators also say media kits, membership groups, and talent managers have helped grow their brands.

Social media has created many new ways to make money, and over the past few years, it has led millions of people around the world to become influencers.

Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat have opened up doors for individuals who want to switch careers, become full-time creators, or supplement the income from their 9-to-5 jobs.

The most important step to getting started as an influencer is to pick a platform or two and begin posting consistently. While some creators eventually land on a specific content niche, such as fitness, beauty, fashion, or education, others post about many topics.

Creator Ayomi Samaraweera gained hundreds of followers a few weeks after uploading her first TikTok when one of her videos about resigning and applying for new jobs went viral.

"It was a lot of trial and error in the beginning," Samaraweera previously told Business Insider. "I wasn't really thinking about a niche or how my content could be unique. I just posted what I felt like at the moment."

Read more about how Samaraweera became a full-time content creator and got her first brand deal with 2,000 followers

A steady posting cadence has even helped some creators successfully launch companies, like Nadya Okamoto, who founded the period-care brand August in 2021. She first grew her TikTok following rapidly by posting 100 times a day about menstrual hygiene and her experience in reproductive healthcare.

"To me, the TikTok algorithm is like a lottery," she previously told BI. "The more lottery tickets you put in, the more chances you have of winning or, in this case, going viral."

Read more about how 2 Gen-Z entrepreneurs leveraged TikTok to launch and grow a period-care startup

Here's exactly how to become an influencer and start making money:

How many followers you need to be an influencer

Most brands take an influencer's audience size into account when considering them for a paid collaboration. As a result, influencers are categorized based on their follower count.

Nano influencers have only a few thousand followers, under 10,000, but can still partner with many different brands. California-based creator Stacy Kim had only around 4,200 followers on Instagram but landed more than 40 paid partnerships in over a year and a half with companies like Samsung and Clinique.

"My engagement on posts is really high, and I heard that most brands care more about that than the number of followers you have," she previously told BI.

Read more about how the nano influencer pitches sponsorship deals

The next category, micro influencers, are classified as social-media users with between 10,000 to 100,000 followers. For many brands, this is the preferred tier of creators to work with because they have a highly engaged audience but charge a lot less than celebrities or very well-known social-media personalities.

Maesha Shonar, a micro influencer with 24,000 followers on Instagram, previously told BI she had such a highly engaged audience. To stand out to brands, she created a pitch proposal, which outlined two sponsorship options the brand could choose from — each with specific timelines, deliverables, and rates — and case studies of her recent collaborations.

Read more about how the micro influencer gets brand deals

Influencers who have more than 100,000 followers are the next tier, followed by mega-influencers who have multiple millions.

Fashion influencer Nate White has 1.8 million followers on TikTok and earned six figures in 2022 by collaborating with companies like Verizon and Amazon Prime.

"The money's changed my life," he previously told BI. "I've been able to move out from the hood where I'm from … the kids in that neighborhood looked up to me and I miss that, but I did this for me."

Read more about how much the TikToker earns with 1.8 million followers

Meanwhile, YouTube star MrBeast, who has over 280 million subscribers, brought in $223 million in revenue in 2023 through various businesses, including his YouTube channels, sponsorships, and chocolate and snack brand Feastables.

Read more about YouTube star MrBeasts' business empire, which he expects to generate $700 million in 2024

How influencers get paid

After amassing an engaged audience, influencers can start making money directly through their respective app's monetization programs, by creating sponsored content for brands, or through affiliate marketing, among other revenue streams.

Pay can range from a few thousand dollars for an Instagram sponsorship to six figures a year for a full-time creator, such as photographer and videographer Tej Patel, who made $100,000 in 2022 through his photo and video work, sponsorships, and the TikTok Creator Fund, which has since been discontinued.

Brand deals are one of the most popular ways to earn money as an influencer since companies are always looking for talent to help promote their products or services. Some brands have earned a reputation for rolling out more inclusive campaigns by paying creators fairly and allowing more creative control.

Take a look at new data on influencer brand deals in 2024

Platforms also pay creators based on their video views and engagement.

In 2023, some creators earned tens of millions of dollars through TikTok's Creativity Program beta, now dubbed Creator Rewards, which pays influencers for TikToks over 60 seconds.

Read more about how TikTokers can score huge paydays for longer videos

On Snapchat, creators have had success making money from its ad-revenue program. In 2023, Gen-Z creator couple AJ and Grey made $84,000 and $21,000, respectively, from the program. The initiative allows creators with at least 50,000 subscribers on the platform to make money through the ads their followers are shown in between Snap stories.

Affiliate marketing is another popular way to make money after becoming an influencer. This revenue stream allows creators to link to products or services they use, and if a follower buys it through their customized link, they earn a commission.

In 12 months, influencer Janesha Moore made $100,000 just from affiliate links on platforms like Amazon, in addition to partnering with lifestyle and beauty brands. She also highlighted how it's easier for BIPOC creators like her to earn money through affiliate marketing than brand partnerships, where there is often a pay disparity.

"Affiliate marketing is such a powerful tool because everyone has the same percentage they make, so it's really just a matter of the strategies you put into place to make the money work for you," she said.

Read more about how Moore got started with affiliate marketing and made over $100,000 in a year

Learn more about how influencers make money on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms and how many followers you need to get paid:

TikTok:

• How to start making money on TikTok from user-generated content, according to creators
• How much money TikTokers make, according to top creators
• How much TikTok pays for views, according to creators

Instagram

• How many followers you need on Instagram to get paid

YouTube:

• How much money YouTubers make and can earn, according to creators
• How much YouTube pays per view and what you can expect to earn for every 1,000 views
• How much YouTubers make for 1 million subscribers

Snapchat:

• How to make money on Snapchat, according to creators
• Snapchat creators are going on posting blitzes with hundreds of stories as they race to cash in on its new revenue program

How to contact brands and get paid for sponsorships

Email is how influencers usually first contact brands about working together. Most influencers who reach out to companies attach a media kit to display the value they would bring to a potential partnership. The document highlights information such as engagement analytics, audience makeups, and previous brand deals.

Read more about how to create a media kit and see examples from influencers

Creator Paulina Perez landed more than 20 paid partnerships in a year with global companies like Skims, Olay, and Sephora, all thanks to the media kit she created. She previously told BI that she's been fortunate to collaborate with so many brands because of her unique niche as a Hispanic creator who also posts videos in Spanish, and many of them have turned into long-term relationships.

"I still work with a lot of the companies that first took a chance on me," she said. "I just charge them more now because my engagement is higher and my audience has grown."

Check out the full 2-page media kit Perez she uses to land brand deals

Many creators also use Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn to direct message influencer marketers at brands who are looking for potential talent. Samaraweera, the creator who scored her first brand deal with 2,000 followers, Instagram DMed software company Fishbowl to land her first paid sponsorship.

"Timing is everything, so keep a lookout for brands who start engaging with your content because it's more than likely they're looking to work with you," she said.

See the email and DM templates influencers have used to reach out to brands

How influencers find jobs and get advice from other creators

Workplace communication platform Slack has surged in popularity in the past few years, so much so that those in the industry have started using the app to vent about their frustrations, land job opportunities, and connect with other creators, brands, and talent managers in the industry, with one labeling it a "gold mine" for opportunities.

"I had an influencer who really wanted to work with a certain brand, and I just asked in the channel and immediately got the contact info for the person in charge," talent manager Lissette Calveiro previously told BI.

Read more about how influencers use Slack to get brand deals

Many creators have also launched their own apps to help influencers get paid fairly by brands, like Christen Nino de Guzman's Clara for Creators and Samaraweera's Canopy for Creators. These apps, which are free to join for users, help creators compare rates and negotiate higher compensation. Nino de Guzman said she launched the app to help show others how easy it was to become an influencer and make money from social media.

"It used to be a typical kind of person, usually a middle-to-high class woman blogger who had access to video equipment and was traveling, but now anyone can be a creator," she said.

How to get a manager or publicist as an influencer

Once an influencer becomes more popular online and amasses a large following, they can choose to hire a talent manager and publicist to grow their brands even more. Talent managers can help creators with anything from starting a new company to negotiating higher rates for campaigns to generating content ideas.

Some talent management firms, like UTA or CAA, focus on representing the most well-known social media stars like Alix Earle. Others, like Kensington Grey and Society18, focus on creators from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.

Explore BI's database of talent management firms and agencies that work with influencers

Talent managers previously told BI that they often get hired after a creator explodes online or goes viral and the creator feels overwhelmed with the incoming messages and offers to collaborate.

"Reinforcing that there's a reason this happened to them, it's all positive and they're safe and everything's good — that's probably the most time-consuming part of that first couple months of when someone blows up," said Danielle Pistotnik, a talent manager at Select Management Group.

Meanwhile, some influencers choose to hire publicists to help with their image, landing TV appearances or written features in prominent publications, and getting them on the list for exclusive industry events.

Read more about the top PR pros and publicists in the creator economy

• Stevan Ditter and Alara Taneri are one of the most consistent couples in "Perfect Match" season two.
• They've quickly become a fan favorite due to their loyalty to each other.
• Here's what we know about their relationship on the show and whether they are still together.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Perfect Match" season two.

Stevan Ditter and Alara Taneri may be the strongest couple in "Perfect Match" season two.

But it's unclear whether they're still together.

The pair originally appeared in two separate Netflix series, "Too Hot To Handle" and "Dated & Related."

"Perfect Match" series draws together contestants from across Netflix's reality show slate and gives cast members a second chance at love (or boosting their fame). Stevan and Alara seemed to be more focused on the love part.

The couple meet for the first time when they are paired on a date in episode three. At the time, Stevan was matched with another contestant, Xanthi Perdikomatis, but he immediately gels with Alara and chooses to match with her in the next coupling session.

Since then, the pair have been completely focused on each other, even when sent on dates with other contestants. The pair make it to the season two final together but are not chosen as the winning couple.

There is a chance they did not make it in the outside world. Here's why.

Stevan doesn't follow Alara on Instagram.

The biggest clue that Stevan and Alara are no longer seeing each other is who they're following on Instagram.

Alara follows Stevan, but Stevan does not follow her back even though he does follow some of his other "Perfect Match" costars.

"Perfect Match" contestant Harry Jowsey said on the latest episode of his podcast released on June 11, "Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey," that Stevan is currently dating someone.

Harry mentioned the girlfriend while apologizing for lying that Stevan had sex with Holly Scarfone while filming "Perfect Match" season two.

"He's also happily in a relationship, so I'm deeply sorry to his girlfriend for saying that," Harry said.

Harry didn't specify whether the girlfriend was Alara, which means they could have split.

Alara lives with another "Perfect Match" contestant in LA.

Initially, Stevan and Alara lived far from one another: she in London and he in Los Angeles.

On June 2, "Perfect Match" season two star Micah Lussier said in a TikTok video that she had moved to LA and was living temporarily with Alara.

It's unclear when Alara moved to LA or into the apartment with Micah.

But it is likely that Alara moved to LA after the show was filmed, since she said she lived in London on the show. This could mean that she moved to LA to get closer to Stevan and the pair are still dating.

• "Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini" tells the story of a kidnapping hoax.
• Sherri Papini faked her own kidnapping in 2016 and went missing for three weeks.
• The truth about her supposed ordeal came to light when she was arrested in 2020.

"Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini" tells the story of a woman who went missing on November 2, 2016, after she staged her own kidnapping.

The Hulu true crime docuseries details how Sherri Papini was found 22 days later in Yolo County, California, near Interstate 5, some 150 miles away from her home in Redding, California. Kidnappers appeared to have beaten and branded her, and broken her nose.

It later emerged she inflicted these injuries on herself while she was staying with her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, in Costa Mesa — another Californian town connected to Interstate 5.

"Perfect Wife" is the second docuseries released in 2024 that bears a striking similarity to "Gone Girl," the movie that follows a writer as he tries to uncover why his wife faked being kidnapped.

Netflix's "American Nightmare" focused on Denise Huskins, who was falsely accused of staging a hoax kidnapping in 2015. Her abductor, Matthew Muller, was arrested in June 2015.

If the success of "American Nightmare," which was watched 21.4 million times on Netflix, is anything to go by, "Perfect Wife" has the potential to be equally huge for Hulu because of its similar tale.

Unlike Huskins, Papini maintained the lie after she returned home and kept it up for six years, claiming that two Hispanic women kidnapped her while she was out on a run.

Papini was arrested in March 2022 when the FBI found Reyes' DNA on her clothes. Her husband, Keith Papini, filed for divorce in April 2022 citing irreconcilable differences.

She signed a plea deal admitting that she had lied to the authorities and that the kidnapping never happened. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison in September 2022.

Papini was released from prison in 2023

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Papini was officially released from prison on September 29, 2023. She moved into a halfway house in Sacramento, California, but left the facility in October 2023, CBS News reported. She remains on supervised release until 2026.

According to local newspaper, Redding Record Searchlight, Papini currently lives in northern California and is writing a book.

In an interview with USA Today on June 20, Papini's ex-husband said that she has never directly apologized to him for the incident, or for continuing to lie for six years until she was charged.

"I feel there's absolutely zero remorse for what she has done," Keith Papini said. "I don't even think she understands how big of a lie — and I've used the term ripple effect — that she has caused throughout so many lives. I don't think she cares, personally."

People reported that he has custody of their two children Violet, 9, and Tyler, 11. The siblings see their mother for monthly supervised visits.

Keith Papini also told the outlet how the ordeal has affected his outlook on life.

"A lot of their childhood was, in my opinion, stolen from them," he said. "So my biggest goal is giving them a happy and healthy life and surrounding them with loving people."

He continued: "I ask more questions, and I'm probably more cautious, but I'm still finding people to be truthful. That's how I've lived my life and what I teach my kids."

• Over the last three decades, Hollywood has leaned into sequels.
• Now, sequels regularly make more at the box office than the original movies.
• "Inside Out 2" made $295 million worldwide on its first weekend. The first film made $130.7 million.

If you look at the top 20 highest-grossing movies of the 21st century, 13 are sequels.

At this point, if a sequel doesn't make more than the original, it could even be considered a failure.

But Hollywood wasn't always this way. "Star Wars," for example, was a huge phenomenon when it came out in 1977, making $307 million domestically for its initial release, according to Box Office Mojo. But even though they were also huge hits, making $209 million and $252 million respectively, neither "The Empire Strikes Back" nor "Return of the Jedi" was able to outgross it.

But the sequels on this list are part of why the expectation has now changed.

Here are some of the most iconic sequels that outperformed the originals.

"Inside Out 2" made significantly more than "Inside Out" did its opening weekend.

"Inside Out 2" has been huge for Pixar, which has been struggling since 2020 and the pandemic. The film, which is a sequel to the 2015 film "Inside Out," has also been a much-needed boost for the 2024 box office.

In fact, "Inside Out 2" had the best opening weekend since "Barbie" in July 2023. As BI previously reported, "Inside Out 2" made an estimated $295 million worldwide. Its predecessor debuted to $90 million.

We don't know yet if this sequel will outperform the first film, which grossed a massive $858 million worldwide, but it's certainly on track.

"Incredibles 2" made almost double what "The Incredibles" did.

The last huge Pixar sequel was 2018's "Incredibles 2," the long-awaited sequel to the 2004 film "The Incredibles."

Perhaps the wait was why the second movie made a whopping $1.24 billion at the box office, while "The Incredibles" made $631 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

However, only the 2004 original won the Academy Award for best animated feature. "Incredibles 2" lost to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."

"Top Gun: Maverick" made four times as much as the original "Top Gun."

When "Top Gun" was released in 1986, it was a hit. It made $357 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, making it the No. 1 movie of the year, and won an Academy Award for its song "Take My Breath Away."

But nothing could have prepared us for what happened 36 years later, when "Top Gun: Maverick" brought Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) back to our screens.

"Maverick" reportedly grossed a staggering $1.49 billion — over four times as much as the original. It was the second-highest-grossing film of 2022, the highest-grossing Tom Cruise film, and was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

All four sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" outperformed the original.

To put it simply: People did not think the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" was going to work. It was based on a creaky old ride at Disney World that had no story or recognizable characters. But with the introduction of Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, the first movie made $654 million upon its release in 2003, according to Box Office Mojo.

But would Disney be able to replicate the success? Yes, and then some. "Dead Man's Chest," released in 2006, made $1 billion. The 2007 sequel, "At World's End," made $961 million.

The franchise took a break and got a new director, but that didn't stop audiences. The 2011 sequel "On Stranger Tides" made another $1 billion, per Box Office Mojo.

And even though it may feel like not many people cared about 2017's "Dead Men Tell No Tales," it still reportedly made $795.9 million.

Only "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" managed to outgross "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

"Harry Potter" was the rare modern franchise where the subsequent films never outgrossed the original — until the epic 2011 conclusion, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2," which earned $1.34 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

It took 10 years to topple the $974 million gross of 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which has reached $1 billion after years of re-releases. "Chamber of Secrets, "Prisoner of Azkaban," "Goblet of Fire," "Order of the Phoenix," "Half-Blood Prince," and "Deathly Hallows — Part 1" all came close, but couldn't quite do it.

"Twilight" made $408 million at the box office. The next film, "New Moon," made $711 million.

Summit may have underestimated the power of the Twihards when the studio commissioned a film adaptation of the popular YA novel, "Twilight." The budget was just $37 million, Entertainment Weekly reported. It went on to make $408 million upon its release in 2008, as reported by Box Office Mojo.

That's nothing compared to what came next. The budget went up to $50 million for 2009's "New Moon" … and the gross went up to $711 million.

It didn't end there. The 2010 sequel "Eclipse" made $698 million, 2011's "Breaking Dawn — Part 1" made $712 million, and the epic conclusion, 2012's "Breaking Dawn — Part 2," made $848 million.

"The Best Man Holiday" reunited the cast of "The Best Man" to great financial success.

When the rom-com "The Best Man" was released in 1999, it was a modest hit, making $34.5 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo.

It wasn't a no-brainer to make a legacy sequel 14 years later in 2013, called "The Best Man Holiday," but we bet Universal is pleased it did since that film earned $72.8 million, making twice as much as the original.

Both "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises" crossed the billion-dollar threshold. But the first movie, "Batman Begins," couldn't crack $375 million.

When you think of Christopher Nolan's "Batman" films, the first you probably think of is 2008's "The Dark Knight," which was a full-blown phenomenon, grossing $1 billion worldwide and earning Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his turn as the Joker.

But don't forget it's a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins," which made a respectable $375 million (even though, now, a comic-book film making less than $500 million is considered a catastrophe).

According to Box Office Mojo data, the 2012 sequel to "The Dark Knight," "The Dark Knight Rises" also cracked $1 billion.

After a dip with "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," the third "Indy" movie was able to surpass "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

"Indiana Jones" is one of the most beloved film franchises of all time, led by one of the most beloved movie stars ever, Harrison Ford. The first film about Jones's adventures, 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," earned $389 million around the world, per Box Office Mojo.

While the 1984 sequel, "Temple of Doom," was highly anticipated, it fell slightly short of its predecessor, earning $333 million.

However, with the addition of Sean Connery, the 1989 trilogy capper, "Last Crusade," earned $474 million.

The first "Fast and Furious" movie in 2001 made a respectable $207 million. By 2015, "Furious 7" made $1.5 billion.

Much like the subject matter, the budgets and box-office grosses of "The Fast and the Furious" films have spiraled out of control.

The first installment, released in 2001, was a simple story about an undercover cop infiltrating a gang of street racers. According to Box Office Mojo, it made $207.3 million.

By 2015, there had been six more films, with almost all drastically outperforming the original. "Furious 7" sees the family playing defense as an international super-spy seeks revenge for the team almost killing his brother.

Their cars get parachuted off planes, they drive from one ultra-high-rise to another in Abu Dhabi, and the Rock flexes so hard his cast pops off. It made $1.5 billion.

Subsequent sequels ("The Fate of the Furious," "F9," and "Fast X") have all made money, but none as much as "Furious 7."

• Russia appears to have used its 6,600-pound glide bomb in Ukraine for the first time.
• Battlefield footage captures the moment the FAB-3000 strikes in the Kharkiv region. 
• War analysts say this highly destructive capability could be a huge problem for Ukrainian forces.

New video footage appears to capture the first combat employment of Russia's 6,600-pound glide bomb in Ukraine, a highly destructive capability that analysts say could be a tremendous problem for Kyiv.

Russian sources published footage to the Telegram messaging app purportedly showing a FAB-3000 M-54 bomb strike Ukrainian positions in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Thursday.

The munition was outfitted with a unified planning and correction module that turns it into a glide bomb, meaning it could have been air-launched from far away.

Upon impact, the bomb causes a massive fireball. With a large blast radius, the explosion rips through just about everything in its path — though it's mostly rubble from previous fighting.

One Russian milblogger, Fighterbomber, noted that the strike actually missed its target by a few meters, but the devastating blast radius makes up for any inaccuracies. Fragments from the explosion can travel more than 4,000 feet out, the channel suggested.

In March, Russia's defense ministry announced increased production of the FAB-3000 — and several other munitions, like the 1,100-pound FAB-500 and 3,300-pound FAB-1500. All three of these can be modified and turned into glide bombs, but it was unclear whether the heaviest one would be an issue for aircraft to carry.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank said the use of the FAB-3000 bomb awards Russia a new weapon that carries a "high potential for destruction" if it can be launched with impunity.

"The fact that Russian forces have figured out how to launch FAB-3000s is a significant development and will increase the destructive potential of Russia's ongoing glide bomb attacks against Ukrainian forces and infrastructure," the analysts wrote in a Thursday assessment.

"Russian forces have already increased guided and unguided glide bomb use against Ukraine, particularly in Kharkiv Oblast, to devastating effect," they said.

"Should Russian forces be able to launch massive barrages of FAB-3000s (or even heavier guided glide bombs), they will be able to cause even more widespread damage to Ukrainian frontline positions and critical infrastructure," the analysts added.

Russia's glide-bomb strikes have caused headaches for Ukraine throughout the war, but these munitions have been especially problematic over the past few months. Unlike conventional gravity bombs, glide bombs have flight control surfaces and are standoff weapons. Attacking aircraft can release them at a distance — in many cases, well beyond the reach of Ukraine's air-defense systems.

Because these munitions have short flight times, small radar signatures, and non-ballistic trajectories, they are extremely difficult to intercept. The only way to really defeat them is by either intercepting the aircraft mid-flight or destroying it at its base.

With the Kharkiv region bearing the brunt of Moscow's glide-bomb strikes in recent months, Ukrainian officials called for Western countries to relax restrictions on Kyiv using their weapons to strike inside Russian territory so that the country could better tackle this deadly and destructive threat. Some of those restrictions have since been lifted.

• A Philippine general called China's coast guard pirates after a violent confrontation.
• China's Coast Guard disrupted a Philippine resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal.
• Experts say it's not piracy, but it's a troubling escalation all the same.

The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines accused China of behaving like pirates after members of China's coast guard aggressively clashed with Philippine vessels running a resupply mission on Monday, wielding bladed weapons.

"Only pirates do this," General Romeo Brawner Jr. said in a social media post regarding the recent actions of the Chinese coast guard. "Only pirates board, steal, and destroy ships, equipment, and belongings."

Beijing has blamed the Philippines for the incident, with a foreign ministry spokesperson saying Thursday that "the Philippine side has been calling white black and falsely accusing China."

Footage of the encounter showed China's Coast Guard fleet surrounding Philippine vessels in the South China Sea that were in the process of conducting a resupply and rotation mission. The Chinese vessels closed in and tensions flared. The incident marked an escalation amid months of confrontations in the area.

Members of the Coast Guard are seen in the videos wielding blades and removing objects from the Philippine vessel.

The Philippine general added that the crew members aboard the ambushed vessels were outnumbered and "fought with bare hands" against the Chinese coast guard personnel.

Though the Chinese coast guard behavior documented by the Philippines is aggressive, it's not piracy, an expert explained, but it's still a serious problem.

The Chinese coast guard might have used pirate-like tactics, but it's not legally piracy. The incident wasn't on the high seas beyond a country's jurisdiction, and as Harrison Prétat, deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, told Business Insider, it wasn't for monetary gain.

The Chinese Coast Guard is "trying to prevent the Philippines from resupplying the BRP Sierra Madre, a ship grounded on Second Thomas Shoal since 1999 where the Philippines maintains a garrison of marines," Prétat explained.

He added that the Permanent Court of Arbitration declared in 2016 that Second Thomas Shoal was a part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. Therefore, the Philippines should be able to access Second Thomas and even build artificial structures there in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is a signatory.

Although the country is a signatory, "China rejects the 2016 ruling and is attempting to enforce its control over maritime activity within its nine-dash line claim," Prétat said. The nine-dash line is a map marking designating China's sweeping and controversial claims to the South China Sea.

This isn't the first time China's coast guard has acted aggressively toward the Philippines at sea, especially over parts of the hotly contested Spratley Islands. In recent months, Chinese ships have also fired water canons at Philippine vessels and even rammed them. Equipment has been damaged, and crew members have been injured. But this week's incident was notable, reaching a new level.

Per other reporting on the incident, Brawner said that the Chinese guardsmen "took guns and other equipment, destroyed our equipment onboard, including the motors. They punctured our rigid-hulled inflatable boats." One of the Filipino crewmembers even lost his thumb in the incident.

"This latest incident is a significant escalation from recent tensions, which previously involved water cannons targeting Philippine civilian boats—this time, the inflatable boat that was boarded and destroyed by Chinese personnel was a Philippine Navy vessel," Prétat said. That raises the stakes.

The maritime expert noted that the attack "could trigger US obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty." Prétat said it could raise the risk of a conflict between the US and China. Manila does not, however, plan to invoke the treaty. It's a means to prevent further escalation, but the Philippines is demanding China return seized equipment and pay for damages.

US ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson said this week in a post on X that the US "condemns the PRC's aggressive, dangerous maneuvers," referring to China by the acronym for People's Republic of China.

• Perplexity's CEO Aravind Srinivas recently shared his advice for founders on startup success.
• Srinivas emphasized creating products based on personal passion over market trends.
• Founders should understand what gives them "dopamine hits," he said.

Perplexity's CEO may be weathering a current controversy over the way his startup's AI product produces content online, but he also has some advice for people starting their own company — and it involves understanding your "dopamine system."

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas recently sat for an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman that was published Wednesday and acknowledged that the traditional business wisdom still applies: relentless determination, grit, and believing in yourself.

However, Srinivas also stressed working on ideas you are passionate about — not just what the market wants, or what you think will get you VC funding.

"If you work from that perspective, I think you'll give up beyond a point because it's very hard to work toward something that isn't truly important to you," Srinivas said. "Like, do you really care?"

Srinivas said founders should start with something that they personally love and use, rather than what they think is most likely to be profitable. If you attempt to mold your interests into what you think will be lucrative, he said, "eventually you'll give up, or you'll be supplanted by someone who actually has a genuine passion for that thing."

"If you're not a person who gets that and you're really only getting dopamine hits from making money, then it's hard to work on hard problems," he said.

Srinivas said he and his Perplexity cofounders, Denis Yarats and Johnny Ho, were already "obsessed" with search and knowledge-based products even prior to starting Perplexity, including work at Quora.

Having already cultivated a passion for improving search quality made it easier for them to work on Perplexity without any "immediate dopamine hits."

"It's important to know what your dopamine system is — where do you get your dopamine?" Srinivas said.

Most startups fail. And with their fickle nature, Srinivas said support systems are necessary to avoid getting discouraged. He also encouraged people, especially those in their late teens to mid-twenties, to relentlessly pursue their passions while they have the time and energy.

"If there is a certain idea that really just occupies your mind all the time," Srinivas said. "It's worth making your life about that idea."

• Prosecutors urged Donald Trump's hush-money judge to keep most of his gag order.
• But they agreed that Trump could now attack witnesses like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.
• They warned Trump could still be found liable for defamation, citing the two E. Jean Carroll verdicts against him.

The prosecutors in Donald Trump's criminal hush-money case say they're OK with the former president resuming his attacks on Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and other witnesses in the case — but that they want the judge to maintain other parts of his gag order.

In a court filing Friday morning, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office urged the judge overseeing the case not to terminate the gag order ahead of Trump's July 11 sentencing hearing.

Trump shouldn't be able to freely attack jurors, court staff, prosecution staff, and their families — all of whom have been the subject of numerous violent threats, they wrote.

But they agreed with Trump's lawyers that he should no longer be banned from talking about trial witnesses, which included nemeses like Cohen and Daniels, now that the trial is over.

"Now that the jury has delivered a verdict, however, the compelling interest in protecting the witnesses' ability to testify without interference is no longer present," prosecutors wrote.

A jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May, finding he illegally disguised hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who says she had an affair with him, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Ahead of the trial, the presiding judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, issued a gag order restricting how Trump could talk about the case in public. They forbade Trump from talking about court staff, prosecution, staff, their families, jurors, witnesses, and people who would likely be called to the witness stand.

Merchan found that Trump violated the orders on 10 different occasions during the trial, and threatened him with jail if he did it again.

"You are the former President of the United States and possibly the next President, as well," Merchan told Trump at a hearing. "There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings, which I imagine you want to end as quickly as possible."

After the jury verdict, Trump's lead defense attorney, Todd Blanche, asked for the gag order to be lifted, saying the First Amendment's protections should take precedence.

Blanche claimed the order prevented Trump from responding to social media criticism from Daniels and Cohen — Trump's former personal lawyer who was the key witness in the trial — as well as President Joe Biden as the June 27 presidential debate looms.

"Predictably, Cohen and Daniels have continued to assail President Trump, and his qualifications for office in an election he is winning, based on their deeply biased views about the evidence and to make even more money for themselves," Blanche wrote. "More troubling, President Biden, his campaign staff, and his surrogates have gleefully entered the fray by commenting on this case and the jury's verdict in a course of conduct that Biden initiated outside the courthouse during defense summations."

In Friday's filing, prosecutors for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Blanche's claim that Trump couldn't respond to Biden's political attacks was "categorically false."

(Trump criticized Biden in near-daily courthouse hallway speeches during the trial.)

They also wrote that violent threats from Trump's supporters to district attorney staff members have continued to flow.

According to an affidavit from a New York Police Department officer, included as an exhibit in Friday's motion, police have logged 61 "actionable threats" against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, his family, and other staff members of the district attorney's office between April and June, in addition to hundreds of emails. The prosecutors in the case will continue to be engaged in Trump's appeal, so they should continue to be protected by the gag order, prosecutors wrote.

Just because the gag order should no longer restrict Trump's attacks on witnesses doesn't mean they won't have other protections, prosecutors wrote.

Trump could still be liable for harassment or defamation, they noted, citing his court losses against E. Jean Carroll, and Rudy Giuliani's defamation trial loss at the hands of two Georgia election workers.

"This change of circumstance does not mean that defendant has carte blanche to resume his reprehensible practice of publicly attacking individuals involved in litigation against him," they wrote.

"But protections against such attacks will now derive from separate criminal-law protections against harassment or similar misconduct," prosecutors continued, citing the relevant legal statute, "as well as the prospect of civil liability for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or similar claims."