Are You Scared? is part of Watcher Entertainment and asks its audience to try to make it through some of the scariest stories on the internet. Starting with stories that could be either true stories or fabricated, the show has since shifted into one that focuses on fictional stories and just how scared the audience can get from the stories submitted.

The show began with both Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej in their respective homes in the dark, thanks to the pandemic, but evolved into the two sitting in a dark room together as Bergara reads the submitted stories to Madej, and it works to both entertain its audiences and also frighten us all.

Can you tell that I’ve been going through all of Madej and Bergara’s videos on Watcher after finishing up their Buzzfeed Unsolved shows? I was personally waiting to finish their work on Buzzfeed before diving into their new channel and have since been making my way through them all with shows like Are You Scared? and Too Many Spirits.

Watch, if you dare

Now, I purposely will only watch the show when I have enough time to watch other things and effectively “unspook” myself. It’s easier as you get into the seasons because they stop telling “real” stories and stick to pretty much only fabricated spooky tales, but it is still quite frightening watching the show and listening to stories that feature an evil Peloton program or the Russian Sleep Experiment.

What makes Are You Scared? work, though, is that it continues to keep up with the banter that made Madej and Bergara iconic back in their Buzzfeed days. They’re either laughing over a story (while obviously knowing it is fake) or showing each other a picture that they can’t talk about that has completely broken Bergara in the midst of trying to continue on, and it makes getting “scared” by the stories being told oddly fun, as well.

We also have gems like Bergara asking Madej what five items he’d bring into a sleep chamber and Madej responding with a kazoo without even thinking about it.

Fans like their dynamic, and it is why so many of us are committed to their ghost-hunting adventures. Without Ryan Bergara’s absolute fear in some of these places or while reading these stories paired with Shane Madej’s lack of real fear over anything, it wouldn’t be the same. So yes, Are You Scared? is a bit different because we’re having a story read to us just as Madej is having it read to him, but we get to explore a new spooky aspect of the Ghoul Boys, and it is what makes Watcher Entertainment so fun.

Am I late to the game? Yes, but I’m having a great time going through all their past episodes, so I can’t wait to continue to talk about the Ghoul Boys and their work over with Watcher Entertainment.

(image: Watcher Entertainment)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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