The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby
4.4/5
Critic Rating
Kaitlyn Braun, a pregnant young woman in crisis, takes dozens of birth workers through an escalating series of disasters – rape, baby loss, and even a coma. One by one, the doulas struggle to support her and grieve with her, and even save her life as they’re led down a distressing path. And then the truth comes out.In this six-part true crime series, Sarah Treleaven untangles a complex web of lies and deception to ask who Kaitlyn really is and why she did the things that she did. Cases like these puzzle legal experts and raise intricate moral and ethi...
Critic Reviews
Score: 4
Chris Bennion • Telegraph UK • Feb 5, 2025
"The first episode will leave you reeling. The Con is an undeniably juicy story, but one that rests on its ability to answer that question above – just what was Braun doing this for? Braun declined to take part in the series, leaving Treleaven scratching around for theories...The Con leaves us with a maddening string of questions and the sense that we have participated in a lurid, grubby story without coming out of it enlightened. The main positive is for the doulas to have their say. Despite everything, their dignity, empathy and professionalism remains intact."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Jan 27, 2025
"This story is equally heartbreaking...and scary. I mean there are points of the podcast that sound like they could be scraped from a horror film. This story is so strange and unsettling that it’s difficult to believe it’s real."
Score: 4
Patricia Nicol • The Times UK • Jan 26, 2025
"It begins intriguingly, but as the six-part series progressed I felt increasingly squeamish about the degree of judgment being levelled at an obviously troubled person, and the dubious public interest justification of her story."
Score: 4
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times • Jan 19, 2025
"..while the first episode is a masterclass in suspenseful storytelling, subsequent instalments struggle to maintain the tension as all attempts by host Sarah Treleaven to delve into the psyche of Kaitlyn, who declined to be interviewed, draw a blank...."
Score: 5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Jan 18, 2025
"...birth tales are like dreams, in that they are hugely meaningful to the person who goes through them, but not so much to those listening. A tighter edit might have helped us through to the rest of the series, which is nicely made and interesting; though not, to my mind, interesting enough for six episodes."
