Alix Earle Preps For 'Dancing With The Stars' & Sophie Cunningham Fires Back At Skip Bayless

Plus, Lil Jon flexes on Muscle Beach.

PublishedSeptember 4, 2025 3:45 PM EDT•UpdatedSeptember 4, 2025 2:33 PM EDT

I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that I did not win the $1.4 billion Powerball jackpot. I got three tickets and did not hit a single number on all three. I should get a prize for that.

The good news, though, is that means I will still be here to write Nightcaps for you for the foreseeable future.

Oh, you didn't expect to see me today, did you? I know, I normally only grace your computer screens on Tuesdays. But Zach is off today (probably mentally preparing himself for another depressing season of Miami Dolphins football), so you're stuck with Yours Truly.

Which brings me to our next bit of good news…

Yes, friends, we finally made it! It's been a long seven months since our last bit of NFL action, but we're back, baby! And not a moment too soon, either, because this weekend's college slate is a big ol' snoozefest.

In our OutKick Fantasy Football league this weekend, I'm up against Dan Zaksheske (who is nauseatingly confident after winning last year's championship), so hopefully I do much better in that department than I did at picking Powerball numbers.

Regardless, though, the most wonderful stretch of the year has arrived, and I am fired up.

Let's do some Nightcaps, shall we?

Alix Earle Puts On Her Dancing Shoes

In NFL-adjacent news, the cast of season 34 (!!!) of Dancing with the Stars has officially been unveiled, and Alix Earle is one of the early favorites.

That’s NFL-adjacent, since Alix is dating former Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios (who, according to a quick Google search, now plays for the Houston Texans).

Let's be real. Alix has 7.5 million TikTok followers. She's the star of this relationship.

And, honestly, I'm not really sure why Alix is so famous. I mean, I get that she's hot, but most of her followers are women, and all of her videos are just her putting on makeup or showing them what she is going to wear on any particular day.

Far be it from me to pretend to understand what the Gen Zers are doing on TikTok. And Alix reportedly makes a ton of money with these "GRWM" videos, so I respect the hustle.

And now, we'll get to see her dancing skills.

As for some of the other season 34 contestants you might (or might not) care about, we have:

Hilaria "my-accent-is-Spanish-but-I'm-from-Boston" Baldwin
Topanga (aka Danielle Fishel)
Two-time NBA All-Star Baron Davis
Crocodile Hunter Jr., Robert Irwin.

If I were a betting woman, though, I'd put my money on Jordan Chiles. As an Olympic gold medalist gymnast, she's already graceful and flexible. Ballroom dancing should be no problem for her.

Kind of like the time Kristi Yamaguchi won it way back in season 6. I was rooting for Jason Taylor, and I thought it was very unfair that they put an NFL defensive end up against a literal ICE SKATING DANCER in a dancing competition. And 17 years later, I stand by that.

Lil Jon Hits Muscle Beach

Lil Jon is in his health and fitness "era" (as the Swifties would say), and he's taking it very seriously.

So seriously, in fact, that the 54-year-old rapper placed 3rd in his very first bodybuilding show, the 2025 Muscle Beach Championship.

I should have seen this coming back in February 2024 when he released that Total Meditation album. I actually listened to the whole album and did Lil Jon's guided meditations in order to write a review for OutKick, and it was quite a ride.

READ ABOUT IT: I Did The Lil Jon Guided Meditation & Here's How It Went

The problem, though, is that I listened to it on Spotify. And apparently, Spotify's curated daily mixes can't differentiate between whispered guided meditations and actual music, and it threw them into my workout playlists. So there I was, mid-heavy squat, blasting rock music — and suddenly Lil Jon is in my ears with spa music telling me to "listen to the voice within."

It took me weeks to purge those meditation tracks from my algorithm.

Anyway, as a former competitive bodybuilder myself (fun fact!), I commend Lil Jon — or as I like to refer to him, Mr. Jonathan Smith — on his hard work and discipline. Because take it from me: that sh*t's hard.

Sophie Cunningham Calls Out Skip Bayless

We have ourselves a new sports media feud: Indiana Fever enforcer Sophie Cunningham vs. Skip "old man yells at clouds" Bayless.

It started earlier this summer when Sophie called out Skip for his take on Caitlin Clark. Skip had claimed Caitlin was taking longer than she should to come back from injury because of a "mental health break." Cunningham took issue with that.

Then, last week, Skip spent eight minutes ranting about Cunningham on his podcast, calling her a "textbook clout chaser" and accused her of using Caitlin Clark to become famous.

"She quickly befriended Caitlin. That was smart," Skip said. "And then she assumed the role of Caitlin’s on-court and in interviews defender and protector, or public defender. Did that ever quickly endear her to Caitlin’s billions of fans out there? Then, with the spotlight shining on Sophie 100 times better than ever before, she started making grand entrances into arenas, wearing spicy outfits, some of them provocative and very cool."

He continued: "Sophie Cunningham is a shrewd operator. She can really play the game within the game, the social media game, the get-famous game. Obviously, she didn’t wish injury on Caitlin. But has ‘One Name Sophie’ ever benefited from Caitlin Clark’s stranger and stranger second season?"

Now, you know our girl Sophie is not gonna let that slide. So on the most recent episode of her Show Me Something podcast, she fired back — saying Skip is the real clout chaser in this scenario.

"Dude, Skip, who’s the clout chaser? You’re literally using my name as your headline so people can click on it," Cunningham said. "And, like, my thing is, I don’t mind the guy. I don’t mind the guy. I have no beef with you. I’ve never met you, I’ve actually really never listened to you. I’m just kind of in my lane and so someone sent it to me, and I was like, ‘What is this?’

"He’s calling me a clout chaser, dude, you’re the one who has my name plastered all over your YouTube that had 36 views, like, get out of here."

I mean, "36 views" might have been a low blow. But she's not entirely wrong here.

Round goes to Sophie. (Now please don't call us clout chasers, Sophie, when we use your photos to entice people to read Nightcaps.)

Send Me All The Derpy Shepherds

Some people think German Shepherds are scary. And I guess they can be. After all, there's a reason they're used as police and military dogs, aside from their superior intellect and stunning good looks.

But some shepherds are just big, furry goofballs. My shep, Rocky, is one of those. He loves everyone and everything, and in the six months since we adopted him, I've still never heard him growl. He's just a devilishly handsome fella loving life.

Craig G. (whose dog Kaia we said goodbye to in Nightcaps earlier this summer) gets it. Meet Gunnar.

Craig G. Writes: In response to yesterday's Nightcaps and the Derpy German Boys segment, (Rocky is adorable and living his best life now thanks to you! Bless you for that, and may his abuser rot in hell with a thousand dogs biting him for eternity).

I thought I would proudly introduce you to our other Shep, Kaia's little brother Gunnar. 100% a lovable, dorky fella. Plenty of goofy pics of him, but I was sure to include my absolute favorite one of him meeting Santa at a fundraiser last December for the shelter we got him from. He was super excited with that dumb, shit-eating grin on his face. God we love him.

Keep up the great work, and long live the dogs.