Tennessee
New Yorkers trade city life for chores on Thompson’s Station farm
When New Orleans-native Sami Khan co-founded a mobile game seven years ago, he could’ve never imagined it would land him and three New Yorkers on a farm in Thompson’s Station.
Atlas: Earth is a mobile metaverse game that allows players to buy virtual real estate, which mimics the real world, to earn and cash out rewards.
“ We started thinking about building entertaining content that can help mobilize our community and include them in more ways to earn/win money,” Khan said. “So our next task was how can we get our community to earn even more money and tie it into something entertaining that the rest of the community will wanna watch?”
The result, a YouTube game show called “Cashtronaut.” With the success of “Squid Game” and creators like Mr. Beast, game shows where you complete a variety of tasks for money are all the rage on social media.
When they originally began to plan for this “fish out of water” concept of having people from large cities live in rural or semi-rural areas, they chose to have people from Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
Khan and his group landed on only New Yorkers solely by chance.
“ The original idea was to find somebody in Miami and Los Angeles and New York but around that time we actually got the opportunity to have an ad in Times Square,” he said. “It was at that moment that we were like, wait a second. If we’re gonna have an ad in Times Square, why don’t we use three New Yorkers?”
From then, they completely shifted their original plan, and several months later they ended up on the Whispering Willows Farm in Thompson’s Station.
“ We were very excited and thought it would be a lot of fun,” said Jen Wilson, the co-owner of Whispering Willows Farm and Dairy. “ This is not the first time that we’ve done videotaping but we just really enjoy it.”
Besides a background in agriculture, Wilson also is a research scientist with degrees in biology and physics. She and her husband are also foster parents, and the space of the farm allows their children to gain new skills while relying on the animals as a sort of therapy.
“We’ve been foster parents for over 20 years, and as we grew older, we realized that having animals was really helpful for the foster kids,” she said. “So we ended up with a garage full of rabbits and then decided we needed to move. We got a farm and then just kind of grew from there.”
Upon arrival, the contestants were dropped straight into Thompson’s Station and forced to adapt quickly as they took on a series of hands-on challenges far removed from their city comfort zones.
The three Manhattan-based contestants from different walks of life included a DoorDash driver, fashion designer and lifestyle content creator.
They took part in challenges such as milking a cow in below-freezing temperatures, searching a potato field to locate potatoes marked with each contestant’s initials, and navigating a tractor through a timed obstacle course.
The episode also culminated in a high-energy farm race featuring an egg relay, crawling through mud, lassoing, and leading a sheep up a hill to the finish line. After a tightly contested final push, Courtney Moore, the content creator, emerged victorious, taking home the $10,000 grand prize.
“I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into, and that’s what made it so fun,” she said. “Going from Manhattan life straight into farm challenges was wild, exhausting, and honestly empowering. Winning the $10,000 was incredible, but the experience itself was unforgettable.”
In addition to awarding the cash prize, Cashtranaut donated $5,000 directly to the Thompson’s Station farm as a thank you for hosting and supporting the production.
“ Our dream is to build a learning barn where kids and adults could come learn about agriculture as well as some other things,” Wilson added. “I’ve homeschooled my biological children but it’s hard to teach biology without a lab. We would love to create a space where we could host homeschool lab classes for other students where we could do dissections and learn various skills.”
As with any challenge, Khan explained although earning money is a big part of it, they aim to educate the players and viewers.
“ If you watch the New Orleans episode where, you know, teaching people about the Napoleon House and a little bit about the history of the French Quarter,” he said. “These houses in the French Quarter were also slave quarters, and we’re trying to educate in a way where it’s not like preachy or aggressive. We’re just showing people what happened here.”
Their next challenge will take place at a public school in Seattle.
“ We’re making a video where we allow the school to earn up to $20,000 of fundraising,” he said. “We’re realizing that we can actually use these videos to educate a bit more about things like the lack of public school funding. So it’s a full loop because although we are creating content and making money, we are also giving it back.”
You can follow and learn more about Cashtronaut’s challenges on their YouTube page, www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXRY4jVYEmXaPfWskicV8A. Additional information about Whispering Willows Farm can be found at wwfarmanddairy.com/.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — On the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Tennessee Republicans unveiled a new monument at the State Capitol honoring unborn children.
The Roe v. Wade decision allowed states to set their own abortion laws and triggered Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act, which bans nearly all elective abortions in the state. The law has saved about 10,000 lives each year since taking effect, according to Tennessee Right to Life.
The Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children is located on the southeast side of the Capitol grounds. Lawmakers say it recognizes unborn children whose lives ended through abortion and serves as a place for reflection and remembrance.
The monument was approved by the General Assembly in 2018 and was paid for entirely through private donations.
Republican leaders said the monument reflects Tennessee’s commitment to protecting unborn children and honoring the value of human life.
See Dolly Parton celebrate Tennessean Travel Stop grand opening
The country music legend opened the first location of her Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, Tennessee.
CORNERSVILLE, Tenn. — Out on the street, the traffic started jumpin’ as travelers made their way to Dolly Parton’s Tennessean Travel Stop on opening day.
“Dolly is on her way,” Tennessean Travel Stop owner Gregory Sachs told the media gathered at the new truck destination in Cornersville, saying Parton would cut the ribbon at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24.
The anticipation had been building all morning at the new roadside destination along Interstate 65. The 80-year-old country legend arrived wearing a blue-and-pink fringe ensemble, complete with her signature stiletto heels.
The “9 to 5” singer used the moment to make a playful quip about travel stop competitor Buc-ee’s.
“I’m sure some of you want to know why I wanted a truck stop,” Parton said. “Well, I couldn’t leave it to beavers.”
Parton ended the brief ceremony with a ribbon cutting, marked by an explosion of multicolored confetti featuring her signature butterfly.
The message drew cheers from guests who had spent the afternoon exploring the property, sampling food from DLY BBQ and trying a “Cup of Ambition” coffee, waiting to see whether Parton would make an appearance. Earlier promotional materials for the grand opening had stated that the country music icon would not attend the public festivities.
The appearance marks one of only a handful of public events for Parton in 2026.
In March, the East Tennessee star returned to Dollywood to launch the theme park’s 41st season after stepping back from several appearances while recovering from health issues and grieving the death of her husband, Carl Dean. During that appearance, Parton told fans she had been rebuilding herself “spiritually, emotionally and physically.”
Parton, who has been open about dealing with kidney stones, said in May that she is working with doctors after “my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past three years.”
What is Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop?
Located at Exit 22 off Interstate 65 in Cornersville, Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop officially opened to the public on June 24. The flagship location is a partnership between Parton, her longtime manager Danny Nozell and Gregory H. Sachs, owner of the Tennessean Travel Stop brand.
Inspired by Parton’s decades spent traveling the country by tour bus and her East Tennessee roots, the destination combines fuel services, food, shopping, live music and Tennessee-themed hospitality.
Bryan West is a music reporter at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
ESPN projects Tennessee basketball’s Felix Okpara and Ja’Kobi Gillespie to be picked back to back in the second round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night. ESPN’s updated mock draft has Okpara at No. 41 overall to the Miami Heat and Gillespie at No. 42 to the San Antonio Spurs.
Nate Ament was the No. 13 overall pick in the first round to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Tennessee, which has now had players picked in six straight NBA Drafts, could have three players drafted for just the second time in the modern era of the draft, since it went to two rounds in 1989.
Grant Williams was a first-round pick in 2019, ahead of Admiral Schofield and Jordan Bone being picked in the second round.
Where ESPN ranks Felix Okpara, Ja’Kobi Gillespie in NBA Draft
Entering the second round, ESPN has Okpara ranked as the 12th-best player available in the draft. Gillespie is ranked No. 14.
Duke guard Isaiah Evans is ESPN’s No. 1 prospect to start the second round, ahead of North Carolina center Henri Veesaar, Arkansas guard Meleek Thomas, Cincinnati forward Baba Miller, Louisville guard Ryan Conwell and German guard Jack Kayil.
Also ranked ahead of Okpara is BYU guard Richie Saunders, Houston guard Emanuel Sharp, Purdue guard Braden Smith, St. John’s forward Dillon Mitchell and Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile. Ranked between Okpara and Gillespie is Arizona guard Jaden Bradley.
Felix Okpara ‘played his way into the two-way contract mix’
Okpara averaged 8.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 26.9 minutes per game this season, starting 34 of 35 games. He shot 59.7% from the field, 61.1% on 2-point shots and 63.5% at the foul line.
He played two seasons at Ohio State before transferring to Tennessee and anchoring the Vols on defense, serving as the rim protector defensively and a rim runner on offense.
Okpara had the fourth-highest standing reach at the NBA Draft Combine in May at 9-foot-4. He was measured at 6-foot-10 without shoes, weighed 237.4 pounds and had a 7-2 wingspan.
“Okpara had a good predraft process,” ESPN wrote, “and played his way into the two-way contract mix as a dependable big man who chips in a little bit of value on both ends.”
Ja’Kobi Gillespie ‘profiles as a potential bench option’ in NBA
Gillespie averaged 18.4 points, 5.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 34.8 minutes per game while starting all 37 games in his one and only season at Tennessee.
The Greeneville, Tenn., native started his career with two seasons at Belmont, then transferred to Maryland before his homecoming with the Vols as a senior last season.
“After starting his college career at Belmont,” ESPN wrote on Wednesday, “Gillespie had good years at Maryland and Tennessee while playing his way into the NBA picture. He profiles as a potential bench option if his scoring ability can outweigh his size concerns.”
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