logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2021
50m 43s

Wait… Am I In A Cult? Ft. Amanda Montell

BETCHES MEDIA
About this episode
This week, Sara and Danny host writer, language scholar, and podcast host Amanda Montell, for a fascinating conversation about about cults and what makes them so effective at garnering our attention. They cover cult-ish groups and organizations from Scientology to SoulCycle and everything in between. They also discuss some ways to approach people who might b ... Show More
Up next
Mar 2024
Willy's Chocolate Experience - AKA The Fyre Fest Of Chocolate Factories
Sara and Danny are back for the final time, to cover Willy's Chocolate Experience in Glasgow - an event organized by a company named House of Illuminati, that was giving more Fyre Fest than "Pure Imagination." Sara and Danny get into it all, from the AI generated, spelling error- ... Show More
29m 35s
Mar 2024
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist Ft. Josh Gondelman
This week, Sara is joined by writer and comedian Josh Gondelman to cover a story from his hometown of Boston: the still-unsolved Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. In 1990, two thieves dressed as policemen walked into the museum in the middle of the night, and carried out the ... Show More
44m 58s
Mar 2024
Steve Comisar: Serial Scammer
Sara and Danny are back to cover the self-proclaimed "Jeffrey Dahmer of fraud,” Steve Comisar. But first, Sara shares a self-imposed scam of her own, with a recent Uber Pool trip that went off the rails. Then, they get into the extensive grifting resume of Beverly Hills conman St ... Show More
48m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
cultish, a talk with amanda montell [video]
[video available on spotify] today i present to you, amanda montell: a writer, linguist, and fellow podcast host. amanda has written three books. one of them, the age of magical overthinking, is about to come out. today i want to zoom in on one of our many common interests. she w ... Show More
50m 33s
Jan 2024
cultish, a talk with amanda montell (revisit) [video]
[video available on spotify] today i present to you, amanda montell: a writer, linguist, and fellow podcast host. amanda has written three books. one of them, the age of magical overthinking, is about to come out. today i want to zoom in on one of our many common interests. she w ... Show More
50m 58s
Aug 2021
Trailer: Was I In A Cult?
Hosted by Tyler Measom and Liz Iacuzzi, Was I In A Cult? is a documentary-style podcast  featuring far-out, first-hand stories of survivors who unwittingly joined, lived in, and escaped, cults. Using levity and info-tainment, the show humanizes the cultic experience and may leave ... Show More
4m 32s
May 2022
The Cult of True Crime
From voraciously consuming gruesome podcasts by the dozen to amateur sleuthing gone wrong to fetishizing dangerous killers, the world of true crime definitely has a cult following… but does it ever go too far? This episode was chosen by our listener giveaway winner and features N ... Show More
1h 2m
Oct 2022
Cults: Manipulation Tactics, Celebrity Involvement, Escape w/ Lola Blanc + Meaghan Elizabeth
Joining the Deux U classroom this week are Cult survivors Lola Blanc and Meaghan Elizabeth. On their podcast, Trust Me, they talk to fellow survivors, former and current believers, experts, and everyone in between to try to get to the bottom of how extreme belief happens, who's s ... Show More
1h 7m
Nov 2023
The Cult of Reddit
Sounds Like A Cult has covered doomsday cults, political cults, religious cults ... and this week is where they all join forces – on the much requested: Cult of Reddit! Notorious for forming some of the most niche yet largely endorsed group-thinks on the internet, and even powerf ... Show More
58m 17s
Oct 2023
The Cult of Military Wives
At long last, the man/myth/legend, Amanda's dad, Craig Montell, whose riveting stories of his childhood spent in the Synanon cult planted her fascination with all things "cultish," joins as this week's guest. In this *extremely wholesome* episode, Amanda and her pop analyze a qua ... Show More
1h 5m
May 2021
Sneak Peak!
This is Sounds Like A Cult, a podcast about the zeitgeisty cults that have inducted us all—from SoulCycle and Peloton to spiritual influencers to fraternities and sororities to flat earth conspiracy theorists, and beyond. Each episode, your co-hosts Isa and Amanda discuss a diffe ... Show More
3m 28s
Apr 2023
111: If It Sounds Like a Cult..
Two Hot Takes host, Morgan, is joined by guests Amanda Montell and Isa Medina of Sounds Like a Cult! This episode features stories that have us questioning is this a cult? Is it a green flag cult or a red flag/you need to run cult? And are you wondering if you've ever been in a c ... Show More
1h 48m
May 2021
Sounds Like A Cult - Welcome Trailer!
Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about Elon Musk stans? Or the Royal Family? What about spiritual influencers? Is Instagram itself a cult? We’re Sounds Like a Cult, a podcast about the modern day cults we all follow. Join us every week as we analyze a different zeitgeisty g ... Show More
58s