Jul 8

The Cult of America's Next Top Model

This week, Chelsea, Amanda, and guest Sarah Hartshorne (@sarahbhartshorne) dig into the high-gloss, high-drama, and disturbingly high-control world of America’s Next Top Model. Once hailed as a launchpad for aspiring models, the long-running franchise masked emotional manipulatio ... Show More

1h 21m

Jul 1

The Cult of Elon Musk (Part 2)

What happens when a billionaire tech mogul starts to look less like a CEO and more like a modern-day messiah? This week, Chelsea, Amanda, and Reese team up with historian and authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat) to explore the cult of personality surrounding Elo ... Show More

1h 12m

Jun 24

The Cult of WWE

The lights dim. The murmuring crowd nibbles subpar soft pretzels anxiously. The Sounds Like a Cult theme music begins to blare at ear-splitting volumes, pyrotechnics nearly blinding an old lady caught in the front of the mob as a spandex-clad (think Barbie meets Barbarella) Reese ... Show More

1h 14m

Jul 2021

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

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 e ... Show More

50m 43s

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

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

Sep 2017

Welcome Trailer!

Mystery. Manipulation. Murder. Cults are associated with all of these. But what really goes on inside a cult? More specifically, what goes on inside the minds of people who join cults and leaders who start them. Every Tuesday we take a psychological approach to analyzing a cult a ... Show More

1 m

Mar 2020

Ep. 49 – What Is A Cult?

This week’s episode is a discussion about how to distinguish a cult from a religion. Is it the abuse, is the brainwashing, is it the way the leader acts, is it the way the other members treat you, is it how old the group is? We discuss the BITE model and other criteria people hav ... Show More

32m 52s

Feb 2021

Caught Up With Cults

It’s happened to more people than we think. You go to a meeting and end up devoting your life to a cult. Okay maybe not. This week the ladies discuss their thoughts on cults, experiences they’ve had that may be cultish, and explore some cults that have made an impact on society.N ... Show More

50m 42s

Nov 2020

CLASSIC: Cults (You’ve Never Heard Of)

What's the difference between a cult and a religion? What are some of history's strangest cults? Are there any secret cults in the modern day? In this week's classic episode, Ben and Matt are (accidentally) prescient. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastn ... Show More

49m 29s

Feb 2022

Armstrongism: “Saving For the Feast”

A humble upbringing is an understatement for Dan McIntrye. Canada born and bred, Dan’s cult journey took him from guitar god, to free desserts to cult escape, only to land him right in the arms of… another one? A double survivor. A triple thriver. And one extremely nice guy. ... Show More

1 h

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

256 - Cult! Cult! Cult! The Aggressive Christianity Mission Training Corps

A very recent Christian militant cult, the Aggressive Christianity Mission Training Corps was founded in the late 1970s by married couple Lila and Jim Green. Lila would later change her name to Deborah, after the biblical prophetess of the God of the Israelites and the only femal ... Show More

2h 55m

Sneak Peak!