The Cult of Fantasy Football

This week, Amanda and Chelsea get into the cult of TikTok Sleuths, where people fall down conspiratorial rabbit holes and rally around theories that inspire a whole new level of group-think. The Lindsay Clancy case and the death of Nolan Wells show how fast that can happen once Father Algorithm starts feeding thousands of people the same suspicion. And there could not be a better guest for this one than Annie Elise (@_annieelise), one of the biggest names in true crime online. She joins the show to talk about what she’s seen from inside these communities and the parasocial worship of people who are experiencing the most horrific moments of their entire lives, IRL. And what does it say about the current state of our society that citizen sleuths feel the need to actually hold investigators feet to the flame?

When does hate following become its own kind of devotion? This week, Amanda and Iman descend into the anonymous world of influencer snark, where strangers gather to dissect creators’ relationships, bodies, businesses, politics, and every perceived inconsistency in real time. They get into Reddit groupthink, parasocial “accountability,” the thin line between critique and bullying, and the time suck of doing something from such a negative place. Joining them is writer and influencer Hannah Stella (@hannahstella), who became the subject of an intense snark community during her public divorce. Hannah opens up about being nearly four years “Googling myself sober,” the real life impact of anonymous speculation, and how engaging with snark can chip away at your soul. And fittingly, the episode drops alongside Iman’s new novel Once in a Timeline, a darkly funny Groundhog Day story about an influencer trapped inside the algorithm, exploring the masks we perform online, the loneliness behind the feed, and what happens when your audience knows you a little too well.

This week, Reese and Iman cha cha slide straight into the surprisingly culty world of Dancing With the Stars, where celebrities come for career rehab, pros become stars in their own right, and millions of viewers suddenly believe they are qualified to critique a Paso Doble from their couch. Joining them is pop culture commentator and So Bad It’s Good host Ryan Bailey (@sobaditsgoodwithryanbailey), who went from openly mocking the show to rearranging his schedule for the East Coast feed and contemplating DWTS merch. We get into the TikTok fueled voting wars, old fans versus new recruits, parasocial shipping, and fan favorites survival in the ultimate popularity contest. And a five, six, seven, eight...

This week, Amanda and Chelsea enter The Cult of Dog People, from pup birthday parties and breed evangelists to raw-feeding wars, “adopt don’t shop” morality, and the steadfast conviction that your dog can detect bad vibes better than you can. How did man’s best friend become a personality trait and a reason to feel morally superior to cat owners? We (lovingly) poke fun at the dog people culture before taking a much darker turn with our anonymous listener who, for the first time publicly, shares her experience working inside what she now describes as a dog-training cult. And this cult had everything: an isolated property, a charismatic guru, secretive and abusive training methods, rigid scripts, and the belief that hurting dogs could be justified because they were “saving lives.” Content Warning: Cruelty to animals. Please take care while listening.

What happens when your cool older stepbrother gets a mullet, a microphone, and millions of impressionable young men listening to him yap for three hours at a time? This week, Reese finds out while covering The Cult of Theo Von, the comedian-turned-podcast juggernaut whose whole brand is built on seeming like he has absolutely no brand at all. Joining her is Hysteria host and political commentator Erin Ryan (@eringloriaryan) to talk about Von’s particular place in the manosphere. They get into the power of playing dumb, why “authenticity” can be just as manufactured as professionalism, the parasocial appeal of the endless hangout podcast, and what happens when a guy who claims not to stand for much keeps handing his enormous platform to people who very much do. Maybe the cult leader isn’t always the guy pulling the strings, sometimes he’s just the mascot standing at the mouth of the funnel.