Cheat!

In the aftermath of the Cold War, the US was considered the naval superpower of the world. The country continued to look to its navy as a tool to maintain its influence, finding new ports across the globe.  And there was one man who facilitated the movements of US ships throughout Asia: Leonard Francis Glenn…AKA Fat Leonard. He worked as a husbanding agent through his firm Glenn Defense Marine Asi...

One of America’s earliest cheats has evolved into the sugar-coated story of Thanksgiving that many of us know today. In this episode, we revisit the story of how English colonists cheated Native Americans out of their land. Alzo speaks to author David J Silverman and Wampanoag member Kisha James to find out what really happened when the English arrived in America, and the result of their cheat tod...

At the beginning of spring 2003 a young journalist by the name of Jayson Blair seemingly had it all. In five years, he had gone from summer intern to staff reporter at one of the world's most respected news organisations, The New York Times. He had the keys to the kingdom. Until something happened that led us to discover the truth about Jayson and his reporting. As Jayson himself says in an exclus...

The NFL’s 2013 class-action settlement with retired players over claims that the League concealed a connection between game-related hits to the head and long-term cognitive damage was the first of its kind in sports history.  Players experiencing head trauma would finally have some recourse and support.  However, the process for evaluating players’ claims incorporated a controversial scoring syste...

In 1995, a sting operation was put into action that resulted in the arrest of a smuggler less than 24 hours after he’d set foot on American soil. The sting had taken over a year to devise. The target had been Indonesian national, Harto Kolopaking and his smuggled loot: wild orchids flowers. Harto became the first person to ever face prison time in the U.S. for smuggling Orchids but his prosecution...

Who was Hugh Hefner? Centerfold models, Playboy Bunnies, and other women from the Playboy founder’s inner circle, like TV personality and author Holly Madison, tell journalist Amy Rose Spiegel their side of his story. We hear how Playboy changed their lives, for better and for worse. Beyond the bunny tails are darker questions: What actually went on at the notorious Playboy Mansion? How can we squ...

In 2011, after years of analysing other people’s actions, world famous social psychologist Diederik Stapel was suddenly confronted by his own.  Actions that cast a shadow on the world of academia. What is it they say? Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good study? A Somethin’ Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While planning for her wedding on the island of Jersey, Tanya Dick-Stock made a startling discovery: a room full of boxes that contained hundreds of thousands of documents. Turns out these documents would shed an entirely new light on the financial business that once had operated out of her family home. A Somethin' Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...

In 2010, the first of a series of international heists took place at a royal residence in Sweden. The thieves set fire to cars to distract the police, ignored the more valuable items on display, and stole a very specific set of Chinese artefacts. Then, they fled by speedboat. It was almost too dramatic to be true.  Then after one stolen item was located, a shocking theory arose about who may be ma...

We're taking a week off. We'll be back next Tuesday with another episode for you. But we want to hear from you. Tell us what cheats you want to hear about?  It could be a specific cheat, or just a type of cheating. Email cheat@somethinelse.com or DM Alzo on Instagram @alzoslade A Somethin’ Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You might think chess is a sport for the older generation, but in the 80s everything changed. Young players started to rise to the top and within just a few years they were given the highest title in the sport - Grandmaster. It was unheard of. Then, when one pre-teen broke the world record for youngest Grandmaster in history, suspicions started to arise about how these kids were getting so success...

On April 14th 2021, President Biden announced plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Effectively ending America’s 20 year occupation. After two decades and countless lives lost this episode asks who were the real winners of the Forever War?   A Somethin’ Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1998, a medical journal published an early report that looked into the relationship between inflammatory bowel disease, the MMR vaccine, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. The paper itself found nothing conclusive and no link has ever been proven. And yet this belief still spread rapidly…thanks to one man. A Somethin’ Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoi...

Portland-based anti-fascist Sean Kealiher was killed in 2019, months before the uprising that would bring Portland international attention.  Nearly two years later, his homicide remains unsolved. His mother, Laura, believes she hasn't received justice because of police hatred for her son and his politics.  Dying For A Fight, the second instalment in Somethin’ Else’s Fault Line series, goes in sear...

In 2009, hackers leaked thousands of private emails between climate scientists. There was a media frenzy. Was climate change real or had these scientists been fudging the data? Rather than defending themselves, the scientists involved went silent.  This is the story of how an email leak led the world to question if global warming was fiction, and how climate change became a matter of identity and...

We're doing something a little different this week. Because when we looked into one particular golf player's tendency to cheat in a friendly and fun game, we found that it revealed something about the cheater in all of us. A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On April 25th, 2014 a change was made that would cheat a whole community out of a basic human right. The right to drink clean, safe water. This is the story of what happens when the people in charge, go from minding the bottom line. To becoming obsessed with it.  A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades, people religiously followed low-fat diets. New food products and beverages flooded the market promising no fat or low fat, but also contained high amounts of sugar. Turns out that wasn’t very good for us either.  This is the troubling story of how an industry capitalized on some complicated science to push a narrative that would change the course of public health permanently.  A Somet...

In 2009, a little town in Denver called Fort Collins made international headlines. The Heene family were doing an experiment with a huge homemade balloon in their back garden when the balloon escaped its tethers and flew off. But it’s what they told the police that caused a media frenzy. They reported that their 6 year old son had climbed inside the flyaway balloon. A Somethin’ Else production. Le...

Dr Henry Heimlich became a household name after he created the Heimlich maneuver. He had saved American lives, and the public loved him. He was their hero. But then, everything came crashing down. Heimlich was accused of abandoning his ethics in his mission to cure AIDS. As quickly as he had risen to fame, America’s most beloved doctor fell from glory. A Somethin’ Else production. Learn more about...

At the Sydney Olympics, 2000, one woman became a global superstar. She brought home five medals and cemented herself in American sporting history. Her name? Marion Jones. This is the story of her rise to the top, the lasting legacy of her spectacular fall and the punishment dealt out to her by society. A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoice...

In the late noughties a woman appeared in New York. She was edgy and cool and she had a tattoo on her chest that read I Love Beards. But she was hiding a secret. A secret that – when it came out – would turn her from just an ordinary hipster into a con woman who helped define a generation. A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1968 nine men set out to sail around the world solo. One of those nine didn’t come back. This is the tragic story of a man who – when faced with a choice between failure and certain death – decided to cheat. And the consequences of that decision for him and the people around him. A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 2000s a former attorney from Canada was online one day when he had an idea. There are a tonne of dating sites around for single people but what about people in relationships who wanted to cheat? And so Ashley Madison was born. – a website for men and women looking to have an affair. It was a huge success. And then one day employees at the company sit down at their computers and find a...

A man walks into a tv studio and on live television tries to steal a million pounds. It’s the story of one of the most audacious and ridiculous heists in British history. The swindling of the UK’s most beloved quiz show: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? A Somethin' Else production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices