A Little Bit Culty

Back when Sarah and Nippy were in NXIVM, asking questions wasn’t exactly welcome. Fuck that. In this episode, they answer your questions on everything from Keith Raniere’s raging creep factor to what helps them keep it light after deep, dark podcast conversations about culty shit. Also covered: What has most surprised them about the episodes they’ve hosted so far; whether they’ve had to get re-acq...

If you’re familiar with ‘The Way Down’, the HBO Docuseries that chronicles the rise and fall of conservative Christian diet guru Gwen Shamblin (Lara), who died in a plane crash in May of 2021, you may remember today’s guest: Gina Wilson. As a devoted member of the Remnant Fellowship, the Brentwood Tennessee church founded by the big-haired, charismatic Shamblin, Gina spent over a decade inside the...

As the voice of iconic cartoon characters, major TV networks, and national brands, Ian James Corlett has been heard by millions of people. But until now, he’s never publicly rocked a mic to share his own story as an ex-Jehovah’s Witness. Ian joins Sarah and Nippy for a rollicking ride through the denomination’s history, and his journey from born-and-raised JW and church elder, to unapologetic apos...

How and when does a healthy corporate culture go off the rails? What are some red flags to be aware of when you’re sizing up a potential workplace? Before you spring for that lower back tattoo of your company’s logo, be sure to take a listen to this A Little Bit Culty episode featuring Cameron Herold. As a successful entrepreneur and in-demand CEO Whisperer, he’s coached dozens of companies global...

As a first year student at the University of Maryland, Lucy Taylor welcomed the sisterhood and built-in community that Greek life promised. But after accepting a bid into a ‘top-tier’ sorority, she left after seven months inside a toxic stew of rampant sexual assault, slut-shaming, misgogny, and racism. Lucy shared her experience in season one of her podcast, SNAPPED, and after an outpouring of re...

A Little Bit Culty – We took zero breaks between seasons because we need you to hear this episode. Erin Robbins wasn’t featured in Wild Wild Country, the 2018 Netflix Docuseries about Bhagawan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho. She lived it in real-time. She discovered the controversial guru’s teachings at age 23 in 1977, and by the time he summoned her to his bedroom a year later for a ‘special...

A Little Bit Culty – A Little Bit Culty took the show on the road, and brought you back this season 3 finale from Texas as a souvenir. In this episode, Sarah and Nippy host a live panel with Sarah Berman and Amanda Montell, in front of a real, actual human crowd of SXSW-certified cool kids. But first, the hosts celebrate the birthday of a certain golden boy, and respond to all the “Bad Vegan” hull...

A Little Bit Culty – If the producers of Tiger King decide to make their next true crime show about you, you’ve got a helluva story. Sarma Melngailis is the woman at the heart of “Bad Vegan” the buzzworthy Netflix docu-series that chronicles her meteoric rise to fame, and her disturbing crash and burn from celebrity chef to fugitive. It’s the stuff of clickbait gold, but beyond the headlines, ther...

A Little Bit Culty – There’s a dark cloud hanging over the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement, and our guest today wants you to know about it. Eric Skwarczynski is the host and creator of the Preacher Boys podcast, which is a platform for survivors’ stories and the basis of an upcoming documentary film about a deeply disturbing pattern of sexual predation and abuse claims within  the IFB. Er...

A Little Bit Culty – This episode is a little bit different. Author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore is not a former cult member or a cult awareness expert like most of our guests, but her novel Fierce Little Thing weaves a culty tale that almost makes you think she is. It’s a little like “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” except in this case, it’s “I Know What You Did When You Were a Teenager 20 Summer...

A Little Bit Culty – Jon Atack wants to help you protect yourself from the human predators who roam among us, and believes that every bad relationship, every destructive group, and every dangerous government has a human predator at its heart. This conversation was recorded several months ago, but it feels a bit prescient now that Putin is raining hellfire on Kyiv. The author, academic, and former...

A Little Bit Culty – He’s just one guy, but there’s so much culty shit flying around Bentinho Massaro that our first episode went into extra innings.  Part two of our spotlight on the International Man of Alleged Assholery continues with Jade Alectra , Keilan McNeil , and Jacqueline Graham   taking us into the pivotal moments that helped them wake up, pack up, and peace out of his toxic basecamp....

A Little Bit Culty – Imagine a narsty blend of an Instagram influencer, spiritual huxter, Winklevoss twin, and Hugh Hefner’s ghost. These are the vibes that Bentinho Massaro is serving. He’s got all the scary charisma and shiny trappings of a culty overachiever, like thousands of social media followers, a grandiose plan to build a fully enlightened society by 2035, and he even claims to vibrate at...

A Little Bit Culty – Speaking of soul-crushing scams that exploit the basic human need for love and belonging, we’ve got a doozy of a Valentine’s Day episode for you. We’re not labeling the organization at the heart of this episode a cult, but we are asking our guest Keely Griffin if loving and leaving Twin Flames Universe was the bad trip that reports published by Vanity Fair,   Vice, and Daily M...

A Little Bit Culty – Part 2 of our conversation with Alice Grecycn, the author of Wayward: A Memoir of Spiritual Warfare & Sexual Purity delves into the neuroscience of belief, what’s so cringe toxic religion, and what happens when mystical experiences bite you in the ass. We also cover sexual hangups, Seth Rogen, and culty summer camps. Content alert: Alice also shares her point of view on wh...

A Little Bit Culty – If you’ve ever felt trapped by the dictates of a high-demand group or an expression of religion that no longer felt true; or you find yourself feeling lonely and abandoned after a loss of faith, Alice Grecyzn has your back. The author of Wayward: A Memoir of Spiritual Warfare & Sexual Purity joins Sarah and Nippy to speak about her painful but rewarding journey out of Evan...

A Little Bit Culty – It sure is good to see Mark Vicente back in the saddle again. In Part 2, he shares what happened during his last conversation with Keith Raniere, how he’s defragged his brain since he helped burn ol’ Dead Eyes’ playhouse down, and what the bleep he’s working on next. Oh, and there is bountiful ass-chapping. More about today’s guest:  Author, speaker, and award-winning director...

A Little Bit Culty – A wise man once said: “Nobody joins a cult, they join a good thing.” A Little Bit Culty kicks off Season 3 with the wise man himself, Mark Vicente. The epic whistleblower and stone-cold silver fox joins Sarah and Nippy to get the band back together in the first of two episodes. The trio catches up on life after making headlines and what it was really like to see the whole shit...

A Little Bit Culty – We thought about recording our Season 2 finale in dubly, but you don’t do heavy metal in dubly. In this wrap-up episode Sarah and Nippy answer your burning questions, preview what’s ahead next season, seek a patron saint of quality mattresses, and generally have a good time all the time. We think you’ll be knocked out by their exuberance, their raw power, and their punctuality...

A Little Bit Culty – What do Pete Rose, Grandma Walton, skin boys, Dear Prudence, Brooks Brothers suits, David Lynch, Mary Tyler Moore, Merv Griffin, Mary Tyler Moore, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Margaret Singer have in common? They’re all mentioned in this episode, and you’ll have to listen to find out why. There’s just not enough room in these show notes to tell you. But don’t worry, you’l...

A Little Bit Culty – If you think you’re too smart to fall for a cult, this episode is your wake-up call. Undue influence can poison what starts out as a ‘good thing’ and turn it into a culty shitshow. Just ask today’s guest: Gerette Buglion. She was a member of an under-the-radar cult for over 18 years. In this organization, there was no tithing, no rules about where you should live, what brand o...

A Little Bit Culty – Think you’re immune to culty shit? Dr. Alexandra Stein begs to differ. She’s one of the world’s leading experts on ideological extremism and dangerous social relationships, and she makes a very convincing case that under the right set of circumstances almost anyone can be radically manipulated to engage in otherwise incomprehensible and often dangerous acts. In this episode, s...

A Little Bit Culty – She’s just about the most rockin’ Reverend we’ve ever met. In this episode, Nadia Bolz-Weber takes us to church on everything from sex-obsessed religious doctrine and toxic positivity to cancel culture. Also, if you’ve been searching for an episode that will illuminate what St. Augustine’s medieval boner issues have to do with purity rings, you are in the right place. More abo...

A Little Bit Culty – In 2009, Laura Tucker attended a Sedona spiritual retreat and sweat lodge hosted by charismatic spiritual teacher James Arthur Ray. It all went tragically wrong, resulting in the deaths of fellow attendees Liz Neuman, Kirby Brown and James Shore. On this episode, Laura chats with Sarah and Nippy about her experience, what it means to practice safe spiritual seeking, and the da...

A Little Bit Culty If you watched “The Vow” or have followed the fall of NXIVM, you know Moira Kim Penza as the prosecutor who brought Keith Raniere to justice. Her accomplishments are mighty: Like Keith’s conviction on all counts including racketeering and sex trafficking and a brisk 120 year sentence. Moira’s groundbreaking approach to the case has been credited with paving the way for other sex...