Get A Life - Ex-Cult Conversations

Ben Woodbury is known as Excultboy on TikTok and has helped inform thousands of people about the Exclusive Brethren/PBCC. Ben's vulnerable conversations bring truth to the surface time and time again, which allow for many people to shed what they've experienced in his safe space. Not only does he dive into all the questions he gets from around the world, Ben converses with many survivors of the PB...

TRIGGER WARNING- Discussion and videos on animal abuse. One of the strangest and saddest features of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is its appalling record of cruelty to animals. From slaughterhouses where live pigs are dropped to boiling water, to using SUVs to ram and run over kangaroos, to the mindless torture of cats, chickens and small wild birds and animals - the PBCC does it all - a...

magine scars of abuse that run so deep the story moves us all to tears. As our special guest Mick Dover shares the story of his childhood stained with abuse from members of the very church he was brainwashed into believing must be accommodated and respected at all costs. The families that make up the hierarchy of the PBCC in Melbourne, Australia- the Bakers, McAlpin, Cox, Gadsden, Grace, Joyce, Jo...

Join Abi, Gilli, Ross and Jacky as they go through their holiday season and what it is like for them now vs when they were in the PBCC. They touch on many diverse topics including the Deed of Variation. They also have messages for their loved ones in the PBCC and what they hope to see come out of this movement. Will 2024 be the year we see big changes start to happen? Let's all hope Bruce Hales wa...

Cheryl, Richard and Lane sit down with Jill Mytton, Stephane Vergnon, Pam Danylchuk, Ben Woodbury, Craig Hoyle, Lynette Diener, Lindy Jacomb, Tom Grace, Cassie Davies, Peter Hart, Rob McLean, Lara Payne, Todd Coulter, Julie Fletcher and Alona Lyons. We dive into updates since their podcasts, what we are all up to over the holidays and most importantly, discuss what change we would like to see in t...

When Martina's parents, Jerry and Alona Lyons, decided to finally leave the toxic cult of the PBCC, she was only 15. Martina shares with us her struggles of finding her feet in the outside world but most of all she shares her incredible life she has now. Martina attended the PBCC school, OneSchool Global (OSG) and suffered horribly on so many levels from the bullying, mistreatment and lack of...

Leave the brethren and stay silent and you are not allowed a meaningful relationship with family in the brethren. Leave the brethren and speak out and you are not allowed a meaningful relationship with family in the brethren. It seems to make no significant difference. It does seem, however, that speaking out publicly results in having the added label of being an ‘opposer’ and the brethren pray fo...

TRIGGER WARNING- This podcast contains discussion of sexual abuse and suicide. Viewer discretion is advised. Imagine finding yourself excluded from the only community you have ever known for over 50 years of your life. Steve’s story describes just what emotional devastation that caused. He speaks about how he lost his wife, family, home and work. His story speaks of the ostracization from the bret...

In the beginning, James created the ex-peeb podcast! The concept of the Get-A-Life podcast, surprisingly, did not originate with former members, but with a controversial journalist from the backwoods of Ontario – James DiFiore – who became so intrigued by the malevolent and vindictive cultists behind the Klondike Papers scandal, that he dedicated a whole series of his Blackballed podcasts to inter...

As Aberdeen becomes a hot topic inside the PBCC, we created a podcast for insiders to access relevant information to help you come to your own conclusion on what really happened. If you haven't watched Episode 82 with Drue Wiggins, watch that one before this podcast. Bradley McCallum encourages listeners to make their own decision about this evidence and allow the discussions to happen. The si...

The Aberdeen scandal was portrayed as a ‘test of the fellowship’ to those inside the brethren. Yet ,some who were close to those involved, witnessed the build up to the events of 1970 and were not in the least surprised when the scandal became public. Drue Wiggins was one of those people. Join us as she talks from the diaries that she kept from her time in the brethren. She describes how she witne...

Get A Life shares the captivating story of Tom Grace from Adelaide, Australia who left the Exclusive Brethren at age 17 in 1970, after the Aberdeen incident. His raw, authentic vulnerability shines through as he recounts what it was like to make that decision after his parents decided they were done. After leaving, he walks us through what it was like, as a group of ex-exclusive members went back...

Older brethren look back on the 1950s as the Golden Age. No UBT, no OneSchool, no 6am suppers, no meeting every night, no mandatory “volunteering” for Campus&Co, no separate tables, no shunning of your nearest and dearest, no headscarves, just a dazzling array of fancy hats, and those manly suits and ties for the brothers. Today, Get-a-Life brings you a STUNNING REVELATION. There is a parallel uni...

In this podcast, we explore a deeply significant issue within the PBCC: Alcohol dependency and addiction. Join our UK team as they share personal connections to this subject. Ross, a recovering addict, and Abi, the child of an addict, bring a unique perspective to our discussion. We'll dive into four essential questions that anyone in the PBCC should contemplate to assess their relationship with a...

In a small hamlet just outside Newtown in Wales stands an old chapel with a graveyard in its grounds. Despite the graves being old they are still treasured by locals who have family past buried there. Imagine the shock of the locals when one day in July they found some of the headstones had been removed, graves had been dug over and a gravel drive had been laid on top of them A local resident, Jac...

TRIGGER WARNING- This podcast contains discussion on sexual abuse. In this powerful episode, we witness a harrowing account of heart wrenching abuse and manipulation. Ailsa walks us through the sinister web of a controlling relationship and a cult that protected her abuser and still does to this day. Ailsa bravely shares the hardships she and her daughter endured including their walk through the j...

In this tear jerker episode with our guest Alona Lyons, we witness the true inspiration of dedication, patience and love of family. Join us, as she shares her harrowing yet empowering story of escape, resilience and the unbreakable bond that held her family together in the face of adversity. Alona shares valuable insights and words of encouragement for other families who might be trapped in simila...

This is part 2 of the Chicago meeting hall controversy. Episode 74 is part 1. Links to articles referred to in podcast- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LSRU1cZkomZBobWNFmaFbtslht3uLI5s/view?usp=sharing Following the PBCC’s planning disaster in Chicago, they published an unprecedented “ad hominem” attack on former PBCC member and whistleblower Richard Marsh – who they blamed for their defeat. Here...

This podcast is a 2 part series, Ep. 74 and 75, where ep.75 extends into Richard's story and rebuttal of their accusations. The battle of Barrington ended in a resounding victory for the residents as the PBCC fled the field in disarray. Never a cult to accept defeat graciously, they then lashed out at their critics in a series of newspaper articles, social media posts and a dedicated website. Havi...

It’s a blast from the past as the original founding podcast team of Cheryl, Carman, Lane and Richard get together to celebrate Get-a-Life’s first birthday. Reviewing our year of podcasts, we realized that almost every aspect of the PBCC that we looked at involved the mistreatment and humiliation of women – so we made this today’s theme. We look at how women and girls are controlled and oppressed i...

Dr Alex Stein is a social psychologist who specializes in cults and totalitarian groups. In this podcast Alex describes her own experience of being involved in a political cult and the difficulties she had in extricating herself from it. Alex talks us through the emotions experienced when wanting to leave a high control group and describes how support with doing so is vital. She discusses avenues...

Left alone on the ferry ride to Victoria, our guest Julie Fletcher describes growing up in Vancouver, Canada. After arriving in Victoria, Julie was told she would be going home with The Buck family. For the next 2 years, she describes being separated from her parents, her brother and from everything she knew. It was never explained to her- what happened on the ferry that day that caused her parent...

Anna Simmons lived her whole life in the Exclusive Brethren/PBCC, but never agreed with their harsh doctrine of separation. She was unable to leave because of her family, but spent years having secret contact with relatives on the outside. In one letter she said she had “felt trapped for most of my life”, and she also said she felt like a “prisoner of hope”. Many people who have left or are thinki...

The Palmy Party was an event like no other – was this just a dying convulsion of Bruce’s alcohol pickled brain, or was there some cold hard reasoning behind the bizarre and hugely costly fling, set on with no more than 24 hours notice, in the sleepy New Zealand city of Palmerston North? Schools and businesses closed at the snap of a fat finger, 8000 brethren willingly or otherwise converged on thi...

Dr Richard Marsh had a stellar career starting as an engineer on the famous Concorde supersonic aircraft, moving on to found a pioneering robotic submersibles business, then moving on to sonar technology. Now retired, he lives in a beautiful 1765 red granite “laird’s house” in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland, owns a small fleet of vintage cars, hosts the annual Lonach Highland Games on his est...