A Little Bit Culty

In Part 2 of our conversation with Elicia Ybarra, she unpacks her path to healing through EMDR trauma therapy. She realized how buried triggers from years of grooming and abuse sabotaged her marriage and self-defense curriculum development, leading to a near-separation and inability to be touched even by her son. She broke down her "Pretty Hands, Hard Punches" empowerment model. We also discussed why stats show 975/1000 se...

In Part 1 of our conversation with martial artist and empowerment self-defense instructor Elicia Ybarra, we trace how a childhood love of ninja turtles and karate turned into a 30-year journey through grooming, coercive control, and abuse in multiple martial arts settings, and how she eventually turned all of it into a curriculum to help other women fight back before it ever gets physical.

Elicia described being groomed...

Ring the sleigh bells for this A Little Bit Extra Thursday Christmas bonus. We navigate thorny territory around recent NXIVM-adjacent podcasts we legally can't discuss yet. Trust us, we have thoughts, and Sarah spills her feelings about all the drama on her hour-long debrief with Mark Vicente. We reflect on our favorite episodes from 2025—ones that surprised us, moved us, and occasionally got us in trouble—and tease what's...

In this episode, Cheryl Tuppa joins the pod to tell the story of her niece Briana’s seven-year entanglement with Twin Flames Universe—from a late-night Google search about soulmates to a full-blown high-control group that nearly swallowed her life and savings. A longtime cybersecurity specialist, Cheryl walks us through how a close, resourceful New England family still missed key early signs, then organized “Team Briana” b...

In Part 2 of our conversation with Andrew-Ryan Profaci, we pick up right where things get extra bananas: the “quantum hoax,” the moment he pulled back the curtain on Love Has Won’s manufactured enemies, fake spiritual threats, and collective delusion. Andrew-Ryan realized the whole thing was a miniature version of the way abusive systems run in the wider world. 

We walk through how he went from compliant “Father Go...

This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. 

In the first of this two-part episode, we finally go inside Love Has Won with someone who was actually there, and who tried to stop it from the inside out. We talk with Andrew-Ryan Profaci about how a lonely, spiritually curious guy dealing with addiction recovery, job loss, and a rabbit hole of conspiracies became “Father God–adjacent” in a group led by Amy Carlson, a woma...

Amanda Montell returns for round two, diving into what she's learned since Cultish dropped: Instagram comment wars as tribal battlegrounds, "platforming" as a thought-terminating cliché, and why understanding opposing views could get you canceled. 

We bonded over podcast economics, navigated controversy around Sounds Like a Cult episodes on Waldorf and fertility, discussed which cult she'd have joined (artist-led, ...

Amanda Montell—author, linguist, and our reigning three-time champion guest—returns in studio to talk about the newly released paperback edition of Cultish, the book that launched a thousand cult-discourse hot takes and made us all think twice about our SoulCycle memberships. We dove into what it's like to write a cult book when you're 27, watch it blow up unexpectedly, and face the onslaught of feedback (good, bad, and "I...

We’re back for A Little Bit Extra Thursday filled with Thanksgiving word salads and gallows humor. We chat about the last few truly bonkers weeks, share a long-awaited update on the book (spoiler: it’s actually finished and with our copy editor!), and talk about why we can’t publicly comment on certain NXIVM-adjacent podcasts just yet.

We listen to your voicemails about the podcast featuring Allison Mack, Nippy’s growth...

When does sexual empowerment cross the line into cult control? Following Ellen Huet’s OneTaste expose, we sat with Anthia Gillick—former OneTaste “insider,” survivor, and truth-teller—for a deep dive into the mechanics of manipulation inside one of the most controversial so-called “wellness” groups of the last decade. Anthia shares her journey from lost post-grad to commune life, revealing how boundaries were vaporized, “p...

We’re back with the second half of our conversation with the unstoppable Heather Gay: housewife, truth-teller, and newly minted slayer of Mormon silence. Heather gets real (and really funny) about what she’s gained since stepping away from the church: self-discovery, creative freedom, and the kind of joy 10-year-old her would’ve fainted over. We dig into her docuseries Surviving Mormonism, the tidal wave of stories she’s h...

Heather Gay, Real Housewife, “Bad Mormon,” and faith deconstruction trailblazer, joined us to talk about her journey from devout church girl to outspoken survivor. She shares what made Mormonism so magnetic, how family, secrets, and ritual shaped her upbringing, and the pivotal moments that cracked her certainty wide open, including appearing on past ALBC guest Dr. John Dehlin’s Mormon Stories Podcast. 

From endowm...

We dive even deeper in Part two with Ellen Huet to unpack what drove OneTaste’s inner circle, its culty sales playbook, and the strange tangle of power, personal growth, and manipulation. Ellen reveals the hidden pressures—financial, sexual, emotional—that kept members tied to the group (and often hemorrhaging money), and explains how buzzwords like “aversion practice,” “getting off on any stroke,” and “rapidly changing re...

This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.

What happens when the pursuit of female pleasure blurs into high-pressure sales, psychological control, and a federal criminal trial? In this two-part episode, we’re joined by journalist Ellen Huet for a candid dive into the rise and fall of OneTaste and the controversial practice of orgasmic meditation. Ellen unpacks how a wellness company promising sexual healing and empowermen...

What actually happens when the world doesn’t end, the “shelf” breaks, and the self-proclaimed prince of a doomsday empire is left standing amid the fallout? In this powerful follow-up, Sean Prophet takes us through the final years of apocalyptic shelter drills, shattered prophecies, and how an edict about near-beer triggered a total loss of faith in his mother’s spiritual authority at the Church Universal & Triumphant ...

What’s it like to grow up the so-called “prince” inside one of America’s most notorious new religious movements—where your mother is a celebrated channeler, your father founds a church, and the end of the world is just another family discussion over dinner? In the first of this two-part episode, we’re joined by Sean Prophet, author of My Cult, Your Cult, for a deep dive into the strange realities of life inside the Church ...

What happens when your purpose gets weaponized, relationships are rewritten by group doctrine, and chess becomes both sanctuary and battleground? In this powerful second part of our convo with Danny Rensch, we return to unpack life after his “purpose ordainment,” and the heartbreak of being separated from his mother by cult coercion. 

With raw honesty, Danny shares how spiritual manipulation, covert contracts, and ...

This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.

How do you go from barefoot kid to international chess master and co-founder of Chess.com? In this epic first installment, we sat with Danny Rensch to peel back the curtain on his wild journey growing up in the Church of Immortal Consciousness—a high-control Arizona collective commune led by a self-proclaimed trance medium guided by the spirit of "Dr. Duran." Danny shares what li...

How do you actually stop fawning, and what does healing look like in real life? In Part 2 of our convo with Dr. Ingrid Clayton, we dove into boundaries, agency, and what it really takes to step out of survival mode. Ingrid shared her go-to body-based tools—like orienting with the senses, making nature your therapist, building a “pillow palace” like Sarah’s, and giving yourself full permission to take up space. 

Exp...