Putting the “cult” in culture… Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about the Royal Family? What about Disney Adults? Or spiritual influencers? Is Instagram itself a cult? We’re Sounds Like A Cult, an iHeart Radio Award-winning podcast that analyzes a different fanatical group every week to try and answer the big question: This ~sounds~ like a cult, but is it really? Created and hosted by New York Times-bestselling author Amanda Montell, co-hosted and produced by Chelsea Charles, Reese Oliver, and Iman Hariri Kia.
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Données mises à jour le 09/09/2026
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We’re taking a little holiday break this week, but unfortunately, incels are not. With the “male loneliness epidemic” becoming a bigger part of the cultural conversation, we’re revisiting one of the internet’s darkest and most tragically cringey cults: self proclaimed “involuntary celibates,” who believe they’ve been cursed by the universe (read: women) to live a life without love, sex, or accountability. Amanda and Reese are joined by cult comedy kings Henry Zebrowski (@drfantasty) and Ed Larson (@eddietunes) of Last Podcast on the Left (@lpontheleft) to trace how a chronically online subculture became a full-blown belief system with its own doomer mythology, and a whole lot of weaponized loneliness. Enjoy this trip back into the manosphere, culties. We’ll be back next week with a brand-new cult lurking somewhere much greener, muddier, and suspiciously swamp shaped.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Sounds Like A Cult is coming to you LIVE from The Elysian in LA on October 15th! Get tickets at soundslikeacult.com!
Thank you to our sponsors!
If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now is the time. Use code PODCAST15 for fifteen percent off your first order
Find the card that fits your lifestyle and apply today at https://joinbilt.com/cult
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The Cult of Bellum Entertainment
mardi 1 septembre 2026 • Durée 59:22
This week, Chelsea and Iman investigate The Cult of Bellum Entertainment, the true crime production company whose founder, Mary Carol McDonald, allegedly spent years building a very different kind of crime empire behind the scenes. True crime podcaster Jami Rice (@jamionair) joins us with an especially wild perspective: she was working at the bank that approved McDonald for a $15 million loan after she allegedly posed as an heiress to an $80 million fortune. We get into bouncing paychecks, unpaid freelancers, fake family lore, suspiciously persuasive baked goods, a lawyer with his own bonkers backstory, and the sunk-cost psychology that kept employees hanging on even as the red flags started multiplying. Come for the Hollywood labor exploitation, stay for the revelation that apparently even the pies were part of the grift. Granny Delvy, your table is ready.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Sounds Like A Cult is coming to you LIVE from The Elysian in LA on October 15th! Get tickets at soundslikeacult.com!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Thanks to Article for sponsoring this podcast! Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit https://www.article.com/discount/cult and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week, Reese dives into The Cult of Celebrity Wellness Brands, where skincare, mental health, spirituality, supplements, and good old-fashioned celebrity worship have melted together into one extremely Instagrammable belief system. From Goop and Rhode to Rare Beauty, Kardashian supplements, children's skincare, and the spectacularly messy rise and fall of Selena Gomez's mental health startup Wondermind, Marketing critic and Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults author Dr. Mara Einstein (@drmaraeinstein) joins us to unpack parasocial trust, brand cults, wellness grifts, scarcity marketing, and why the most effective sales pitch is just convincing you that something is wrong with you first. Enlightenment is only a 12 step skincare routine, GLP-1-adjacent supplement, and celebrity approved app away.
The Cut: What Happened at Wondermind by Angelina Chapman
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!
Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Sounds Like A Cult is coming to you LIVE from The Elysian in LA on October 15th! Get tickets at soundslikeacult.com!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns at https://Quince.com/slac
Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at https://MINTMOBILE.com/cult
Download the Vinted app for free and start listing. With no seller fees, you keep every dollar you earn, https://www.vinted.com/
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The Cult of Dark Tourism
mardi 18 août 2026 • Durée 01:05:27
This week, Amanda is joined by author and travel writer Sheila Yasmin Marikar (@sheilaym) to descend into The Cult of Dark Tourism, the booming travel industry built around vacationing where very, very bad things have happened. From Chernobyl excursions and serial killer pub crawls to war zone tourism, suicide forests, nuclear disaster sites, and the "haunted house" where people willingly sign up to be tortured, we’re asking what possesses someone to look at human tragedy and think: I should book a trip there. Helping us to unpack the cultiness is dark tourism legend David Farrier (@davidfarrier), documentarian and creator and host of Netflix’s Dark Tourist, to share what he learned after traveling to some of the strangest destinations on Earth. We discuss the bragging rights, rubbernecking, questionable ethics, and impressive mental gymnastics required to turn death and disaster into a bucket list. Because apparently, a beach vacation just isn’t enough for some people.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Sounds Like A Cult is coming to you LIVE from The Elysian in LA on October 15th! Get tickets at soundslikeacult.com with code CULT!
Thank you to our sponsors!
If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now is the time. Use code PODCAST15 for fifteen percent off your first order
Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns at https://Quince.com/slac
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Cult of Lush
mardi 11 août 2026 • Durée 52:47
Prepare to be love bombed by a bath bomb. This week, Iman follows her nose into the aggressively fragrant Cult of Lush with the Scam Goddess herself, Laci Mosley (@divalaci) . Beneath the glitter, naked packaging, and promise that an $18 Sleepy Bear can fix the economy, they uncover corporate “family” language, personality based group interviews, mandatory hand washing rituals, limited edition scarcity, alleged union busting, and enough employee horror stories to stain a tub permanently. So light a candle, protect your coworkers, and keep the bathwater out of your eyes. Is Lush a harmless cosmetic revolution, or is something murkier bubbling beneath the surface? One thing’s for sure: watch your back, wash your front, and for the love of God, wash your tub.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Download the Bilt app and join the membership for where you live, at https://joinbilt.com/cult
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The Cult of Sister Wives
mardi 4 août 2026 • Durée 48:51
This week, Chelsea, Reese, and Iman dive into The Cult of Sister Wives. Join us as we entice you with a little TLC chatter, before diving a bit deeper into the actual belief system that inspired it. We chat with Calvin Wayman (@calvinwayman), who grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon polygamist family with one dad, four moms, and 44 siblings, to unpack why plural marriage is tied to the highest level of heaven and what it actually takes to leave a community where your entire life exists inside the bubble. From wife rankings to celestial kingdoms, church arranged marriages, and the staggering cost of starting over, this episode straddles the line between reality TV guilty pleasure and actually living in this reality. One thing's for sure: if an angel shows up demanding your husband collect more wives... maybe ask a few follow up questions first.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Thank you to our sponsors!
To Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain, Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT
If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now is the time. Use code PODCAST15 for fifteen percent off your first order
Thanks to Article for sponsoring this podcast! Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit https://www.article.com/discount/cult and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Cult of Y2K
mardi 28 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:01:40
Grab your flip phone, frost those lips, and feed your Tamagotchi. This week, Amanda, Reese, and Iman are (be kind) rewinding to The Cult of Y2K with PEN15 co-creator and star Anna Konkle (@annaryankonkle). Join us as we take you on a magic school bus tour of butterfly clips and bedazzled Razrs all the way through to the very real panic that computers were about to end civilization and ending with why the early 2000s have become one of the internet's favorite religions. Were we really nostalgic for low rise jeans or are we just mourning the last time the internet felt like somewhere you visited instead of somewhere you lived? We dive into Y2K doomsday conspiracies, tweenhood, Britney Spears, ugly bedrooms, and why today's version of Y2K feels like a collective coping mechanism. Now excuse us while we update our AIM away message, inflate the living room furniture, and wait for the world to end... again.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Make your summer wardrobe feel easier. Go to https://Quince.com/slac for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at https://MINTMOBILE.com/cult
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Cult of Charity Scams
mardi 21 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:02:40
If you've ever donated to a GoFundMe after reading one heartbreaking Instagram caption... this episode is for you. This week, Chelsea and Iman are joined by bestselling author, speaker, and advocate Molly Burke (@mollyburkeofficial) to unpack The Cult of Charity Scams, where good intentions become the perfect recruiting tool. From fake fundraisers and disaster relief grifts to organizations that promise to change the world while exploiting the people behind the scenes, we're following the money and asking why doing good has become such good business. Molly shares her firsthand experience working for a charity that quickly turned from nonprofit to cult, complete with charismatic leadership, staff housing, company slogans, loyalty tests, and yes... workplace B12 butt shots. So before you Venmo, donate, or click "monthly recurring gift," give this episode a listen. Your wallet may thank you!
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Thank you to our sponsors!
To Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain, Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT
Join the loyalty program for renters at https://joinbilt.com/cult
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Cult of Conversion Therapy
mardi 14 juillet 2026 • Durée 51:16
If you thought conversion therapy disappeared sometime around low-rise jeans and flip phones, you'd be very, very wrong. This week, Amanda and Reese are joined by Timothy S. Rodriguez (@timothy.s.rodriguez), author of Conversion Therapy Dropout, to expose one of the most dangerous cults we've ever covered. From church basements and megachurches to online forums and DIY "therapy," they unpack the shame, manipulation, isolation, and pseudoscience that continue to fuel an industry built on convincing LGBTQ+ people that who they are needs to be fixed. Tim shares his firsthand experience surviving conversion therapy, the long road to reclaiming his identity, and why this movement is still going strong. This one's heavy, but it's also one of the most important conversations we've had, where the only thing more disturbing than banning Britney is everything that came after.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Tear. Pour. Live More. Go to https://LIQUIDIV.COM and get 20% off your first purchase with code CULT at checkout
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Cult of Women for Trump
mardi 7 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:02:12
She's blonde. She's patriotic. She's wearing a Bible verse on her T-shirt while telling immigrants to go back where they came from. She's voting for Trump. This week we're revisiting our episode on The Cult of Women for Trump, with a new introduction reflecting on how much this movement has evolved over the past year. From homemaking influencers to conservative power players, the Women for Trump pipeline has never been stronger. But while some women have become the face of the movement, others seem to have vanished from the halls of power entirely. Curious! To help us unpack the contradictions, we're joined by journalist, author, and two-time courtroom victor over Donald Trump himself, E. Jean Carroll (@ejeancarroll1). Say a prayer for the republic, pour one out for Gloria Steinem, and press play while you still have rights. And be sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode where we tackle one of the most devastating examples of a cult creating a problem and then selling itself as the solution.
Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.
Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Thanks to Article for sponsoring this podcast! Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit https://www.article.com/discount/cult and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
To Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain, Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT
If your glasses are overdue for a refresh, now is the time. Use code PODCAST15 for fifteen percent off your first order at bit.ly/3OdtU5X
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices