Think you might be in a cult? Want to know the signs? Join Sarah Edmondson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames to talk about things that are..a little bit culty. Or in their case: a whole bunch of culty. As whistleblowers documented in the critically-acclaimed HBO series “The Vow,” Sarah and Nippy have a lot to say about their experience, and burning questions to ask people with similar stories. They’re here to help people understand, heal from, and avoid abusive situations one little red flag at a time. Listen in as they share their stories, have frank and unscripted conversations with other survivors and cult experts, and do a deep dive on how devotion can turn to dysfunction.
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My Toxic Father and Bahai: Jared Van Driessche’s Survival Story (Part 1)
Season 8 · Episode 39
Monday, January 12, 2026 • Duration 44:09
In Part 1 of our conversation, security specialist Jared Van Driessche shares the story behind his polished “protector” persona: growing up in a Bahá’í family with a controlling and volatile father, and how a faith that preached unity, justice, and service coexisted with secrecy, fear, and emotional and physical abuse at home. He talks about being parentified from a young age, trying to manage his dad’s rage, and the confusing double bind of having a spiritual community that outwardly looked loving while he and his siblings learned to walk on eggshells, hide bruises, and normalize coercive control as just “family dynamics.”
Jared also unpacks how those early experiences with authoritarian parenting, religious idealism, and blurred boundaries around obedience and sacrifice shaped his adult relationships, his sensitivity to child abuse and domestic violence, and his ongoing work to break intergenerational patterns and build a safer, more honest life for his own kids.
Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of violence, stalking and harassment, and child abuse.
Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin
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Cults to Consciousness: Shelise Ann Sola on Post-Mormon Podcast Life (Part 2)
Season 8 · Episode 38
Thursday, January 8, 2026 • Duration 47:11
In Part 2 with artist and ex-Mormon creator Shelise Ann Sola, we pick up with what happens after you walk away from the LDS Church: family fallout, reclaiming your body and sexuality from modesty/purity culture, and learning how to trust your own inner authority instead of a prophet, bishop, or priesthood holder. Shelise talks about healing religious trauma, unpacking scrupulosity and intrusive fears about hell and worthiness, and the messy, funny, and sometimes dark reality of building a new life, new boundaries, and new beliefs in the “post-Mormon” wilderness.
We also get into her online work: TikTok, podcasts, art, and ex-Mormon memes as a form of grief processing and community-building, why Mormonism and other high-demand religions can feel a little bit culty, and what’s actually helped her feel safe, connected, and spiritually grounded on the other side.
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
**PRE-ORDER Sarah and Nippy's
Cults to Consciousness: Shelise Ann Sola on Post-Mormon Podcast Life (Part 1)
Season 8 · Episode 37
Monday, January 5, 2026 • Duration 42:47
In the first part of our conversation, artist, podcaster, and former Mormon Shelise Ann Sola joins us to talk about growing up in a devout Latter-day Saint (LDS) family. She internalized “perfect girl” expectations and slowly deconstructed the high-demand beliefs that shaped her identity and relationships. Shelise shares how modesty culture, purity messaging, temple worthiness interviews, and the LDS obsession with eternal marriage impacted her mental health, sexuality, and sense of self, and how leaving the church meant losing community, certainty, and family approval all at once.
We also got into her creative life after Mormonism, why she started talking publicly about high-control religion and religious trauma, and how she now uses humor, art, and storytelling to help other ex-Mormons and faith-questioners feel less alone while they untangle what was spiritual from what was spiritual abuse.
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
**PRE-ORDER Sarah and Nippy's
Setting Healthy Boundaries: Elicia Ybarra on Red Flags in Martial Arts (Part 2)
Season 8 · Episode 36
Thursday, January 1, 2026 • Duration 37:00
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 sexual assault perpetrators walk free, the red flags of abuse, multi-layered boundaries (emotional, time, social), and the "think, yell, run, fight, tell" progression with simple, realistic strikes like palm heels to the nose (tested by board-breaking!).
Elicia shared red flags for parents: how to check for safe martial arts schools (check one-star reviews, watch instructor interactions, run background checks via Academy Safe, avoid MMA locker-room culture), how unquestioning obedience grooms kids to ignore gut instincts, and practical family rules like no adult secrets with children and always respecting "no" to hugs.
Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of sexual assault statistics and low conviction rates, trauma triggers/panic attacks, strangulation, and stalking/harassment.
Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
Setting Healthy Boundaries: Elicia Ybarra on Red Flags in Martial Arts (Part 1)
Season 8 · Episode 35
Monday, December 29, 2025 • Duration 46:21
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 by a trusted instructor from ages 13–16, losing her community when she tried to set boundaries, getting pulled into a second “family” TaeKwonDo organization where a grandmaster weaponized rank, money, and humiliation, and how those patterns set her up for an extremely violent relationship she barely escaped. She walked us through the turning points: postpartum depression, COVID, therapy, watching cult docs (shoutout, The Vow), quitting smoking, and finally building “Pretty Hands, Hard Punches” and an empowerment self-defense model that starts with boundaries, intuition, and situational awareness—not just throat punches and palm strikes.
Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of sexual abuse, statutory rape, workplace sexism and harassment, intimate partner violence, and suicide.
Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
A Little Bit Extra: A Casual Xmas Chat, AMA, and Listener Voicemails
Season 8 · Episode 34
Thursday, December 25, 2025 • Duration 36:34
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 coming in 2026: our book is finally landing, and we're doing a live Patreon interview with Marc Headley that you won't want to miss.
We respond to the spicy, kooky, and downright cathartic voicemails waiting in our inbox from listeners dishing their “a little more culty” revelations, rants, and burning questions. It’s our usual gallows humor, a few tangents, and a mess of trying to talk about cults while actively avoiding new cult-like behavior. Cozy chaos with a side of legal caution on a Christmas platter.
Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
Twin Flames Universe Took My Niece: Cheryl Tuppa Speaks Out
Season 8 · Episode 33
Monday, December 22, 2025 • Duration 57:15
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” behind the scenes, contacting ex-members, law enforcement, journalists, and cult consultants (Sarah included), and ultimately helped Briana escape and rebuild her life. We get into money, “divine dish” food control, the pressure to stalk “twin flames,” Jeff and Shaleia’s role in mass gender transitions and the Mind Alignment Program, recent FBI action against the group, and why being a “safe place to land” may be the single most important thing loved ones can do.
We also mention therapist and cult specialist Rachel Bernstein, who worked with Briana and has been a guest on our show. Also check out our previous episodes with ex-Twin Flames Universe member Keely Griffin and journalist Alice Hines, who both helped expose the group’s abuses and digital reach.
And for creative arts therapy approaches, look up clinical psychologist Jennifer French.
Be sure to follow Cheryl’s YouTube channel and join her mission to expose cults and other high control groups.
Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of gender transition under high-pressure conditions, and disordered eating and food control.
Love Has Won: Andrew-Ryan Profaci on His Time with Mother God (Part 2)
Season 8 · Episode 32
Thursday, December 18, 2025 • Duration 32:16
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 God” to sabotaging the belief system from the inside, confronting Amy’s contradictions, and trying to protect vulnerable newcomers like Bill, a 55-year-old who liquidated his house and retirement for the group and died with nothing left. He shares the heartbreaking endgame—Amy’s denied medical care, her mummified body found in a shrine, zero accountability for the remaining members—and how he rebuilt his life, survived stage 4 cancer, and distilled it all into a core message about authenticity, belonging, and why cults are a magnified version of dynamics most of us already live in.
Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of medical neglect leading to death.
Love Has Won: Andrew-Ryan Profaci on His Time with Mother God (Part 1)
Season 8 · Episode 31
Monday, December 15, 2025 • Duration 45:45
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 woman who believed she was Mother God, destined to usher Earth into a new 5D age.
Andrew walks us through the 10-day slide from chatroom seeker to walking into a trashed Colorado house at dawn, facing a drunk, drooling “deity,” and still deciding to stay because of intense, inexplicable experiences he couldn’t ignore. We dig into the daily grind, the alcohol-soaked nights, the Father God proposition, and the mind-bending “quantum hoax” that exposed just how far an insider would go to stay in the group—and with Mother God herself.
Amanda Montell: Cultish and Coded Language, Revisited (Part 2)
Season 8 · Episode 30
Thursday, December 11, 2025 • Duration 35:34
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, obviously), and took a truly unhinged detour into vampire raves, Gen Z slang, and the etymology of "no cap." Chaos, warmth, and peak cult-nerd energy abound.
Be sure to follow Amanda on Instagram @amanda_montell and the Sounds Like a Cult podcast @soundslikeacultpod. Be sure to listen where you get your podcasts!
Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin
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Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin
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The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of alcohol addiction.
Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS:
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