Sounds especially good through AirPod pros.

This was powerful journalism about a story that I needed to hear. I’m especially grateful for the focus on responsible practices in the self-help industry. James Arthur Ray may not have been a cult leader per se, but we need to discuss the manipulation tactics he utilized that show up in many abusive authority figures. Grateful for what I learned and considered from listening to this show.

Ep 8 is playing instead of 5 - irritating.

Another great podcast from Wondery

As always. Great story, incredible investigating

Good story. But I didn’t get to hear Episode 5 because it plays as Episode 8. Sort of ruined it for me.

Not only is this podcast so informative, but it also completely sucked me in.

Great show but hey, Wondery, episode 8 plays in place of episode 5. Please fix it.

Nip portrays himself as some kind of athlete, and asserted that drinking water during practice while growing up (Mormon?) is viewed as weak. If such is the case, perhaps his dried up brain led him to be a top selling pimp for Keith, while Sarah turned a blind eye selling this nonsense to vulnerable women. Listeners want to know where you stand in regards to Trumps lies, Covid vaccination conspiracies, etc. before determining whether to listen to information from two cult nuts seriously and responsibly (these cult members who recruited and brainwashed newbies for financial gain, and allegedly didn’t partake in sex while members of a “sex” cult

an ad literally every 5 minutes! outrageous.

This pod tells the story we’ll bug what’s missing is the mind manipulation, coercive control and indoctrination tactics that JR used which caused people to ignore their own survival instincts and caused some to die. In my opinion the topic of indoctrination needs to be understood and the sinister things that can be done by a charismatic leader who knows how to use indoctrination and coercion to control people. There is also no mention here of narcissism and narcissistic abuse of power - which is key to understanding a dangerous leader like Ray. Also there seems to be a hesitancy to call it a cult. But cults take your power, make you question your own critical thinking and for the benefit of the leader. So how is this not a cult? It’s not an insult, and maybe that’s why people are afraid to call it a cult.

Appreciated hearing a lot about this person who was highly recommended by an influential person without further investigation into who he really was, and who later exposed as a fraud. He was really an ordinary person like me who made every attempt to fleece gullible persons, without any conscience.

Not necessarily the fault of the podcast, but it’s super frustrating that we now have to pay extra to listen to some podcasts. Apple continues to nickel and dime us. I was unable to finish the series because the trial ended and I will not pay for it.

Nvm it’s catnip for the overwrought upper middle class horny for validation

Loved this podcast. Great subject and super interesting however I do wish that they had more episodes that explored what was and is going on and discussed more people that are doing similar things and that there are very few laws or people fighting for new laws in the context of this mentor situation. I hope that they think about revisiting this and add some more episodes to help people better understand the situation and how everyday people get tangled up with these types of people. It’s a super interesting subject that shows how many people truly fall victim to charismatic people like this man. Unfortunately I think when only a small amount of people are shown in something like this people always think I wouldn’t never be like that when in actuality most people when caught in the right moment could fall victim to this type of person.

Hey Matt, I really enjoyed this crazy and compelling story about James Earl Ray and the way that you told it. I couldn’t wait to hear each new episode. Scary how much certain people can hold influence and control over other human beings like that. Congrats on the gig with Wondery and Great work on this podcast! Give a shout to Lindsey Graham for me, I also LOVED his wicked game podcast. #NAforlife. 😉

I’m a huge true crime buff, but this story upset me more than any other I have heard. I don’t remember if there was a trigger warning in the beginning... but the first episode has a dramatic retelling of the terrible event and it was so visceral and disturbing to me, that I had horrible nightmares that night. Which hasn’t happened in a long time. I’m glad I listened through the whole podcast, because the later episodes had discussions about how to be a safe self help practitioner, and generally left things on a more uplifting note. I would just be aware if you have a trauma history, you may not want to listen to this. Especially without researching the crime before so you know what you are about to hear.

Compelling stuff

Wonders never disappoints

This is a riveting and crucially important story to tell, and it was done so well. I disagree that it was drawn out- I think the depth of detail was really necessary. People need to know about this not just in the case of James Ray, but so many others doing similar harm in the new-age world (even though the new-age world isn’t to inherently bad, this sort of thing has become an epidemic.)

Unfortunately this has become today’s reality. I have So Many “acquaintances” who have jumped on the Wellness, Mindfulness, Spiritual bandwagon. All just like Amway presenters. I had a Friend who was involved with Sundance movie premier “Secret”, wanted me to host a premier party for cast, crew, etc at my home. Gave me a copy of the movie, book but couldn’t tell me about it because it was a “Big Secret” and the answer to all. Never watched the movie, thought it was B. S. Then just as now. People wake up! These Cults can cost you your lives.

Wondery my podcasts have the most overwrought narration and this one is no different. It’s so campy and for a subject this serious, it is extremely distracting. Let the story tell itself without the ridiculous embellishment

This is fear mongering at its finest! Go do something productive with your lives. The world would be a better place if you quit giving energy to this and try to bring a person down.

I downloaded Guru for a road trip and am happy I did. It really brings this story to life through audio clips, interviews and research. I wanted to listen straight through. Such an interesting subject, case, and reminder to not always believe everything you hear. In my opinion, Kirby’s mom is the real star....advocating and educating!

Not one of Wondery’s best podcasts, but still with a listen. I think it’s important for people to be educated on this subject matter. Between this, Nxivm, and other recent cult activities seen in the media, it seems that what once had a heavy focus of drawing people into some kind of attainment of enlightenment that had a heavy religious focus drawing people in back in the 70s, 80s and 90s has shifted into this self-help/be your strongest self garbage these past 20 years that is used to slowly manipulate and brainwash people. It is absolutely abominable.

A small but powerful insight into the devastating impact of coming under the spell of narcissistic sociopathic leaders.

James Arthur Ray is 100% responsible for the deaths at his falsely named “sweat lodge.” He was willfully negligent and should have gotten more jail time. This podcast, though, was an unusual flop by Wondery for me. Normally I love their work, but this series seemed too drawn out. I actually felt that the people fighting to hold Ray accountable also did some villainous things, which the narrator did not address at all. I also thought they tried to dramatize normal things to make this seem like there was more at play than there was. I mean, name one sales person that doesn’t go after the demographic most likely to purchase their products, or try to up sell their clients. And how can he be blamed for a suicide? Doesn’t make sense according to the information that was presented. I vaguely remember this being on the news and have not done any of my own research, so this is strictly a review of this podcast. By the end of the series I was over it and didn’t even bother listening to the extra episodes with additional content.

Very well-produced podcast, although a little disappointing. I was hoping for more of a series of gurus in general, and the problems surrounding this kind of need of humans to be followed as well as to follow. I hadn't heard this story before and was both disgusted and disturbed by it. I appreciate that they included professionals who study this topic in the interviews, because it does make one ask often: "why would they do that just because they were asked to?" And it's not that simple at all. A very good listen!

This was a great Podcast! Not sure why it is not rated a 5?

I enjoyed this podcast. They go in to really focus on the Pepe involved.

I’m very interested in group think, “empowerment” and self help workshops, and cults so I was excited to listen to this. It was pretty good, but honestly could have been 3, maybe 4 episodes. Very stretched out for no reason. I also feel like people need to be held accountable for how they found themselves in such a position. Yeah, this guy seemed like a con man for certain, but he’s not 100% to blame. He didn’t chain those people up in a smoke lodge. They chose to ignore their bodies because they felt what he had to say was more important. It’s sad they died, but I can’t get behind saying he was the sole cause.

This show has its moments but it could be better

This guy is evillllll. I like to listen to stuff like this in order to protect my people like this.

If gurus and cults interest you, this is worth the listen.

WONDERY Please Stop Using New Episode for Ad Placement The Apple podcast app has a nice feature that notifies us when a new episode is released. So what does WONDERY do? Uses this feature to advertise new podcasts. Which is TOTALLY awful when you are subscribed to 5 or 10 WONDERY podcasts! You get 5 or 10 notifications which APPEAR to be alerts for new episodes... only they are a crappy ADVERTISEMENT for the SAME new podcast! So in turn I will use THIS podcast to RATE my displeasure in the practice... ONE STAR. Touché.

I thoroughly enjoyed the series. I had never heard of Kirby’s death. It’s so sad but also very aggravating to learn that her murderer is free to continue to swindle others. Excellent podcast. I highly recommend it.

This series was okay but I couldn’t even enjoy it because of all the ads. And not the product ads, I actually don’t mind those, but the ads for the Wondery app. Ever two minutes it was ‘you know, if you download our app you can listen without commercials’. I seriously couldn’t get into a rhythm at all with it. If you take out the ads for the app this is maybe a two episode podcast. Like I said, the content is decent but I couldn’t enjoy it.

There are so many narcissistic people out there. People need to hear this. Hear how easy it is to slip into. The least to hear of the way they ruin lives is emotionally. These people unfortunately lost their lives. There needs to be more education out there so people can see through people like James. They are putting themselves into a position of authority and responsibility and then don’t want to take any consequences.

This podcast is good, however the episode length versus amount of time devoted to ads is an unbalanced ratio. One ad break in an episode that’s less than an hour is plenty. I found myself having to fast forward a ton to get to the content. When you boil it down, this could have been four episodes based on the overall amount of actual content. It’s frustrating to have a decent podcast but not be able to enjoy it because the storyline is so interrupted. This is a common theme with all of the podcasts on this network.

This podcast left out a lot of key info about what happened and his rise to fame.

I believe in a person’s ability and capacity to create the life they want. And I’ve always wondered about the “gurus” who help them tap into that power. I remember when The Secret was a hot topic but I never looked into it. I’m glad that this story was told so that those of us who might have given Ray our money and time can think about who this man might be and what he may be about. Think about if we really want to give him our time and money.

You racist pig. Enjoy 4 more years!!

The story was interesting but it could’ve been told in 3-4 episodes. The pace of the story was too slow and there was some repetition. I found myself wishing they would get on with the story and present new information.

I binged the podcast in a mass cleaning day and enjoyed it, though I do believe it could have been shorter and gotten the same story across. I hadn’t ever heard of this story (I was in middle school at the time it happened) and thought it was an extremely interesting view of it. I struggle with whether or not he meant to cause harm but agree that he needed to be held accountable for the outcome and find it extremely problematic that he’s continued in the self help world.

I finished this podcast in 2 days. It was so intriguing and interesting that I just couldn’t stop listening! I don’t understand why it only has 3.5 stars, it should definitely have a higher rating!

Very interesting story. Hadn’t known about it prior to hearing the podcast. Held my attention, start to finish.

I’m a Christian and like to learn about cults that use scripture and twist it to make it productive towards their own personal goals. It’s basically a hobby of mine to learn about the truth of what God says and the false theories that cults present. I never expanded towards a “cult” like this and it was really intriguing. It just goes to show that every cult leader is prideful and looking for his/her own power while seeming harmless at first. This is a great podcast!

Terrible podcast. No background information on this raging narcissistic con man. Instead we get to hear a boring trial recap with 20 commercials.

Sadly we must still watch out for charlatans.

Binge-worthy story of The Secret self-help guru who killed three people, ran away from the scene, only spent two years in jail, and is now back at it selling his tired old snake oil. What a putts. The podcast is really well done.