I don’t understand why we are pretending this story is true. There might be details here and there that are based on facts, but the narrative arc is really obviously manufactured for self-promotion. This is amateur fiction.

The descriptions of horrific sexual abuse were too much to make this entertaining. Makes me hate Russia even more.

This podcast is really well-done and is fantastic with the story-telling. I greatly appreciate the honest discussions around doing what is needed in the moment to survive, and then struggling with the decisions and complicated feelings associated with the actions you took to survive. But I will also say that it has brought to me an unexpected (and likely unintended) side effect. I binged this podcast right after the 2024 US election; while this is probably not a healthy take-away, it did remind me of the power that we as women have and how strong we are despite what we go through. For the moment, it has empowered me as a woman during a time where I’ve felt all power has been taken away from me.

The production is there. The story is there. It’s engaging. But then there are moments that give pause. Finally, there’s hardly any effort made to corroborate Aliia’s story. What the heck?! Vice actually did a documentary on her two years ago and they were left skeptical of the whole thing. C’mon, Strauss! It’s becoming apparent that Tenderfoot is more concerned with entertainment and ad revenue than actually helping victims.

Well done!! I think you could’ve easily done a podcast pinned on truth/fiction but as you mentioned, there is truly no way to completely fact check this. So as your own experience began to shift the objective of the podcast, it grew into a much more intriguing story than I could’ve imagined in the beginning. The choice to shift the focus to allow her to tell “her” story vs. “the” story is what made this a transformative experience for you, her & the listener. As we (hopefully) begin to understand trauma & how it manifests differently from person to person, being able to come to the resolution & realization at the end that although some of the things she said (and truly believes) may not have occurred the way she described them doesn’t necessarily mean it’s calculated deception. But is rather a coping mechanism for someone who experienced deep trauma. Allowing the listener to make their own decisions regarding her believability was more impactful than investigating every statement she made. I did appreciate the occasional expert as it did provide fascinating context & grounded her story in reality. For what it’s worth, I believe a vast majority of what she said. I’m so proud of her for being so vulnerable! That’s true bravery. And also, since I heard you read these - I liked the “behind the scenes” episode. I think a slight peek behind the curtain doesn’t curtail the magic. Nice work!

Your podcasts are always my absolute favorites! I was literally hanging on every word. Loved hearing about the spy missions. I could listen to the two of you all day long. Please do more seasons! You are a podcast genius!!!

Even though her story sounds incredible, I believe her because none of this sounds too crazy for Russia. Neil Strauss handled the story with utmost respect - letting the victim tell her full, uninterrupted story. I couldn’t stop listening! When is the movie coming out and who’s gonna play Alia?

Episodes 1-9 had me on a roller coaster of emotions. I love a woman who can take the worst situations and manipulate everyone who ever caused her pain. Episode 10, though… Just prepare to be completely broken. I saw the ending coming, but that did nothing to prepare me. Aliia Roza deserves nothing less than peace and happiness after that.

i couldn’t stop listening. Sometimes i didn’t believe her. sometimes i did. it’s hard to know what really happens… when you live in another “world” another country where you would never be in that situation, it’s hard to understand or relate. i hope the life she lives today is making her happy. and i hope she heals.

Aliia describing combat in the 2nd Chechen war when she was a soldier “He (her comrade in a combat zone) touched me, he rubbed my shoulder, and said now. Then he pressed the trigger and he shot the enemy. He said to me it’s simple, now it’s your turn. I saw through the scope, I saw the face with a beard and with the hat. He said do it now. I pressed the trigger and it was silence and I didn’t look again and closed my eyes. Then he told me good job. I laid there for maybe an hour.” I shortened this a bit but this is word for word what she described doing in war, at night, with a gun she doesn’t know the name of and didn’t know how it worked. 🤣 Great journalism!

I loved this so much that I binge-listened to the entirety of this harrowing story in two days and probably will listen all over again. The five star review is due to how compelling the story is, and how truly moving it is to hear Aliia describe every gut wrenching experience under a truly evil, messed up, cynical regime where, at least for women, sexual misery and psychological torture seems to exist by design. As other listeners mentioned, it feels like she lived a hundred lifetimes in one. Here is where I fault the podcast: there was a hint at the beginning of the series that we were going to examine ways in which Allia may, at times, be an unreliable narrator, but that never paid off. I fully agree with believing victims of abuse and allowing them the safe space to tell the story from their own perspective. She was 100% victimized, and it was so important for the podcast to bring the therapy angle into it. But there’s also a very deep fear of questioning anything at all in these cases, even when there are some massive holes in the story. This isn’t just a regular, run-of-the-mill person we’re talking about; this is purportedly a professionally trained spy whose entire craft is deception, seduction, and manipulation. There are very few instances in which the host questions or pushes further where the story trails off or gets confusing, and very few outside opinions questioning fuzzy parts of the story, motivations, etc. in any way. This needs a follow up to flesh out what’s been left out.

This is story telling at its best. Listening the story organically unfold and evolve through vulnerability and trust was beautiful and poetic. I found many comments disheartening. After all the vulnerability, care, and empathy put into the story telling, it’s fascinating that anyone could focus on “creditability.” This story underlines the long term, damaging effects caused by abuse, human trafficking, oppression… all by using a first hand experience. This is a women who bravely bared her soul. The continued challenge of a woman’s credibility regarding sexual, mental, and emotional abuse is a sad study of society. I do agree with the mid roll ads. I understand the need for adds and appreciate the free access to this wonderful story, but they would be better at the beginning of the episode in a situation like this.

This podcast is heartbreaking, terrorizing, unbelievable - a horror. The tenderness with which the story is told is so kind of the storytellers. I wept. I felt revulsion and I don’t think anyone would ir could of trated this material with mire delicacy and respect.

It’s very well done, informative, suspenseful and interesting. We really enjoyed it.

Imagine creating a series of interviews that addresses human trafficking, rape, torture, the mass murder of civilians, and additional atrocities of war as well as psychological coercion interspersed with sexual performance ads, the in the style of James Bond gimmicky soundtrack and other inappropriate ad placement. It was cringe worthy at best. Apologies should be forth coming for all persons adversely impacted by the serious nature of the subject matter presented.

Several times I was thinking, “This woman lived a lifetime in 25 years.” I found myself tearing up with her when she describes some of the traumas and her voice breaks. You are so aware, through every episode, of her humanity and the desperation of having to make choices when either way, somehow you lose. You never know who is good or evil, and who will betray you. By the end you just want to take her by the shoulders, “You did it; you made it. You’re HERE.” I love the special experts who came on board to provide context to her narrative. The last episode analysis was helpful, too, and I’d listen to another if Neil provided one in future podcasts. Well done team.

This woman life is amazing story. sorry for her pain!

Great reporting, narration, story —everything!

Wow. What an amazing podcast. I definitely started skeptical but then I was quickly swept away in the story and found myself missing listening to her voice. So well done.

It’s not one thing. It’s gender justice and struggle, geopolitical, personal trauma and survival, and f-ing riveting. Could t stop. Cried, cheered, exploded.

Excellent podcast in describing the challenges and discoveries encountered in producing the series. They should make a movie to get wider distribution of the ideas, goals, experiences, and revelations this podcast covered.

The story is amazing and well done. However, she talks about every women in the military was being victimized by men in some way. If her father was military he would have witnessed this as well. So he would have known what he was sending his daughter into.

This is such an intense and moving story, as fascinating as it is sad. What’s really unacceptable is that such a deeply horrifying topic can be so jarringly interrupted by a gleeful jingle about skincare products or subscriptions for pet toys. If you have to have ads, for god’s sake get them out of the way in the beginning. Don’t pepper them throughout such a tense story. It’s just insulting and tone deaf. I don’t know how many more episodes I can get through if this keeps up.

I couldn’t stop listening to this podcast. Seriously one of my top 5 favorite podcasts I’ve listened to. I’m sad it’s over and could totally see myself listening to it again in the very near future. I even listened to the interview episode, which I never stick around for and found it very interesting and loved his take on everything. 10/10 highly recommend!

This is such a compelling story told by a fantastic writer. Such an interesting story of manipulation. You see this portrayed in movies but don’t think about it occurring now. Another great series.

However, I still have a lot of questions. I’m just not sure how credible she is. For example, after the horrific beating she described toward the end, how did she not require serious medical treatment. The basic premise of a state-trained seductress/assassin is believable, but much of the story seems like a noirish novel or film. This may or may not be rooted in fact, but it is a helluva yarn.

What an incredible story! Neil - you are my favorite podcast host and the best story teller. I cannot wait for your next podcast!

Going in I thought this was kind of a Russian "lady James Bond" spy story. Wow - couldn't have been further from that; it was a million times better. This podcast is as deep as the ocean. I hope it has helped Elena find some measure of peace.

I would’ve bought the whole story if it weren’t for this last bonus episode. The second I hear safe spaces and being oppressed, I automatically think someone is pandering, and then I find out the host was or wrote a book on pick up artists, now it feels like he’s doing damage control and trying to cancel some karmic debt.

How can someone who went through these much traumas became an “influencer” millionaire in LA?? Do some facts checking before wasting time here.

I literally could not stop listening. Even through the hard parts. This woman has obviously lived an incredible life, through unbelievable hardships. The trauma is real. But you keep saying “but she made it through to tell the tale…” Thank you for sharing the story with us Aliia.

This whole story had me in shock the entire time. What a strong woman. Thank you for helping tell her story!

Very interesting story. Very well told by Neil who handled everything with the most delicate care during the entire show from start to finish. Impressive podcast host, writer, and producer. Clearly exceptionally talented. The story itself had some extremely sad parts but as a whole her journey is a testament to how much we can overcome and survive.

It seems to me that the entire story is a ploy to get attention or to make a buck. If this woman was truly a agent of the SVR or FSB she certainly wouldn’t be shining a spotlight on herself or the tradecraft she was taught. It feels as though bits of the story is being written as she tells it.

I found this to be a very intriguing story and slightly less believable as the show went on. I do hate how it ended though. Would love to know more about what happened to her parents, how she ended up here, etc. Overall, a good listen just slightly skeptical of it all.

Very interesting and inspiring story how one can take all the challenges of life and turn them into their Power! Well well Done! Thank you for sharing your story with us!

Aliia, your narrative is astonishingly incredible. The manner in which you survived and endured such a harrowing ordeal defies description. Your resilience and indomitable will to persevere are truly extraordinary. I found this audiobook profoundly compelling. Thank you for sharing your remarkable story. Mike,

Not surprised the misogynist who wrote a book and led classes about being a “pick up artist” would create a podcast without even cursory research to verify his subject’s claims. It’s well established that she was never a spy and stole her story from the Jennifer Lawrence movie “Red Sparrow.” Vice did a short easily debunking her story. They’re both opportunistic frauds. I recommend not supporting either of them by unsubscribing and giving them a bad review for bad journalism and even worse ethics.

Intriguing….but little journalism done to explore how truthful Aliia’s claims are

Story is good, interesting, but my god how many episodes can you create off of the story? I’m in the middle of the 16th episode and I’ve got a call it quits. Unsubscribing.

Allia Rosa’s grifting is well known. The host of this show makes zero attempts to test the validity of the story she is telling. He’s not doing even the most basic fact checking, only some hand-waving about how “we know Russia uses seduction spies…” Letting Rosa spin these tales with zero pushback is profoundly destructive to victims of military sexual violence.

I can’t believe how popular this podcast has become despite the entire story being disproven as a complete lie to get social media famous (see the Vice documentary). The journalist knows it but apparently doesn’t care… they’re both profiting off this fake story.

You said it’s the end of her story but didn’t include anything about how she escaped the military or her life after escaping. How can you just say she was hiding something about how she escaped but not elaborate at all?! Sooo frustrating! At least tell us it’s off the record so you can’t share. Loved it all until the end though.

From start to finish this almost unbelievable yet incredibly true story kept me engaged all the way through. Neil does a wonderful job of telling a story with a lot of sensitive material keeping it raw while keeping the interviewee safe and comfortable to tell her story without judgment or opinions and the audience inthralled .

Before you listen you should watch the Vice episode about Aliia Roza.

I've listened to a ton of podcasts and this one is hands down one of the most addictive, gripping, and thought-provoking. And yet as the series went on and Aliia's story grew more shocking I kept asking myself, can this really be true? Did she really go through all these terrible things? The host of the podcast did a great job of addressing my doubts, bringing in outside experts (including Aliia's therapist) that convinced me, through their commentary, that she likely was not making this up - even if her Russian military training made her a master manipulator. But give it a listen and decide for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

Before listening to this you should watch the Vice episode about Aliia Roza.

Incredible true story

Perhaps I missed it, but how was she able to leave Russia? Wasn’t she worried that by telling her story for public consumption that her family might be at risk? And if she isn’t concerned, why not? Was there any verification of the validity of her story or even verification that she is who she says she is? Not sure how this would be a cathartic experience for her. More lurid and sensational than enlightening. And how ironic that Strauss himself is a self-styled pick-up artist intrigued by the art of seduction. Kind of creepy actually. And Hmmm, just doesn’t add up.

The podcast hooks you immediately and is excellently executed. I appreciated the trauma informed approach and the space granted to tell their experiences or understanding of their experiences without questioning them about whether it was true. It offered me the opportunity to suspend disbelief and lijst listen.