From ‘90s teen heartthrob to yacht-hopping, model-dating, climate-crusading enigma, Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t just an actor—he’s an institution. But at what point does the behavior of this Oscar-winning icon cross into something a little more… cultish? This week, Amanda is joined by Caitlin Durante of The Bechdel Cast to take a deep dive into the Church of Leo, unpacking the eerie loyalty of his fans, the oddly specific habits of his inner circle (no one over 25 shall pass), and the ways in which ...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Although we do famously love/write/worship books over here at team SLAC, our adventure into this week’s MUCH-REQUESTED topic—a literary commune packed with fantastical, extremely online, culty drama—gave us MAJOR culture shock. Whether you’re a lifelong reader or your Hoovers are still in the mail, it’s safe to assume you’ve brushed paths with this week’s cult even without realizing it. Since its timely mid-pandemic inception, BookTok has taken the publishing industry by storm and has undoubtedl...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast What is it about Jeeps that inspires such intense devotion? In this week’s episode, Amanda, Chelsea, and a special guest listener dive into the world of Jeep culture—a community that goes way beyond just owning an off-road vehicle. From the infamous Jeep Wave and secret handshakes to brand tattoos and entire lifestyles built around rugged independence, we’re breaking down the cult-like loyalty that Jeep enthusiasts wear like a badge of honor. How did a military vehicle evolve into a global symbo...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast If you’ve ever met a kid who could knit a scarf before they could read, you might already be familiar with this week's "cult." With their dreamy, arts-infused approach to education (think: seasonal festivals, storytelling over standardized testing), Waldorf schools promise a ~holistic utopia for young minds~. But behind the fairy tale façade lurks a past (and present) steeped in, oh y'know, anti-science ideology, claims of clairvoyance, weird "karma" stuff, problematic hierarchies, and a suspici...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast You’re walking through the mall or driving down the street, and there it is again: a pastel-colored poster featuring a leaping dancer. It reads: Shen Yun, China Before Communism. What even IS this lavish dance show whose advertisements haunt all our towns? Is it a religion? A political party? A theatre troupe? What is their mission? Is the dancing even good? And where does Shen Yun find the budget for all this marketing?? This week, Amanda is joined by special guests Liz and Brace of the TrueAno...
Feb 11, 2025•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Few pop culture phenomena have commanded such fierce devotion while hiding so many skeletons in their neon-colored closet. This week, Chelsea, Amanda, and Reese dig into Nickelodeon—not just as a childhood staple, but as a world built on loyalty, odd rituals, and unsettling secrets. From the hypnotic allure of The Kids' Choice Awards and the iconic green slime to the troubling revelations surrounding Dan Schneider and the exploitation behind the scenes, we’re breaking down how Nickelodeon crafte...
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Very rarely does a culty news topic compel us to the mic as urgently as this week’s subject, a nerdy literature fandom turned…collective traumatic experience? In the wake of a bombshell Vulture exposé that straight-up reads like a Sounds Like A Cult script, Reese and Amanda are unpacking the nightmarish tale of multi-bestselling-author-turned-sex-abuser-slash-cult-leader, Neil Gaiman. You know this guy’s work, even if you don’t recognize his name, and the cult he created has so many entry points...
Jan 28, 2025•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast A missive has arrived in your mailbox, dear cultie! What’s this? An invitation to an exclusive, mystical, and splendidly nerdy episode of Sounds Like A Cult that’s only a short ride from King’s Cross station away! YES, your most British, nostalgia-packed dreams have been realized because this week Amanda and Reese are hopping aboard the Hogwarts Express to every 90s baby’s starter cult, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Joined by the hilarious and wise podcasters Sequoia of Fanatical Fics and...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Calling all beauty ~insiders~ 💄👽 Prep your prayer, ahem, swatching hands and scrounge together your hard-earned points, because we are kicking off 2025 with one of society's most glamorous everyday cults: Sephora. From 6th graders worshiping at the altar of retinol to 35-year-olds going to inexplicable lengths to maintain their VIB status, Sephora followers are undoubtedly held in the vice grip of this cosmetics boutique-turned-billion-dollar beauty mecca. Sephora’s black-and-white walls provi...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen and subscribe on Spotify Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts! Follow the podcast @imrighturwrongpodcast and the host @isaamedinaa
Jan 14, 2025•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Buy tickets to The Big Magical Cult Show in Vancouver, Canada on February 21, 2025! Time for Part 2! Father Craigo helps us wrap up 2024 with the rest of his brain-tangling life story in the cult that inspired this whole dang pod, Synanon. This week, he's answering unfiltered listener Qs, sharing the harrowing tale of Synanon's downfall, and leaving us all with some takeaways for how to stay culty but not too culty in 2025. We simply cannot WAIT for next year, when your shameless cult leader tri...
Dec 17, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Buy tickets to The Big Magical Cult Show in Vancouver, Canada on February 21, 2025! Father is back!!! No, not Father Algorithm, but *actual* Father. Indeed, Amanda's sweetie dad, Craig Montell, returns to the pod after his featurette on last year's cult of Military Wives episode, for an extra-special end-of-year, two-part deep dive into the cult that he survived and that inspired this entire show: Synanon. Craigo brings his dad charm and cult experience to break down exactly how this well-intent...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's officially Countdown to Cultmas! Make yourself a falalatte and keep your expectations for plot continuity ho-ho-low because this week, Chelsea, Reese, and Amanda are uniting for a guffaw-worthy 'sode on the escapist seasonal "cult" that is Hallmark Christmas Movies. These cheesy made-for-TV treats may look utterly innocent on the outside, but when you unpack the extreme parasocial idol worship of Hallmark's recurring stars, its tent revival-esque conventions, nostalgic-to-a-fault themes, an...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast ~A cosmic new episode of Sounds Like a Cult lies in your near future, Virgo~ No? Capricorn? Pisces, maybe? Whatever your sign is, today’s episode is sure to deliver all of the celestial wisdom you’ve been seeking straight from the comfort of your mobile device, much like today’s cult of discush, astrology apps! The astrologically inclined have fully infiltrated Silicon Valley (thanks, Elon), leaving in their data-farming path a vast plethora of galactic apps to suit whatever flavor of push notif...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brew yourself a giant pot of Luke's coffee because we’re diving deep into the fast-talking world of Stars Hollow. That’s right, the cult Gilmore Girls. We know what you're thinking! It's just a TV show! It'a not a cult! Relax! But hear us out: From the intense rituals (hello, annual re-watch), patron saints (looking at you, Luke Danes), and fan behaviors that border on worship, your favorite mother-daughter duo has evolved from a quaint fictional series into a full-fledged lifestyle and pseudo-r...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Munch on some ice chips and PUSHHHHH (sorry) play on this week's episode, in which we dare to apply our culty analysis to the ever-polarizing "free birther" community. Free birthing is a controversial catch-all term in and of itself, generally describing a style of medically unassisted birth that has turned into not just a movement but possibly a cult—why? Because this is America, and if something has the potential to turn culty, then it probably will! Doula (and loyal listener of the pod) Hehe ...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast BOO! ‘tis the spookiest time of the year, dear culties, and this year we’ve whipped out our cauldrons to cook you an up episode on one of the scariest topics we could think of… complex emotions?! That is only half a joke, because this week Reese is equally embarrassed and excited to bring Amanda into the weird and wacky world of reborn dolls with the help of Corrine Vien and Sabrina Deana-Roga from Two Girls One Ghost. The "Reborners" community serves a wide range of acolytes, from grieving pare...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Grab your trusty #2 and find the desk with your name tag on it, because class is in session this week at Sounds Like a Cult! Our /pedagogically inclined/ episodes are always RIPE with juicy insight, and today’s topic is no different. Be it Hogwarts or Pacific Coast Academy, boarding schools have long shrouded themselves in an air of mystery and exclusivity that has most recently led to a culture-wide obsession with the Dark Academia genre. But is this intrigue secretly supporting a sinister inst...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast NOT going to lie, this episode was a wee bit nerve racking to record!!! Despite the, ahem, LARGE number of requests we received for this topic (which would make you think it was ubiquitously reviled), the acolytes in this group ride HARD for their leader! Money and religion are the twin engines that make the world go ‘round, dear culties, and as such, they are the perfect mediums for sinister influence. This week’s subject has been ~blessing~ the airwaves and teaching your parents how to be debt...
Oct 08, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Who’s your #mommy culties: Taylor or Whitney? That’s right, fresh(ish?) off the release of Hulu’s Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reality series (for which Amanda and Reese attended a blissfully tinsel-adorned premiere party #notsponsored lol), this week we are covering the cult of Mormon MomTok. This coalition of young Mormon mothers turned TikTok stars raises a truly baffling number of questions: Are these girls really Mormon? Does that matter? Where are their garments? Are they even friends? And...
Oct 01, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Settle in with a Kirkland brand sparkling water and a rotisserie chicken because this week, Amanda and Chelsea are going IN on the us/them dynamics, strange rituals, manipulation tactics, over-the-top passion, and lore of your favorite membership-only cathedral of affordable excess, Costco. Based on this episode’s fervent listener call-ins alone, it’s clear Costco is more than just a place to buy 500-packs of plastic cups, gold bars, and even your future casket (???) ⚰️ Costco is some people’s e...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’re baaaAAAAAaaaaack!!! Join us for a 🪐transcendent🪐 new season of Sounds Like A Cult, whose opening episode features Chelsea Charles, one of our sparklingly hilarious new co-hosts. An unscripted TV producer by day, Chelsea joins returning host Amanda to unpack this week’s nightmarish topic: Dance Moms. Indeed, we’re exploring every culty corner of the fanatically followed Lifetime reality show, which centers on a group of competitive child dancers, their high-drama mothers, and their verita...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is Sounds Like A Cult, a show with two sparkling new cult leaders, ahem, co-hosts!!!!!! We’ve been keeping this secret for months, and it feels downright ~transcendent~ to let you culties know: Joining host Amanda for the next season of Sounds Like A Cult are two brilliant, kind, warm, and hilarious recurring voices—unscripted TV producer Chelsea Charles and theatre/rhetoric student Reese Oliver (whom you may already recognize as SLAC’s beloved coordinator). Tune into today’s surprise bonus...
Sep 10, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast New Age love & wellness influencers turned baby NXIVM: That's kinda the best way we can succinctly describe this week’s cult, Twin Flames Universe, one of the most chilling groups we’ve discussed on the pod thus far. Several months ago, Twin Flames survivor Jessi Hersey, whom you might recognize from the “Escaping Twin Flames” doc on Netflix, slid into our DMs and made a very generous and compelling argument as to why Twin Flames needed airtime on Sounds Like A Cult. After all, it’s important to...
Aug 13, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pack your hammer and your lack of cultural awareness, because this week on Sounds Like A Cult, we're interviewing Tia Levings, a former Christian fundamentalist, mission trip devotee, and survivor of church-sanctioned domestic violence. Tia is also the author of the brand new memoir A Well-Trained Wife. She joins to discuss the ever-so-common culty practice of recruiting church kids to go on white savior vacations all under the guise of bringing Sky Daddy and ultimate nepo kid Jesus into the liv...
Aug 06, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Get Tickets to Isa Medina's Live Comedy Show in NYC August 24th! Click Here! Follow Isa on Instagram to keep up with her upcoming comedy shows! Subscribe to Isa's new podcast I'm Right You're Wrong on Spotify or Apple! If you want to support Isa's new podcast subscribe above, listen or watch the full episodes at the I'm Right You're Wrong Podcast Page!...
Aug 06, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Oops a politically flavored episode of Sounds Like A Cult!!!!! Would you believe it if we told you we recorded this nearly SIX MONTHS AGO and just crossed our fingers it would resonate whenever it ended up going live??? This week, host Amanda is joined by Puck reporter and former MAGA youth recruit, Tina Nguyen, author of the 2024 memoir The MAGA Diaries, who’s here to shed light on the culty modern movement that is conservative youth activism: why it exists, how it works, and why there’s no lef...
Jul 30, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Learn more about host Amanda's Italian writing "cult" ;) It's a Live Your Life!!! https://trovatrip.com/trip/europe/italy/italy-with-amanda-montell-oct-2024 If you’ve ever seen a suburban lady wearing a tee shirt that reads, “I wine because he whines” or “I’m not a normal mom, I’m a wine mom,” then you have likely born witness to a follower of this week’s “cult.” Wine moms may have nailed the merch aspect of modern-day fanaticism with their culture of “rosé all day,” and there’s certainly valid ...
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast From TV executives abusing kids on sets to Scientology's "Celebrity Center," the cult of the entertainment business can getcha from about 6,000 different angles. After all, what other mainstream American industry is glamorized and lusted-after to this extreme degree, only to betray its most successful acolytes with financial and physical exploitation, social isolation, dehumanization, and a destroyed sense of self-worth to the point that entertainers dying early tragic deaths of despair is not o...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to Isa's new podcast: I'm Right You're Wrong! Isa is the co-creator and former host of Sounds Like A Cult...
Jul 16, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
