The Cult of Sleepaway Camp

What happens when a billionaire tech mogul starts to look less like a CEO and more like a modern-day messiah? This week, Chelsea, Amanda, and Reese team up with historian and authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat) to explore the cult of personality surrounding Elon Musk. The man behind Tesla, SpaceX, X, and a growing empire of followers who treat his every post like prophecy. From the mysterious emerald mine origin story to estranged family ties, secret children, and that whole “saving humanity by going to Mars” thing, we unpack how Musk has cultivated a mythos that feels more like a belief system than a business plan. What does it mean when a company’s success is inseparable from the quirks of its leader? And how does social media supercharge a fanbase into a digital congregation? We’re breaking down the doublethink, the brand loyalty, and the bizarre Twitter-era sermons that keep the cult of Elon alive. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles.  Thank you to our sponsors! Download Cash App Today: https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/st3nalv7 #CashAppPod *Referral Reward Disclaimer: As a Cash App partner, I may earn a commission when you sign up for a Cash App account.   Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CULT Please consider donating to those affected by ICE activity in the LA Area. Team SLAC are donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, an LA-based immigrant rights organization providing legal services, policy advocacy, and direct aid to those most impacted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The lights dim. The murmuring crowd nibbles subpar soft pretzels anxiously. The Sounds Like a Cult theme music begins to blare at ear-splitting volumes, pyrotechnics nearly blinding an old lady caught in the front of the mob as a spandex-clad (think Barbie meets Barbarella) Reese Oliver steps into the ring to tackle her biggest opponent yet: The Cult of the WWE. *DINGDINGDING* This time, Reese is flying solo— no tag team parter— but the glitzy world of WWE is too flashy, mythical, and impressively immersive to knock out alone. Joining her is James Bryant (of the YouTube investigative commentary duo Fundie Fridays) to help demystify: the sacred chants, fak- *ahem* scripted storylines, and secret right wing ties lying beneath the sequins that characterize this cult. If you’ve never watched wrestling, the inherent culty nature of WWE might not occur to you at first glance, but we invite you to ponder…Why are toddlers and senior citizens alike crying about John Cena in 2025? Is wrestling fandom culture ripe with toxic masculinity, or a healthy expressive outlet for unironic passion? Why does WWE’s storytelling feel less like sports *yawn* and more like a shared religious experience? Is Vince McMahon’s empire the ultimate cult of spectacle, or just capitalism in a sparkly Lucha mask? And wtf is his wife doing in the white house? Tag someone who smells what The Rock is cooking—this one’s a steel chair straight to the dome. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles.  Thank you to our sponsors! Go to https://Adamandeve.com. Just enter offer code SLAC at checkout. This is an exclusive offer so be sure to use this code SLAC to get your discount, 100% Free Shipping and get it fast with Rush Processing  Head over to https://ThriveMarket.com/SLAC to get 30% off your first order and a FREE $60 gift.  Go to https://Quince.com/slac for free shipping on your order and 365-Day returns. Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CULT Please consider donating to those affected by ICE activity in the LA Area. Team SLAC are donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, an LA-based immigrant rights organization providing legal services, policy advocacy, and direct aid to those most impacted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when a seemingly innocent summer camp experience turns into a breeding ground for conformity, control, and groupthink? This week, Reese and Chelsea dive deep into the cult-like rituals of sleepaway camps, unpacking how a place meant for childhood fun can quickly slip into something far darker. From initiation rituals to absurd team-building exercises, we explore how sleepaway camps use isolation, authority, and shared secrets to create an all-encompassing sense of belonging. What happens when the quest for friendship and personal growth starts feeling more like a psychological experiment? With bizarre camp traditions, strict hierarchies, and a little bit of manipulation, we trace the fine line between team spirit and maybe a little mind control.  Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles.  Thank you to our sponsors! Head to ⁠https://www.squarespace.com/CULT⁠ to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CULT Get your summer savings and shop premium wireless plans at ⁠https://MINTMOBILE.com/cult⁠  Go to https://Quince.com/slac for free shipping on your order and 354 -day returns. Please consider donating to those affected by ICE activity in the LA Area. Team SLAC are donating to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, an LA-based immigrant rights organization providing legal services, policy advocacy, and direct aid to those most impacted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

RERUN! We took a cute little break to have a very culty wedding weekend but couldn’t leave the culties high and dry on content! This week we give you one of our favorite episodes from last season! Anyone who grew up evangelical Christian and/or plugged into teen celebrity news circa 2008 will be familiar with today’s cult: Purity Rings. You know, the dainty piece of jewelry placed ritualistically on a teen girl’s wedding finger to signify her vow of chastity until marriage, or else?? Purity rings are not just an accessory-they’re a bonafide industry, complete with rules, ceremonies, secrets, veiled threats, and religious trauma up the wazoo... but are they a cult? This week, a very special (ex-evangelical) guest, @normalgossip’s @mckinneykelsey, is joining host Amanda to unpack just that! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Check out the full episode of I'm Right You're Wrong Podcast on Apple Podcasts  or  Spotify  o r wherever you get your podcasts!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matching satin robes. Bedazzled cowboy hats. A mysterious urgency to fly to Nashville and scream “Woooo!” from a pedal pub. This week, Amanda returns to one of the most glitter-drenched, mimosa-fueled cults in the modern social landscape: bachelorette parties, but this time, with Sociologist Beth Montemurro and journalist Annie Atherton to help us dissect how these pre-wedding rituals evolved from quaint luncheons to weekend-long rites of passage that often feel more obligatory than fun. Why do so many people feel spiritually compelled to wear matching t-shirts and cry in a hot tub? What does this highly curated “last hurrah” say about gender, capitalism, and the mythology of marriage itself? Grab your sashes and your emotional baggage—we’re diving deep into the psychological groupthink, identity performance, and pastel-colored chaos of this culty little tradition.  Listen to OVERTHINKING ABOUT WEDDINGS. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles. Thank you to our sponsors! Go to https://LIQUIDIV.COM and get 20% off your first order with code CULT at checkout. Get your summer savings and shop premium wireless plans at https://MINTMOBILE.com/cult  Start earning points on rent you’re already paying by going to https://joinbilt.com/CULT Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CULT Please consider donating to those affected by the Los Angeles Fires. Some organizations that Team SLAC are donating to are:  https://mutualaidla.org/ https://give.pasadenahumane.org/give/654134/#!/donation/checkout https://shorturl.at/SGW9w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Erewhon: the only place where the quest to enlightenment involves dropping $25 on a celebrity smoothie. This week, Amanda and Chelsea dive into the culty glow of Southern California's bougiest grocery store with oh-so special guests Raven-Symoné and Miranda Pearman-Maday (check out their podcast Tea Time with Raven and Miranda)! From raw milk acolytes and mushroom dust disciples to influencer pilgrammages and ragebait-y marketing, this episode features takes spicier than the hot bar's $17 buffalo cauliflower. It all serves to answer the big question: is Erewhon a wellness wonderland, or a greenwashed Gwynethian cult? We drank the activated charcoal to find out... Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles. Thank you to our sponsors! Go to https://Quince.com/slac for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.  Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits™ by going to ⁠https://joinbilt.com/CULT⁠ For the bookings you’ve dreamed of, list your property on ⁠Booking.com⁠! Please consider donating to those affected by the Los Angeles Fires. Some organizations that Team SLAC are donating to are:  https://mutualaidla.org/ https://give.pasadenahumane.org/give/654134/#!/donation/checkout https://shorturl.at/SGW9w SOURCES:  The Guardian: ‘Playing Russian roulette with your health’: my encounter with LA’s raw-milk, powdered-meat smoothie by Lois Beckett:  https://www.theguardian.com/food/article/2024/jun/09/raw-milk-powdered-meat-smoothie-erewhon Eater: Roaches Like Erewhon Smoothies, Too by Rebecca Roland: https://la.eater.com/2025/4/10/24405640/erewhon-cockroach-bug-infestation-santa-monica-health-department-shutdown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Buckle up, because this week we’re spiraling into one of the internet’s darkest (and most tragically cringey) cults: Incels, a.k.a. self-proclaimed “involuntary celibates” who believe they’ve been cursed by the universe (read: women) to live a life without love, sex, or accountability. Joining Amanda and Reese for this delightfully horrifying deep-dive are cult comedy kings Henry Zebrowski (@drfantasty) and Ed Larson (@eddietunes) of Last Podcast on the Left (@lpontheleft), here to help us unpack how this chronically online community evolved from obscure message boards into a full-blown belief system complete with its own language, martyrs, and very questionable ethos. We’re talking “Chads,” “Stacys,” color-coded pills, doomer memes, and a whole lot of weaponized loneliness. Is this a support group gone wrong? A sad-boy doomsday cult? Or just a bunch of dudes who desperately need therapy and a hobby? Tune in for a wild ride through the cultiest corners of the manosphere—tinfoil hats optional, but encouraged.  Correction: The Toronto Van Attack happened in 2018 and claimed 11 lives.  Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles. Thank you to our sponsors! Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits™ by going to https://joinbilt.com/CULT Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CULT For the bookings you’ve dreamed of, list your property on Booking.com! Check out https://Adamandeve.com/ and select any one item. Be sure to use this code SLAC to get your discount, 100% Free Shipping and get it fast with Rush Processing - Code SLAC! Please consider donating to those affected by the Los Angeles Fires. Some organizations that Team SLAC are donating to are:  https://mutualaidla.org/ https://give.pasadenahumane.org/give/654134/#!/donation/checkout https://shorturl.at/SGW9w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Although the thumbs typing this are decidedly *not* green, this week’s exploration has been nurtured into fruition with love just for our botanically inclined culties.  Whether you spent quarantine scrolling through other people’s nurseries on #planstagram until your eyes glazed over green, or nobly undertook the task of cultivating an amateur jungle of your own leafy companions, in recent years it seems harder than ever to resist the allure of one of mankind’s oldest cohabitants: houseplants! But is the plant mommy life really the uber-zen, ultra-grounded, self-care-queen hobby we’ve been looking for, or just another tool of the algorithm to thwart the ~growth~ of our time, money, and IRL HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS?!? Melodramatic? At SLAC? Never! Here to help Reese and Amanda plant the seeds of healthy skepticism into this seemingly wholesome pastime is arbiter of plant wisdom in both audio and print format Maria Failla of Growing Joy with Plants (@growingjoywithmaria)! Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles. Thank you to our sponsors! This year, skip breaking a sweat AND breaking the bank. Get your summer savings and shop premium wireless plans at https://MINTMOBILE.com/cult Find exactly what you’re booking for on ⁠https://Booking.com⁠, Booking.YEAH! Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to https://Zocdoc.com/CULT to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Head to ⁠https://www.squarespace.com/CULT⁠ to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CULT Please consider donating to those affected by the Los Angeles Fires. Some organizations that Team SLAC are donating to are:  https://mutualaidla.org/ https://give.pasadenahumane.org/give/654134/#!/donation/checkout https://shorturl.at/SGW9w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices