The Shawn Ryan Show
Shawn Ryan
Society & Culture
Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation
by Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
Today: #196 in Society & Culture on our combined chart.
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If you like Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and…, try…
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Ranking history
History builds daily. We started tracking this show on the Society & Culture chart recently, so the trend line appears after a second day of data.
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| Date | Apple Podcasts |
|---|---|
| Oct 3 | #186 |
About the show
Trust Me is a weekly interview podcast about cults, extreme belief, and the fine line between devotion and delusion—told through firsthand accounts from the people who lived it. Hosted by two women who’ve been in cults themselves, Lola Blanc and Meagan Elizabeth, the show features survivors from groups like Heaven’s Gate, the Manson Family, NXIVM, OneTaste and more–sharing personal stories of how they got in, how they got out, and everything in between.
Each week, they invite these guests alongside experts who can dive deep into seductive leaders, the darker aspects of organized religion, and the subtler shades of groupthink and the psychology of influence. Trust Me explores it all with unfiltered honesty, dark humor, and a lot of heart. This isn’t a sensationalized deep dive into cults—it’s a compassionate, first-person exploration of what it means to believe, to belong, and to break free. At the end of the day, wanting to believe in something bigger than yourself is one of the most human instincts there is.
Latest episodes
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Renee Spencer, Part 2 - The Jesus Christians, the “Kidney Cult,” and Suing Your Daughter’s Religious Group
September 30, 2026 · 58 minThis week is part two with advocate and therapist Renee Spencer, who sued the Jesus Christians, aka the “kidney cult,” after they recruited her daughter. Last week, Renee explained how she realized her daughter Ellicia’s communication was…
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Renee Spencer, Part 1 - When Your Daughter Joins the “Kidney Cult”
September 23, 2026 · 43 minThis week is part 1 with advocate and therapist Renee Spencer, whose daughter was recruited into the Jesus Christians: a group commonly referred to as the “kidney cult” for their practice of encouraging members to donate their kidneys to…
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Larena & Elyse Wynn, Part 2 - Leaving Mormonism, Becoming Dominatrixes, and Reclaiming Power with BDSM
September 16, 2026 · 1 hr 0 minWe’re back with twins Larena and Elyse Wynn, also known as Mothermary. In part 2 this week they’ll talk about how Elyse got fed up with being obsessive about sin all the time, which led her to hitch a ride out of Idaho and into Salt Lake…
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Larena & Elyse Wynn - Montana Mormons, Sex at BYU, and the “Miracle" of Forgiveness
September 9, 2026 · 50 minThis week is part 1 with musicians, identical twins, and former Mormons turned dominatrixes Larena and Elyse Wynn, also known by their band name Mothermary. The girls share what it was like being raised in the LDS church, and how “Montana…
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John Hunter - Manufacturing Mania in Self-Help Seminars
September 2, 2026 · 1 hr 11 minThis week’s guest is psychology researcher and lecturer Dr. John Hunter, joining the show to talk about intensive self-help seminars–known as “large group awareness trainings,” or LGATs–and the emotions they produce. He shares about his…
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Laci Mosley – Scams vs. Cults, and the Many Forms of Fraud
August 26, 2026 · 1 hr 15 minThis week, the girls are joined by Laci Mosley, comedian, actress, and host of the Scam Goddess podcast and TV show (and author of Scam Goddess the book), to talk about the many types of frauds that are out there, from romance scams to…
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Michele McPhee – The Polygamist, the Criminal, and Their Multibillion-Dollar Scam
August 19, 2026 · 1 hr 5 minThis week, Meagan and Lola sit down with Michelle McPhee, investigative reporter and host of podcast Kingdom of Fraud, to discuss how Jacob Kingston, a fundamentalist Mormon from the secretive polygamist sect known as the Kingston clan, or…
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Anke Richter, Part 2 - Harem Culture, Leaving ISTA, and DeCult
August 12, 2026 · 43 minThis week is part 2 with Anke Richter, journalist, author of Cult Trip, former member of Tantric group ISTA, and founder and director of New Zealand’s cult conference DeCult. In part 2 with Anke, she explains how the founder of…