Hosted by Sarah Steel · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 118 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Let's Talk About Sects is an award-winning monthly podcast focusing on a different cult each episode. Sarah takes a storytelling, deep dive approach, looking at the history of a sect's leaders, the recruitment of members, their experiences, psychological aspects, and notable incidents during its existence. You can support us on Patreon , with a one-off donation , or grab some merch . Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available now . “A fascinating and well-researched look into cults and the charismatic leaders behind them.” Peter Wells, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/the-ag
Sarah Steel hosts Let's Talk About Sects, a society show with 118 episodes published.
Carol Merchasin is the newly appointed President of the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). Drawing on decades of experience in law, investigations, and survivor advocacy, Carol has led inquiries into a
Hoyt Richards spent over two decades in Eternal Values, after first meeting the man who called himself Frederick von Mierers on a beach at the age of 16. Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult , out now on HBO Max with epis
When we talk about cults, we tend to picture the ones that make headlines: isolated compounds, charismatic leaders, dramatic exits. But what about the church down the street? The one with the worship band and the small g
Sphinx Spiritual takes instruction from a council of entities that includes Leonardo da Vinci, Lady Di, Sir Francis Bacon, Mahatma Ghandi, an alien called Zootor, and married Mornington Peninsula couple Ian and Pearl Rog
A spiritual school in Victoria teaches that we each have a spiritual guide who we can rely on to help us through life, and that the couple who run the school – Ian and Pearl Rogers – sit on a council alongside entities w
The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, or ACMTC, is a hardline fringe religious cult that was led by a former hippie who went by the name Deborah Green. In The Oracle’s Daughter , author Harrison Hill tells
The ABC’s internationally award-winning podcast Expanse , exploring big stories from across Australia, looked at the mysterious case of the Nannup Four for its sixth season. Host Dominique Bayens investigated the 2007 di
Fai West was just 10 years old when she was first introduced to the teachings of Soulaire Allerai and the Soulful Journey. A few years later, as a teenager in high school, she found herself living in Soulaire’s basement,
The sentences just came down for OneTaste’s founder Nicole Daedone and her second-in-command Rachel Cherwitz – if you're unfamiliar with OneTaste you can listen to Let's Talk About Sects' deep dive in November 2020 . Fro
Expanse is the ABC’s internationally award-winning podcast exploring big stories from across Australia, and it’s sixth season sees host Dominique Bayens investigate the unsettling circumstances surrounding the 2007 disap
Harry Robert Bruner was brought into Sri Chinmoy as a child, joining the organisation run by Chinmoy Kumar Ghose at the age of 12. Chinmoy claimed he lifted weights totalling 7063¾ pounds (or over 3,200kg) with one arm o
Allison after NXIVM tells the story of Allison Mack: former Smallville actress, high-ranking NXIVM member, and convicted felon. With exclusive access following her release from prison, the series traces her astonishing p
Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult is Ellen Huet’s excellent new book, described as “a cautionary tale of sex and salvation for the wellness generation: how orgasmic meditation turned into
Danny Rensch grew up in the Church of Immortal Consciousness, a cult he usually refers to as ‘the Collective’. Started by Steven and Trina Kamp, the group followed the teachings of a Dr Pahlvon Duran, whose spirit first
From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate, to the Octopus Murders and the Waco Siege, the world is full of deception, manipulation, and destruction. Listen to Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes every Wednesday as we explore th
The Logos Foundation was often described as ‘mysterious’ in media coverage, but became a part of the religious right that published full page newspaper advertisements encouraging the electorate to vote on ‘moral’ issues
Clare Heath-McIvor is the daughter of the leader of the City Builders Church, an organisation that she and others who know it feel confident fits the definition of a cult. Her marriage was arranged within the church to P
In 2011, an 18-year-old Liz Cameron joined a Bible study group she only knew as ‘Sarang Church’. Over the coming months, she lost more and more of her life and identity to the group that eventually revealed it was part o
The Parliament of Victoria has launched an Inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups , which is open for submissions until 31 July 2025. If you or anyone you know has been invo
Falun Gong is familiar to many as a spiritual exercise movement, and a sect that has been persecuted by the People’s Republic of China. In Sydney you'll often see practitioners demonstrating by Town Hall with flyers shar
Ellen Huet
author and investigative journalist · Bloomberg News
1 appearance on this show
Ryan Carey
Capt (ret'd)
1 appearance on this show
Gerette Buglion
1 appearance on this show
Rachel Bernstein
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist · IndoctriNation Podcast
1 appearance on this show
Guinevere Turner
writer, actor, director
1 appearance on this show
Matthew Klein
CEO and Chief Futurist · Aqualaurus Group
1 appearance on this show
Tim Elliott
Director of the JMT Economic Redevelopment Studio · L3Harris
1 appearance on this show
Janja Lalich
Professor Emerita of Sociology
1 appearance on this show
David Freeman
1 appearance on this show
Chris Johnston
Founder and CEO of Adoreboard · The Athletic
1 appearance on this show
Sponsor detection runs nightly. Check back soon.
No public pitch examples yet for this show.
Generate your own personalised pitchBased on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:
Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.
Shows with the most semantically similar episode content. Pitch one, pitch all; producers cluster.
Let's Talk About Sects has a verified contact on file. Create a free PitchCentric account to access it and generate a personalised pitch in seconds. Research at least 3 recent episodes first and lead with a specific angle that serves their society audience.
Let's Talk About Sects is hosted by Sarah Steel. The show is categorised under society (culture) and has published 118 episodes.
Let's Talk About Sects has published 118 episodes.
Let's Talk About Sects regularly covers society, culture, documentary. It sits in the society category, with a culture focus.
Let's Talk About Sects is accessible for guests with genuine society expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
Let's Talk About Sects hasn't explicitly signalled guest openness in recent episodes. That doesn't rule out pitching. your hook just needs to be especially compelling and relevant to their recent content.
Episodes of Let's Talk About Sects average 63 minutes, giving guests a long-form format with plenty of time to expand on their expertise.
Our data rates Let's Talk About Sects's guest bar at 80/100 (Premium tier). Established thought leaders with verified media credentials. Sign in to PitchCentric to see how your own Pod Score compares against this show.
Methodology. Booking Probability™ blends Listen Score, 30-day Virality, open-to-guests detection, and Apple ratings. Data refreshed every 60 minutes. Listen Score and Booking Probability are calculated by PitchCentric. Last enriched today.
