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9 Killers Who Appeared on Game Shows Before Their Crimes Were Exposed · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So I want you to just picture this for a second.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: You are standing under these incredibly bright studio lights. Oh, yeah.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Those lights are sweltering.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Exactly. They are super hot. And the floor is incredibly polished,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: reflecting all these hypersaturated neon colors. Right. And the live
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: audience is just practically vibrating with enthusiasm.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, they are clapping furiously on cue.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Completely manufactured joy.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Totally. And you have the charismatic host there flashing this
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: million-dollar smile. lobbing a really easy soft pitch trivia question.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: The classic game show setup.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Right. And right there, standing at the center of all this,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: you know, this forced excitement is a contestant.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Wearing a brightly colored sweater.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a sweater and a little sticky name tag. And
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: they are beaming. But beneath that polite kind of frozen smile,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: their internal monologue is calculating something entirely different.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Something much, much darker.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Because they aren't thinking about the brand new car
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: they might win. They are thinking about the person they
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: just murdered.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Or the person they are about to murder. Yeah.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, it completely shatters the fundamental contract of the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: game show, doesn't it?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: It really does. I mean, we tune into these shows
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: expecting the absolute lowest stakes imaginable.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Right. Like, can someone guess the price of a blender?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Or solve a hangman puzzle? The tension is supposed to
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: be entirely artificial.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: A hundred percent.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: So the idea that the person buzzing in might be
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: an active, calculating sociopath, well... It introduces a terrifying, lethal
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: reality into what is designed to be the ultimate safe space.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: And that deeply unsettling contrast is the core of our
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: deep dive today.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: It is a fascinating topic.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: It really is. We are unpacking a source from Entertainment Weekly.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: It's a massive feature from September 2026 titled Nine Killers
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Who Hid in Plain Sight on Game Shows.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: And this was inspired by that true crime thriller, right?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Woman of the Hour.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. And it sends us on this mission to
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: understand this Totally bizarre intersection of network television and cold-blooded violence.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Because it just defies logic.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Right. I mean, the immediate burning question I had when
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I opened this file was simply, why?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Why risk it?
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah. If you are a criminal, logic dictates you want anonymity.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: You want to, you know, shrink into the background.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: You certainly don't volunteer to have high-definition cameras broadcast your face.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Your voice, your quirks, your mannerisms to... Literally millions of households.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, why would anyone do that?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Well, that assumes the criminal mind prioritizes safety over ego.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: And they don't.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Not always. In fact, that is a fundamental misunderstanding of
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: certain predatory pathologies.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, unpack that for me.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: So if we look at the historical frameworks of extreme offenders,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: you know, figures like the Zodiac or the Son of Sam,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: the spotlight is rarely a deterrent.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Wait, it's not a deterrent at all.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: No, for them, it is a vital component of the
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: crime itself.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. There is a psychologist, Paul Ekman, who coined this
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: term called duping delight.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Duping delight. That is a great phrase.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: It is perfectly descriptive. It refers to the micro expressions
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: of pleasure, the literal thrill that a liar experiences when
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: they successfully deceive someone.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: So it is not just about getting away with it.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It is about the actual rush of watching people fail
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to realize they're being played.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Precisely that. I mean, think about it. Standing under those
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: studio lights, engaging in trivial banter with a famous host,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: the offender is playing a secondary private game that no
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: one else in the room is aware of.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: That is deeply creepy.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: It is an extraordinary power trip. They are essentially weaponizing
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: their proximity to the public.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Like a silent flex. Yes.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: It is a way of silently screaming, you know, I'm
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: So much smarter than all of you. I can stand
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: right next to you and you can't even smell the
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: blood on my hands.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: The arrogance is just staggering. And as we dig into
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: these sources, it becomes incredibly clear that evil does not
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: have a designated uniform.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: No, it definitely doesn't.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: It doesn't skulk in alleyways wearing a trench coat all
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the time. Sometimes it wears stage makeup and spins a
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: giant wheel.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Which is terrifying.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: It is. What is fascinating to me, though, is how
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: that arrogance actually manifests on stage. Because the first group
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: of individuals we were looking at didn't just quietly play
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the game. Not at all. They practically carried their darkest
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: secrets up to the podium and slid them across the table.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: They essentially succumbed to the sheer cognitive weight of their
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: own deception.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I love that phrase, cognitive weight.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Let's apply that to our first case, Timothy Bleifnick.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: The Family Feud case.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Yes. The fact pattern here is deeply disturbing. So the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: year is 2020. The show is Family Feud.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: A staple of American television.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Right. And Steve Harvey is doing his standard, you know,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: slightly exasperated host routine.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: He is very good at that.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: He is. So he walks up to Timothy and asks
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: a very classic, slightly provocative family feud prompt.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, what was the question?
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: He asks, what is the biggest mistake you made at
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: your wedding?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Ah, okay. A loaded question, but in a fun way.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Now, the social contract of this show dictates you
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: give a goofy, relatable answer like, I dropped the cake
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: or I forgot the rings.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: You were supposed to offer a sanitized, comedic version of reality.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: But Timothy does do that.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: No, he doesn't.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: He lifts Steve Harvey in the eye and says, honey,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I love you, but said, I do. Yeah. And the
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: source material notes that the audience's reaction wasn't laughter. It
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: was a sharp, collective gasp.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: That is a very telling reaction.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: It is. And immediately you see Timothy start to frantically backpedal.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: He throws his hands up, says, Not my mistake. I
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: love my wife. And then adds, I'm going to get
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: in trouble for that, aren't I?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: A classic attempt to cover a slip.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't just a slip. Because fast forward three
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: years to 2023, and Timothy Bleifnick is handed three life
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: sentences for the brutal murder of that very same estranged wife.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: It is chilling, and it is a textbook example of
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: a psychological leak under pressure.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: A psychological leak, like his brain just couldn't hold it in.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Basically. Deception requires an immense amount of RAM in the brain,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: so to speak.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Like computer memory.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Exactly. You have to monitor your posture, your tone, the
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: rules of the game, the lights, the camera.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: That is a lot to juggle.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: And you have to simultaneously suppress your true reality to
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: construct a fake one.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Right. The fake happy husband reality.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: When a buzzer is suddenly shoved in your face, that
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: cognitive load spikes. The prefrontal cortex, which is the part
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: of the brain responsible for filtering and socially appropriate behavior...
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: It temporarily lags.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: So his filter just completely crashed. Yes. He meant to
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: hit the wacky game show answer button, but his brain
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: misfired and hit the deeply held resentment button instead.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: I would actually argue it goes even deeper than a
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: simple misfire.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Really? How so?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: In clinical psychology, specifically the work of John Gottman regarding
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: relationship deterioration, contempt is identified as the single most destructive emotion.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Contempt.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: It is the sulfur of human interaction. Contempt involves seeing
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: your partner as fundamentally beneath you, worthy only of disgust.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: That is so dark.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And contempt is incredibly difficult to mask because it becomes
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: a foundational worldview. When Harvey asked for a mistake, Leifnick's
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: brain didn't have to search for an answer.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: The contempt was just sitting right there at the surface.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: But he tried to spin it later, didn't he? I
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: remember reading in the notes about a 48-hour special where
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: he gave an interview from prison.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: He did.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: He desperately tried to recontextualize that moment. Claiming it was
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: purely a joke, completely devoid of malice, he tried to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: say he was just playing the game.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Which is simply an attempt to retroactively repair the mask.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: But it didn't work.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: No, because the somatic response of the audience tells the
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: true story. They gasped. They didn't laugh.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Humans are smart like that, right? Even subconsciously.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Very much so. As a collective, human beings are highly
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: attuned to microaggressions and authentic malice. Even if the audience
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: couldn't articulate why it wasn't funny, their collective intuition recognized
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: the hostility embedded in his delivery.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: He thought he was executing a clever piece of observational comedy.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: But his underlying pathology leaped right through.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: So that failure of the prefrontal filter is one thing.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: It is a sudden high-pressure slip of the tongue. But
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: what happens when the identity crafting is completely conscious?
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: That is a whole different level of disturbing.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: It is. And that brings us to Donna Adelson. This
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: one makes the hair on my arms stand up because
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: it's not a slip. It is a meticulously chosen label.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: It is an incredible example of how personality traits are
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: morally agnostic until they are activated by intent.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, I like that. Let's set the stage for you.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: We are looking at a Wheel of Fortune episode from
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the 1980s.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: The classic Pat Sajak era.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Donna Adelson is a contestant. She has the big
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: 80s hair, the enthusiastic smile. She actually does decently well
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: walking away with about $ 2, 900.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Not bad for the 80s.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Not bad at all. But the moment that gets burned
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: into the historical record happens right at the top of
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: the show. Pat Sajak asks her to introduce herself.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: And instead of saying she is a housewife or a
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: stay-at-home mom, she uses this highly specific phrase. She calls
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: herself a domestic coordinator.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Domestic coordinator. Yeah.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: What does that even signal in that era?
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Well, in the cultural context of the 1980s, that was
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: a slightly elevated, perhaps faintly pretentious way of describing someone
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: who runs the household.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Like it gives it a corporate spin.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Exactly. It implies a sense of management, logistics, and total
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: control over the family ecosystem.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Total control. I want you to hold on to that
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: phrase because decades later, in 2023... Donna Adelson is arrested.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: In a very dramatic fashion, too.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Literally at the airport trying to flee to Vietnam.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: And she is eventually implicated in the 2014 murder for
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: hire of her former son-in-law, FSU law professor Dan Markle.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: A horrific case.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: She is accused of being the one who arranged the hitmen,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: managed the money, and communicated all the logistics. She was
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: literally coordinating a domestic assassination.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: The irony is so profound it borders on the macabre.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: It really does.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: But analytically, it reveals a fascinating continuity of character.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: What do you mean by that?
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Think about the skill set required to be a highly
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: effective domestic coordinator. You need to delegate tasks, manage schedules,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: ensure financial transactions are completed.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: And you often need to manipulate various family members into
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: doing what needs to be done.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: So you are saying the very traits she proudly displayed
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to Pat Sajak are the exact same tools she used
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to dismantle a human life.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Being organized, highly logistical, and intensely controlling those are
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: completely neutral traits.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Morally agnostic, like you said.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Yes. If you apply them to a family vacation, you
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: are an excellent parent.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: But if you apply them to a bitter custody dispute
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: involving your daughter, and you lack a fundamental moral compass,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: you become a conspirator to murder.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: She didn't change who she was.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Not at all. She just reallocated her core competencies. On television,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: she proudly claimed her identity as the puppet master of
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: her family. She just didn't mention how far she was
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: willing to pull the strings.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: It is like she built the framework of a business
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: and then just swapped out the product from groceries to homicide.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: It is chilling.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: It truly is.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: But if Adelson operated with this sort of dark, retrospective irony,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: our next source material throws subtext completely out the window.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Oh, this next one is entirely different.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: We are moving from subconscious leaks and ironic labels to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: flat-out brazen disclosure. And I have to say, the Safer
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Chalannot case broke my brain a little bit.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: It shatters every assumption we have about societal shame and
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: the rehabilitative narrative.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: It really does. So we are shifting geographies here. It
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: is 2014 on a Turkish dating show called Luck of
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the Draw. Okay.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: A dating show.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Now, the baseline premise of any dating show is presenting
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: an optimized, highly sanitized version of yourself. You mentioned you
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: like hiking. Maybe you brag about your cooking.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: You certainly don't bring up your felony record.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Exactly. But Sefer, however, decides to take the microphone and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: state that he murdered his first wife because her behavior
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: irritated him.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Just horrifyingly casual.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: And as if that wasn't enough, he casually adds that
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: he also murdered a subsequent lover because he thought she
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: was after his money.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: He delivers this information not as a confession of profound
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: moral failing, but as a standard data point in his
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: romantic resume.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Yes, and his justification is the wildest part. He tells
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the host, I'm an honest person looking for a new wife.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: It is as if he believes the act of disclosing
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the double homicide completely neutralizes the horror of the double homicide.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Walk me through this level of psychological detachment because it
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: feels completely alien.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: It feels alien because it operates on a purely transactional
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: view of morality.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Transactional morality.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Yes, which is a hallmark of certain psychopathic profiles. In
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: a healthy, empathetic brain, taking a life creates a permanent
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: moral stain.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: You feel guilt.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Guilt, remorse, an understanding that the damage is irreparable. But
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: in Chalanox's cognitive framework, the justice system is simply a
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: toll booth.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: You pay the toll, the gate goes up, and you
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: drive on.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Exactly. He served his prison sentences. Therefore, in his mind,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: the debt was paid.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: The ledger was cleared to zero.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: He genuinely did not understand why a prospective partner would
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: hold two past murders against him because, legally, the transaction
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: was complete.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: He completely conflated legal completion... With moral absolution.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: He did. When he called himself an honest person, he
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: wasn't being ironic. He genuinely believed that his radical, terrifying
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: transparency made him a premium candidate on that dating show.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: That is just so twisted. Yeah. But what fascinates me
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: almost as much as his psychology is the environment's reaction
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to him. The studio audience. Yes. Because the host of
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the show literally asks him to leave the set. He
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: kicks him off. And as Seifer is walking away, the
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: studio audience bursts into applause.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: It is a surreal moment to watch.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I watched the clip, and it is bizarre. Why the applause?
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Are they cheering for the host, or are they just short-circuiting?
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: It is essentially the sound of a shattered social script
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: attempting to repair itself.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: What do you mean by a social script?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Well, a game show audience is primed to react to
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: specific stimuli. Applause signs, flashing lights... The host's cues.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: They are conditioned to be happy and loud.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Right. So when confronted with a casual confession to double homicide,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: the collective brain of the audience paralyzes. They have no
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: framework for this.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: It breaks the simulation.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Exactly. So when the host finally asserts authority and ejects
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: the anomaly, the applause is an involuntary release of massive
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: psychological tension.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, that makes so much sense.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: It is the audience desperately trying to reestablish the boundaries
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: of normal television entertainment. by cheering for the removal of
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: the monster.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: They are applauding the restoration of the illusion.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Beautifully put.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Which is a perfect pivot point for us. Because this
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: first group of people, Bliefnick, Adelson, Chalinak, they brought their
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: darkness to the surface, whether by accident, through irony, or
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: through sheer transactional delusion.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: They couldn't help but reveal themselves.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: But the next group we were exploring did none of that.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: They didn't slip up. Instead, they took the very things
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: society trusts the most intellect, authority... and the promise of redemption,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and they weaponize them.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: This is the evolution from the accidental leak to the
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: intentional predatory manipulation of the audience.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Let's start with the weaponization of intellect. This brings us
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: to Paul Curry and his run on Jeopardy.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: A very famous show.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Extremely. Now, Jeopardy occupies a very specific cultural space. It
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: is not Wheel of Fortune. There is no spinning. There
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: is no luck involved.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: It's the gold standard of cognitive superiority on television.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Exactly. And Paul Curry fit the aesthetic perfectly. He was
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: a card-carrying member of Mensa. He was a multi-day champion,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: pulling in over $ 24, 000. He had the credentials. He did.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: He is standing behind that podium, rapidly retrieving obscure historical facts,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: looking every bit the harmless, lovable genius.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: The persona he projected was of pure, benign intellect.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: But the reality was that in 1994, he murdered his wife, Linda.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Such a tragic case.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: And the methodology he chose is incredible. incredibly revealing of
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: his self-perception. He used nicotine poisoning.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Very specific.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: His motive was ruthlessly mundane, though. He just wanted over
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: half a million dollars in life insurance payouts. He evaded
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: justice for years until a cold case investigation finally secured
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: a conviction in 2014, resulting in a sentence of life
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: without parole.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: It took a long time to catch him.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: It did. But I want to stop right there and
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: really unpack this choice of weapon. Because earlier in my notes,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I was thinking, Poisoning feels like something out of a
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Victorian novel.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Right. It feels sophisticated.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: It feels intricate. But at the same time, murdering your
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: spouse for life insurance is literally the most cliche, statistically
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: probable crime on earth.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: It is usually the first thing detectives look at.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: So how does a certified Mensa genius look at the
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: board and say, ah, yes, spouse plus life insurance equals
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: perfect crime? No one will ever guess.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Hmm.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: It seems incredibly stupid.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I would actually challenge the assumption that Mensa membership
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: equates to the kind of intelligence required to commit a
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: complex crime.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Wait, really? Isn't an IQ score supposed to measure how
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: smart you are across the board?
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Not exactly. This is where we have to delineate between
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, break that down for me. What is crystallized intelligence?
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Crystallized intelligence is the ability to retrieve stored knowledge and facts.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: It is vocabulary, dates, capitals, trivia.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Basically everything you need to win Jeopardy.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: That is exactly what Jeopardy rewards and what IQ tests
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: often heavily index.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Got it. And fluid intelligence.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Fluid intelligence is the ability to think logically in novel situations,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: to adapt, to understand complex human behavior and anticipate consequences
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: in real time.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Ah, I see the difference.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Curry had off-the-charts crystallized intelligence, which fed his massive ego.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: He falsely assumed that because he could remember the gross
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: domestic product of a small nation, he inherently possessed the
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: fluid intelligence to outwit homicide detectives.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: So his trivia skills made him completely overconfident in his
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: critical thinking skills.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Poisoning is often categorized by behavioral analysts as an
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: intellectual's crime.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Because of the science involved.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Yes. It requires chemical knowledge, understanding of dosages, and patience.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Curry likely viewed the extraction and administration of lethal nicotine
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: as a brilliant, untraceable puzzle.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: He was playing chemistry.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: He was. But his hubris blinded him to the sociological
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: obviousness of his motive. The police don't start by looking
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: at the chemical composition in the blood. They start by
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: looking at who gets the half-million-dollar check.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Right. They follow the money.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: He was playing a highly complex game of trivia, while
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: the detectives were playing a very basic game of follow
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the money.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: He used his jeopardy. intellect as a shield, assuming no
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: one would look behind it to see the world's most
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: obvious financial crime.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: A fatal miscalculation on his part.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: And that reliance on a societal shield is a perfect
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: segue to our next case, which is arguably even more disturbing.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Because it involves the state?
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Yes, it involves the weaponization of state authority. We are
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: talking about Francois Varove on the French game show. Everyone
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: wants to take their place.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: This case is a masterclass in psychological compartmentalization and the
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: thrill of the hunt.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I watched the clip of this from 2019 and the
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: cognitive dissonance is just staggering.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: It is hard to comprehend.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Verov is chatting with the host, Nagui, and they are
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: discussing Verov's career. He is proudly detailing his time as
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: a police officer, a gendarme.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: A position of immense public trust.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: And he is telling these quaint stories about patrolling the
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Bois de Boulogne in Paris on horseback. He presents himself
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: as the ultimate protector, a distinguished public servant.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: But the reality is horrifying.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: For over 30 years, he was the elusive serial killer
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: known to French authorities as the pockmarked man.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: A predator hiding literally inside the uniform of the protector.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: The psychological mechanics required to sustain this dual life without fracturing.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, they must be immense. How does he not fracture?
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: It takes a very specific pathology.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: How does a man go to work, put on a badge...
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: hunt for a serial killer, and then go home knowing
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: he is the serial killer, and then, to top it
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: all off, go on national television to brag about the
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: police work.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: It is unfathomable to a normal person.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Is it purely psychopathy, or is there something else at play?
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: It is extreme compartmentalization, but it is fueled by a
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: massive God complex.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: A God complex?
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Yes. For Ferov, the badge wasn't just a disguise, it
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: was an operational tool.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Because it gave him access. Exactly.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Exactly. By embedding himself in law enforcement, he had access
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: to police methods, blind spots, and potentially the very investigations
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: focused on him.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: That makes him almost untouchable.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: But going on the game show elevates this from mere
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: survival to active mockery.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Because he didn't need to go on TV.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: No, he wasn't just hiding. By bragging about patrolling the
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: specific areas where he hunted victims, he was laughing in
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: the face of the entire French state.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: He was experiencing the ultimate rush of duping delight on
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: a national scale.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: He ended up dying by suicide in 2021 when the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: DNA dragnet finally closed in on him and he left
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a note admitting to his crimes.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Like Howard's exit.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: But the game show footage wasn't widely connected to him
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: until 2024. When you watch it now, it is like
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: watching a ghost gloat.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: It is deeply unsettling footage.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: He used the innate trust we have for law enforcement
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: to build an impenetrable wall around his darkness. But if
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Faroe views authority, our next individual will use something society
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: loves even more.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: The redemption arc.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Yeah. Let's examine Edward Wayne Edwards on To Tell
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the Truth in the 1970s.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: The selection of this specific game show format by Edwards
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: is deeply, deeply cynical.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: It really is. Let's remind everyone how To Tell the
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Truth works.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: It is a unique format.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: The premise is rooted in deception. Three contestants stand before
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: a celebrity panel. They all claim to be the same person.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: With a highly unique or compelling life story. Right. The
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: panel interrogates them, trying to suss out the two imposters
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: and find the one person telling the truth. And sitting
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: there as the supposed truth teller is Edward Wayne Edwards.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: And what is the narrative he is selling to America?
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: The ultimate prodigal son story. He is presented as a
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: former criminal, a con man who has seen the light.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Of a very popular trope.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: He claims he has abandoned his life of crime. He
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: has written a book. He is a motivational speaker. He
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: is looking the celebrity panel in the eyes and telling
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: them he is a completely rehabilitated man.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: And people ate it up.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Society loves a comeback story, and he served it to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: them on a silver platter.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Human beings have a profound psychological need to believe in rehabilitation.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Why is that?
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: If we believe people can fundamentally change from bad to good,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: it makes the world feel safer and more predictable.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: We want to believe the monster can be tamed.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And Edwards understood this vulnerability perfectly. He hijacked the
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: format of a show entirely dedicated to uncovering the truth
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: to establish a baseline of unimpeachable honesty.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: So clever in an evil way.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: If he can convince a panel of skeptics on national
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: television that he is a good man, he creates a
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: powerful halo effect that extends into his real life.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: But the halo was completely fabricated.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Completely.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Because roughly five years after he sat on that stage,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: soaking in the applause for his reform, he began a
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: murder spree.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: It was all a lie.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: He killed Bill Lavaco and Judith Straub in Ohio in 1977.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: He murdered Tim Hack and Kelly Drew in Wisconsin in 1980.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Decades later, in 1996, he murdered his own foster son.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: An absolute monster.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: He wasn't caught until 2010, at the age of 76,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: because his own daughter finally tipped off the authorities.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: He weaponized the concept of the reformed man to gain access, trust,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: and most importantly, the benefit of the doubt.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: The benefit of the doubt is powerful camouflage. It is.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: If a local crime happens, police look at the usual suspects.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: But a published author who goes on national television to
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: speak against crime.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: They are not even on the radar.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: They are pushed to the absolute bottom of the suspect list.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: He used the spotlight of redemption to cast a long,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: dark shadow in which he could operate violently for decades.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: It makes you question every single memoir you have ever
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: read about someone turning their life around.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: It certainly instills a healthy dose of skepticism.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: So Curry used intellectual superiority. Verov used state authority. Edwards
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: used moral rehabilitation. These are all societal shortcuts we use
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to assess trust.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: We use them every day to navigate the world safely.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: But what happens when the killer doesn't have a badge,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: a Mensa card, or a book deal? What happens when
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: they just look like the person living next door?
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: That is the scariest part.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: This brings us to the third and final section of
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: our deep dive.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: The terrifying banality of the normal.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: This is where we confront the absence of the monster aesthetic,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: which is arguably the most frightening concept of all.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Right. Because we have been conditioned by centuries of storytelling,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: from fairy tales to Hollywood, to believe that evil is
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: visually identifiable.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: The villain usually has a visual marker. Right.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: They have a scar, or they live in a creepy
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: house on a hill, or they behave erratically from the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: very moment they appear on screen.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: It is a comfort mechanism for the audience.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: But Lori Vallow Daybell on Wheel of Fortune completely annihilates
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: that comfort zone.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: The contrast between her public presentation and her private reality
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: is a stark lesson in the halo effect.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: We all know the headlines now. The year 2023, the
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: doomsday mom found guilty of the unthinkable, murdering her two children,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: 16-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old JJ.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Unimaginable tragedy.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: And conspiring against her husband, Chad Daybell's first wife. It
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: is a labyrinth of apocalyptic cult beliefs, extreme religious delusion,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: And maternal betrayal.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: A truly dark psychological web.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: But almost 20 years before she is standing in a
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: courtroom receiving a life sentence, she is standing next to
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Pat Sajak in 2004.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: And we really have to look closely at her aesthetic
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: in 2004.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: She is radiant. She is spinning the wheel with so
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: much enthusiasm. She wins $ 17, 000.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: A significant win.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: And the source notes that around the exact same time,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: she competed in the Mrs. Texas pageant, placing in the
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: top 15.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: So she is highly polished.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: A beauty pageant contestant and a daytime game show winner.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: She is bathed in the aesthetics of conventional, wholesome, middle
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: American success.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: This is the halo effect in action.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: You mentioned that before. Break that down for us.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: It is a cognitive bias where our overall impression of
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: a person influences how we feel and think about their character.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Like if they look good, they must be good. Exactly.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: If someone is conventionally attractive, polite, and participating in culturally sanctioned,
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: wholesome activities like pageants and word puzzles, our brain instinctively
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: assigns them positive moral attributes.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: We just assume they are kind, stable, and trustworthy.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Yes. We don't interrogate it. Lori Vallow Daybell possessed the
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: innate ability to perform normalcy flawlessly.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: But how does extreme religious delusion coexist with that performance?
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Was she always a monster, or did the cult ideology
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: activate something later?
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Psychopathy and profound narcissism do not preclude an individual from
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: understanding social norms.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: They still know how society works.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: In fact, they often make the individual highly adept at
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: mimicking them. Her ability to smile for the camera and
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: her later capacity to justify the murder of her children
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: stem from the exact same root.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Which is what?
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: A profound lack of empathy and a hyper-focus on her
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: own desires and reality.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: So it was always about her.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Always. The game show and the pageant were stages where
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: she could receive validation. Decades later, her apocalyptic ideology became
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: the new stage where she sought ultimate validation as a
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: chosen religious figure.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: So the underlying emptiness was always there, perfectly concealed behind
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: pageant hair and a bright smile.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Precisely. The package changed, but the narcissism was constant.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: It is the banality of evil presented in high definition.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: It forces you to look at the people cheering next
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: to you in the grocery store line, and realize you
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: have absolutely no idea what they are capable of.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: You really don't.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: And if Laurie Balladabel proves how effectively these individuals can
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: blend in, our next case, John Cooper, proves how that
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: very arrogance of blending in can be their ultimate downfall.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: The John Cooper case on the UK show Bullseye is
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: a brilliant intersection of forensic science and the unforgiving nature
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: of the camera lens.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Cooper was basically a ghost. He evaded justice for over
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: two decades. for two horrific double homicides in Wales.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: He was very careful for a long time.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: But in 1989, right in the middle of his timeline
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: of violence, he decides to go on Bullseye, which is
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: a game show involving darts and trivia.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: A very popular pub-style game show.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: And the sheer blinding irony is that his desire for
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: a bit of television fame is exactly what handed the
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: police the keys to his cell.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Let's break down the investigative mechanics here because it is fascinating.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, please do.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: When cold case detectives in the 2000s utilized modern forensic testing,
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: they finally linked DNA to the crimes.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Which is a huge breakthrough.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: It is. But DNA only tells you who left the
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: biological material. To secure a conviction... especially in historical cases,
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: investigators need to build a circumstantial web.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: They need to prove he was there at that specific time.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Yes. They need to tie the suspect's physical appearance and
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: geographical knowledge at the specific time of the murders to
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: the forensic evidence.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: And Cooper did their homework for them.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: He gift-wrapped it.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: The police had a sketch of the suspect from the era.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: But people age, memories fade. Then detectives pull the 1989
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: bullseye footage.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: And there he is.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: There is John Cooper, perfectly preserved in a broadcast time capsule,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: matching the police sketch almost identically. But it gets even
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: worse for him.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: Because of what he says?
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Yes. While bantering with host Jim Bowen on stage, what
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: does Cooper decide to brag about?
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: He openly boasts about his intimate geographical familiarity with the
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Pembrokeshire coastline.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Which is the exact geographical location where he would murder
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Peter and Gwenda Dixon just weeks later.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: It is astounding arrogance.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Think about this. He goes on TV to win a
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: basic prize and accidentally provides law enforcement with a time-stamped
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: visual match and a recorded confession of his proximity to
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: the hunting grounds. Why would he be so reckless?
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: It is the ultimate manifestation of compartmentalization failing.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Like the French cop, Verov.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Similar, yes. He viewed his persona on the game show
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: as completely detached from his identity as a killer. He
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: felt so secure in his anonymity that he didn't perceive
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: the camera as a threat.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: He thought it was just a game.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: But a television broadcast is an objective and moral witness
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: it doesn't forget. Cooper's hubris blinded him to the permanence
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: of the medium.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: He thought he was playing darts.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: But he was actually tracing a map directly to his
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: own front door for future detectives.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: It is a stunning cell phone. But we have to
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: move to our final case. And this is the one
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: that inspired the movie Woman of the Hour.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: This is perhaps the most famous one.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: It is the most viscerally terrifying example in our entire
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: source packet because it involves the active intersection of performative
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: charm and primal instinct. We were talking about Rodney Alcala
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: on The Dating Game.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: This case transcends true crime and becomes a fundamental study
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: in human survival mechanics.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: It is the late 1970s. The culture is freewheeling. The
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: dating game is massively popular.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: A cultural touchstone.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: The format is iconic. A bachelorette sits on one side
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: of a partition asking cheeky double entendre questions to three
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: bachelors she cannot see.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Right. She only hears their voices.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: She picks one based solely on their voice and their banter.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Bachelor number one is Rodney Alcala. Now, the context that
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: makes this horrifying is that Alcala is actively investigating in
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the midst of a serial murder spree.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: He is hunting at this exact time.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Authorities estimate he had up to 130 victims. He was
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: already a convicted sex offender. Yet here he is, sitting
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: on a brightly lit stage in a brown suit.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: The systemic failure of the network's vetting process is obvious.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Massively obvious.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: But the psychological theater playing out on that stage is
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: what requires our deep analysis.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Because he wins. That is the crazy part. The Bachelorette,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Cheryl Bradshaw, who is played by Anna Kendrick in the film,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: she actually chooses him.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: She thought he was the best option?
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Through the partition, his answers are considered the most charming,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: the most witty. He perfectly mimics the affectations of an
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: eligible 1970s bachelor.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: He played the role flawlessly.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: He passes the test of the game show format, but
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: then the cameras stop rolling. The partition is removed. They
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: meet backstage to discuss their upcoming date, and everything changes.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: This is where we must introduce the concepts written about
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: by security specialist Gavin DeBecker in his seminal book, The
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Gift of Fear.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Yes, explain this, because what happened to Cheryl backstage is fascinating.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: DeBecker argues that human beings, much like animals, possess a
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: highly evolved somatic response to danger.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: It's a survival instinct. Yes.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Our brains are constantly subconsciously processing millions of pieces of
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: data in our environment. When you meet someone, your conscious
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: brain is listening to their words.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: But your subconscious, specifically the amygdala... is scanning for microexpressions,
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: microscopic asymmetries in facial muscles, pupil dilation, vocal cadence, and
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: body language.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: It is looking for the predator hiding in the grass.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And when the amygdala detects anomalies, when it senses
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: that the person's physical micro-movements do not match the benign
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: words they are speaking, It doesn't wait to send a
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: written report to your prefrontal cortex.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: It doesn't formulate a logical argument.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: No, it bypasses logic entirely and sends an immediate physical
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: signal through the vagus nerve.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: A somatic response.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, a physical sensation, nausea, a chill down the spine,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: the hairs on your arms standing up.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: When Cheryl Bradshaw was separated by the partition, she was
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: only receiving Alcala's highly controlled audio performance. Her logical brain
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: processed the witty banter and chose him.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: But backstage, it was different.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: When she was placed in close physical proximity, her subconscious
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: took over. It scanned his eyes, his posture, his microexpressions.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: It recognized the profound, predatory void beneath the charm.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: And it fired off that alarm.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: It sent a massive somatic alarm.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: In real life, she recalled feeling physically ill. She told
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: the producers she couldn't go through with it. She flat
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: out refused the date.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: A very brave thing to do.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Her gut quite literally saved her life, even when her
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: conscious brain had just declared him the winner. And she
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: wasn't alone. Another contestant, Jed Mills, also reported finding Alcala
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: intensely creepy off-camera.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: It is a profound reminder that charm is not a
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: character trait.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Say more about that.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Charm is an action. It is a tool that can
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: be deployed by anyone, including the most violent among us.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: Alcala mastered the tool of charm for the camera.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: But he couldn't hold the mask perfectly in person.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: True nature leaks in the micro-interactions, in the spaces between
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: the words. Bradshaw's survival depended entirely on her willingness to
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: honor her physical intuition over the social pressure to be
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: polite and go on the date she just won.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: Which is such a powerful note to reflect on. We
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: have journeyed through nine distinct, horrifying intersections of television and
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: murder today.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: It is a lot to process.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: It is. We asked at the beginning, why do killers
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: step into the light?
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: And we found that the light doesn't sanitize them. It
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: emboldens them.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Whether it was Bliefnik's contempt leaking through, Chalanox's transactional delusion,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Curry's intellectual hubris, or Alcala's weaponized charm, the game show
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: format provided a stage for their specific pathologies to manifest.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: They took our societal shortcuts, our trust in a police badge,
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: our belief in redemption, our assumptions about beauty pageants and
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: trivia champions, and they used them as camouflage.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: We really want to believe that the bad guy has
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: sinister music playing when they walk into a room.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: But life isn't a movie.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: No. The reality is that the monster can be the
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: guy cheerfully guessing a vowel or answering a trivia question
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: about the capital of France.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: It demands a fundamental shift in how we navigate the world.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: How so?
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: We must move from passive observation, accepting people based on
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: the labels or platforms they occupy, to critical somatic intuition.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: We have to give ourselves permission to feel ill and
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: walk away, even when the person on stage is holding
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: a winning ticket.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: And that leads me to one final, deeply unsettling thought
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: I want to leave you with. Think about the era
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: we just analyzed. The 70s, 80s, 90s. Pre-internet. Yes. Back then,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: getting on television was incredibly difficult. You had to pass
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: through casting directors, network executives, producers.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: The barrier to entry was massively high.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: And yet, these predators still slipped through those gates. But
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: let's look at today.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: The gates have been entirely dismantled.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Every single person listening right now has a high-definition
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: broadcasting studio in their pocket. Everyone has a global platform.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: The vetting process is zero.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Anyone can broadcast to millions.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: If these nine individuals were able to perform normalcy so
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: effectively on heavily produced network television, how many modern predators
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: are currently hiding in plain sight on our social media feeds?
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: It is a chilling question.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: How many are performing their own perfectly curated, flawlessly edited
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: game show for us every single day, right in the
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: palm of our hands? It is something to seriously think
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: about the next time you are scrolling and you see
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: a perfectly charming face.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: The platforms change, but the psychology of the predator remains
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: eternally the same.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Trust your gut, pay attention to the micro-expressions, and we
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: will see you on the next deep dive.