A Little Bit Culty

Sarah Edmondson and Anthony Nippy Ames fell in love inside NXIVM. They also helped blow the whole thing apart. Their podcast A Little Bit Culty takes that lived experience and turns it into a weekly interview show about high-control groups, manipulation, and recovery. With over 300 episodes and nearly 2,800 ratings (4.6 stars) on Apple Podcasts, they have built something bigger than their own story. The format is conversational and long-form, usually running well over an hour per guest. Sarah and Nippy bring in survivors from all kinds of groups, from religious sects to abusive workplaces to spiritual communities, and give them real room to talk. The best episodes are the ones where a guest starts out nervous and then slowly opens up because the hosts clearly get it. They have been through it themselves. That changes the dynamic in ways a journalist host just cannot replicate. You will recognize both of them from HBO’s The Vow documentary, but the podcast lets them go much deeper. They release two episodes a week and have covered everything from Landmark Forum to Christian fundamentalism. Their stated mission is helping people understand, heal from, and avoid abusive situations one little red flag at a time, and they take that seriously. The show can feel a bit unstructured at times, but that looseness is also what makes guests comfortable enough to share things they might not say elsewhere.