Original subtitles

This programme contains strong language from the start

It's being called a masculinity crisis.

Your job is to become as important and capable...

There's a ton of loud and polarising voices

bossing us on how to behave.

If you feel depressed, it's because you're a piece of fucking shit

who's not being productive.

I'm James Blake and I've listened to this stuff

and even reposted some of it.

Looking at that, I would never share that on my social media now.

It's changing what we believe...

I say, if you don't want to get your heart broken,

drop the red pill.

..and why we behave.

I haven't choked a chicken

in 50 days.

I've got rare access into this world -

the so-called manosphere.

So there's this thing here. It's called the wall of shame.

I want to find out what's hooking us in...

Masculinity is often, like, labelled as toxic.

I can feel pride.

I'd never felt pride before.

..and how it's changing us.

I've always felt the pressure to be a good and successful man.

I've got 78 self-help audiobooks.

The Courage To Be Disliked. The Chimp Paradox,

which is a really, really good book, actually,

about controlling your mind and things like that.

We're increasingly turning to social media to figure life out.

I first came across this book

because I seen a piece of content that Andrew Tate had made,

and he recommended a certain amount of books.

So this book here is called Pimpology

by a former pimp called Pimpin' Ken.

The author talks about how the pimps control everything

and it kind of reminds me of what's happening

with these online influencers.

It's an extreme and shocking theory on getting power.

His job is to sell her a dream

of glamour, success and the life she never had.

He's got to look the part he's playing.

Some of the stuff that the guy is saying in this book,

I've noticed that Tate repurposes into his social media content.

This growing industry of male influencers

are preaching values on fitness,

making money, and women.

They are using clickbait for attention.

I automatically win in every scenario

because of how successful I am.

Nice guys finish last

because they never set the fucking rule.

One of the most popular is the UK's Hamza Ahmed,

with more than 2 million YouTube subscribers.

I want to help fucking beginners. I want to help the masses

start getting some fucking sales, right?

I want to have a tribe of fucking millions of guys

around the world who feel like I've helped them a lot.

When you look at this, you're thinking,

well, it's a group to meet, you know, like-minded people.

It's a group to improve yourself as a person, become better.

On the face of it, it's very positive,

but it's very cult-like.

I want to reach out to young men who are in this cyber world.

I'm joining Hamza's community.

It's called the Library of Adonis.

I just came across this guy, Sam.

He's 16 years old.

Yo, welcome to my life, bro. I'm Sam.

I'm a 16-year-old from the UK, dropping out of school

to work on my online business.

And my life, it's absolutely crazy.

So I've got this online...

I want to know what drew Sam here.

Sam cuts his YouTube content from his parents' home in Coventry.

He's followed Hamza for years

and has quit school to build a life he's seen online.

So I'm currently making this video

while climbing a tree to make a point.

If you want to sort of start a business,

you want to start a YouTube channel, something like that,

but you're scared of people at school telling you

that it's cringe or whatever, then honestly, like, it sounds brutal,

but you're never going to succeed if you keep giving into those fears.

Tell me a bit about why you're up the tree.

The whole sort of message I like to give

is just do what you truly want to do.

I was 13 when I started watching self-improvement videos. Wow!

Yeah. Crazy. It was a guy named Hamza at the very start.

And I'm not scared to say that he changed my life.

I guess essentially taught me how to grow up, in a weird way.

Got a little bit of time anyway. Get yourself some grub.

So this is your dad, Sam?

Nice to meet you, Phil.

Are you proud of Sam? Absolutely.

He's a very ambitious boy, isn't he?

Certainly is, yeah.

Does he get it from yourself?

Er, no. Oddly enough. Yeah.

He's self-taught, aren't you? Mm.

Don't you actually want to be a man?

Don't you want to go through hardships and really train yourself

because you have to go through...

Sleeping on the floor is just another one of these things.

If you want to win, this is what it takes.

I've slept on the floor for about the past year and a half.

Right. I saw something online saying about it.

No way. And I tried it, and I just really, really preferred it.

So basically, this is what you do at night, then? Yeah.

Get everything moved out and that's it?

That's where I go to sleep. Yeah.

Let me see. I'm going to have a wee go at this myself,

see what this is like. Let's see.

Ah. It's quite nice, just kind of...

So do you just lie like this, just stare at the ceiling?

Or what do you do? I always lie down on my back first for a few minutes,

because I kind of feel my spine and my lower back decompressing.

Um... But overnight, you really do feel it.

Um, yeah.

I don't know if I'd be opting to do this, to be fair.

Sam's starting to back off Hamza's guru-like and objectifying lessons.

Can you tell me more about him?

I was one of Hamza's top students in another paid group he had,

which, like, taught you how to make money and everything.

But then when he started switching over

to teaching about casual sex,

I stopped following him as much.

He used to be a self-improvement YouTuber,

preaching for guys to sort of get their life together,

get their act together, mostly targeting guys who sort of

felt like they'd been almost done in by the system.

Hamza then brings in self-improvement.

It's this whole new mission for you

where you can improve your mind with meditating,

you can improve your body by going to the gym.

He really changed a lot of our lives with that.

So this is his most recent video here.

That's the day that Jeffrey got black-pilled.

He starts watching all these videos about

the black pill and about looksmaxxing,

but he doesn't realise that it's not all about looks.

Adonis.

When Adonis was an ugly...

It's great, isn't it? Who's Adonis?

Is this a character or...?

Adonis is kind of, like, the epitome of

who you become if you follow Hamza's teachings. OK.

He had the three things that makes a man irresistible.

And of course, because he's an ambitious man,

he also levelled up his looks as well.

That's how he became the ultimate man.

Did you ever make any content in the style of what he does?

Yeah. When I was 14, I just started making self-improvement videos.

This is my first ever video.

Six months ago, I spent hours after school playing video games

and fapped two, three, even four times a day.

And the worst part was, I literally did not have any friends.

I was not happy with my life.

But then I found self-improvement.

I started working out, building a physique I am proud of.

It changed my life entirely.

So, Sam, what was the response to the video?

People didn't actually know about it at first.

I used a fake name.

It blew up on TikTok and then, like, my whole school found it.

And I was off school at the time

and my friend sort of just messaged me saying, like,

"Everyone's laughing at your TikTok."

I physically just like jumped up out of it,

and I was just going, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

Everybody just started making fun of me.

It was almost like I'd been outcasted.

Eventually they kind of gave me this nickname,

which was Sigma Sam.

I'm like, yeah, I am different than you,

and I'm glad to be.

It seems a little isolating to do that. It is.

It was very, very lonely, I think.

So in the real world, who are your friends?

I don't have any friends in real life any more.

Manosphere gurus advise you to reject anyone

who doesn't share the same values.

You don't realise how much you are influenced

by the people around you.

Sam's cut off real-world friendship

to build his own online community.

Today, lads from India, Pakistan, France,

Turkey and the USA

are getting Sam's feedback on their websites and channels.

I've really started liking this style

because I'm always, like, the analytical kind of guy.

I really love this.

You've just explained perfectly why you started doing this.

Do you think the about page is good in terms of, like, the layout?

It looks pretty amateur.

What would make it look less amateur?

Like what Hamza used to do with his old videos,

it's, like, maybe "Top seven tips to get girls" and everything.

And we'd all click on the video like, "Yeah, yeah."

And then inside the video, it'd be like,

"Oh, yeah, you've got to meditate."

You hook them in with the dopamine and then

give them the real advice they actually need to hear.

That's sort of how we go about it.

Sam disagrees with Hamza's opinions on casual sex,

but he's following his advice to live his life online

and find like-minded lads.

Women are master manipulators.

Women have ruined society.

It is men versus women.

For all the talk of brotherhood,

there's a lot of time spent on women and relationships.

Inside Hamza's community, it's more than sex talk.

He's selling a five-hour red pill course

about dating on a man's terms.

I want to get you to the point where you can be

and you are the red pill alpha male,

where you can fuck hundreds of girls.

When a guy only speaks to one girl at once, he turns...

It's, like... It fucking ruins your brain.

Don't take her emotions seriously.

Literally think to yourself

that women are just grown-up children.

I'm in the community here.

Let's see what this is. This guy called Shane.

He said that Hamza's red pill course is literally 100% correct.

"Hamza was right. This red pill game is real.

"Lead, act with intent, be dangerous and women will feel it instantly."

It worked for him.

He's got what he wanted out of it.

22-year-old Shane is a criminology graduate living in Liverpool.

He's been in the manosphere since his late teens,

and says he took the red pill after a recent break-up.

Shane's applying the influencer's teachings

to the real world of dating.

Shane? Yeah. How are you doing, man?

How are you? Yeah, I'm good, man. How are you?

Yeah, I'm good. Nice to meet you.

How are you getting on? You doing a bit of training?

Yeah. Yeah, man.

You're a big lad. Yeah. What height are you?

6ft 6. 6ft 6? Yeah, yeah.

See, I'm not this small, guys. I'm actually 6ft.

Man who accept mainstream ideas

about romance are called blue-pilled,

while the red pill rejects those norms and puts men first.

I've heard of the terminology red pill.

Can you tell me a bit more about that?

Without being too crude and vulgar,

I think it's essentially living your dating and sexual life

to your kind of preferences, right?

Whether that is monogamy,

whether it is you want multiple sexual partners,

it's essentially living true to yourself.

That's what I take it as, anyway.

Do you believe in all of it,

or do you think that there's areas of it that aren't quite right?

No, I believe in, like, 90% of it.

But the issue is people being unfaithful and obviously,

social media these days and all sorts of issues there.

And I think the red pill is almost like a shield to that.

It's like, OK, well, if you don't get too emotionally invested,

then, you know, you can avoid all the heartbreak,

cheating, all that kind of stuff.

Is that not kind of, like, unfulfilling, though?

Like, to feel that way?

That, "Right, I can't actually give any of myself

"to this person because they're going to hurt me?"

True. You could say that. You could say that.

But at the end of the day,

I say, if you don't want to get your heart broken,

drop the red pill.

Are you talking about this from experience?

Like, has there been a past relationship

or something like that has hit you like this?

Yeah, I was literally what Hamza would call the blue pill guy,

the blue pill beta male, so to speak.

Can you explain what that is, the blue pill?

Yeah. It's the traditional, normal way

of doing relationships, the monogamy.

You know, you settle down with a woman, you get married.

I was the gentleman, took her on the dates,

bought all the gifts, the flowers, etc.

That's one of the most important things I've learned.

No-one kind of respects the nice guy. Yeah.

No-one. Not men, not women, not anyone respects it.

Are you on dating apps at the minute?

Yeah, yeah. I'm on Hinge, yeah.

Tell me a bit more about that. How's that going?

Yeah, man. Well, I think the main thing about Hinge is, for me,

the level of attraction since I've got into self-improvement

has skyrocketed.

This is, you know, the first one before my first fight.

Yeah, yeah. And obviously, just some prompts.

So, "The way to win me over is arch your back, not your attitude."

Yeah, I think that's really funny.

Do you get, like, people reacting to that?

Yeah, generally quite good.

Obviously, there are some people that are like, "Oh, my God."

Because the girl I'm seeing now, when she saw these prompts,

she was like, "I was so attracted to you,

"but the prompts put me off a bit."

This is the power Hamza talks about.

Like, you've got to position yourself as being the red pill guy

and then women want you more.

What's your situation?

THEY LAUGH

Right now, I'm seeing a girl that I like.

She's, again, into fitness, into the gym.

We have so many shared interests.

Beautiful girl. Amazing.

Sounds like the golden ticket.

Mm-hm. Yeah. Of course, you know, um...

Explain that to me. What does that mean?

The issue is, like, obviously

I've seen the whole, like, red pill course, innit? Yeah.

So obviously, in my head it's like, is the

grass greener somewhere else, type of thing?

So how long were you dating your current girl?

Oh, it's been about two to three months now.

And how long into that did you start the conversation about,

"Right, listen. I want multiple girls," or whatever?

Like, yesterday.

THEY LAUGH

Nah, nah. Like, two days ago. Really, yeah?

Two days ago, and it's still something I'm debating.

Yeah. But I did bring it up still, you know?

Because I think it's fair to her for me to be honest with her.

How did she react to that?

Obviously, wasn't happy.

Of course she's going to get upset.

I don't want to hurt her feelings, any of this, or whatever.

But, yeah, it's just kind of figuring out what I want.

If she said that to you...

If she said, "You know what, Shane?

"I just don't know if I'm a one-man woman,"

how would you feel about that?

It sounds hypocritical, but, yeah. No, I would not be happy at all...

Yeah. ..to be fair. Yeah.

And that's how, like, problematic

this kind of thing is, right, the red pill?

I can see the level of influence

that Hamza has on Shane.

And Shane puts a lot of his success

to date in life, in general, down to Hamza.

And I just don't see how that reliance on this

random guy on the internet is sustainable long-term.

In the manosphere, beta males are shamed.

We're conditioned to believe that being alpha

means working harder, looking better

and reframing our mindset.

Bigger biceps and a monstrous back

will give you more confidence and respect

than you can ever handle.

It starts with daily discipline, like going to the gym,

to the more extreme and obscure advice,

like stop wanking.

Been on semen retention for over 100 days now,

and my life has become a lot more incredible.

When your dick gets hard,

you don't have to use it.

On my way to meet Jack,

who seems to have a lot to say about this space.

So we'll see how that goes.

Yeah, you said it.

I do have the best hair in Northern Ireland.

Jack's 27 and lives with his parents in a village in Northern Ireland.

He dropped out of uni after a year

and is working in construction.

He's midway through a 100-day semen retention challenge.

I haven't choked the chicken

in 50 days.

No wanking, no sexual intercourse.

No interactions with any females.

Goodbye from the fucking Jackedman.

Woohoo, baby!

Hey, Jack. Hi, James. Good to see you.

Thanks for having me up. No problem.

Come on in to the man cave, sir.

57 days on a semen retention journey today, you know?

You're 57 days...? 57 days,

no masturbation, no sex. Seriously?

Oh, 100%, man. Going for 100 days straight.

If you can control your lust,

your sex drive, you can control your mind.

People don't realise it.

Every time that you masturbate, man,

you're releasing your masculine energy and your testosterone, like.

Masculinity is often, like, labelled as toxic.

You know, it makes young men ashamed to be, like,

ambitious, courageous, aggressive

because they've been told to man up

and be strong, protective providers,

but then they're also told to

get into their feelings and their emotions and all.

So they're being sent mixed signals

and it confuses a lot of men, you know?

I haven't actually played this in a long time, so we'll give it a whack.

That'll be my excuse if you beat me here.

Jack's also got forthright opinions

on how other people should behave.

Beta males not holding

their women accountable for their actions.

Let's get into it.

If you're in the happy relationship

that you always, like, portray online,

then why does your woman feel the need

to post seductive photos online?

Do you ever think of it like that?

Like, why is she doing that?

If she's in this happy relationship, surely she wouldn't want to be

showing off her body to anybody else.

You're obviously very passionate in this video.

I am. It is definitely something I believe in, you know.

However, could I have worded it a bit better?

Yes. Well, you got, what, 240,000 views in that video.

240,000. I think it was 500 likes and then 1,000 comments.

And the biggest one was the insecure one, like.

They called me insecure, but

I haven't got anything to be insecure about.

Is there an element there of maybe people just think,

why does he care so much?

If you're in a healthy relationship,

like, surely having respect out of your partner...

Now, this goes for men and women, not just women.

Men have to do it too, you know.

Woman empowerment is not posting seductive photos online.

Woman empowerment is saying,

"No other man's going to see my body except my partner."

People think I hate women, like, I'm a misogynist.

I don't. Do you have a girlfriend?

I used to have a girlfriend.

I had a girlfriend for about a year and eight months or so.

I actually noticed when I walked in,

you were doing the little Andrew Tate pose.

Yeah, it's his pose, but I looked it up, you know,

and it shows control. It shows you're in control

of what's going on in your environment.

Would he be one of the guys you follow, then?

100%. I've been following him since probably Covid.

I don't worship the man, but I crave what he represents,

which is, like, confidence and ambition

and drive and discipline and leadership.

Men need to stop feeling sorry for themselves

because nobody's coming to save them, you know, like.

You're either successful or you're invisible, like.

I feel like there is a lot of pressure on young men,

including myself, to be successful or feel invisible.

Sam has the same desire for success.

He's booked a trip with his online friends.

They all have followed Hamza

and share similar values and opinions.

In 24 hours, they are meeting in person

for the very first time in Lisbon

at what they're calling their Adonis House.

Tell me about this trip you're going on, Sam.

I'm meeting up with four of the guys in Lisbon,

all of whom are doing online business

in this sort of space as well.

Most of us met in Hamza's old group

before we all mostly left that.

I mean, the name of it is Adonis House,

and Adonis is, like, Hamza's term.

So can you show me some of the guys that you're meeting out there?

Yeah, of course I can. Great.

So Vincent is by far my best friend.

I've known him for over two years.

I met him through my self-improvement community.

He's a 17-year-old from the US.

He's trying YouTube, and he's on his own self-improvement journey. Great.

You should do things that hurt every single day

because that's what makes you grow.

You should hate your body so that

you have the motivation to get nice and strong.

It's going to be epic, finally meeting in real life, yeah.

Aside from Vincent, who else is in the house, then?

So there's Matthew, South African.

He has a sales job.

Then there's Arvo, the Estonian.

And then finally there's also Gray,

who's also from the US,

and he runs faceless YouTube channels.

Sam, what does it mean to you to be going here?

It feels like it's almost the start of a new chapter.

For so long, I've been giving up the

offline relationships with people in school and people wherever,

and basically betting everything on this working.

What are your biggest worries about it?

That I don't think I might fit in that well.

I think that's the biggest worry I have.

There's a lot riding on this Lisbon trip for Sam.

These are the only friends he has in the world...

..and he's not the only one who has changed his life

because of what he's being taught online.

Shane's trying to balance having a relationship

while still following influencers' prescriptive teachings.

This oneitis bullshit happens to guys

when they start forming a bit of a connection.

Having multiple women is a cheat code to life.

Red-pillers adamantly push that guys must avoid catching feelings

and date multiple women.

But Shane's having doubts.

We chatted briefly about the girlfriend situation last time,

and you had a bit of a case of oneitis?

Yes, yes. Is that still the case?

I would say so, but maybe, like, even worse.

We had, like, a deep kind of chat about this the other day,

and I was like, "Yeah, you know what? I will just kind of see you."

I'm still going to keep some red pill tendencies,

like, I don't know, just being the masculine guy, being the provider

and she's still being feminine and submissive and all that.

She has to remain submissive?

Not that. Not that at all.

I think it's just her remaining feminine.

Are you opening up to her about personal things?

I'm almost, like, in two heads.

One of them's like, yeah, it'd be great to

show affection, do all this, you know, open up to her.

But another part of me is like, yeah, but I'm a man.

No-one cares. I need to fucking get on with it.

But it's just these fucking influencers, isn't it,

just like, getting in my head or whatever.

Especially when you listen to kind of the same people

over and over again. It's very influential, isn't it?

Yeah. Because you were saying things to me like,

you feel this way, but influencers are saying this

and it's creating that contradiction for you.

Mm-hm. Mm-hm. Yeah.

So it's kind of scary, isn't it? It is, yeah.

Because a lot of these influencers like Hamza are usually right.

I'm not saying they're always right.

Hamza, the odd thing or two, he's not right about.

But seven, eight times out of ten, he's normally bang-on.

So it's like, oh.

Should I take his advice or should I listen to myself?

Shane said that the things that the influencers are saying

is different than how he feels,

which has created a contradiction for him,

but it seems like he's finally going his own way with it.

It's a big day for Sam.

He's off to Portugal with his dad

to meet his online mates for the first time.

They've called their Airbnb Adonis House.

The plan's to hang out and build their online businesses

in YouTube, sales and coaching.

We're on our way to meet the guys. Mm.

How do you feel about that?

I'm scared it might be a bit cringe meeting Vincent

for the first time or something like that.

And I don't know.

So many thoughts going through my head,

as you can probably tell.

I'm not sure how this is going to go for Sam.

I really hope he isn't disappointed.

We're here.

Yo, can you see us?

To your left.

Yo, what the fuck?

THEY LAUGH

Oh, my God.

How do we get up?

He said he's coming down.

All right.

This is absolutely crazy.

What's going on, man?

How's it been? Oh, my God.

This is so weird. It is weird.

It doesn't feel like real life. It's pretty weird.

Yeah. It's pretty weird.

What the hell?

Well, it's been a long minute.

It has been. Two and a half years.

Yeah, you look different in real life. You do too.

You look a lot bigger. Yeah?

Shall we?

Well... I'm kind of lost for words a little bit.

This... Is Adonis House. ..is Adonis House.

THEY GREET EACH OTHER

Nice to meet you. Good to see you.

It feels like, I don't know, like a movie or a video game.

I don't know. It's all coming together. Yeah.

It's pretty cool.

Setting goals is a key element of the manosphere.

The lads have their own chart to track progress

with forfeits like runs if they miss them.

So there's this thing here. It's called the wall of shame.

Vincent has failed to complete his video script.

Matthew didn't do 60 dials.

Gray failed to complete three scripts

and he let down his friends and himself.

Do you have a wall of shame?

No, I don't have a wall of shame.

I keep it all in here.

I guess it's about keeping

people accountable and things like that, you know?

It's a very extreme way of doing it.

What do you guys think young men are searching for?

I think a lot of young men are lonely.

That was one of the big reasons I started this,

because I didn't know people like me.

I didn't know people who were into the same type of things.

I met Sam. He likes the same things I do,

and that's kind of why we bonded together. Mm-hm.

So do you think there's a problem with loneliness for men?

I would say so.

I would say a lot of young men are quite lonely.

Mm-hm. Why is that?

Um...

I think it's shallow relationships, honestly.

Like, people don't have, like, deep conversations.

They don't talk about things they want to talk about.

I am still really intrigued

to find out more about what the guys get up to,

what they think about things, what their opinions are on things,

and just how far into this community are they?

Next day at the Adonis House -

eggs are cheap protein

when you're fuelling your Greek god gains.

So how many eggs did you get? 48.

How many guys is that for?

Me.

THEY LAUGH

Do you ever take them just raw?

I do.

How many's in there?

Just four. I can't really fit more than that. Only four.

Cheers. Cheers. Enjoy.

What do you think of that, Sam?

Mm.

There you go. Tasty?

Yeah. I'll try one. You're going to go for one?

Rocky Balboa. Right.

Just one gulp.

Feeling good?

I don't know how I feel.

It doesn't really taste of anything, to be honest.

I think I got it straight down without tasting it.

We are heading to an outdoor gym.

It's all about discipline.

It's a test for Sam, as he's more of a rock climber than a weights man.

So how do you think you're going to find this?

I think it'll be a bit of a challenge,

especially with these guys too,

all being older and stronger than me.

And they all work out, too, and I don't.

So definitely the weakest by far here, but we'll see.

The guys have travelled thousands of miles

to be surrounded by the manosphere.

I want to know more about their motivations.

Why do you guys think the manosphere exists as a thing?

It feels like to do what you feel is right as a man

is to be the minority

and it's to be under attack in a sense,

especially on social media.

There's not many strong men in most young men's lives.

Before I found Tate, there was nothing good.

Like, I was just lonely, depression, all that sort of stuff.

And I found a spark.

Like, something was lit for me.

"Wait, I can run?"

Like, "I can push myself into something?

"I can feel pride?"

I'd never felt pride before.

So what do you guys think the vacuum is

that the manosphere is replacing?

Lack of in-person communication, mostly.

I saw that first-hand because I was in university right during Covid,

and I think that kind of paved the way

for a figure like Andrew Tate to get so popular

because everyone was alone and isolated in their homes.

Keep it going. Up!

It's like an older brother

that has the imperfect answers.

But it's something and it's layered with so much hope,

which is everything that a guy needs at that point,

even if it is maybe an imperfect answer.

I want to get an idea of how online content

has influenced this group's attitudes to relationships.

What do you guys think the modern view on relationships is?

I think that most people think

they should be the same and also equally important.

I don't agree with that.

I think men and women are different,

but giving opinions on these things,

you're immediately labelled - "Oh, you're sexist."

A lot of women are earning a lot of money and things like that. Yeah.

They don't necessarily need us

to provide for them in that way any more.

No. Where do you think that leaves us as men?

I think a lot of men, I'd say myself included,

it's just a downside.

The dream is kind of to take on all of the stress

and then her just not have to think.

Yeah. That's when women really can get into their feminine

and they really can just be loving.

The guys are letting me into what they think,

being honest about their fixed attitudes on a woman's place.

I personally know some women that are CEOs and...

Yeah. ..I don't think they want to be in a position

where they're not thinking or...

I think for most women,

they're forced to go down the same path as men

where they're forced to study and they're forced to get a job

to provide for themselves and everything.

I think for them, it really takes away

from their authentic femininity.

They've been basically indoctrinated to believe

that they have to become a lawyer or a doctor,

even if they don't want to do that.

And in some ways,

women are also stuck in the system, the same way men are.

I think women aren't taught how to be women

in the same way men aren't taught how to be men. Mm-hm.

Their mothers had to work jobs,

and so daughters aren't taught,

"Hey, this is how to be a loving, caring woman."

Do you guys think that women are unhappy with how things are,

or do you think it's just men?

I believe they are too.

Obviously I'm not a woman,

so my comment isn't going to be backed up

as strongly as me commenting on myself,

but I do believe they are.

I would say that the sort of system nowadays with school,

everyone being given the same jobs,

I do believe that is making women unhappy too.

The older lads also have strong views

on what women need.

So who sets that bar of what man's good enough?

Throughout history, women have always been the drivers

of natural selection within humanity.

If women are deciding who's a good man,

why are we, as men, collectively following

only male influencers and what they say?

There's a saying within the red pill space,

that - and this is going to be a little bit crude -

but you can't learn to fish from a fish, right?

You learn from the fishermen, not the fish, right?

I knew you were going to say that.

But also, um...

..women know what they want, not what women want.

Is that not suggesting that a man

knows more about women than women do?

So men know how to poke

and press the right buttons to get a specific result out.

I wouldn't say that men would understand women

better than women do.

I think that men know how to gain women better than women do.

Have you guys really felt what love feels like?

Yes, I think so.

Well, 1,000%.

I think that probably both of us,

we've come to the point where we've had that experience,

and we're almost ready to look for it again.

How does heartbreak drive your entry into this world?

I think I'm here entirely because of my heartbreak

and some of my failures with women.

You come out of those emotions,

you have an intense desire to be better than you are,

and I think that a lot of guys get into the space for that reason.

Thanks for sharing that, guys.

What I heard in Lisbon is playing on my mind.

I'm conflicted.

I admire the lads for their work ethic and ambition,

but I'm trying to get my head around

their opinions on women and relationships.

The guys talked about heartbreak.

That's something I can understand.

At 32, I envisioned I'd have a wife, I'd have kids.

Building your own family is a massive part of being a man.

I was in a five-year relationship, so I nearly had that,

but still respect her to bits, you know?

But it didn't work out.

We had an argument on the phone while I was away.

Then I got back here and just basically,

I remember just going upstairs

to the walk-in wardrobe room and all her stuff was gone.

And I just, like, sat on the floor

and just was, like, in bits.

Didn't really have a lot of friends

who were very supportive of me when I came out of it,

so I didn't have anyone to talk to about it.

So I was just getting up, trying to work as much as I could,

and then just sitting on my phone and, like, doomscrolling.

And you're just consuming, consuming, consuming, consuming.

The producers have asked me to go back through my posts

during my break-up.

I'm shocked at myself.

If 100 people pick up a sandwich and go, "No!"

And I pick it up off the floor and go, "Yes!

"Finally, the best sand..." That's not how the world works.

Your value as a woman comes from the fact

that people want you and cannot have you.

PRODUCER: Do you see where the sexism is in that video?

Yeah, I see where the sexism is,

because you can't say that about just, you know, women.

I can't believe that I actually did share that.

But back then,

my head was in a very different place to what it is nowadays.

The Reels were served up.

I didn't notice that gradually, they were shaping the way I thought.

A lot of women have slept with

10, 20, 30, 40, 50 people.

They're dating multiple people at the same time.

You don't get courtship if you're not a traditional woman.

I agree. Period. Yeah, for sure.

And most women are not traditional women.

I felt pretty lonely and isolated then.

And I think, you know, looking at that,

I would never share that on my social media now.

But I obviously wasn't thinking then.

It's almost like a different person.

You know, I'm looking at that going,

wow, like, I don't even know if I'd like that guy.

As I keep looking through the content,

I'm starting to see how the different messages are subtly intertwined.

What turns you off from feminism?

It's all about demasculating men, I believe,

and I think it's resulted in the destruction of the nuclear family.

There's a spiral here.

It wasn't about the break-up.

I was just hurting

and this content gave that a voice.

I think men and women complement each other,

and they both need each other.

I think, like, what she said there is really fair.

Do you think feminism is all about demasculating men?

No, I don't agree with that.

No, I don't think feminism is all about demasculating men.

You kind of missed the first statement, which is,

"I think feminism is all about demasculating men."

Yeah, I didn't even pick up on that.

And I think that probably

speaks to the fact that I really don't think that at all.

I didn't even notice she said that.

You can see how there's, like, a window into the manosphere

through content like that.

Oh, definitely. Like, that window there, I think,

you know, for me, um...

I didn't really fall into the manosphere

in a sense of

going down a rabbit hole with that kind of content.

I think that I recovered fairly quickly from

that kind of mad mindframe I was in when I had the break-up.

But I think with a lot of young men in particular,

that kind of stuff is actually sometimes,

like, their first bit of exposure to

relationships and dating dynamics and who they're going to be,

which is kind of scary.

Tate tapped into my insecurities.

Jack says he started watching during Covid,

but I wonder if there's more to it than that.

I am absolutely ripped

and I am the fucking man.

Jack's flying through his semen retention journey.

He's in England working, and I want to find out what is driving him.

Hi, James. How are you doing, sir? You all right?

Good to meet you again. Good to see you again.

Good to see you again.

Have you used it yet? No. No?

So, Jack, what day are you on of your semen retention journey?

So today is the 80th day today of the semen retention journey.

And I've never felt more alive than I am right now.

Like, I've went from a complete blank canvas

to having nearly an eight-pack,

veins coming out, man, vascularity.

And probably other things. People have actually said

I've got taller as well, you know. It's pretty interesting,

but I think that's just to do with going to the gym

and just my posture in general.

Are you doing this for you

or are you doing this for female attention?

100% for me.

Female attention isn't even a thing.

All my life has just been chasing cheap dopamine all the time,

whether it was porn or video games

or alcohol or partying or whatever, you know.

Was there a moment

when you realised you weren't the man you wanted to be?

I was probably lost and didn't really know it, you know,

the more I think back on it now.

And, like, probably no respect for myself.

From drinking and partying all the time, you know,

and sometimes it actually made me feel scared,

because I knew that I didn't want to do that the rest of my life.

When I first started watching Andrew Tate,

he made me feel like a loser, to be honest.

You know, like, he made me feel that...

That I was just sad of who I am, you know?

I was that person he was talking about, like, being a weak man,

you know, and really not having a purpose in life.

But he also made me awake to who I was,

and made me start actually kind of, like,

having respect for myself and to stop being a loser

and, like, build a purpose in life,

build a body, be strong, make money.

Escape the matrix. You know, escape the nine-to-five.

When it comes to Andrew Tate,

do you think any of his views on women

could be dangerous for young men?

I would listen to all the good messages when he's talking about men

and building themselves up to be respected and build status,

because that's what all men should do.

Like, I wouldn't focus on some of the other stuff he's saying,

you know, but it's still his opinion.

That man can say what he wants.

And, like, that other thing about investigations,

he's not guilty of anything, like.

He hasn't been convicted of anything.

And everything is just - I believe anyway -

to tarnish his name, you know,

because he's going against the norms.

He's making men start standing up and fighting back

against a society that wants to keep men weak.

That bald-headed man, Andrew Tate,

he's got all the cars, the money,

the girls, the respect,

everything that men want.

Is that what you're really chasing? Is it happiness?

Is it fulfilment? What is...? Because they're just things.

You know, what is the actual goal?

I want to be respected by people,

and, like, I want people to recognise me

and know what I stand for and my values and everything.

If you want to aspire to be your own man,

you've got to go out and do your own thing.

And that's what...

Probably my online coaching hopefully leads to that.

Jack has decided to share his mantra

and launch an online coaching business.

I have to film content now for two hours.

Hair is looking good.

So, yeah, let's get fucking into it.

I want to have my own thing on Skool, that app Skool, you know,

where people can join and,

like, get the experience that I experienced.

You know, like, on how to improve and find purpose in life again

and teach them all that there

on Skool, where they can just go in and learn it

from somebody that's actually experienced it themselves.

I know if I keep going the way I'm going, man,

the only way is up. I can't go down. I can only go up.

And that's what's motivating me and keeping me going.

You know, if I keep sticking at it

and you don't take no for an answer

and you don't accept failure, then you can't lose.

You can't. You have to win.

Jack's following the manosphere influencer formula

of coaching others,

and it can be hugely profitable.

The male identity crisis has become a money spinner

and plenty of guys are happily cashing in.

Part of your audience will like you so much

that they'll buy anything that you try and sell to them.

$820,092 per year.

Basically, like, I'd say probably about 98%, 99% profit.

My school doesn't just teach you how to make money.

My school teaches you how to be above money,

so the money comes to you.

With online coaching taking off,

it's never been easier to share a course.

It's a world I know.

I tried a different version of it in 2023.

So I've been in the digital marketing space

since I was 17,

and I was always getting people asking me,

"Could you show us how to set up Facebook ads?" or whatever.

So I decided that I would set up

a group called Dominate Academy.

You have lots of ads running.

I highly recommend that you use this.

It will help you spread your spend more evenly.

We would film videos teaching how to set up Facebook ads.

Actually, after about a month of running it,

I decided to just stop it because

it was becoming infuriating that

a lot of the young lads that came in,

they weren't willing to actually start at the basics and learn it.

All they cared about was,

"How do I become rich off the internet?"

That was the thing that they cared about.

They're being bombarded

with social media creators, influencers, courses,

things that are telling them -

"Within six months, I'll change your life."

I can see how easily people will pay up

if they think it's a shortcut to success.

It's been less than a week since Sam got back from Portugal,

where he met his mates for the first time.

I'm wondering how he's handling normal life again.

How is being back in the UK?

If I'm being completely and brutally honest,

it has been sort of, like, very, very hard

being disconnected from the guys again.

I've been struggling with that a little bit.

So how does it feel, Sam, to have actually developed

those friendships with the lads?

It sounds sad, but having friends in real life

is just such an epic thing compared to just being online.

And it actually sort of got me to the point where, like...

..I'm now admitting that I did actually cry a bit when I got back.

I don't know if that'll appear weak or whatever in another guy's eyes,

but I'm being sort of honest about that.

Sam's turning to journalling

and artificial intelligence for advice.

Talking to ChatGPT.

I've got all my journals in it, and it knows everything about me.

So this is sort of what I've journalled.

"I get reminded every now and then

"of the trauma that I still have in me.

"I don't know what it's caused by, but it's just come back up now.

"I get the same unique feeling every time. I want to cry.

"I feel like I've been done over by the world on my situation,

"and I feel mostly like I can't do anything about it.

"It was so epic being there with everyone,

"finally having friends in real life,

"and then it gets ripped away from me and I'm back here.

"I'm crying now.

"I'm so grateful for Dad helping so much."

I think it's clear to see how comforting this process is for you,

to get your thoughts on there. Definitely.

Journalling, honestly, it's a superpower.

Sam wants to make money coaching so that he can travel.

The big problem now that I'm trying to solve

is that my coaching business

is sort of hard to merge in with the film-making.

So what did ChatGPT actually tell you?

ChatGPT basically told me to keep them separate.

Just have the coaching as almost like,

you know, in a strange way, almost like a guru thing

where I'm just teaching people how to make money.

And I think I asked it, like,

"Isn't it a bit immoral to sort of make money in the guru way?"

And it just told me, like,

people are still happy with the sort of product

and therefore the income I get for myself

to then fund the film-making and to fund the travelling and the dream.

Sam's trying to find a way to live like the influencers

charging $1,000 for his coaching.

He's not alone in wrestling

with real-world relationships and guidance.

In Liverpool,

Shane's gone back to Hamza's red pill course

for some dating advice

and has ended his relationship.

Do you see the delusion and the manipulative nature of most women,

which is they'll literally string along so many guys,

but they'll try and convince you

that they're not even speaking to anyone.

And this is the brutal truth. You know what it is.

They don't feel like they're even speaking to humans.

How does it feel watching that?

Because to me, that makes me feel a bit...

It's very pessimistic, you know, that view of life.

It might be pessimistic. It might be,

but I just think it's the truth.

Do you think that women can be trusted?

To give a blanket statement, I would say no, you can't, really.

So then why on earth would you get in a relationship if you can't?

I'd rather just kind of, you know, be on the red pill side of things

and be seeing multiple women rather than just going for one.

What's happened with the relationship, Shane?

I just thought it was the best thing to do for both of us,

just kind of end things there, and she kind of agreed as well.

How much was the red pill part of your decision?

Quite a bit, I'd say.

I need to be the type of guy who does have kind of multiple options.

You're back on the apps? Mm-hm.

Just kind of picking up where I left off, really, isn't it? So...

The way I kind of see it is, if you're at the level of man

where you can kind of date multiple girls at the same time,

then that's kind of fair game.

But it's different for the girls?

In a way, yes.

It does kind of seem like a double standard,

but when you really think about it, it's like, no, it's not,

because as a man, you've got to build yourself up

to attract the girl, whether that's gym or in business

or in your fashion or looking better or looksmaxing,

all these type of things you've got to do

to kind of attract the women in the first place.

Whereas for the women, it's like, OK, then,

the guys are wanting to pursue them already,

so it's just, like, a yes or no type thing.

So if it's OK for a man to be promiscuous,

but not OK for a woman

and that defines them, is that not just sexism?

I would say, first off, I'm not saying

that anyone can't be or should be.

Again, you do whatever you want.

All I'm saying is to me, like, my preference

isn't someone who's promiscuous.

I wouldn't want to be in a long-term relationship

with an overly promiscuous person.

Mm. And that's just because I'm not like that.

Mm. So I kind of get what you're saying.

But I do also feel like if you're promiscuous

and then you want the non-promiscuous partner,

then that's what I struggle with, I guess.

You could say that I'm promiscuous. I just genuinely, like...

And this isn't being sexist, I just don't see it that way.

I see it as I've got myself

to a certain level where I can attract multiple women.

That's literally it. But you're acting on it as well.

Yeah. No, that's fair. Is that not promiscuous?

Possibly, possibly. Because if it was a woman doing that,

it would definitely be promiscuous.

Mm-hm. Mm-hm. Mm-hm.

Options make a man high-value,

but it seems that options make a woman low-value.

If she entertains the options, 100% not a high-value woman,

because a wife-quality woman

wouldn't be entertaining many men, right?

Mm-hm. I think it's down to society valuing different things

for men and women. That's it.

That's literally it, yeah.

Shane is committed to Hamza's Library of Adonis,

paying him every month.

How could anyone sit and watch this all day, every day?

You'd end up completely hating yourself

and completely hating women and dating and, you know, like...

Where does that lead you to?

It leads you to sort of a very lonely existence, I guess.

And now I want to walk you through how to be more of the bad boy,

because chance...

KACHING

Just made some money from a sale from the course, by the way.

So you might want to join.

The influencers capitalise on

their followers' hope for success and a better sense of self.

If you're not learning the mentality of a fighter and a champion from me,

if you're not learning discipline,

if you're not learning motivation from me,

who are you learning from?

100 days is very close,

and most men can't even go a fucking weekend

without giving in to their urges.

I've gone nearly three months.

Jack has finished his 100-day semen retention challenge.

He's now using the discipline of that experience

to build a new venture.

I feel fucking untouchable.

How many days are you on now, then?

So we've actually surpassed 100 days, you know.

Great. 103 days today.

Every morning, I'm waking up with an erection.

It's crazy, you know, and I'll get about

15 to 20 a day, you know, like.

Is that normal? Is that...?

Oh, man, that would be minimum.

I wouldn't be surprised if it happens here now

in the next five or ten minutes.

That's going to weird me out. Yeah. But, um...

I will continue to keep cutting it out, you know,

because the way I feel now,

both mentally, physically and even, like, spiritually,

I don't ever want to go back to what I was,

you know, being a slave to my desires.

Jack wants to be one of the next generation

of male influencers sharing his opinions.

I'm going to call this place Jacked Room.

Obviously, me being the Jackedman.

I don't give a fuck if you're fat or you're skinny.

Both scream weakness.

DM me the word "Jacked" now

and I'll show you how to transform your body

and your fucking mind in 12 weeks.

There's a lot of competition.

So Jack's paying another online coach

to teach him how to build his business.

It's costing him £650 each month.

Yes! Looks good. Oh!

Oh, my God.

I'm so excited.

I feel like a child, man.

So you're going to be training clients in here, then?

That is hopefully the plan.

Got it there, yeah? Yeah, I've got it.

650 seems like quite a lot of money.

What do you get for that?

It basically just shows you how to DM people,

how to deal with DMing people, how to go about it. Um...

As in messaging...? Sending messages on Instagram,

Facebook, whatever you're into.

So you'll send cold messages. Like, people you don't even know.

How many would you be sending per day?

Probably minimum 15 to 20 a day, you know.

And you might only get five responses, you know,

and sometimes out of the five responses, you'll get nobody.

People want to see results instantly, you know.

They don't think long ahead into the future and their future self,

but that's kind of the message you're trying to sell.

How did they get you to pay that?

Was it a similar kind of tactic? It actually kind of was.

I actually realised that after when I started learning all this stuff,

you know, like, that what they were teaching me

is what they used on me to get me into the community,

which is kind of mad.

It seems like it's a lot of coaches

coaching other people how to be coaches,

to then teach other people how to be coaches. Is that right?

It kind of is.

But getting the clients is one thing,

but training them and keeping them is probably the next thing.

And that's all on you, like.

Just throw it here, Jack? Throw it down there, man.

That'll be the arm corner.

Do you ever think that constant chase of improvement

is kind of reinforcing into yourself that you're just not enough,

that you're not good as you are?

Men should keep thinking that they're not good enough,

you know, because surely that should spark a fire in them,

you know, to get better and become better.

Men are not supportive to each other, you know.

They just want to focus on themselves

and aren't willing to help anybody else.

But where does that change, then, when you join an online group?

You know, how come all of a sudden

they do want to help each other and it's different?

Most men probably...

They're not going to do it for free, you know.

So we're talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds, maybe millions,

all being made from young men who are lost.

It's not nice when it sounds like that, you know,

but, um, that's it, you know.

If you can find somebody that's going to make you

a better person for free, you know, you've found a...

Get a friend. A friend too, you know, but

is a friend going to be there for you? Like a really good friend,

you know, are they going to be there all the time to help you out?

How much can they help you?

Because a lot of friends aren't experienced in

helping men become better, you know, like.

Ooh! Tell me which way to go.

Just...there.

Right there? Stop right where you're at, man.

Right. I'll hold it.

Right, we need to light it up. Come on. Right.

Yeah!

Woohoo!

Ah! That actually looks better than

I thought it was going to be, you know.

What if it turns out better than you could ever imagine?

That is the perfect thing.

I'm really proud of that.

Jack believes male influencers provide advice

that isn't available in real-world friendships.

It's something Sam decided long ago.

His whole world's been online...

..until now.

I'm actually in Coventry.

It's 1:40am and I'm on my way to see Sam.

Hey, Sam. Hey, James. How are you?

I'm doing good. How are you? Good to see you again.

I'm very good, thanks. Hey, Phil.

Good to see you again. How's things? Good?

Yeah, good, thanks.

So, Sam, why are we here

in the middle of the night in this coach station?

Well, Vincent's actually going to be here very imminently,

arriving on a coach from the airport

because he's just flown in from Miami.

Because we're spending the month together in the UK.

He's living with me.

And I'm really, really excited for this.

We're going to be out in the fields loads.

We're going to be working together, making loads of progress together

and really spending some good time together.

So, Sam, what's been happening with your online stuff?

I've got 50 new members into my free community,

and so recently I've been channelling all of my energy

into updating my free course on there to help them even more.

And I've got a big sale for $1,000 since then,

and that's really sort of set me up

and made everything pretty nice recently.

Vincent! Well, well, well. There he is.

How's it going? How you doing? Not too bad. Not too bad.

Good to see you again. Yeah.

How does it feel to be in the UK with Sam?

I'm quite excited, actually.

I've heard good things about the UK.

I like the architecture, history.

It's nice reuniting.

We've got a cool month ahead of us, potentially longer.

And you've had this real bout of jut being completely alone. Yeah.

Does it feel like that could be over?

Oh, yes.

It finally feels like everything's culminated together

and this big problem of loneliness

and not having friends is finally over.

The manosphere promises brotherhood and self-improvement,

but often it teaches criticism -

of women, of weakness, of feeling.

Under its influence,

Sam, Shane and Jack have all found purpose,

but they're also evidence of how our search for answers

can be manipulated for profit.

People talk about lost boys.

Maybe we need to find our way back.

What happens next is up to all of us.

# Amen, in Jesus' name, yes, I declare it

# Any little seed I receive, I have to share it

# Bruddas wanna break me down, I can't bear it

# But heavy is the head with the crown, I still wear it

# You can't hold me down, I still cope

# Rain falling down at the BRITs, I'm still soaked

# Try to put a hole in our ship, we'll build boats

# Two birds with one stone, I'll kill both

# Pray I never lose and pray I never hit the shelf

# Promise if I do that you'll be checkin' on my health

# If it's for my people, I'll do anything to help

# If I do it out of love, it's not to benefit myself, ooh... #