Original subtitles

- Hello. - Hi, I'm Louis.

I'm Louis.

Oh, I can't shake your hand!

[laughter]

Theroux narrates: For 25 years, I've been making programs

about life in all its strangeness...

Stand by. Information to follow.

Theroux narrates: ..and mystery...

- Who are you? - I'm Louis.

Who's Louis?

Theroux narrates: ..and angst...

You OK, Nikki?

Theroux narrates: ..trying to make connections with people

who are, in different ways, on the edge.

Not all of us want to be like this.

Theroux narrates: Recently, I decided to take a pause

and trawl through my old shows,

looking again at some stories that stayed with me...

Yeah, this has stuff in it.

Theroux narrates: ..and to reach out

to those I'd featured...

- Look at you, Mr Beard and moustache.

I know. Don't I look distinguished?

Theroux narrates: ..to see how their lives have changed.

You've been married six times.

Henry VIII was married six times,

so it's not unprecedented.

[laughs]

- Hey, how are you doing? - Good. How are you?

- Good.

Theroux narrates: From all the hours of programs,

I've teased out a handful of themes...

- This is gonna be the start

of the second American Civil War.

White revolution!

[cheering]

- Why did you run? - Because they shoot anybody,

they don't care who it is.

Point blank range,

they'll pull the gun out and shoot you.

Theroux narrates: ..all of which, in different ways,

go to the heart of what it means to be human...

What connection is there

between a birth mum and a child?

[yells]

You OK?

It seems like every day I get delivered from something else

that I didn't even know I had.

Theroux narrates: ..trying to figure out

what I've learned about life

and about myself.

[applause]

- If you want more money, stand up and say, "Oh, yeah!"

Crowd: Oh, yeah!

- Would never work for you

'cause you have to have the faith of a mustard seed

and you have none.

Newsreader: The wearing of face coverings in shops

in England will become compulsory from midnight

and failing to do so could result in a £100 fine.

After initially being sceptical about their effectiveness

in helping stop the spread of coronavirus,

the government says its view has evolved

as the scientific advice has changed.

[whirr of machinery]

Theroux narrates: Even though I'm an atheist and was raised

without any structured religion in my life,

or maybe because of that,

I've always been drawn to people

who seem to have very firm convictions,

very fervent beliefs...

..even when those beliefs seemed wrong-headed

or confused or strange.

Dictators and despots, never did that.

Con artists and mind readers.

Televangelism.

That's a bumper sticker

that we featured in the program.

Kids who get operations on their tongues.

This is the article.

"Almost heaven.

"It will rise right here, in northern Idaho.

"200 acres, 30 lots,

"that they're selling

"to people who want to escape

"government tyranny and Armageddon."

So, that became the first one that we filmed.

That was the first episode of my series,

the first time I went on TV with my own TV show,

'Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends'.

Theroux narrates: I was sitting in the world's tiniest plane,

high above northwest America.

Peaceful as they look,

these hills of Idaho and Montana

are home to a strange subculture

of right wing patriots.

Remember, this was the mid '90s,

when Bill Clinton was in power,

and he'd enacted new gun control legislation.

Plus, you'd had the bungled siege at Waco,

in which 76 people died,

and, by many gun owners, he was seen as a mortal enemy

intent on taking away their guns

and instituting tyranny.

Many were taking to the hills and arming themselves

against the federal government,

like a little underground army

of rebels and renegades.

And there'd been a lot in the media about them,

so there was a real fear on our part

that they might be dangerous...

..and, if I'm honest, at the same time,

I was kind of excited to meet them.

Well, we're doing a little story on Almost Heaven.

Want to find out what life's like up here. How do you do?

- You ain't in Almost Heaven.

- No? - No.

- Where am I? - Well, from the temperature,

- you're in Almost Hell. - Yeah, looks like it!

I've got to tell you, I was a little bit nervous

about coming up here.

I heard you fellas were a bit scary.

Oh, really?

- You know, the conventional view

of, um, people who live on...

..covenant community places like this.

I don't know what's so scary.

- We... - Are you scary?

No, I'm not scary, really.

Only if you, uh...

..you come up here to do harm to me or my family...

..then I'm probably as scary as you are

if someone came to do harm

- to you and your family. - Yeah.

Oh, my word. Here we go.

Theroux narrates: One of the more radical people

up there at Almost Heaven was Mike Cain...

..but he actually turned out to be rather welcoming.

- This is the old homestead. - This is Freedom Central.

- It's unfinished. Hiya, fellas.

Is there anything in the way of a guided tour?

- I... - Yeah.

Well, it's kind of a typical house.

I don't know if it's much of a guided tour, but come on.

- Well, see, there's a gun rack over there,

- that's not that typical. - Maybe not where you're from.

- No, not in Britain.

- They don't let you have those back there,

- do they? - No, they don't.

- You know, for an American to live without a gun

is like you guys trying to live without tea.

- Really? - Now, how is that possible?

Couldn't be that bad, could it?

- And we pray now for thy greater glory

and do so in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ.

- Amen. - Amen.

- For people in Britain who aren't up to speed on this

and they don't know exactly what's going on

and don't understand Patriot beliefs,

how would you explain it, simply as you could,

- what's going on? - There has been a conspiracy

for some years...

..by a group of work... a group of people

that have become known loosely as the New World Order.

The problem with the New World Order

and the one world government

is that it requires a benevolent dictator.

You show me in history

any time that there's ever been a benevolent dictator ever...

..and if you don't have a benevolent dictator,

then you have a tyrant.

OK, so what's this? This is nice.

- Yeah, this is...

..well, actually, this is your room, Louis.

If you want to spend the night, it's your room.

- Can I really? - Oh, yeah.

Well, that's very, very kind, Mike, thanks so much.

Well, you got one thing right,

I am a big fan of Keanu Reeves.

- As I think you can tell from watching it,

I grew to like him,

and I was, you know...

I felt as though he had a good heart,

and, you know, he...he...

I liked his wife, his family.

I was sentimental about the whole milieu,

like, the world of the cowboys,

this rugged frontier lifestyle.

- Whoa! This is weird!

- Maybe I was guilty of slightly romanticising him...

- Come up here, Mike. You want a go?

Oh, you're OK. I like you.

- ..and then also the fact that

I was making my own TV program and...

It was sort of wrapped up in a sense of being grateful

for what they'd given me,

in terms of making the story work.

- Shouldn't we be wearing earmuffs?

- Oh, you don't wear ear muffs in a war.

[gunshot]

Theroux: So, when's it all going to happen, do you think?

- Well, maybe before the year 2000.

- And what will it be? - All out war.

- Really? - I'm sorry.

One day. We've all fought wars before.

- You against who? - Everyone.

I've really enjoyed being around you

and it just sort of makes me worried

because the more convinced you are

that this is going to happen,

it seems, in a way, the more likely

it makes it that it will happen.

I'd hate to read that, you know,

one day that Mike Cain has been in some incident

with the federal authorities.

I mean, it would really upset me, seriously.

I can promise you this,

if it happens, it won't be because we started it.

It's not just me saying it.

There's tens of thousands of Americans just like me,

all across this country,

perhaps even millions of Americans,

that are ready for the war.

- I mean, I stayed in touch with Mike

after the show went out.

I want to see what this one...

So, this is a letter. When is this?

November '97.

So, that would have been literally just a year after.

OK. "Dearest Louis, Simon, Ed, Russell,

"and friends at the BBC..." That was the crew.

"..we received with gladness each of your letters

"and pray you are all well and happy.

"I was arrested and jailed on November 8th

"for the crime of asserting my rights.

"My brothers, acting under inspiration from our Lord,

"were able to secure my quick release."

I think he was done for driving with no licence plates.

August, 2001.

"Kamiah County, Idaho, Sheriff's Department,

"who delivered an eviction notice ten days ago

"after Cain had failed to pay $2,242

"for property taxes."

March '98.

"Probably will end up in a gunfight,"

and then he goes,

"They will fire the first shot, Louis."

I will have been saying, like,

"Why don't you just calm down

"and just sort it out and just...

"Just don't start any shit with them?"

I think what happened was his wife, Chacha, left first.

He lasted a bit longer...

Quick, quick. 30 seconds of tape!

- ..and then one night, under the cover of darkness,

he left Almost Heaven.

I think his appetite for the fight had gone.

- Be careful driving down the mountain now.

- Be safe. Don't do...

[video call rings]

How are you doing, Mike?

- I'm doing well, Louis. How are you?

I'm not too bad. Nice catching up with you.

I appreciate you stopping by for a chat.

Do you look back at the Almost Heaven experience

and see it as a misadventure,

something that you regret?

- Yes and no.

I moved my family up there

as a means to protect them.

It was after you left that things turned sour.

What those people up there were

was just a bunch of scared blowhards

that, uh, wanted to talk and do nothing.

It was...it was never a unified community, ever.

You believed that, um...

with government controlling people

and curbing their liberty,

there'd be chaos in the cities,

that it might not be safe for you and your family.

- Correct.

And we're seeing some of that now, aren't we?

If you don't wear a mask in public,

you're going to be arrested.

Same old tyranny bullcrap.

We're seeing grocery stores empty out.

You're seeing people fighting over toilet paper.

The travesty of the whole COVID thing

is not the virus itself,

but the tyranny that it's allowing to prosper.

What is that all about, Louis?

What government has the right to restrict your liberty?

The only reason they're doing it

is that we're letting them.

It's time the Americans...

..put their big boy pants on

and put an end to this.

- And you know what I flashed back to?

Was you on the hillside 24 years ago,

saying more and more Americans are fed up

with government overreach.

Do you think there's something in you

that just tends to see the world that way?

- Of course I see the world that way.

How can you not?

- I've always enjoyed the people

who know what they think

and have beliefs that they're certain about...

..who aren't really like me,

'cause I'm constantly groping for certainty,

uncertain about what I think or what I believe.

People who aren't afraid of speaking their minds.

You know, you might laugh about it,

and then a little part of you might think,

"Well, maybe he's got a point."

Well, this is an old UFO magazine...

..with a picture of an alien on the cover.

Producer: What kind of alien's that?

- Looks like a Grey.

- These are harmful, hateful people

that rape, molest, steal children,

terrorise lives and make men cringe,

make men soil themselves

and these are no people to be respected.

- The challenge making the story was...

Well, this is kind of funny

and this will be a colourful adventure,

a safari through the outer fringes of belief,

but what does it add up to?

We're not really learning, I think,

that much about how real the alien phenomena are.

What does the Alien Resistance Movement

actually do?

- We monitor the extraterrestrials

coming into the planet.

We have killed extraterrestrials.

These insignias are our definite kills.

Each one of these is ten kills.

This is something that we are called to do.

We consider ourselves warrior monks.

We do this 'cause we want to do this.

- We met someone called Chris O'Brien,

who is a writer and a paranormal researcher.

His main thing was the idea that,

in the area of Colorado, where he was living...

..there were mysterious, unexplained deaths

and mutilations of cattle,

very often with rectums being removed.

Shall we take the tarpaulin off?

- Yeah, let's go ahead and get this thing off.

Oh! Oh-oh-oh!

Oh, man!

- Its... [coughs]

- Its re... - Yes.

[coughs and retches]

Its rectum is bubbling.

- [laughs]

I know it's tough, Louis, but you can handle it.

And then Reverend Robert Short...

..was a UFO space channel.

He channelled an alien called Korton

from the planet Koldas.

He's one of those characters

that people remember and ask about

and say, "Oh, that guy, he was something else."

Hello?

[high-pitched] Hello?

- Yep? - Oh, you startled me!

- Come on in. - How's it going?

Are you Reverend Short?

- Hi, how are you? Come on in.

Phew!

So, how's this going to work exactly?

Can you channel... get in contact

with an extraterrestrial right now?

Well, we're gonna attempt to try to do that right now

and we're gonna do it right here.

[grunting, gargling]

[deep voice] This is Central Control.

This is Central Control.

We are ready to transmit. We are ready to transmit.

Korton, some people I've been speaking to

have suggested that there's major cataclysms under way,

possible alien invasion or Earth...

- We should stay down.

We would rather that, um...

individuals do not dwell

upon the negative aspects of that,

which is, as yet, only a premise.

Discontinue.

[inhales sharply]

[exhales deeply]

I want you to feel something.

- Feel something?

- Put your hand right in through here.

- Here? Where, here?

Just rub your hand up and down.

- Yeah, a lot of sweat.

- Dad says it was the energy beam.

- How do you feel? - Er...that was intense.

That was incredible.

I tended to see him as something like a shaman,

of a kind of vernacular American sort...

..that it was as spiritual

as much as it was a scientific phenomenon.

And I made a trip over in 2004

to do some follow-up for a book that I wrote.

Some of that's recorded in the footage

that my wife, Nancy, shot

on a sort of home video camera.

Hi, there!

- He more or less sat down with me

and told me his story of growing up in Hollywood,

maybe not feeling he fitted in.

He didn't seem to have

a great relationship with his parents.

I think he'd had substance abuse issues,

alcohol specifically.

He worked decent jobs, but nothing glamorous,

stacking shelves and I think as a waiter

or a short order chef.

So, discovering himself

in the first flush of the UFO movement in the '50s,

when people were being contacted...

..for someone like that to get involved in,

like, a world of communion

with other planets and other entities,

it goes without saying, that's hugely exciting...

..and, um...

..feels like it's socially important.

- Let me put these in the house for a minute

- and I'll be right with you. - OK. Thanks.

- After around 2005...

..we didn't have much contact.

There might have been an e-mail or two

that went back and forth, but I don't think so.

This is Galactic-Communa 2. This is Galactic-Communa 2.

- But you could still see clips of him on YouTube

and, in fact, as late as three or four years ago,

maybe it was slightly more,

there's a video of him channelling

that you can see, and he looks...

He's still doing it, but...

He obviously looks a little bit older and...

..reduced.

This is Central Control.

This is Central Control, Galactic-Communa 2.

We are now ending our transmission.

We are now ending our transmission.

- And then, literally, only a month or two ago...

..I heard that he'd died at the end of last year.

There's a sort of release in seeing someone...

You know, there's a pleasure in seeing someone

do something really weird. Like...

You know, I don't want to overcomplicate it.

There's something funny about someone,

in the name of contacting an alien,

doing funny voices and...

..just pronouncing things

and saying things in a weird way

and then predicting the future,

that's just quite funny.

The reason it's funny is, I suppose,

because you're thinking...

"That's not me and I would never think that."

It seems ridiculous,

but in a way, you know, in a deeper way,

that is all of us.

- God is gonna send his decree in his last days

and that is to totally annihilate America.

America will be blown off the face of the Earth.

Theroux narrates: No group has a monopoly on strange beliefs

and, in fact, strange beliefs can come packaged

as something reasonable.

I did a story on black nationalism in New York.

Most of the people I met had what struck me

as an understandable belief

in the need for further improvements in civil rights,

but they'd also incubated an extreme fringe

of true believers

who took a totally over-the-top,

exclusionary view of other races.

- This is a little scary, isn't it?

- Yeah, Christ is coming back on a white horse.

He's gonna take down the white man.

That's why your Pope is down on the ground.

It's going to happen by the year 2000.

- Really? - That's it, yeah.

- Would you follow me this way? - Of course.

- Alright. How you doing?

- Good. How are you doing? - Real good.

- I just want to show you something

that's very interesting in this book,

that the original rulers of England

and Britain were black.

- May I come up? - Sure.

You can come and have a look with your own two eyes.

- This is more friendly. - OK, yeah.

We're not gonna attack you. We're not sharks.

You see the Black court officers here.

You see the prosecutor sitting here.

These are Black men.

I don't know, that's kind of borderline.

Wait a minute. There's no borderline.

Are you on crack?

You see that these guys are Black.

Trace your family lineage on your father's side.

If you happen to be one of us...

..you're welcome here.

If you're not, we'll see you in captivity.

- OK, three burglars on your doorstep, sir.

Sort them out.

Oh, not very good.

[gunshot] Ooh! He's dead!

Cock, quickly, there's another one.

- Another one. - Cock again.

Theroux narrates: In South Africa,

I did a story about Boer nationalists

concerned about preserving their culture.

[gunshot] Good.

- Your aim is superb. - Thank you.

- Nothing wrong with your aim. - I need to speed it up.

But you won't survive in Africa.

- But there, too,

there turned out to be a racist dimension.

- God created,

not even animal, as equal.

Basically, what it boils down to

is he sees those that I chose.

- And who did he choose? - The white people.

So, where does that leave non-whites?

Well, the way we see it,

they've got no chance.

Do they seem at all weird to you?

No. Sometimes they do weird things,

but they don't seem at all weird.

- Who? - The Blacks.

Oh, no, I meant your beliefs.

Oh, my beliefs? [laughs]

No, um... No,

- they don't seem weird to me. - Yeah.

I don't think I would have believed it if it was weird.

Yeah.

- So, Tom wants a flat white. - Oh!

Theroux narrates: It's in the nature

of the kind of stories that I do about belief

that there is a moral dimension.

[child plays in background]

And as I went on, I suppose,

I pushed further in the direction

of exploring ideas that were toxic,

that were dangerous and poisonous.

I think it was part of growing up...

..part of evolving,

that I felt more confident

about taking on those kinds of stories.

You know, this has stuff in it.

Been around the world, this box.

OK...

Where do you want it?

Quite clearly, people who identify as Neo-Nazis

or white nationalists

are right out there on the fringe.

So, yeah, I thought,

I just wanted to find out what they were thinking.

We were doing the story in California,

where there is a kind of white nationalist underground...

- How are you doing? - Good. Good morning.

- Shall we come in? - Come aboard.

Theroux narrates: ..which in part is made up of skinheads.

We had an intro to a guy called Skip.

- Skip, I'm Louis. Yeah. - I know. I remember.

- Introduce us to your family, will you?

- How are you? - How are you doing?

- Come in and meet the family.

Here, Sidney. Come on.

This is my youngest, Sidney.

This is number two, Rhiannon.

- Hi, Rhiannon.

- And this is number one, Kerney.

- Hi, Kerney. - My lovely wife, Heather.

- Hi. - Hi, Heather.

- My baby brother, Lenny.

- Manny. - How are you? Lenny.

- Good. Lenny? Lenny. - Lenny. Yeah.

- Welcome to Paradise. - Yeah.

- So, if I told you I was Jewish,

would that create a problem between us?

- Well, because you've got the camera right now,

I'd allow you to stay.

If not, I'd probably kick your ass

and put you in the street somewhere.

- For real? - Pretty much,

because a Jew wouldn't be here on my property.

Are you Jewish?

Do you mind if I don't answer that?

[he laughs]

- You with the camera, are you?

[they laugh]

I'll tell you why. I don't want...

I'm not a racist and I think it's...

I actually think it's wrong to be a racist,

and so, I feel as though by...

by saying whether I'm Jewish or not,

I'm kind of, in a way,

acknowledging the premise that it really matters

when I think it shouldn't and it doesn't.

It was sort of relatively new to me,

the idea of just dedicating a whole program

to people whose views were completely abhorrent and not...

..instead of pitching it

somewhere in a middle ground of eccentricity,

some degree of controversy or questionable-ness,

but that gave it a kind of interesting quality.

Producer: What was that?

Well, just conflict.

Just balls out conflict.

- Louis' a Jew.

I already know it. I already know it!

You're a Jew, that's why you've got so much animosity.

- OK... We can't say you don't look like a Jew.

- Oi. You're a Jew.

You're part Jewish. - Don't not say "I'm not"

because you think someone's going to beat you up

'cause it's not like that with us.

- Why do you care?

Why will it make any difference to you whether I am or not?

- Because I like to know who's been in my house.

- We want to know if you're a fucking Jew

and if we let you into our house

to film our fucking everyday ritual...

- Even if you are. - Are you a fucking Jew?

I don't feel as though, maybe you'd disagree,

I don't feel as though

I've kind of compelled you to say anything.

I feel as though I've been respectful

and I appreciate that you've let us into your house.

- I'm not debating the fact you've been respectful

to my house and to my people.

So, I honestly don't think I would interrogate you

to the point where if you said,

"I don't want to talk about that,"

I would say, "OK, that's fine,

"we'll talk about something else."

So, I'd like you to respect me in the same way.

Can we turn the camera off for a second?

Pull the plug. Pull the plug for a second.

What for?

- Nothing crazy. - [laughs]

Don't get all fucking alarmed.

- No, no, no. It's fine. - Just for free talk,

to not feel like we're being filmed.

I would really rather not say.

- I would really rather you tell me.

I've exposed myself.

I've exposed my family.

I've exposed my brothers, my sisters and my children.

Expose yourself now.

- I'll answer any... I'll...

Let's leave it at that, can we, please?

- We will in just a second.

[strains and grunts]

- Let's go inside.

Go inside.

[animated chatter]

[woman sings with acoustic guitar]

[cheering]

- Here's the file about April, Lamb and Lynx.

The woman who was raising her kids

to be in a sort of Nazi pop group.

That's what they would look like at the time.

That's not a brilliant picture, but...

Producer: What was your memory of seeing them

for the first time, then?

- Even though they did... stiff-armed Nazi salutes,

right, the two kids, as part of their performance,

I couldn't quite...

It didn't fit into any of my understanding

of what the scene, you know,

the Nazi or skinhead scene was like,

the fact there was two little girls.

♪ I want to tell you about South Africa ♪

♪ And the so-called fight for freedom ♪

♪ The march for black resistance ♪

♪ And the communists who lead them ♪

♪ Not too far away in Angola

♪ And near home Zimbabwe

♪ The Marxist Black dictators

♪ Are looking south in fear to see ♪

♪ Strikeforce

♪ White survival

♪ Strikeforce, yeah

♪ Strikeforce gonna kill their rivals ♪

♪ Strikeforce into the devil's lair. ♪

- What is the idea behind...

..creating this group out of them?

- I think they're going to be an example

and they're going to show

how being proud of your race

is something that would be very appealing.

You know, I mean, what young, red-blooded American boy

isn't going to find two blonde twins,

16 years old,

singing about white pride and pride in your race,

wh...? Who...?

Very few are not gonna find that very appealing.

You could see that...

..they were both...you know, wanting to be dutiful daughters

and respectful of their mum

and sort of pay lip service to the beliefs,

but that it didn't come that naturally to them.

Are there things that they're forbidden,

that other kids have,

things that you deny them?

- Gameboys, we don't...

- Yeah, I'm not much for the Nintendo computer games.

- What about on racial terms, though?

- Oh, we've got Ethnic Cleansing,

but we don't play that very often.

- What's that? - That's a...a computer game

that the National Alliance puts out

called...it's called Ethnic Cleansing.

It's basically a shoot-'em-up computer game

in which, basically, a skinhead goes through a ghetto

and shoots Blacks and Mexicans.

- Do you like it? - Mm-hm.

It's really hard, though, 'cause, of course,

all the people that you shoot have guns, too.

- They're shooting back.

They hide in bushes and stuff.

They're like perched up on basketball hoops

and stuff, climbing in trees and stuff.

So, you've got to watch out,

and then when you hear this gorilla sound,

they make gorilla sounds.

It goes, "Oo-oo-oo," like that,

and you go, wee, like that, and then you shoot it.

Is that a good idea, do you think, April?

- It seems a little, er... - Vulgar?

- OK. [April laughs]

♪ They call me Nazi and I'm proud of that ♪

♪ They call me racist and I shout it out loud ♪

♪ I'm proud of my race and proud of my land ♪

♪ White brothers and sisters come raise your hand ♪

♪ We're an 88 rock 'n' roll band ♪

♪ We're an 88 rock 'n' roll band... ♪

- April was just April, she always will be.

She'll always have the same views.

She's incapable of...

I would argue, like, at this point,

incapable of change.

She sees everything through a racial lens.

She never switches off.

- This is my dad, Bill Gaede.

- Bill Gaede. - Yeah.

Right now, all the people

have been so politically correct,

they wouldn't say shit

if they had a mouth full of it, you know?

But now that people are beginning...

to see what's going on and they're beginning...

their backbone's beginning to straighten up a little bit

and get a little stiffer...

..all the white people are.

- I'm a multiculturalist.

- Are you? - Yeah.

- Do you usually date white women?

So far.

That's what you find attractive.

Does Jewish count as white?

- No. - No, not in our books.

Why not? [Bill laughs]

Theroux narrates: After the film came out,

it caused quite a stir

and, for a while,

well, it led to more coverage.

Sometimes, I had the sense they were trolling the media

because I remember there was a moment

when a news story appeared

about T-shirts that they were wearing

with a kind of Hitler smiley face.

Then it went quiet, until 2011.

Newsreader: We first introduced you

to twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede five years ago,

but these adorable, freckle-faced twins

weren't singing songs of love,

but songs of hate.

Theroux narrates: A glossy daytime TV segment

reported that the twins had renounced their beliefs.

Newsreader: But now, at age 19,

the young duo formerly known as Prussian Blue

say they've changed their neo-Nazi ways.

Theroux narrates: They describe themselves now as very liberal

and have openly apologised for the things they said

and did in the past.

Hello?

- Hey. [dog barks]

- Oh, my goodness.

I can see, from where I'm sitting,

I'm going to say that's Lynx on the left

and Lamb on the right.

This is Lynx and I'm Lamb.

- Yeah, that's what I thought. - Yeah.

And who's the little person?

- This is my daughter, Oslo.

- It's lovely to see you.

It's 16 years since we last spoke.

Yeah.

- I think you'd probably be entitled

to be a little angry...

..about what happened to you, right?

That you were too young. You were ten years old

when you were being put on stage

singing... white nationalist music.

- Mm-hm. - Do you feel that at all?

Not any more.

When we were teenagers,

there definitely was a lot of resentment

and anger and, you know,

blame being placed upon my mum,

but now it's more just pity.

Like, those little girls were so separate

from what we are now.

Like, we're very removed, even watching it,

it's very hard to even kind of comprehend.

- We didn't understand fully, like...

..how controversial the subject was.

Racism and those beliefs,

they are taught and they are learned,

and they can also be unlearned and untaught.

Lunch, guys.

Do you want to come down for lunch?

- Yeah.

- Thanks, Fred. Al?

Our beliefs are part of the quest

that we pass on to those around us,

and especially to our children,

so it carries with it a weight of responsibility.

And there's also the undeniable fact

that many of those most in need of belief,

those searching for it most fervently,

have some vulnerability about them.

We should have cameras around more often,

I think everyone's a bit better behaved.

- Do you want something else?

- That's definitely something I've noticed over the years.

- Can you give us a little tour?

Well, this is it.

I have a little altar

to help me remember.

- You know, there's something in me that wants to believe

and there's also something in me

that stops me from believing, just in general.

You know, I get moved in churches.

When I go to a cathedral or a church or...

..a mosque, or whatever it may be.

A temple...

I can, um, I can find that powerful experience...

..and I envy people

who have unconditional or mystical beliefs...

..and, at the same time,

I can't quite embrace that myself.

[man yells] Oh, God, oh, Jesus.

Touch! To the Holy Ghost. Touch! To the Holy Ghost.

Touch! Touch! Touch!

That's His power.

[woman cries and mutters]

- [whispers] Thank you, Jesus.

[crying] Completely healed.

- Are you OK? - She's wonderful.

- Are you sure? - Oh, yes, I know. I know.

[woman laughs]

I used to be a homosexual.

- She was. She got delivered during the revival.

- I used to smoke pot.

I used to smoke cigarettes.

I used to live at the bars,

gay bars, that is.

I'm 30 and... Oh!

I'm 30 and I was gay all my life,

- but the Lord delivered me. - Yeah.

It seems like every day,

I get delivered from something else

that I didn't even know I had.

- Transmission cards...

..from back in the day.

Season two of 'Weird Weekends'.

"The boy from the BBC

"makes a host of new friends

"in places you've never seen before."

Marshall Sylver... [Aussie accent] Hello?

[sing-song] Marshall Sylver...

[normal voice] Passion, Profit and Power.

"It's not enough to learn. One must become."

It's like... Pound Shop Nietzsche.

Producer: How did you become aware of him?

I had been watching TV late one night in America

and I saw an infomercial.

Imagine being able to overcome your limitations,

to believe in new-found powers and abilities,

and to use those skills

to create the life of your dream.

You know, I'd been a fan of infomercials generally,

and especially the ones that were about getting rich

or changing your life,

because they're like spiritual figures in a way,

the infomercial gurus...

..but they're using the language,

the sort of vernacular language of American commerce

to sell you life-changing results.

Take it to a more practical level now.

Imagine being able to duplicate the mind and thoughts,

the body and physiology

and the emotional intensity of the ultra wealthy

to produce wealth and financial abundance

in your life.

When would be a good time to start

creating a life of adventure

rather than a life of maintenance?

How about right now?

Welcome to Passion, Profit and Power.

My name is Marshall Sylver.

I recognised in me a tug towards the simplicity

that the...that the message contained.

You know, the idea that, "Oh, it's very simple.

"You just do one, two, three, four, five

"and then you become a multimillionaire,

"successful, and in charge of your life."

There's a part of me

that craves that level of simplicity

and almost finds the idea of the self-sacrifice

that that entails quite appealing.

At an auditorium in Las Vegas,

Marshall was presenting a day-long free seminar

for local businesspeople to show them techniques

that would help them become more successful.

- A lot of people!

So, what's in it for Marshall, then?

Is he also hoping to sell stuff to these people later?

Correct. So, he knows,

later on, after you give to people,

they'll want more and you give them what they want.

They'll pay the price.

I've spent tens of thousand dollars

on Marshall Sylver, on his seminars.

- You have? - Correct.

- Tens of thousands? Correct.

- The way it worked was...

..you see the infomercial,

you go along to a free event.

So, that's where I first intersected

with Marshall's story.

Announcer: So, I want to give a great big Las Vegas welcome

to Mr Marshall Sylver.

Theroux narrates: The event was really a chance

for Marshall to sell his other products,

one called Turning Point,

a $500 weekend of personal growth,

and the other for $5,000 was a ten-week course

called the Millionaire Mentorship Program.

- Stand up and say, "Oh, yeah!"

Crowd: Oh, yeah!

- If you're still seated, you're not going to get it.

Stand up for me.

Theroux narrates: And it's a portrait

of a certain slice of America

'cause, you know, it exists, probably, all over,

but especially America and especially in Las Vegas.

- A multi-millionaire, how many of you...

- The cult of getting rich,

the importance of being a success.

- When I meet him, should I call him...

- How should I address him? Man: Marshall's fine.

- Not Mr Sylver?

- No, you don't have to call him Mr Sylver!

- Good to see you.

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us.

- Of course. - Thanks for inviting us

- to your event. - I'm so glad you're here.

- Welcome to Vegas. - It's amazing.

I feel like you've got quite a powerful effect.

You know, you've got a very steady gaze.

- Oh, you're just saying that! - No, no, seriously.

Actually, what's weird is I find it hard to concentrate

on what you're actually saying...

Because it feels like you might just relax...

..because I feel like I'm falling into your eyes.

- ..and fall over. - Do you know what I mean?

- Of course not. - No!

- You know, that false front of friendliness

that he presented,

this sort of vigilant assessment

of what's going on, like, he was kind of...

behind his smiles

was this suspicion

and, um... And a sense of distance.

- Even if you think we're only telling you to do it

for our personal gain,

how many of you are willing to trust us

and follow through and do what we tell you to do?

Theroux narrates: So, I went along

to his Turning Point seminar, the weekend-long event,

hoping to get the measure of the clientele he attracted

and what he was offering.

- What has attacked your self-esteem so much?

What is it that brings the tears up

inside of your heart?

- I know it's just, like, right within my grasp

to have everything I want.

Won't put enough effort into it to go and get it or do it,

and then I feel defeated again.

It's becoming a really vicious cycle

and it's starting to take its toll on me.

- You're afraid right now

that time is running out, aren't you?

- Yes, I am. - Thank you. That's the fear.

Theroux narrates: What came across was that

these were people with real needs...

- What do you want?

Confidence.

- ..investing time, energy and money

in something that...

..seems evidently...

..you know, questionable,

but, at the same time, there's some sadness there

and then there's a little part of you

that wants to believe.

- Did you grow up poor? - Um...yeah.

- OK. So, what do you want?

You don't want financial stability.

You want to live better, don't you?

- Yes. - You want more money.

- Yes. - It's OK to want more money.

I feel a little bit like there's peer pressure on me

- to put my hand up. - Mm-hm.

It's part of hypnosis.

He's kind of hypnotising us.

- Oh, yeah. What if it were true

that Marshall lived in a mobile home

and was on welfare?

What if it were true

that he's never even kissed a girl in his life?

- Yeah, and he goes off the stage

and cackles and says, "Those suckers!"

- Right. - Yeah, what about that?

Well, what if that were true

and, yet, because of their perception of what he is,

they change their life and they became millionaires

and they had successful relationships?

So, you're saying

even a charlatan can create real results?

- Oh, definitely.

There are charlatans, as you say.

And yet...

..if it's a charlatan that creates a miracle,

the key is that the miracle was created.

Does the millionaire membership plan

- really work, really? - No.

- No? - Not for you.

- No? - It would never work for you...

..'cause you have to have the faith of a mustard seed

and you have none.

I can teach you skills.

You still have to get over your scepticism,

which is something you learned, by the way.

So, as much as it seems like your scepticism

- is healthy... - Yeah.

..my belief in something is also as scary

as your scepticism is scary to you.

Not that long after we finished filming...

..there was a prosecution.

Nine counts of theft

by obtaining money under false pretences.

Newsreader: Marshall Sylver

faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

Jean Puffer knows Sylver well.

He paid four grand to join the program,

hoping to use Sylver's techniques

to start his own business.

But when his venture never took off,

he wanted the cheerful refund

he claims Sylver promised.

What he says he got was anything but cheerful.

Some of the stories that came back

were kind of extraordinary.

Like, people who'd paid thousands of dollars

to be on the program were assigned a mentor,

only to have the mentor,

in one case, come in and live with the guy,

the person, the student...

..for several months

and then steal his car

and raise $10,000 on his credit card.

Newsreader: We tried to find him today

at his 9,000 square foot home, but he wasn't there.

- In the end, there was a hung jury,

so there was no conviction.

It turned out he had quite a colourful pre-history.

He'd done six months in federal prison

for counterfeiting $50 bills.

And there was also a suit brought by a woman

who worked for him

claiming verbal sexual harassment.

She said he told her that he could give her

a one-hour orgasm.

In the end, he settled before it went to trial.

But it was just a lot of cheesy, creepy stuff.

[cheering and applause]

Wow! Oh, good. Hi, sweetie.

- Now, he's still doing it,

in the same slick video packages,

with their cheesy effects and catchphrases,

seemingly as successful as ever.

- I could take any one of you in this room,

and some I already have,

and I certainly could take any one of you

watching this from your home,

and, within 12 months, make you a millionaire.

If you'd like me to pick you, you say, "Oh, yeah."

Crowd: Oh, yeah. - Oh, yeah.

- The number one tool you need to learn to make more money

are the skills of irresistible influence.

Irresistible influence is getting someone

to beg you for what you're selling

and have them believe it was their idea. [chuckles]

Gets me giddy every time I think about it.

How many of you in this room, and you at home,

would want someone

to influence you to buy something for $3,000

that came back as over 200 million?

Put your hand up. If you're at home,

type "oh, yeah" into the chat.

If it's too difficult to say,

"Oh, yeah," or type in, "Oh, yeah",

your life's already guaranteed to suck.

Guaranteed to suck!

[crowd chants 'Trump' repeatedly]

- This is something that they haven't really seen before.

I think they're saying

they've never seen anything like this before.

Our country does not win any more.

We don't win against ISIS.

We don't win with trade.

We will begin working

on an impenetrable, physical,

tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall.

From this day forward,

a new vision will govern our land.

From this day forward,

it's going to be only America first.

You made it look a little easier than I'm finding it.

What do you think people in Britain are going to think

when they see you on this tape?

- That I'm a radical nut.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

But that's OK.

I think my kids think I'm a radical nut.

- Really? - Yeah.

When we spoke back in '96,

it was during the middle of Bill Clinton's second term.

I'm just wondering, as you look round now,

in a world that's very different,

what do you think about Trump?

- I think Trump represents...

..what is great about being an American.

I don't always like

the way he head-butts with people,

but I admire him for doing it.

- What do you see happening...

..in the next five or ten years?

- We're going to be living

in a free and happy world, ultimately.

What strife and what years it's going to take

to get to that point, I don't know.

That's going to be my children

and grandchildren's problem

to get that solved and I think they will,

because I don't think there's a power on this Earth...

..that can keep down the human spirit.

Something tells me this isn't going to be

the last time we speak, Mike.

I don't know why, but, uh, it's always a pleasure.

Let's catch up again.

Whenever it happens, I'll look forward to it.

I will, too, Louis,

and say hi to your lovely wife.

I will.

- Give your boys a hug.

Thank you. Take care, Mike.

- Alright. Bye-bye. - Bye.

- Just think about who Mike has previously

been associated with.

Think about how he sees the world.

Idaho hillside dwelling,

end-times believing,

fire-breathing patriot.

Mike's beliefs didn't have to change.

Mike still believes, more or less,

the same things he always believed...

..but now he has, in the White House,

a president he sees as an ally.

It's kind of amazing, when you think about it.

♪ Well, well, well, well, well ♪

- ♪ That's alright

♪ Oh, yes, it is That's alright... ♪

- Belief in general, real sincere belief, faith,

for want of a better term, is like rocket fuel.

It powers you into achieving things

that you would think would be outside your grasp.

It might seem wrong-headed,

incorrect, even ludicrous,

even dangerous,

but this set of beliefs,

that may have no connection with reality,

can have a real impact

on how you turn your life around.

I call myself an atheist only very grudgingly

because I sort of am a fan of...

religion, although not...of God.

You know, people say,

"Oh, don't believe in religion, believe in God."

I feel like it's the other way round.

Like, I think I believe in religion more than God.

It's rocket fuel.

Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv