Putting the “cult” in culture… Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about the Royal Family? What about Disney Adults? Or spiritual influencers? Is Instagram itself a cult? We’re Sounds Like A Cult, an iHeart Radio Award-winning podcast that analyzes a different fanatical group every week to try and answer the big question: This ~sounds~ like a cult, but is it really? Created and hosted by New York Times-bestselling author Amanda Montell, co-hosted and produced by Chelsea Charles, Reese Oliver, and Iman Hariri Kia.
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Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
The Cult of Shrek
Grab your onions, this week, Reese and Iman are entering The Cult of Shrek, a fandom that somehow evolved from a beloved children’s movie into an online religion (or dare
Sep 15 52 min
The Cult of Incels
We’re taking a little holiday break this week, but unfortunately, incels are not. With the “male loneliness epidemic” becoming a bigger part of the cultural conversation,
Sep 8 1 h 16 min
The Cult of Bellum Entertainment
This week, Chelsea and Iman investigate The Cult of Bellum Entertainment, the true crime production company whose founder, Mary Carol McDonald, allegedly spent years buil
Sep 1 59 min
The Cult of Celebrity Wellness Brands
This week, Reese dives into The Cult of Celebrity Wellness Brands, where skincare, mental health, spirituality, supplements, and good old-fashioned celebrity worship have
Aug 25 1 h 07 min
The Cult of Dark Tourism
This week, Amanda is joined by author and travel writer Sheila Yasmin Marikar (@sheilaym) to descend into The Cult of Dark Tourism, the booming travel industry built arou
Aug 18 1 h 05 min
The Cult of Lush
Prepare to be love bombed by a bath bomb. This week, Iman follows her nose into the aggressively fragrant Cult of Lush with the Scam Goddess herself, Laci Mosley (@divala
Aug 11 52 min
The Cult of Sister Wives
This week, Chelsea, Reese, and Iman dive into The Cult of Sister Wives. Join us as we entice you with a little TLC chatter, before diving a bit deeper into the actual bel
Aug 4 48 min
The Cult of Y2K
Grab your flip phone, frost those lips, and feed your Tamagotchi. This week, Amanda, Reese, and Iman are (be kind) rewinding to The Cult of Y2K with PEN15 co-creator and
Jul 28 1 h 01 min
The Cult of Charity Scams
If you've ever donated to a GoFundMe after reading one heartbreaking Instagram caption... this episode is for you. This week, Chelsea and Iman are joined by bestselling a
Jul 21 1 h 02 min
The Cult of Conversion Therapy
If you thought conversion therapy disappeared sometime around low-rise jeans and flip phones, you'd be very, very wrong. This week, Amanda and Reese are joined by Timothy
Jul 14 51 min
The Cult of Women for Trump
She's blonde. She's patriotic. She's wearing a Bible verse on her T-shirt while telling immigrants to go back where they came from. She's voting for Trump. This week we'r
Jul 7 1 h 02 min
The Cult of Gooning
Today's episode is brought to you by Incognito Mode. This week, Amanda, Reese, and Iman descend into one of the internet's strangest corners: The Cult of Gooning. Joined
Jun 30 56 min
The Cult of Enneagram
You're not controlling, you're a 1. You're not dramatic, you're a 4. You're not avoiding your problems, you're a 7. This week, certified 3's, Reese and Iman investigate t
Jun 23 49 min
The Cult of MAHA
What do seed oils, vaccine skepticism, beef tallow, and a guy with a dead bear in Central Park have in common? Welcome to the Cult of MAHA. This week, Amanda, Reese, Chel
Jun 16 1 h 15 min
The Cult of Theater Camp
Maybe you hated the kids who went. Maybe you were just mildly annoyed by them. Maybe, you were one of them. No matter your relation, most people have encountered today’s
Jun 9 1 h 03 min
The Cult of The Sims
Sul sul, culties. Remove the pool ladder and cancel your real-life plans, because this week Reese is joined by guest host Amanda Kohr (@amandamkohr) of This Feels Bi to u
Jun 2 46 min
The Cult of Chess
The timer starts now, cultie. This week’s cult is one that some find boring, some find thrilling, and some particularly fell into via a certain Netflix show starring Anya
May 26 49 min
The Cult of Tradwife Influencers
When we first aired this episode, the “tradwife” trend felt like a bizarre internet niche. Two years later, tradwife culture has only exploded. This week, we’re revisiti
May 19 1 h 15 min
The Cult of Homesteaders
Have the events of recent years made you want to walk off into a grassy meadow, never to return? Does the idea of being in touch with nature, totally separate from the di
May 12 56 min
The Cult of Renaissance Faires
Hear ye, hear ye! These culty wenches doth have-est a new episode for thine ears. Grab your turkey legs and your chainmail because we are galavanting into the culty lair
May 5 49 min
Chart trend
Position in the Society & Culture chart (US), last 90 days.
#1#88#174JunJulAugSep
#20
all-time peak
23
days in the top 50 since Jan 2025
Chart positions
Where Sounds Like A Cult ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Sep 17, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
The older episodes of this show are really enjoyable and informative. I enjoyed the episodes with Isa and the season where Amanda had a guest host come on was great because they brought their knowledge about the subject matter to enrich the episode. The quality has really decreased, unfortunately, in the newest season with the new hosts that have been added. It is a lot of giggling and joking and very little information. I unfollowed. I think the new hosts and new tone might be designed to reach a younger demographic, which might be more suited to other listeners. I just preferred the way it was before.
MLV35 · Dec 2024
I just found this podcast because of two girls one ghost and I’m in love! All I have is time to listen to music in podcasts because I’m a mobile dog groomer and I have to say that I binged this podcast so fast. I love hearing intellectual conversations with a mix of silliness. Also really loving Amanda’s other podcast which I will do a review for! Thanks for all your work ladies!
Mrah92 · Dec 2024
I love this podcast! Amanda’s wit, humor, smarts and insights are a breath of fresh air in this culty universe. If you haven’t read her book Cultish, highly recommend it too - that’s what led me to this podcast :)
MaximusTheBrilliant · Dec 2024
Truly enjoy the discussions on this pod. Now and then the guest is underwhelming but the topics never disappoint. And neither does Amanda. Alright podcaster, writer, thinker, fun human, pop off ☺️
E Lulu · Nov 2024
I just turned off the latest episode after the 3rd ad break repeated itself and was over 6 minutes long. I know you need to make money, but I just can’t do 3-4 breaks that are over 5 minutes each. I hope they reign in the amount and length of breaks soon! (And yes, I know I could subscribe to get rid of ads but I also cannot do another subscription omg our whole lives are paywalled). Otherwise it’s a great podcast.
Scootsbagoots · Dec 2024
I was recommended this because I like You’re Wrong About. I enjoyed the first few episodes, but over time I realized there’s little to no factual statements about the groups they talk about and often it just perpetuates stereotypes, it’s fully just their opinions. Which would be fine if they marketed it like that or if it were funny at all, but it’s not. If people want to learn about obscure things from a well-researched POV, there are plenty of better podcasts! This missed the mark for me, not funny enough to be comedy and not thoughtful enough to be informative.
hellofromDC · Dec 2024
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