Chameleon: Various Seasons
4.8/5
Critic Rating
A wellness center some called Miracle Ranch, nestled in the scenic mountains of Southern California, promised a luxurious escape and a path to wellness through clean, alkaline living. Its leader, Dr. Robert O. Young, attracted wealthy clientele with his “groundbreaking” health protocols and friendly, family-man persona. But beneath the serene surface, Miracle Ranch harbored a dark secret. The people who stayed there didn’t get better; they got worse. Through legal documents and candid interviews with former patients and employees, law enforcement officials, and affected family members, this series unravels the chilling true story of one man who convinced scores of peo...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Sarah Larson • New Yorker • Dec 3, 2024
"(Season: The Michigan Plot) delivers a novel’s worth of vivid characters, so tragicomic they feel like satire. “The Michigan Plot,” by bringing us into the group, captures the strange bittersweet irony of how the desire for community, and even for connection, can sometimes lead to the destruction of both."
Score: 3
Rebecca Lavoie, Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker & Toby Ball • Crime Writers On • Sep 26, 2024
"(Season: Dr. Miracle) ... the rise and fall of "doctor" Robert Young seemed wholly predictable. Host Larrison Campbell, who wowed us in "Devil in the Ditch," doesn't get to display fully her narrative voice. That might have made this journey a bit more entertaining."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Feb 5, 2024
"(Season: The Michigan Plot) I would listen to FBI informants pretending to be militia members. That sounds pretty cool. But this podcast is asking a critical question: was it an almost-kidnapping? Or was the FBI wrong?...I’m on pins and needles."
Score: 5
Remy Varga • The Australian • Sep 15, 2023
"(Season: Gallery of Lies) Stephen is granted unfettered access to Achenbach and gets up close and personal. The podcast kind of buries the lede, relying on listeners to be familiar with the story of Achenbach and spends most of episode one hanging out with the art dealer on a Spanish island. Later episodes get into the juicier stuff, such as the fraud, excess and art. The series also explores the rise of the contemporary art market."
Score: 5
Hannah Verdier • The Guardian • Sep 7, 2023
"(Season: Gallery of Lies) There’s forgery, fraud and glamour, but also a tough childhood as he tells host Bijan Stephen about his mother cooking his pet rabbit. "
Score: 5
PR Staff • PodcastReview.org • Sep 6, 2023
"(Season: Gallery of Lies) a six-episode romp...the series is a glimpse into the darker side of the art world and is sure to enthrall. …"
Score: 5
Rebecca Lavoie, Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker & Toby Ball • Crime Writers On • Feb 2, 2023
"(Season: Dr. Dante) Host Sam Mullins tells Dante's story in an engaging way. The series' final scene - Dante's comeback show - had us on the edge of our seats."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Jan 16, 2023
"(Season: Dr. Dante)...after listening to two episodes of this show, I am convinced is the most interesting person you probably haven’t heard of before. He’s not just any scammer, he’s a hypnotizing one. "
Score: 5
Hannah Verdier • The Guardian • Jan 12, 2023
"(Season: Dr. Dante) Sam Mullins tells the alarming but entertaining story of how the “tall, dark, Vegas-handsome” scammer got rid of his rivals..."
Score: 5
Mara Davis • Paste Magazine • Dec 19, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) ...the more they got to know them, the stranger their back story seemed to become. It gets much more interesting when Mullins brings you to the present day and where they are now. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out, their story takes another turn."
Score: 4
Ximena Smith • Stuff NZ • Aug 13, 2022
"(Season 4: Scam Likely) Season three (Wild Boys) of Chameleon was brilliant, and I had high hopes for this latest season, but so far, it feels like it's lacking the personal touch that made last season so outstanding. …"
Score: 5
Stephen O. • Podcast Delivery • Aug 8, 2022
"(Season: Scam Likely) If you’ve never been affected by a scam, this will be eye-opening for you. Reporter Yudhijit Bhattacharjee delves into the seedy underbelly of scams being run out of call centers on the other side of the world in India and reminds us that it’s really more of an industry than a few opportune cons. Scam Likely is the closest thing to a police ride-along for your ears and really sets the bar high. This time around though, you'll have a better idea of what to expect on the other end of the line."
Score: 5
Hollie Richardson • The Guardian • Aug 4, 2022
"(Season: Scam Likely) This gripping podcast series takes that fear to the next level, with host Yudhijit Bhattacharjee following a team unravelling one of the biggest call centre scams ever pulled…"
Score: 5
Jess Joho • Mashable • Jul 1, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) ...officials began to question this shocking tale...a far sadder secret is revealed through their lies."
Score: 5
Andy Dehnart • Reality Blurred • May 30, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys)...even if you do Google the story, or remember the news, I almost guarantee you have no idea what happened behind those headlines, and that’s where Wild Boys excels. It deepens our understanding while taking some unexpected twists and turns."
Score: 5
Patricia Nicol • The Times UK • Apr 10, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) An engrossing and strange real-life story...Journalist Sam Mullins, a Vernon teenager at the time, skilfully weaves a gripping nine-part series."
Score: 4.7
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Apr 4, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) The most interesting podcast in the category of the New Year so far comes from Chameleon. Wild Boys ends up being a fascinating story about the spirit of small-town life and the aftermath when that spirit is taken advantage of…"
Score: 5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Apr 2, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) It’s not quite true crime, but it is a true story...It’s beautifully paced, with excellent cliffhangers and much care in the sound production. Presenter Sam Mullins is great and he, eventually, even talks to the boys themselves, now adults. (A quick warning: this show isn’t for anyone triggered by discussion of eating disorders.) I was gripped and surprised throughout Wild Boys, right up to the final episode. It really doesn’t go where you think it will. Recommended."
Score: 4.5
Wendy J. Fox • PodcastReview.org • Apr 1, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) While this podcast could have ended in a chilling manner, Mullins is an affable host as he shares his own relationship to something that happened in his hometown, and he’s also very Canadian. The importance of place is a complicated undercurrent that runs beneath Wild Boys. Mullins is successful in creating context for listeners who don’t know about this part of the world, and equally successful in creating recognition for those who do: As someone who grew up very close to the American side of the same border that Will and Tom slipped across, I would have believed them too."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Feb 28, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) I love the pacing of Wild Boys—it spent the perfect amount of time setting up a strange story, took a break, and now is picking up the pieces with the final four episodes."
Score: 4.9
Keelin • Mentally? A Magpie. • Feb 22, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys)The first few minutes of this podcast had me hooked. For one, I needed to double-check that yes this is a documentary-style podcast. The audio production had me drifting into “this is totally a drama, I just opened a drama”. Nope. It’s just a captivating piece of audio narrative, reporting easily and well. I thoroughly am enjoying the “not as horrifying” true crime aspect of Wild Boys. This is an excellent podcast for those of us who may need a break from death, but still like the suspense of a good mystery."
Score: 5
Simon Hill • Wired • Feb 20, 2022
"(Season: Hollywood Con Queen) This weird, compelling, investigative podcast unwinds a deeply satisfying twisty tale that’s mercifully free of blood and violence."
Score: 5
Lizzy Steiner • Crime Reads • Feb 4, 2022
"(Season: Wild Boys) While the events documented in this show took place the same year Wildboyz debuted, this pod follows a decidedly different—but no less wild!—pair of male specimens."
Score: 5
Catherine McGregor • The Spinoff NZ • Aug 24, 2021
"If you’re looking for an enthralling true crime tale but aren’t mentally prepared for intense descriptions of violence and murder, this is the one for you...this is the first podcast in a long time that I’ve devoured in a single day – all 10 episodes of it. As always with these kinds of stories, the less you already know, the better: this one has some jaw-dropping twists you really don’t want spoiled."
Score: 4.9
Emma Dibdin • New York Times • Feb 16, 2021
"(Hollywood Con Queen) As the journalists Josh Dean and Vanessa Grigoriadis unpack the story throughout this 10-part series, it becomes clear that this is not a simple financial fraud, but a darker and more twisted power game that preys on the vulnerability of Hollywood hopefuls."
