<p>Author, Speaker, Whistleblower and award-winning Director Mark Vicente was behind the sleeper hit “What The Bleep Do We Know?!” Several books have been written about the film’s remarkable grassroots marketing campaign, which led to its unprecedented success.Mark was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1965. Taking his first photograph at age four, he quickly discovered his passion for being behind the camera. After attending film and drama school in South Africa, he began working his way up the ranks of the camera department, from Assistant to Operator to Cinematographer. His first big break came as Director of Photography on the musical “SARAFINA,” starring Whoopi Goldberg. In 1992, he set his sights on Hollywood and relocated to Los Angeles to shoot his first studio picture for Disney; “FATHERHOOD,” starring Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry. At the age of 26, he became one of the youngest cinematographers to shoot a big-budget studio picture. Over the next few decades, he went on to shoot an additional 14 feature films and numerous documentaries, music videos and commercials. Mark soon found there were in him, untold stories he desperately wanted to express as a Director. He was driven by the conviction that tales of greatness, nobility and introspection could be exciting and financially successful. Perhaps because of the very obvious race and class iniquities in South Africa, he found himself propelled to question certain fundamental assumptions at a very young age. Beliefs about human behavior, cosmology, religion, existentialism and mysticism. Along the way, he stumbled into a few situations where leaders with malignant pathologies (masquerading as saintly philosophers) spoke the talk of self-improvement but did untold damage to their followers... and him. Looking back, he can now say he has been in at last two cults. His last foray into personal growth and his defection from NXIVM was chronicled in the HBO series “The Vow”. Mark and a few plucky whist</p>
I've seen this before. Not something like this. Not a similar version of this. This. The same playbook. The same psychological architecture. Just a different face.
For the video version of this podcast, head over to Youtube.
My name is Mark Vicente. I'm a filmmaker and a former member of NXIVM, the cult run by Keith Raniere, who is currently serving 120 years in federal prison. I was one of the whistleblowers who helped bring that organization down. That experience was chronicled in The Vow on HBO.
This is Inst@Guru, a new investigative podcast series going inside the world of Bentinho Massaro. Dutch. Blonde. Blue-eyed. Charming. Self-proclaimed enlightened being. Claims his penis has healing properties. Claims he's going to awaken civilization by 2035. Believes he's Ra, an extraterrestrial being in human form, here to correct a cosmic mistake.
He still has followers. He launched a new app in 2025. The machine is still running.
At the center of this series are three people who were inside his world, some of them deep inside, some of them for years. They call themselves the Three Amigos. Their names are Jacqueline Graham, Keilan McNeil, and Jade Alectra. All three broke their NDAs, agreements carrying significant six-figure penalty clauses, because they felt they had no choice.
I believe them.
In this episode, Jacqueline Graham tells her story from the beginning. Not from Bentinho... from herself. From who she was before any of this: a Canadian mother of three, a raw vegan restaurateur, a lifelong spiritual seeker who genuinely wanted to understand the deeper nature of reality. She found Bentinho on YouTube in 2013. By 2019, she was his girlfriend. By 2020, he had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars of her money.
This episode covers how it started. The teachings. The retreat in the Netherlands. The moment she watched the women around him fall apart and told herself: "I wouldn't act like that." The love bombing. The pedestalling. The first withdrawal. And the decision, standing in a hotel room in Panama after $80,000 had vanished overnight, that she was never going to doubt him again.
That decision is where Episode 1 ends. It is not where the story ends.
Bentinho Massaro, the invitation remains. Talk to me. Publicly.
CAST OF CHARACTERS link coming soon.
Want to go deeper? Join the Patreon community, people who understand this world, who engage with the work as it's being made, and who get behind-the-scenes access, early information, and invites to special screenings. Link below.
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
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THIS IS PART 2. In Part 1, I sat down with Margot Lane and Mara Moon - two former bandmates of Corey Feldman's Corey's Angels - to hear how they were drawn in: the love bombing, the false promises, the body shaming, and the slow erosion of their boundaries. If you haven't seen Part 1 yet, go there first.
Part 2 is where things escalate. On tour, the abuse ramps up: sleep deprivation, no bed, drug use, coerced sexual situations, and a moment of witnessing another woman being abused that became the breaking point. We also get into the NDA, Margot's labor board victory, what role Courtney played in the abuse of other women, and what Margot and Mara think is really driving Corey Feldman's behavior.
We close with something genuinely useful: their advice to anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation. Document everything. Get out. Get therapy. Find your support system.
The patterns these women describe are the same ones that show up in coercive control situations again and again. This story matters.
Watch Corey Feldman vs. The World before listening - it will make this conversation much more meaningful.
https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/corey-feldman-vs-the-world/umc.cmc.638hs9xgsfcmdcgkyn7s7m51u
Narcissist's Playbook - watch the trailer at http://www.narcissistsplaybook.com
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
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In this first part of a two-part episode, I sit down with Margot Lane and Mara Moon; two former bandmates of Corey Feldman who were part of his group, 'Corey's Angels'. Both women were subjects of the documentary film Corey Feldman vs. The World, directed by Marcie Hume, whom I interviewed in a previous episode.
Margot and Mara share how they were each drawn into Feldman's world, lured by promises of a music career, financial stability, and a fresh start, and what they found once they arrived. From body shaming and food restriction to controlled movement and psychological manipulation, their stories reveal a deeply troubling pattern that will be familiar to anyone who has studied or experienced coercive control.
I also address the apparent PR campaign working to silence those who speak out... and explain why silencing people almost always has the opposite effect.
This is Part 1. Part 2 drops next week.
Watch Corey Feldman vs. The World before listening — it will make this conversation much more meaningful.
https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/corey-feldman-vs-the-world/umc.cmc.638hs9xgsfcmdcgkyn7s7m51u
Narcissist's Playbook — watch the trailer at www.narcissistsplaybook.com
00:00 Cold Open – Mara's Warning
00:22 Introduction & Context
01:00 The PR Silencing Campaign
02:00 Does Abuse Justify Abuse? The Streisand Effect
03:34 Why This Story Matters
04:02 Who Were Margot and Mara Before?
06:43 Why They Said Yes — The Promise of Opportunity
08:18 Entering Corey's World – First Impressions
09:50 Red Flags Begin – Food, Body Shaming & Control
13:24 How It Felt to Be Targeted
15:17 Margot's Experience – Boundaries Under Fire
19:18 Patreon Cult Series Announcement
20:16 How They Were Hooked Through Their Art
22:24 Love Bombing & Flattery
23:45 The Polyamory Dynamic
25:13 Sexual Undertones & Coercion
28:32 The NDA, The Club & What Happened Next
38:02 End of Part 1 – See You Next Week
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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Africa Brooke and I did an Instagram Live right after the Epstein files dropped, and we didn't hold back. Africa is one of my closest friends, one of the most honest thinkers I know, and someone who has never been afraid to ask the questions most people would rather avoid.
We talked about evil... why good people struggle to recognize it, why they keep making excuses for it, and what it costs us when we do. We talked about the psychology of narcissists and psychopaths, why they need us more than we realize, and what it actually means to stop being their fuel. We went into the spiritual dimension of what's happening, the importance of protecting your nervous system without dissociating from reality, and what it looks like to find your center when everything around you is designed to destabilize you.
My film is Narcissist Playbook.
https://www.narcissistsplaybook.com/
https://africabrooke.com/
https://www.instagram.com/africabrooke/
00:00 Welcome, and why this conversation matters
9:10 NXIVM, waking up from a cult, and the obsession that followed
14:00 Interviewing self-confessed narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths
20:00 We are being psychologically operated on... and how to recognize it
26:15 Why they need our fear, and what it means that we can starve them
34:25 Locus of control... pulling yourself back inward
43:00 Stop looking to mommy and daddy government to fix what they created
53:35 How Africa and I met in Lisbon, and why I became a filmmaker
1:06:00 Don't dissociate... let your heart be broken and filled
1:16:00 Is it unethical to bring children into this world?
1:26:50 Sovereignty, initiation, and finding the grit inside yourself
1:36:40 Looking for omnipresent love in the creations instead of the creator
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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She watches up to fourteen documentaries a week! Not for school. Not for work. Because she’s obsessed.
In this episode of WTF Is On My Mind?, I sit down with Christie Boschman, known online as That Documentary Girl. Her platform has grown to over 4.5 million followers because she does one thing exceptionally well. She talks about documentaries with real passion.
But this is not just a conversation about movies.
We get into why audiences are drawn to dark stories, the psychology behind cult and crime narratives, the disturbing patterns around Epstein and powerful men protecting each other, and why so many great independent documentaries struggle to find distribution.
Christie watches up to fourteen documentaries a week. She has become a bridge between indie filmmakers and the public, helping projects go viral and, in some cases, helping them secure distribution.
NARCISSIST'S PLAYBOOK TRAILER
We also discuss:
• Why dark stories travel faster than hopeful ones
• The ethics of covering trauma and predatory behavior
• Narcissism and how predators operate
• Online backlash and the psychology of keyboard warriors
• Why streaming platforms play it safe
• Whether social media is becoming the new proof of concept for truth
00:00 The reel that sparked this conversation
02:05 Falling in love with documentaries and Sharkwater
05:15 Why making documentaries is brutal
07:50 The documentary industry is struggling
10:15 Why dark stories perform online
12:40 Watching darkness without losing yourself
15:30 Epstein, power circles, and why people look away
21:10 Kumare and how cult leaders are made
23:00 Adrenaline documentaries and survival stories
27:00 Why great indie docs can’t find distribution
31:30 Going viral and building a platform from obsession
34:45 Online backlash and calling out bad behavior
38:20 Unauthorized documentaries and controversy
45:00 The Narcissist’s Playbook
47:00 Stutz and the power of the twist
51:45 Christie’s family documentary and The Honey Children
56:00 Why documentaries deserve to be seen
59:00 Finding awe and the antidote to cynicism
Films and series mentioned in this episode:
The Vow
What the Bleep Do We Know?
Sharkwater
Kumare
Filthy Rich
Corey Feldman vs. The World
Peter Nygård: Unseen
Allen v. Farrow
The Deepest Breath
The Last Breath
Touching the Void
I Shouldn’t Be Alive
Free Solo
The Alpinist
The Final Member
Beyond Utopia
Maya and the Wave https://youtu.be/44ElZ_dqgMA?si=qBAh18a3eWsd2a1F
Norman & Norman
Stutz
Between the Mountain and the Sky
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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If you’re deeply committed to ideological purity or easily offended by nuance, this episode may be uncomfortable. And honestly, that might be the point. But if you’re a freethinker; someone who values truth over trend and curiosity over conformity, you’re going to have a great time.
Dr. Chloe Carmichael is a clinical psychologist and the bestselling author of Nervous Energy: Harness the Power of Your Anxiety. Her new book, “Can I Say That? Why Free Speech Matters and How to Use It Fearlessly”, dives deep into the psychological impact of censorship, not just on public discourse, but on our internal lives, relationships, and mental health.
In this conversation, we explore the emotional toll of self-censorship and how it quietly erodes authentic connection. We talk about the confusion between emotional discomfort and actual harm, and how that confusion is being used to justify silence. Dr. Chloe sheds light on how universities became epicenters of groupthink, and why we’re seeing a generation increasingly afraid of free thought. We discuss impression management, fragile egos, and the false selves people construct just to survive in today’s ideological climate. And yes, we even ask whether what we’re witnessing amounts to a kind of mass psychological regression.
Nothing is off the table, and that’s exactly the point.
CONNECT WITH DR. CHLOE
https://www.drchloe.com
https://www.freespeechtoday.com
Can I Say That? – Available wherever books are sold
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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Psychological abuse, narcissistic abuse, and gaslighting can completely distort your sense of reality and self-trust.
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Jaime Zuckerman about what survivors actually experience after emotional and psychological abuse—and how they begin to heal.
https://www.drjaimezuckerman.com/
We focus on reclaiming identity, rebuilding trust, and why “just get over it” is one of the most damaging things you can say to survivors.
This is my second conversation with Dr. Z. In our first episode, we spent a lot of time exploring the mind of the narcissist. This time, I wanted to shift the focus entirely to survivors.
When you’ve been psychologically abused or coercively controlled, the damage doesn’t end when the relationship ends. Reality can feel unstable. Your sense of self can collapse. Shame, self-blame, anger, and confusion can take over—and many people are left wondering if something is wrong with them.
In this conversation, we talk about what actually happens to a person after psychological abuse, why survivors often feel disconnected from reality, and how people slowly begin to reclaim their inner compass, safety, and identity.
We explore:
• Why survivors feel “crazy” (and why they’re not)
• How abuse trains self-doubt and hyper-self-monitoring
• Why shame, anger, and grief are necessary parts of healing
• How to rebuild trust—starting with yourself
• Why being told to “just get over it” is neurologically and psychologically wrong
This episode is for anyone who has lived through psychological or narcissistic abuse—or for anyone who wants to better understand what survivors are actually dealing with long after the abuse ends.
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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I just watched the documentary Corey Feldman vs. the World and—holy S H I T. It’s hard to describe the experience. It’s messy, mesmerizing, disturbing, and somehow still deeply human.
So I had to talk to the woman behind the lens.
In this episode, I sit down with filmmaker Marcie Hume, who spent nearly a decade embedded in Corey Feldman’s chaotic world — documenting a surreal mix of abuse allegations, musical ambition, flirtation, fame addiction, and cult-like control. We talk about the tightrope she walked as a documentarian: holding space for multiple truths, resisting the urge to sensationalize, and making sense of contradictions that never fully resolve.
What unfolds is a raw, deeply nuanced conversation about narcissism, power, fantasy, and the kinds of systems that flourish when people are desperate to belong.
Is Corey a truth-teller? A coercive manipulator? A man still broken by what was done to him — and doing harm in return?
This one doesn’t wrap up neatly. But that’s kind of the point.
Watch the film: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/corey-feldman-vs-the-world/umc.cmc.638hs9xgsfcmdcgkyn7s7m51u
Follow Marcie: https://www.instagram.com/marciehume
Learn more: https://coreyfilm.com/
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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Carina Eriksson is an international matchmaker and dating consultant with over 20 years of experience. She runs Atlas International, a boutique firm helping accomplished individuals build meaningful relationships through her signature approach called "relational agility." Carina is also one of my mentoring clients, and our conversations have opened my eyes to so much about the divide between men and women.
In this episode, we dive deep into one of the most urgent issues of our time: the devastating divide between men and women. Online hatred is at an all-time high, misunderstanding is rampant, and people are struggling to connect. Carina breaks down the fundamental differences between men and women—from how our brains are wired (testosterone's singular focus vs. estrogen's diffuse awareness) to why we keep projecting our own nature onto each other. We explore why women think men are "misbehaving women" and men think women are "irrational garden gnomes," the damage caused by casual sex, what each gender actually needs from the other, and why happy couples are terrible for capitalism. This conversation challenges modern dating culture and offers real wisdom for anyone seeking genuine connection.
Connect with Carina Eriksson: Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carinaeriksson/
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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I was at the gym when I looked up at the TV and saw my local weather duo doing their usual performative dance—fake smiles, scripted banter, corporate personas. That's when it hit me: this isn't just bad television, it's cult-like behavior.
To De-Cult your news feed, sign up for GROUND NEWS using my affiliate link. 40% off the normal price. https://ground.news/checkout/all?fpr=mark93
In this solo episode, I connect the dots between mainstream media's polished fakeness and the performative obedience I witnessed inside NXIVM. Everyone's playing a role, mass fawning to keep the system running, even though we all know it's broken.
I also break down why CBS's recent promise to "get real" is likely just another rebrand, and why the actual revolution in media won't come from corporations—it'll come from citizen journalists on the ground risking something to tell the truth.
People are starved for authenticity. The inertia of these broken systems is powerful, but the future belongs to those who drop the performance and speak unfiltered truth.
Raw, honest, and impossible to fake.
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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In this episode, I delve into one of the most controversial and misunderstood programs in modern history: MK Ultra. Joined by Richard Grannon and screenwriter Adam Simon, we explore the reality versus the fiction of government mind control experiments, the psychology of brainwashing, and how these techniques have evolved into something far more insidious—mass manipulation through social media and modern media.
We break down the actual MK Ultra program, separate fact from Hollywood fiction, and discuss whether dissociative identity disorder can truly be weaponized. Richard brings his clinical expertise to challenge popular myths about "Manchurian Candidates," while Adam shares insights from his own experience leaving the Mormon church and his research into ongoing government programs.
But this conversation goes beyond historical CIA experiments. We examine how cult psychology, trance states, and trauma-based manipulation are being deployed at scale today—turning millions of people into willing participants in their own programming. From the commitment patterns used by religious organizations to the rage-inducing algorithms of social media, we explore how Chase Hughes acronym: fear, focus, emotion, agitation, and repetition (FEAR) create the perfect conditions for mass suggestibility.
Richard Grannon: https://www.instagram.com/richard.grannon/
Adam Simon: https://x.com/AdamGSimon
ADAM'S SHOWNOTES: www.markvicente.com/podcast/2025/12/21/9ooc5qcrmhi38ixf4hodegkdmbux6i
This conversation gets uncomfortable. We talk about government experiments on children, the normalization of political violence, and how we're all living inside the largest psychological operation in human history. If you're looking for easy answers or comfortable narratives, this isn't that episode.
Chase Hughes on Shawn Ryan Show
Derren Brown: The Assassin with Stephen Fry
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MarkVicente
Website: www.markvicente.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markvicente7
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