Scamfluencers - The Fitness Faker

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

After years of struggling with an eating disorder and poor self esteem, Brittany Dawn decides to reinvent herself: as a body-positive influencer. She launches her own online business as a personal trainer and fitness coach, and she sells “personalized” plans to help others who are struggling with the same issues she did. But when her clients discover their plans are not at all what was advertised, they decide to team up – and uncover the truth about Brittany’s business. If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, here are some additional resources: National Eating Disorder Association: 1-800-931-2237National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders: 888-375-7767Please support us by supporting our sponsors!Factor- Go togo.factor75.com/scampod60and use code Scampod60 to get 60% off your first box.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to scam influencers add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. And heads up to our listeners. Today's episode discusses eating disorders. Please listen with care. Sachi, I am about to ask you a very loaded question. I need to know if you're ready. I'm never ready to go ahead. What are your opinions on taking fitness or health advice from Instagram influencers? I mean, I don't, and I wouldn't, but I understand why it is so enticing, and it makes people feel hopeful, or it makes people feel really bad. They think that they miss something, but it's usually just

like some random person on the internet with a Wi-Fi connection. Yeah, I am of the same belief. And as you know, there's an entire industry of people whose fitness and health expertise is a bit questionable. And the story I'm about to tell you today is about how one woman try to exploit a market to disastrous results. It's January 2019 and the annual Fit Expo has arrived in sunny Los Angeles. Hundreds of fitness enthusiasts in skin tight leggings and muscle tees mill around the LA Convention Center hoping to meet their favorite fitness celebrities. One of the celebrities at this convention

is a Dallas-based Fittsbow Influencer, Brittany Don. She's 27 years old, tall and thin, with short blonde hair, a fake orange tan, and bright blue eyes. She runs an online coaching business and claims she has more than 5,000 clients. Brittany is very much a hashtag girlboss living her dream. And even though Brittany is internet famous, she's at the expo working the booth for some

friends. She hands out samples and takes selfies with adoring fans, all part of the influence your gig, until a strange man walks behind the booth. He's got a horseshoe mustache and wears a bald eagle t-shirt with acid wash jeans. The man taps Brittany on the shoulder. Briny doesn't know this guy, but she turns on the Texan charm and baths her false eyelashes. She is totally unprepared for what happens next. You look like you stole my daughter's money. I ain't kidding you.

Britney Panics. But things are about to get a whole lot worse because there's a head and camera filming their exchange. The whole thing's an ambush that's signaling the beginning of the end for Britney's fitness career. This man's here to call her out on behalf of all the women she's allegedly defrauded all over the country. And when the video gets posted, Britney will face a catastrophe that changes her life forever. Parenthood. I'm not sure if you're not sure. But I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure.

I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure.

I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure.

I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. I'm sure you're not sure. and tell, wades into the glorious mess of celebrity beef. Each episode explores a different iconic celebrity feud, and asks, what does our obsession with these feuds say about us? Follow Dis and Tell wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Ad Free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. From Wondery, I'm Sarah Haggiew, and I'm Sachi Cole.

And this is Scamful Insurs. Sachi, this is a story about a woman who built a virtual viral empire around fitness and nutrition. But what she promoted ultimately led her from leg day to lawsuits. Satchee, there is just so much to unpack in the story and I truly cannot wait for you to hear it. I'm calling this episode The Fitness Faker. Britney's origin story, according to her own telling of it on YouTube, starts about seven years earlier. It's 2012, and Britney Dawn Davis is in her early 20s.

She's getting ready to walk on stage at her first bodybuilding competition. And when her number's called, Brittany adjusts her skimpy bikini, tosses back her long brown hair and struts across the stage. She performs a 10-second posing routine flexing every muscle of her spray-tten body as the audience claps and cheers. She says she places six out of

roughly 40 girls. Brittany appears happy and healthy, but behind her pristine smile she reportedly hides an ongoing struggle with an eating disorder. It likely began a few years earlier when Brittany had just started college at Texas A&M commerce. She gains weight, like a lot of freshmen, and she feels really insecure about it, so she's hitting the gym and making small changes to her diet. She starts to feel better, and she sees results. But next semester, Brittany leaves the dorms and moves back home, which is where she says things take a turn for the worse. According to a video she posts to YouTube, Brittany buys a scale and becomes obsessed with seeing the numbers plummet.

I remember I would stand in front of a mirror and I would still see my heaviest self. I was 110 pounds soaking wet. I was skin and bone. Oh, that's sad. Also, there's nothing wrong with being your heaviest self. Sometimes that's your healthiest self. It doesn't sound like being 110 pounds is working for her. No, I mean, it really doesn't, and she starves herself and works out every spare minute

of the day. But not long afterwards, she starts trying to mend her relationship with food, and that's when she discovers bikini competitions. She instantly becomes obsessed. I'm preemptively stressed out about how her eating disorder and these bikini competitions are going to commingle here. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. I could see why she'd be pleased. Yes.

But not great. Well, when her family takes her to a celebratory dinner, Britney's so parched she can't stop chugging water. She went on such a restrictive diet that she limited even her water intake. And the next morning, she noticed that she gained a bunch of weight back. In the bodybuilding world, this is normal. It's called rebounding. But Britney doesn't know that. Distraught and confused, she stops working out and starts binge eating, gaining 25 pounds

in just a week. This kicks off a two-year-long cycle of binge eating and restricting, with Brittany gaining and losing those 25 pounds over and over again. It's brutal on her body and mind. But everything changes when she implements a new diet that allows her to reinvent herself. Roughly two years after her first competition, Brittany thumbs through a menu. She's in training, so she has to watch what she eats. But today, she orders a sushi, guilt-free.

This carb-filled meal would usually be forbidden during the on-season, but Brittany's been working with a new coach, and this coach teaches her all about flexible dieting. With flexible dieting, Britney says in a YouTube video that she no longer starves herself, and said she focuses on properly fueling her body. I went from the super strict rigid cookie cutter meal plan to being able to eat certain things in certain quantities that I truly enjoyed in love. Okay, I guess I'm happy for her, but also this is just eating, you know, balanced meals, letting yourself enjoy your food, eating enough for how much you're burning. Well, flexible

dieting changes Brittany's life. At around 23 years old, Brittany finally achieves a body and confidence she always desired. And she knows she's not alone in her struggles. So in 2013, Brittany joins a relatively new app called Instagram where she posts about flexible dieting and bikini competitions. She also launches a small business as a personal trainer and Brittany replaces her last name Davis with her middle name Don and Brittany Don fitness is born. Davis with her middle name Dawn and Brittany Dawn fitness is born. Right away, she says she snags a couple of local clients and claims a few of them are aspiring bikini models, but Brittany wants more than a life as a small town trainer. So she works her glutes off to grow her audience on Instagram and by

early 2014 she fully adopts a persona of a fitness influencer. Brittany goes from Brunette to blonde and dials her spray-ten back a few notches. She also starts posting less about bodybuilding and her content starts to look more like this. Satchie, you gotta check it out. Ugh, brother. So, yeah.

Oh, brother is right. It's an image with two of her in it. She looks like she's in the desert somewhere in like Palm Springs. And she is wearing a fluffy white nightclub dress and one in a very low plunging black bathing suit and the other. I don't really have an issue with the images,

but the caption I find kind of ludicrous. Please read the caption. It says, Too short, Too tall, Too thick, Too small. Society is always going to have an opinion about you. Just make sure that you don't lose yourself in the midst of their piercing words. You can't argue with it, but also this is a hot person, and I don't need to be lectured about, like,

society's going to have an opinion on people being too thick, too small, too short, too tall. Just be hot and peace. Well remember it's 2014 and the whole body positive movement is really starting to take off and Brittany seems acutely aware of this cultural trend because she starts posting tons of pics looking as you said conventionally attractive. We're writing captions like, screw skinny, let's get strong. And food is not the enemy. She also flaunts her love of Oreos.

You have to check out this other photo that is extremely 2014. Oh, yeah. Wow. That's a deep side part. She's in a grocery store holding two kinds of Oreos. But again, it's like, yeah, you know what? Enjoy your Oreos. No one's gonna leave you hate comments about being fat.

It's just, you're not gonna have the same backlash that if a fat woman posted this, she would not receive that same input. No one's gonna look at conventionally attractive, thin woman and be like, oh my god, she's eating Oreos. Can you believe it? That's so controversial.

Like, it's not. It's actually, there's a long history of otherwise very thin, beautiful women eating fast food and being like, check this out. Well, Brittany really connects with her growing audience when she's open about her struggles with eating disorders. Her accounts seem to gain traction after she begins posting inspiring testimonies like this one. Could you read it, Sachi? It says,

almost two full years recovered for my anorexia. And if that's not a reason to get a kick ass workout in the morning, then I don't know what is. Recovery is worth it. Keep pushing, keep fighting. So in addition to Brittany's growing Instagram, she's dating her childhood best friend, Zach, and they're in love.

Things seem to be going great for Brittany, but maintaining an online presence is a lot of work and Brittany's ready to cash in. In the fall of 2014, Brittany's personal training business continues to thrive. And now, in addition to training in-person clients, she's also coaching online. Online coaching is something she offered

when she first launched her business, except she didn't have a wide enough reach. But now that she's built up her following, women from all over the country are interested in working with Brittany online. She actually decides to leave bikini competitions and focus on modeling and coaching with her growing emphasis on her virtual clients.

Starting at $80 for a four-week plan, Brittany offers her clients emailed recommendations for meals and workouts, which she says are tailored to fit their food preferences. The most expensive four-week plan is reserved for clients who are preparing to compete in a bikini contest. For $245, she offers them a training and diet program tailored to their goals and, quote, unlimited access to Brittany Don.

This sounds fine, you know, I'm sure it's fine, but the thing is, Brittany's probably gonna work with a lot of people who are coming to her with eating disorders of their own, and it doesn't sound like she's equipped to necessarily deal with that, because her own way of dealing with her disordered eating was to hyperfixate on exercise. But I think anything where the goal is like a bikini contest

is a little fishy. Because it's not like the bikini contest is like show up and wear a bikini and have a great time. It's like, what do you look like in it? How thin are you? You know, yeah. But for some of the membership plans, she seems to give clients access to herself.

She offers check-ins via text, email or phone calls and business keeps growing. By the end of 2014, Brittany seems to be reaching a global audience of women who want to join hashtag team Brittany Don. But almost immediately, Brittany realizes that she over-promised. The online coaching is more work than she expected. But almost immediately, Brittany realizes that she overpromised. The online coaching is more work than she expected. But her follower count is growing, and with time, she's starting to get the attention of fitness brands like the supplement company first form.

She's got to push through, so Brittany tells herself she can handle the workload, or at least that's what she's convinced herself and her followers to believe. Okay, Sachi, it's late 2014 and a young woman named Korya Riali is looking through Instagram. She's got brown eyes and a cascade of dirty blonde curls, and she's looking to improve her diet and get in shape, but she hasn't been able to find a personal trainer where she lives in O'Clair, Wisconsin. Luckily, through the magic of the algorithm, Cory discovers Brittany Donne. And there's a particular Instagram post that I like to imagine catches Cory's eye.

It's from Thanksgiving, and in the picture, Brittany poses for a mirror selfie. She looks really happy, and the caption reads, here's to eating some turkey and a piece of pie without tracking it. Stress-free, a thankful heart, and memories with family. Cory likes the pick. She's inspired by Britney's journey since Cory has also struggled with an eating disorder.

Plus, she loves how easy Britney makes her program look. In the comments, Cory notices how easy Brittany makes her program look. In the comments, Corey notices that Brittany urges her followers to just reach out. So, feeling a connection with Brittany, Corey signs up for a package. She pays $115. But, immediately, she notices some red flags. The welcome email that contains her personalized macro plan doesn't include her name, and in two weeks, she gains nine pounds. Okay, I mean, that's a lot in two weeks. It could be water. It could be anything. Like, there's any reason for it, but it sounds like it's not really what was advertised.

Yeah, I mean, it just isn't what she's looking for. So, Cory asks Brittany for help, but even though Brittany is supposed to be giving her personalized guidance, the communication Cory gets back is generic and doesn't address her concerns. Cory's confused. She was sold on the idea that she'd be a part of a team, or at least find a connection with her Fitzbo inspiration, but instead, she feels alone. And with a sudden weight gain and zero professional guidance, Cory really struggles with her eating disorder. And she's not the only one. Unfortunately, it'll be years before she and other clients discover that their

favorite fitness influencer is totally phoning it in. I feel like a... Let's do it. For the next few years, our girl Brittany is booked, blessed, and busy. Around this time, she says she's got roughly 1,500 clients and that number seems to keep climbing. She also starts a YouTube channel. Morning, YouTube, and welcome back to my channel. Today is going to be a healthier Starbucks alternative

to their pumpkins by a swan day. And she may re-zac. Their newlywed life is awesome. Together, they honeymoon in Hawaii and buy a house. Brittany is working hard to support her lifestyle. According to a video she posted to her YouTube channel in 2016, here's what an average day looks like for Brittany Don. At around 1 p.m., she starts filming a vlog.

She's sporting a full face of cake-on makeup as she records herself preparing her first meal of the day. Oatmeal with berries, egg whites, cauliflower, and peanut butter. It sounds like a joyless meal, but I suppose it is well balanced. It's not the slice of pizza I had this morning? No. Well, fast forward a couple of hours, and it's time for her pre-workout snack. Eggs with spinach and three pieces of toast.

But before Brittany heads to the gym, she goes to her home office. It's got a beige carpet and matching beige walls, and Brittany sets up her camera to record herself typing on her laptop. A text on screen tells us she's answering emails from clients, but I can only assume her responses are probably lackluster It's easy to imagine she's not reading the emails at all

Instead she's likely copying and pasting canned messages and attaching supposedly personalized meal plans She might not even include the client's names just dear xxx and yes This is allegedly a mistake. She's actually made and I should add we reached out to Brittany Don for comment on the allegations in this episode and we did not hear back. Next I picture Brittany scrolling through her texts and without reading those, hurriedly typing something like you're killing it and hitting send. Brittany is overwhelmed but she seems more interested in growing her following than actually helping people so she plows ahead.

And in a year, Brittany's accounts seem to reach new heights. By March 2017, she says she has 400,000 Instagram followers and 50,000 YouTube subscribers. She celebrates by posting this photo of herself on Instagram, which also includes a giveaway for one of her 30-day programs. Sachi, can you please describe it? Oh yeah, it's our friend Brittany in this cute little two piece and she's holding these big balloons and she says, as a way to say thank you for helping me reach 400,000 on here and 50,000 on YouTube. It's time for a huge giveaway. Yeah, she's thriving, even if her clients don't seem to be. But when her clients, like Corey, start talking to each other, they'll finally realize that

their number one fit-spiration isn't everything she claims to be. Molina Brunson is a young mom pursuing her bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, and she wants to start prioritizing her health. So in 2017, she says she joins Brittany Don's program for $250 and follows her personalized macro plan to a T. Melina hopes to lose weight and improve her mood, but instead, she doesn't see any results. When Melina texts Brittany asking for advice, Melina says she sometimes waits days or even

weeks to hear back. Melina follows up and again, nothing. When she finally does get a reply, it reads, oh girl, you're doing so great. Melina's confused. How could she be doing great if she's not getting the results she wanted? It's like Alexa's girl boss program. I know, and it's not really even as good as Alexa would be because Alexa would give you an answer immediately.

Right. Well, it seems like a lot of other clients have had even worse experiences than Malena and reportedly suffered really harmful results. There's a woman who says she joins a program as a fitness beginner, but she almost passes out after not getting enough nutrients. She reaches out to Brittany for help, and never gets a response. Another woman signs up for a plan, and in her survey rights, I currently have an eating disorder, horrible body image views,

and I'm underweight for my height. But her onboarding email disregards all that. It reads, great. Welcome to the hashtag team Brittany Don family. And then the plan makes her lose weight even though she said she needs to gain weight. Yeah, see, this is the problem with a lot of these like health influencers is that they're so myopic around weight loss and weight loss being directly correlated with health. They clearly are not equipped to deal with anybody who actually has vastly different dietary needs, has to do different kinds of exercise,

is having a very different relationship with their body. Yeah, and not only are Britney's clients not getting what they paid for, but their health is in danger too. So, Sachi, get this. There's a Facebook group that Brittany herself created for clients like Melina to cheer each other on and talk about their love of Brittany Don. But instead of using this group like it was intended,

Brittany's clients take to the group to complain. Oh, I love that so much. Yeah, two friends who join the program together make a post asking why they have the exact same plan. But some clients say that when they complain, they don't receive an answer, they get blocked. Another client wonders why she's being charged a shipping fee on digital products. She also gets blocked. This allegedly becomes a pattern. A woman complains, her post is removed. Someone asks a question, the post of Anishes.

I mean, I guess at least they're responsive to something. Yeah, they are seeing it. So, Britney's clients realize they've been scammed. They all have the same plan. And even though they're calling Britney out, she just keeps on scamming. So around 2018 her clients take matters into their own hands. They gather evidence in their own Facebook group called Brittany Dawn Fitness Complaints.

The group quickly grows from a couple hundred members to over 4,000. At the same time, clients flood Brittany Don's Yelp page with negative reviews, and they contact the Better Business Bureau to leave formal complaints. They even start a change.org petition called, stop Brittany Don fitness scams. It gets over 15,000 signatures.

Yikes. It is very bad, and there are some heart-breaking comments like this one. Can you read it? This one says, I'm signing this because I have followed you for years and all of it was a lie. Your image was more important to you than actually helping all of the women you claim to support. This is so incredibly sad. I hope you realize what you have done and all the women you have heard. Yeah, it's not good. And even though the cries for accountability grow by the day, Brittany continues to live her best hashtag Fit Girl Life.

But her perfectly filtered online presence is merely a facade for the emotional turmoil she faces at home. Just as Brittany's scam begins to unravel, so does her personal life. It's late 2017, and she's moving into a new apartment alone. Only months earlier, she and Zach got a divorce, and it sounded messy. A lot of the drama went down and now deleted into stories and tweets. She briefly acknowledges the heartbreak in a YouTube video where she reads a letter to herself.

Dear self, I promise to believe in my own beauty even when I don't see it for myself. I promise to let my passion drive me even on the days that I'm struggling to stand and I promise that when the going gets tough, you will keep going. Sarah, as you know by law, I must side with any woman in any divorce. You know what, fair. Yeah. Well, in the comments, she's met with an outpouring of love

because despite the consumer complaints, Britney's work life doesn't seem to be affected. Britney even uses her haters to fuel content. Her posts about fighting negativity gain her sympathy from loyal supporters. Here's an example. Sachi, please tell us what you're seeing. Okay, it's a photo of her sitting in a car holding five dozen white roses and looking, I guess, chipper. And the caption to the photo says, Nightly Reminder, a woman who's hustling, grinding,

and working hard in life will never, never understand a woman who's hating. We don't speak the same language. Hashtag kindness goes a long way, hashtag smile. This is when it starts to fall apart for me. Yeah. Well, the most of the comments are positive, there's one or two calling her out.

There's even one that reads, please send me the password for the cookbook I purchased from you. Brittany responds, email me, girl. It seems like she's pretending to care about her client's issues, but often she sends some blanket replies and posts girlboss quotes online. And honestly, it seems like the strategy works.

During this time, she achieves yet another milestone. Her video, Eating for Fat Loss, gets over a million views. Sachi, I watched the video and it's just 10 straight minutes of Brittany working out and eating the blandest looking food. I truly have no idea how this one got a million views. I mean, everybody thinks there's like some miraculous secret to it and the secret is to torture yourself. Well, Brittany's follower and subscriber count continues to rise.

It seems like everything is going to be okay until a different kind of influencer enters a scene. He's something of a vigilante, so when he learns about Britney, he decides he wants to put a stop to her scam once and for all. It's February 2019, and the anti-Britney Don Facebook group is stronger than ever. It's so big that it gets on the radar of a comedian named Cassidy Campbell.

Cassidy's a white dude with a dirty blonde crew cut in Peach Fuzz, and he's gained a following by pulling man on the street style stunts while disguised as stock characters like Wanksta or Spoiled Rich Kid. One of Cassidy's most popular characters is Chester the Trumper. Chester's a hardworking Trump-loving American dad. Cassidy decides to just up his Chester and head to the LA Fit Expo. That's the event where Brittany is shilling coffee for her friends. Okay, so we're full circle here, so we're back at where we were at the beginning of the episode. Exactly. So in the video, Chester, aka Cassidy, makes his way across the convention floor, trolling

the crowd by uttering offensive comments, shouting, America, and walking away. Finally, he finds Brittany Don. And he makes his move. Sachee, you have to watch the video and see what happens next. You look familiar. You look like you stole my daughter's money. Are you kidding me? I am kidding you. You took $200. Hey, this woman took $200 from my daughter. I find this really strange because I don't feel sympathetic to Brittany in this entire story, but the way he's talking to her is so intrusive and inappropriate.

And I really want to put a fine point on this profoundly unfunny. It would also be one thing if he was actually affected by the scam, but he's just capitalizing on other people's issues with her. Well, eventually, Cassidy does get kicked out, but he got what he needs. He puts together a 10 minute video that shows complaints from Britney's jilted customers with on-screen text explaining her scam. And it builds to the grand finale, his confrontation with Britney herself. With the click of a button, Chester, of all people, exposes Britney and her scam, the fraudulent macro plans,

the dangerous nutrition advice, the way she ghosts clients when they need her the most, and it goes viral. And Brittany's downfall begins. And I feel like a... Like a... After Cassidy's video drops, a new upload appears on Britney's YouTube page. The video is titled, My Public Statement About the Past 24 Hours. The video has since been deleted, by the way, but here's a clip. I am just here with my heart and my sleeve and I'm here to put everything like I said to rest once and for all. I apologize to anyone who feels like they got scammed for me.

Okay, not a great apology, not a good start. Not a great apology, no. Anyone who feels like they've been scammed. Yeah. Well, Satchie, Brittany goes on to say that she's human with an incredibly big heart who did everything to the best of her ability. She ends a video with a plea for the death threats to stop and a promise to make things

right with her followers. She also includes a link to buy her fitness plan in the description of the YouTube video. Influencers gonna influence, I guess. Around this time, lots of clients start demanding their money back, but Britney allegedly only gives impartial refunds after they sign an NDA. One of the former clients who's had enough is Melina, the young mom in college. She unsubscribes from Britney's YouTube channel, along with 10,000 others, and she takes to her own YouTube page to voice her opinion.

You're giving us what seems to be raw truths of like your whole life, and I think it brings people in and they're super into it, which is all great. But it's like you're you're frothing us. You have taken our money and not actually provided us with you with what you said you were selling us. Afterwards, something unexpected happens. Malina's video gets the attention of Good Morning America and some producers book her on the show.

Here's what she tells the cameras. We never got anything back, other than just, oh girl, you're doing so great. But I'm like, how am I doing great? So not losing weight and inches aren't going anywhere. And Brittany agrees to an interview too, now that she's on crisis PR mode. When the segment airs,

Molina watches her former fitness idol try to defend herself. I jumped into an industry that had no instruction manual. I'm basically going through uncharted territory and I'm doing the best that I can to the best of my ability. Molina probably doesn't buy this excuse.

Brittany's had years to scale back or ask for help. Malina believes that scamming was a conscious choice. Over the next month, followers like Malina watch and disbelief as Brittany Instagrams about resilience and facing adversity. And one post she writes, some of the kind of souls have lived in a world that was not so kind to them.

Mm, no, that sucks. You can almost tell when someone's done something wrong where they just start rambling on about like, people are me. And kindness, oh. Well, Brittany is making herself look like the victim, and her real victims are pissed. They continue to demand their money back,

along with a proper apology. Finally, a post appears. On March 27, 2019, six weeks after Cassidy's videos uploaded, Brittany announces a social media break. She writes, To those of you who have lost trust in me, I look forward to having the opportunity to regain that in the future. Maybe, just maybe, Brittany's finally seeing the error of her ways. Brittany disappears for almost a month, and when she returns, she does start to change, but not in the way her followers expect. Sachi, would you please do the honors of describing and reading this post?

I believe she's at a puppy yoga class, and she's holding this very tiny dog who has the same hair color as her, which is interesting. And she writes, there are a thousand thoughts going through my mind. All I know is this. The old Brittany is no longer present. If you knew me last year or even last this, the old Brittany is no longer present. If you knew me last year or even last month, allow me to reintroduce myself. Hi everyone, my name is Brittany Don. I am a daughter, a sister, a best friend,

and aunt, and everything in between. Things don't really change that much in anyone's life in a month. Like there's stuff in my fridge that's older than Brittany Don's realization of, I'm a new person. Yeah, I mean, listen, the internet moves fast. So there's a way to do it, but to be like, I'm a new person because I have faced real adversity because everybody held me accountable for what I did. It is like, no.

Well, you know, Brittany is playing the sympathy card and her strategy backfires. Her posts are flooded with tons of mean comments. Over the next year, Brittany tries sharing her usual content, but her reputation as a fitness influencer is tarnished. Eventually, she realizes that if she wants to stay in the influencing game, she's going to need a rebrand. So little by little, she posts less and less about diet and exercise and more about Jesus. By mid-2020, Brittany fully reinvents herself as a Christian influencer. She grew up going to church and on occasion, she'd post about her faith, but now it's her

whole vibe. Her short, bleached blonde hair is back down to her waist, and her booty shorts and crop tops have been replaced by modest dresses and full coverage sweaters, although she still rocks the fall silashes. And on YouTube, Brittany gives testimony about how Christ saved her from a life of sin. God saved me from such toxic thoughts and toxic just approaches to life. God is good. And he just breathed new life into me.

Wash me where it is snow. God, there's a real, like, fitness influencer to Christ influencer pipeline. It's a good way to avoid acknowledging that you made decisions that were bad decisions. Yeah, and she brings her followers along for the ride as she falls in love and marries a new man, Jordan Nelson. He has a scruffy beard and two full-sleeved tattoos. Brittany says Jordan's a godly man and gives thanks to the Lord every day for putting him in her path. Oh, and he's a former Kansas City police officer.

His law enforcement career came to an end shortly after the ACLU filed a lawsuit against him in 2018 alleging excessive use of force. A videotape shows him slamming a black man to the ground face first. It's unclear where Jordan works now. He's no longer a police officer. And Brittany's job is in trouble too. She receives a PPP loan for her dying company in 2020, but it's still not able to be resurrected. The following year, Brittany Don fitness shutters for good.

But shortly after, Brittany starts a new endeavor. A nonprofit called She Lives Freed, which claims to be a space where all are welcome and every past has redemption. Did you say she lives freed? Yes, it's very intuitive to say it loud. Yeah, it's definitely normal. Well, her nonprofit offers products like a $30 devotional e-book with journaling prompts

and also t-shirts with words like unapologetic written across the chest in a barely legible font. Um, great. That sounds like something that I need. I mean, you can't find stuff like that anywhere else. No, there's no other way to get it. But their biggest draw is the in-person women's worship retreat. For $125, devoted followers can pray with Brittany, listen to panel discussions on modern Christianity, and even get baptized in a horse-troph by Brittany herself.

And even though Brittany never fully owns up to her past mistakes, she claims she's been forgiven by the Lord. But there's another higher power watching over her, and this one's not so quick to forgive. In February of 2022, a couple years after the Christian rebrand, Brittany gets sued by the state of Texas. They're suing her for violating the Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act. Basically, Texas wants to nab her for false and misleading advertising. The lawsuit alleges that Brittany failed to provide

the personalized coaching, check-ins, and modification she advertised in her fitness plans, and that she portrayed herself as having special knowledge or training to treat eating disorders when she didn't. The case is set to go to trial in 2023. If a jury decides Brittany committed consumer fraud, she could have to pay up to a million dollars in damages. And recently, the state of Texas filed a motion to force Brittany to answer questions and provide documents that she's been slow to send over.

Brittany's lawyer tells the attorney general's office, quote, our client struggles even save the delivered documents as PDF documents. We are discussing hiring a company to gather these documents for our client. They need to hire someone to save PDFs. Is she my 70-something-year-old father?

Brittany has yet to comment publicly on the lawsuit, but she seems to be doing some damage control. Several months after getting sued, Brittany announced that she and Jordan will foster kids in need. And she's as active as ever on social media. Brittany has over a million followers on TikTok, where she makes videos about battling spiritual warfare

and being the victim of cancel culture. But her victims feel differently. To them, Brittany is a con woman, and they are eagerly awaiting her day in court. So, Satchi, there are a few things I want to get through here. You know, Brittany built this platform on helping women overcome their insecurities. And I feel like she posted a lot of content that we kind of discussed that perpetuated them. Like, having this very traditionally attractive small body, and making it seem attainable and being like, look at me, I'm eating Oreo, sorry haters.

Yeah, the thing is, I'm generally always cautious when somebody is coming to the public and saying, I have a solution for your disordered eating, your body anxiety, but the person saying it is still engaging with the rituals of a lot of that disordered eating and kind of fucked up body image stuff. She's still sort of engaging in these like bikini body, you know, exercises.

She's clearly thinking way too much about her own diet. Any diet you go on is designed to fail. You will gain the weight back as soon as you stop the plan. I guess the differences is that her plan didn't even really work when you were on it. Yeah. It's how she, I need to know what you think of that rebrand to Christianity. The reason why it's frustrating in Brittany Don's case is because she's pivoted into religious influencing and being sort of a public Christian because it helps her avoid having any responsibility.

Because now she can say like, I'm letting Jesus take over, you know, he's the guy in control, I am merely a passenger. When in fact, like a lot of the mistakes she made are her mistakes. It would be in her best interest, frankly, to own them. It would probably make a lot of people who are upset with her feel a little bit better. But instead, she's hiding behind religion,

which I find objectionable. But it's especially kind of craven when you perform it like this on the internet. Yeah, it's like, it would have gone a way in some capacity if she'd just been like, I was in over my head, I made a huge mistake, I got caught up in this whole thing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

I'm so sorry, like even taking half a bit, like not even full accountability, just like half. Yeah. Well, especially because she came in, again, I do think with good intentions, she came from her own trauma and she wanted to help people, but she just did not have the expertise for it. You can just say that, it's okay, you can admit it.

Yeah. This is Fitness Faker. I'm Sarah Haggi, and I'm Sachi Kool. We use many sources in our research, a few that were particularly helpful, were Dom DeFurio's series of articles for the Dallas Morning News, and William Joyce reporting for the Dallas TV station WFAA. Liz Galalis wrote this episode, additional writing by us, Sacha Cole and Sarah Haggi. Our senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reed.

Our associate producer is Charlotte Miller. Our story editors are Sarah Annie and Alison Wintrob. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Our story editors are Sarah Ennie and Alison Wyntrop. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Sound Design is by Andre Ploues. Back checking by Gabrielle Drollet. Additional audio assistants provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Free Saun Sinc. Our executive producers are Jeanine Cornelot, Stephanie Jenz, and Marsha Lui for Wondery.