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Season 6: The Bad Guru. A yoga school in London. A guru running from the police. How did Miranda get sucked in?

Also: Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods. Women accuse Mohamed Al Fayed of rape. And: The Abercrombie Guys. Investigating sexual exploitation claims against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch.

Delve into a World of Secrets: the global investigations podcast from the BBC. Uncovering stories around the world and telling them, episode by episode, with gripping storytelling.

Latest season: The Bad Guru. A yoga school in London. A guru running from the police. How did Miranda get sucked in? Journalist Cat McShane investigates the international yoga movement headed by Gregorian Bivolaru, the spiritual guide arrested by French police in November 2023 and charged with human trafficking, organised kidnapping, rape and organised abuse of weakness by members of a sect.

“Nobody joins a cult. You just get sucked in,” says Penny, the mother of a university tutor from London.

In 2017, Penny’s daughter Miranda joins a yoga charity with studios in London and Oxford. The classes make Miranda feel amazing and the people make her feel loved. “There was this sense that these people cared,” says Miranda.

But as Miranda becomes more deeply involved with the international yoga movement that her group in London is part of, her mother Penny starts to worry. “When she rang us, she'd be speaking in very hushed tones,” says Penny.

Miranda has fallen under the spell of guru Gregorian Bivolaru. She joins thousands of his followers from around the world on a free holiday at a coastal resort in Romania. It’s part of a search for spiritual enlightenment which will see her driven through Paris blindfolded and doing sex work in Prague.

This series includes explicit sexual content and strong language.

Previous seasons of World of Secrets:

Season 5: Finding Mr Fox. Investigating a plot to smuggle around a hundred millions of dollars’ worth of drugs from Brazil to Europe and the miscarriage of justice that followed. But where is the man Brazilian police believe to be at the centre of it all?

Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods. Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed – then owner of Harrods, one of the most famous shops in the world – is accused of rape and attempted rape by women who worked for him. Now they refuse to be silenced any longer.

Season 3: The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s, in the South African city of East London – by one person. He killed so many, he lost count. In piecing together this story, we expose the disturbed past and racial injustices of South Africa itself.

Season 2: The Disciples. The cult of Nigerian prophet TB Joshua. A story of miracles, faith and manipulation, told by people from around the world, who gave up everything for one of the most powerful religious figures of the century. Lured by TB Joshua’s claimed healing powers, they live as disciples in a guarded Lagos compound, cut off from family and friends.

Season 1: The Abercrombie Guys. An investigation into claims of sexual exploitation made against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch. He and his British partner were accused by several men, recruited for sex events they hosted around the world.

World of Secrets

Miranda joins a yoga school in London. The classes make her feel amazing and the people make her feel loved. But at a weekend retreat in a country house, she gets a shock. 

This series contains explicit sexual content, some strong language and allegations of sexual exploitation. This episode contains explicit sexual content.
 
Host: Cat McShane 
Producers: Emma Weatherill and Cat McShane 
Sound design: Melvin Rickarby 
Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey
Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister 
Executive Producer: Innes Bowen 
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke 
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams

The Bad Guru: 1. The Retreat

Miranda joins thousands of the guru Gregorian Bivolaru’s followers from around the world at a yoga festival in a Romanian seaside resort. It’s a two-week-long holiday and her food and accommodation is free. But is she being drawn into something darker? 

This episode contains explicit sexual content. 

Host: Cat McShane 
Producers: Emma Weatherill and Cat McShane 
Sound design: Melvin Rickarby 
Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey
Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister 
Executive Producer: Innes Bowen 
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke 
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams

The Bad Guru: 2. The Technique

“I don't have my passport. I don't have my phone. I don't have my bank card… I have nothing.” Miranda is driven through Paris with her eyes covered to meet the guru Gregorian Bivolaru at a secret location. Why is her spiritual guide in hiding? 

This episode contains sexual content. 

Host: Cat McShane 
Producers: Emma Weatherill and Cat McShane 
Sound design: Melvin Rickarby 
Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey
Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister 
Executive Producer: Innes Bowen 
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke 
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams

The Bad Guru: 3. The Transformation

The guru Gregorian Bivolaru comes to the door in a dressing gown and welcomes Miranda in. He is her spiritual master, but she feels physically repulsed by him. “Don’t be superficial,” she tells herself as she steps into his Paris apartment. 

This episode contains explicit sexual content and some strong language. 

Host: Cat McShane 
Producers: Emma Weatherill and Cat McShane 
Sound design: Melvin Rickarby 
Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey
Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister 
Executive Producer: Innes Bowen 
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke 
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams

The Bad Guru: 4. The Guru

“I was admitting it was a sex cult,” says Miranda. She meets up with her mother Penny to tell her what she's really been up to. When she tells her story to students from the yoga school where her journey started, the guru Gregorian denounces her as a liar. 

This episode contains sexual content. 

Host: Cat McShane 
Producers: Emma Weatherill and Cat McShane 
Sound design: Melvin Rickarby
Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey
Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister 
Executive Producer: Innes Bowen 
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke 
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams

The Bad Guru: 5. The Breakthrough

Miranda returns to Paris after some surprising news about the guru Gregorian Bivolaru. 

This episode contains sexual content, allegations of sexual exploitation and some strong language. 

Host: Cat McShane 
Producers: Emma Weatherill and Cat McShane 
Sound design: Melvin Rickarby
Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey
Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister 
Executive Producer: Innes Bowen 
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke 
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams

The Bad Guru: 6. The Return

An aspiring male model hopes a meeting with Abercrombie and Fitch’s former CEO could be a career break. But it's far from a dream opportunity - revealing fashion’s dark side.

This is World of Secrets: Season 1 - The Abercrombie Guys, an investigation from BBC 5 Live and Panorama.

The Abercrombie Guys: The Trailer

Sometimes it only takes one person to speak, for others to be heard…
 
An aspiring male model hopes a meeting with Abercrombie and Fitch’s former CEO could be a career break. But it is far from a dream opportunity. “It's probably the darkest experience I’ve ever dealt with,” he says.
 
After reading a cryptic tweet, Rianna Croxford follows a trail which leads to the most intensive investigation of her career. MeToo has empowered women to speak out – now men say they want to be heard. This is World of Secrets - Season 1: The Abercrombie Guys, an investigation from BBC 5 Live and Panorama. 
 
Have you got a story to tell? Email rianna@bbc.com. Let us know what you think of the season using the hashtag #WorldofSecrets

This podcast refers to sexual abuse and contains interviews that some listeners may find upsetting, as well as some occasional strong language. 
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

World of Secrets: Season 1 - The Abercrombie Guys is presented and investigated by Rianna Croxford 
Series Producers: Ruth Evans and Alys Harte
Senior Producer: Emma Close
Development Producer: Hannah Livingston
Investigation Editor: Ed Campbell 
Podcast Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith 
Executive Editor: Emma Rippon
Studio Engineers: Neil Churchill, Andy Fell, Gareth Jones, and Ali Rezakhani
Production Coordinators: Debbie Rainsford and Sophie Hill
Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Executive: Louise Kattenhorn
Assistant Commissioner: Natasha Johansson

Archive: Paramount Pictures: Mean Girls (2004)
 
This podcast is made in collaboration with BBC Panorama.
 
If you are in the UK, you can watch Panorama: The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool on BBC iPlayer now, or on BBC Select if you are in the in the US.
 
World of Secrets: Season 1 - The Abercrombie Guys is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

The Abercrombie Guys: 1. Silenced

He made Abercrombie and Fitch a millennial megabrand, marketing "sexy clothes on sexy people”, as one former colleague of Mike Jeffries put it. 

At home he had model-like men washing his cars and staff to chauffeur his dogs around. But what else was going on at his Hamptons mansion? “There was something about it that was strange,” according to a former staffer, “why wouldn’t anyone talk about it?” Rianna decides to investigate. 

Have you got a story to tell? Email rianna@bbc.com. Let us know what you think of the season using the hashtag #WorldofSecrets

This podcast refers to sexual abuse and contains interviews that some listeners may find upsetting, as well as some occasional strong language. 
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

World of Secrets: Season 1 - The Abercrombie Guys is presented and investigated by Rianna Croxford 
Series Producers: Ruth Evans and Alys Harte
Senior Producer: Emma Close
Development Producer: Hannah Livingston
Investigation Editor: Ed Campbell 
Podcast Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith 
Executive Editor: Emma Rippon
Studio Engineers: Neil Churchill, Andy Fell, Gareth Jones, and Ali Rezakhani
Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Executive: Louise Kattenhorn
Assistant Commissioner: Natasha Johansson

Archive: 
CBS: Sharon Chin report (9th May 2013)
Warner Bros: Ellen DeGeneres - (May 2013)
BBC: Sophie Hutchison news report (24th Jun 2009)
BBC: Hugh Schofield news report (26 July 2013)
International Business Times: A&F Company outlook (24th May 2013)
Bloomberg: Report on Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries to Step Down (9th Dec 2014)
Bloomberg: Jeffrey Hayzlett joins Trish Ragen and Adam Johnson on Bloomberg's Street Smart (9th Mar 2013)
NBC: Report on ‘half-naked models’ (30/11/2002)
Fox News: The O’Reilly Factor Report on Abercrombie & Fitch marketing (1st Dec 2015)
BBC: BBC 4- Love Thy Neighbour (14th Oct 2008)
 
 
This podcast is made in collaboration with BBC Panorama.
 
If you are in the UK, you can watch Panorama: The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool on BBC iPlayer now, or on BBC Select if you are in the in the US.
 
World of Secrets: Season 1 - The Abercrombie Guys is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

The Abercrombie Guys: 2. Who is Mike Jeffries?

A former US marine turned reality TV star is invited to Mike Jeffries' mansion in the Hamptons. He dreams of being an Abercrombie and Fitch model, and he hopes to impress the fashion mogul.
 
But the mood at the event begins to change and he says he soon realises this is not the interview he was expecting: "I didn't feel like I had control”. 
 
Have you got a story to tell? Email rianna@bbc.com. Let us know what you think of the season using the hashtag #WorldofSecrets

This podcast refers to sexual abuse and contains interviews that some listeners may find upsetting, as well as some occasional strong language. 
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

World of Secrets: Season 1 - The Abercrombie Guys is presented and investigated by Rianna Croxford 
Series Producers: Ruth Evans and Alys Harte
Senior Producer: Emma Close
Development Producer: Hannah Livingston
Investigation Editor: Ed Campbell 
Podcast Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith 
Executive Editor: Emma Rippon
Studio Engineers: Neil Churchill, Andy Fell, Gareth Jones, and Ali Rezakhani
Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
Commissioning Editor: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Executive: Louise Kattenhorn
Assistant Commissioner: Natasha Johansson

Archive audio: Bravo TV: Below Deck (2013)
 
This podcast is made in collaboration with BBC Panorama.
 
If you are in the UK, you can watch Panorama: The Abercrombie Guys: The Dark Side of Cool on BBC iPlayer now, or on BBC Select if you are in the in the US.
 
World of Secrets: Season 1 - The Abercrombie Guys is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

The Abercrombie Guys: The Trailer

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