Excellent storytelling and investigation.

I get podcasts need to get money somewhere, but there are way too many ads and episodes are so drawn out. Easy to lose interest.

1. The Rachel Hollis part was poorly researched - Rachel received TONS of backlash on her divorce because her and her husband had been charging people thousands and of dollars for marriage boot camps while theirs was privately falling apart. So, she was scamming people. Jane could and should have googled it. 2. There’s an attempt to talk about personal issues but any vulnerability is hidden behind layers of millennial cringe humor. For example - the best part of my life is cigarettes and scrolling tik tok I can’t give that up! The best version of myself would be so scary! I’d be evil! And all of us (including the husband interviewing her) are like, huh? Can we be serious for like a second? People respond well to vulnerability. Like actual vulnerability. For example - I’m struggling with my marriage and weight loss in xyz painful ways. Not - “I have high cholesterol! I love Cheetos! LOLZ”

DGCovert is a lowlife trash lifecoach

We have to listen to you cry about yourself. Really

I wanted to love this podcast but feel that throwing around the term “life coach” without doing your homework is doing a disservice to the many certified professional life coaches who aren’t culty or smarmy. Please look up ICF guidelines. Much of what is described in this episode as “life coaching” is absolutely not what you get with the ICF or other accredited places of learning.

This is a v stressful podcast. It really needs more trigger warnings, the hosts don’t seem to realize how traumatic it is to hear. Please add some trigger warnings. If you, too, start unraveling too please take care of yourself and listen to something that’s not such a dumpster fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Life coaches need some guard rails, apparently podcasts do too???? It’s like the hosts/creators think “more is more” when it comes to drama. 🎭 and “less is more” when it comes to critical thinking and nuance. Ummm just a no from me. They are not just reporting on the trauma, they get so involved IN the trauma they don’t realize how messed up it is and how much secondhand trauma comes from it, for example when the lady suddenly has a seizure and almost dies in the bonus episode. Wtffff

This show is just *chef’s kiss*. I literally took no interest in what an MLM even was until this podcast. Actually was shocked to learn that the essential oil brand that my fam uses when we want the house to smell like lavender is actually an MLM. Jane, your skepticism fuels me and I am actually in love with your bangs. Much love xx

Jane has the right level of skepticism and curiosity to make this an outstanding look at MLMs, wellness businesses, and the coaching industry. I’m a coach myself but I have to admit that a lot of the tactics coaches use to bring in clients make me ill. Provocative podcast with a variety of perspectives.

I’m a huge podcast listener and have sampled so many over the years. This is definitely top 5 for me ever, if not the top. Jane Marie does a tremendous job of making it both entertaining and also maddening and also heart-wrenching. She and Dann do a tremendous job - they’re all in, they pursue all angles, they give things a chance and they add just the right amount of both snark and emotion when appropriate. It’s so, so good.

Almost an unbearable amount of ads. The first season felt like actual journalism, the second season was bogged down with the hosts opinions. Would recommend the first season, but the underwhelming experience of the second season lead me to not even want to try the third season.

Maybe she’ll win her next Emmy for season 3! Thanks for your hard work and insights, Jane Marie.

I find myself waiting for the meat of the episodes while I suffer through the whiney complaints of the host. I can feel the agenda oozing through at times which almost turns me off. I’d like a little more impartial reporting and less editorializing. I think overall they’re onto something but at times it feels like the episodes were crafted around a preconceived notion.

Starts out really good and then gets worse with each episode. It is like listening to someone completely unravel mentally.

I don’t even know how many times I’ve listened to this podcast and I learn something new every time. EVERYONE should listen to this. Bravo to Jane and her team for the extremely important work they are doing- putting in the necessary work, presenting the facts in an enthralling manner in a emotionally mature manner (allowing themselves to be honest, humble, authentic and vulnerable to the audience in a relatable and human manner- listening and learning with an open and respectful mind, with some humor thrown in to keep it fun!). Jane and her team have an incredible ability to balance empathy and compassion with the ability to put attention on an incredibly important issue that has been dismissed time and time again. I did miss the awesome vibe that the team of Jane and Dann brought to the table in the first two seasons, but I admire their ability to keep creating amazing content even while going through such a challenging transition personally. I also appreciate that they kept listeners updated with their situation- I’m sure it wasn’t easy to discuss something so emotional and heart wrenching on tape. The topic of each season was created very thoughtfully and thoroughly- it is amazing how they continue to pump out answers to questions I had been wondering about so frequently myself. This stuff is so important to think and talk about and they are making a huge impact in the world! Looking forward to future seasons and excited to dive into Jane’s new book! I recommend this podcast to everyone. Please listen to it for your own wellbeing and that of people you care about. Keep up the amazing work, and hope you are feeling better! Hugs PS Maybe future podcast idea could be studying the characters behind these schemes and when/why so many of them transition to make the decision to focus on making money immorally/ take over the world rather than just having a desire to help others or recognize that they are making enough money to live comfortably and stop there. In other words, when they cross the line from good intentions to power-hungry money-hungry. I have seen this happen with coaches a lot and it’s always disappointing and sad to observe. Property scams such as timeshares or the CA City scandal might be interesting too! Keep the conversation happening!

Season 1 was awesome. But wow season 3 is a dumpster fire. I feel horrible for her emotional state and hope she is getting help. However going through all of this as content for a podcast is just not entertaining or helpful to me anyway. Also how could someone who struggles with depression turnaround and rip other people to shreds? Like episode 2 when she jumps dumps on every life coach she finds, just because they use a phrase she hates. She is very judgemental and in fact hypocritical. Throwing stones with a glass house imo. I hope you find your way through the depression and get back to journalism side of things. Maybe try to emphasize with who you are judging amd try to give the benefit of the doubt. I think this would help your depression and maybe alleviate some inner guilt.

I’m a student of business and group behavior and love how this show delves into issues I care about from new perspectives. Great story telling and great stories.

I’ve been binging this pod all day. It is so smart and informative. I can’t get enough! Jane is super intelligent and interesting. I’m 68 years old but I want to be besties with her!

I found it interesting, through, like, episode 7. After that, they clearly had an agenda and stopped even trying to be unbiased in their reporting. Their completely unprofessional demeanor in the last episode had me rooting against them, frankly. You can’t interview the one person from the other side who will agree to talk to you and then interject with jabs that were recorded later regularly and remain creditable. You proved everyone else who turned down interviews with you right. You were clearly going to ridicule them.

Between listening to this show and getting a life coach, I’d get a life coach. If I had a choice between getting a life coach and sticking needles in my eye, phew, I dunno. I listened to two full episodes, and nope.

I’m trying to listen to season one again. Over half of the time given is for ads. The ads are tricky; it’s difficult to tell the difference between the ads and the actual podcast when trying to fast-forward. It seems to be going against what the entire first season is about.

I’m sorry, but I find it shameful that the host and production team of this podcast felt it was okay to bash and slander a professional with whom they have never actually interacted with or done business with…just because they don’t like the vibe on their website? So the whole point is just to bring someone else down? Trashy media if you ask me.

Can’t tell the difference between the ads and show half the time.

This is the best podcast I listened to in 2023, and I listened to a LOT. I love the way Jane Marie goes for the jugular of “direct sales” companies (ie pyramid schemes), the wellness industry, and the coaching industry. It’s delicious to listen when she interviews these shysters and gives them a piece of her sharp mind.

Jane Marie is great. The charlatan in S3 Ep6 annoyed me immensely.

I think that season 1 & 2 of this podcast are really good, and I recommend them to people all the time BUT I can no longer support the show because of the ads for puppy mills, anti-science colon cleanses, and shockingly MLMs that choke season 3. I understand that the show needs to make money, but the companies you have chosen to back are unethical and the complete antithesis to the show’s prior seasons. I will no longer be recommending this show, and I will be unsubscribing.

Jane Marie artfully combines reporting on the nature, structure and history of MLMs with a compassionate take on those who are taken in by their illusionary promises. All the seasons are interesting, Season 3 about life coaching is particularly affecting. Her careful interviews will stick with me a long time.

I am obsessed! I heard Jane Marie on Roberta Blevins’ podcast & so I gave The Dream a listen. I have been bingeing ever since!

The first season of this podcast was wonderful, the second pretty great, but I’m confounded by the third season, which seems to hinge primarily on the host’s depression/anxiety. I’m really sorry that she is struggling, and I totally get it, but a compelling podcast this self-work does not make. This could have been trimmed down into half as many episodes and built back up with more stories of real people and some input from more experts, like the first season. If there’s a season four I hope they steer back to what was working.

I have listened to every season of the Dream and I have learned SO MUCH — about MLMs, the wellness industry, and now life coaches. Thank you, Jane, for making me laugh while keeping it real. I hope you continue to debunk myths, clarify the confusing, and provide your refreshing perspective for a long time to come. You make this crazy world feel a little more sane.

I enjoyed listening to season 3. However, I have to point out that after listening to Jane’s issues, her needs most likely should have stayed within the realm of therapy. She hints quite a bit at depression-like symptoms. Any coach that has undergone any type of ethics training should have told her that. The coach she works with in episode 5 is definitely working outside of the proper scope of a coach, and unfortunately, Jane would have no idea because most clients wouldn’t know. If your coach is telling you what to do and doing most of the talking in session, then RUN. This is how the cult-like tactics start - most coaches doing this stuff don’t even know it’s harmful.

Jane shows up intellectually and emotionally in a way that holds my attention and makes the subject feel visceral. Ofc it isn't "perfect"...but isn't perfection just another dream? I truly admire her ability to take on immense, nebulous, insidious cultural phenomena and break through the B.S. to parse out the victims and victimology, the grifts, the grifters, the societal conditions and intellectual fallacies that underlie the whole thing...while also being entertaining and allowing for the grey areas and kernels of truth within the silo of lies.

I really enjoyed season 1 and 2 but season 3 is turning into a promotion of socialism and communism. I just can’t stomach it… so many assertions by “experts” but no real evidence of what they are saying. Why doesn’t she, a real journalist, interview someone like Thomas Sowell who is an African American economist who isn’t socialist (aka living in la la fantasy land where everything is sunshine and roses).

I think it’s one thing to Question anything that claims it will “cure” you, but the way you are talking to your partner when he’s talking about how crystals is helping him is stressing me out. It’s one thing to maybe question if it’s really helping him or not but the way you are laughing at him and criticizing him is very tough to listen to. Lost a listener.

Loved Season 1, Season 2 I couldn't get through due to the snarkiness, the derision for anything outside of western (aka white) medicine. But I gave Season 3 a chance and wasted hours of my life (no biggie) but the last episode? The cancer episode was harmful and upsetting and I still can't understand how Pushkin allowed it to air. HOW is it ok (or ethical) for a podcast host and a life coach to say what they think are appropriate treatments for late stage cancer? Or state (with unearned authority) what end stage looks like? Here's the thing - there's a very important discussion to be had about a popular life coach telling people to manifest health in lieu of cancer screenings. Totally here for that. But what the host and life coach discussed barely touched on that and dissected a dying woman's gaunt eyes and weight loss as definitive end-stage indicators. Oncologists will not even go so far as to say these things. Cancer can make someone "look" like they're dying, and it does not emphatically mean it is end-stage. Oncologists very often won't even tell their Stage 4 patients whether they should do treatment or whether they should focus on quality of life measures. I know this from personal experience and having to make the excruciating decisions of chemo or no chemo. And the doctor could not say what the right choice was. Yet a podcast host and a life coach are speaking on what patients should or shouldn't do. Like... what??? This is beyond inappropriate and honestly, harmful. It is a form of disinformation itself, which is ironic given the premise of the show.

I would give the content of this show a much higher rating but it’s impossible to ignore the hypocrisy of criticizing the supplement/vitamin/weight loss industry and then have ads promoting those exact products. The ethical implications are disturbing and the hosts need to take responsibility for this.

The investigative reporting in season one was top rate. I always knew that MLM businesses were not for me, but I never knew how predatory and destructive they are. What a shame that our elected officials chose to accept money from these corrupt businesses instead of legislating them out of businesses and protecting consumers.

I couldn’t believe I was receiving ads for an MLM as I listened to this season. Also, the “journalist” in the Napoleon Hill episode could not properly pronounce Joel Osteen’s last name, which every person who grew up in TX knows from watching his tv ads, so I do question some of this series reporting.

Like the subject line says. Too scattered and dull. Unsubbing at season 2 ep 3. Then s3 e8.

Kind of liking the show as much as possible after being referred to it by trusted anti-scam sources. BUT, why does she choose to run ads for scammy, possibly MLM?, es like PROLON?? Really detracts from the overall message…

My goodness. What an intriguing podcast about pyramid schemes and cultish sales tactics. I was hooked until the same ad for a colon cleansing product that claims to be the “#1 most trusted by doctors based on 20 years of experience” aired three times during a single episode. ProLon? Really guys? I’m sure the host and probably the network don’t realize this has happened. I’m sure a zealous ad agency or automated service linked this topic with this ad sales. But the lack of care is both ironic and mind blowing. How could one be okay with Prolonlife selling snake oil during a podcast ridiculing the sales of snake oil and the salespeople therein. Lessons in Authenticity (A Pamphlet for Lesson #1: Pay Attention to the Company You Keep

Ironic that some of the ads are for MLM/supplements 😂

I really loved Season 1 and 2 but Season 3 was just weird. It’s supposed to be about life coaching scams but turned into some kind of rant about meritocracy and capitalism. Especially off putting was her interview with the gentleman that was supposed to be studying people that lost their jobs. The mocking and judging was not right. I hope she gets back on track, maybe she needs new producers?

As a very selective (aka picky) podcast listener, I am here to tell you that this podcast is excellent. The reporting is solid, the deep dive Jane Marie does is impressive, and besides that, it’s just fun to listen to. Jane and her colleagues are smart, sincere journalists. Most importantly, this topic is extremely important. I hope to God this podcast can make a difference with the FCC and other regulatory bodies.

Not sure if I spelled her name correctly but if it’s wrong, I mean no disrespect. Either way, I really respect you and your approach to her. Not once did you insult her, to her face or otherwise. I found it sad that her way to “battle” you was to exit your conversation and immediately insult you. It is very Trump-esq to throw insults when you don’t have a logical argument or point to make. I also find it sad that you took her words a little hard (as many of us, myself included, would have done). But that’s what bullies do in order to try and keep people down. Well I want to tell you that you are awesome and respectable in the way you handled her and just how you are in general. Getting your feelings hurt is not a weakness. We’re human and sometimes humans get their feelings hurt. And it’s ok. The journey you are currently taking seems to be amazing and I am so happy for you. Having someone in your life to kick your booty AND be sensitive is a great balance that not all people know they need. Anyway, I love your content and wish there were more.

This show is an antidote to the poison of self help, cult of the individual, and all variations of our boot strap beliefs. Thank you for your realness, intelligence and vulnerability.

Incredible work on the cost of the American Dream.

Seasons 1 and 2 have a purpose and are well written, researched, and edited. Season 3 has no unifying theme and it shows up each week as disjointed and unfulfilling. It could use a coach to get it into shape.

Previous seasons were more focused on the investigative reporting, with the personal anecdotes complimenting the research and discussion. Season 3 is much heavier on the host’s personal experience/anecdotes - to the point that it often feels more like a personal blog than a podcast by an actual journalist. I hope future seasons restore the original tone and balance bc normally I really enjoy her work.

I’ve listened to all 3 seasons and they are all worth it. First season was revelatory and 2nd season built on that - I’ve had several friends buy into MLMs and I couldn’t quite explain the problem but now I can just say “listen to the podcast “the dream” and it’ll explain it all. . Now season 3 is different. The host takes us on an existential crisis express. She is brutally honest with her struggle which I personally found refreshing, relatable and honest. - Is she perfect? Is her crisis perfect? No, but I feel that the host owns this, is questioning it and like many white people, trying to figure out the best response. I love that she shared her interview with Jessie Lee and the critical (unfair, mean, anti/empathetic) critique that Jessie Lee posted on her own social media and this was before - well I don’t want to add spoilers here. I have been in situations where I was negatively critiqued but found it difficult to find other friends who’d been through the same situation. I felt alone and ostracized for being negatively spoken about. If I’d had this podcast when I was in that situation, I might have saved myself hours of therapy and years of depression thinking that I was alone in being maligned.