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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Scamfluencers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Apple Podcasts. ♪
This is part two of our two-part series, Superstar Sports Scammer. If you haven't listened to the first episode yet, you might be a little lost. I highly recommend you go back and do so. Oh, and a quick note, we're continuing this story with our guest host, Emil Niazzi, a writer whose work you may have read in places like The New York Times, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, and The Cut. She is so funny and a very dear friend of mine. Sachi will be back next week.
Amil, I have a question for you. Have you ever been at a job you know you should quit, but for whatever reason, you just stick it out for way longer than you probably should? Pretty much every job I've ever had, I should have quit and I just stayed way too long. I just, I'm scared. Well, you might be able to relate to part two of the story because it's about perseverance, determination, and honestly, a pretty big case of not being able to read the room.
It's about a guy who simply refuses to retire and he'll do anything to prove he can still do his job, even when it becomes a little too toxic. Sarah, since we started talking about this story, I have not been able to stop thinking about it. And I am so genuinely excited to see what happens.
In January 2015, Tom Brady steps behind a podium to face a room full of reporters shouting questions at him. He's 37 years old, but he kind of looks like a little kid. I mean, he's wearing a New England Patriots beanie with a pom-pom. And for someone so accustomed to the spotlight, he seems quite nervous and unsure. He points at the first reporter who asks, When and how did you fall through the walls?
Tom Brady should be talking about the Super Bowl. It's only 10 days away, but instead he's answering questions about a scandal that's about to consume the NFL. So here's what the scandal is. He's been accused of purposely under-inflating footballs, which is in violation of league rules. His opponents say it's cheating because it gives him an advantage. He prefers a grip of softer balls. Yes, softer balls.
Unsurprisingly, the media has a field day with it. Did they or didn't they? It's the alleged cheating scandal launching a thousand saucy headlines. Deflategate. Deflategate.
And it wasn't just headlines. There were so many puns and so much innuendo, it was relentless. So, I mean, they put the ball sack on the sideline and officials should be watching it. People from the NFL should be watching the ball sack. It's even parodied on SNL. Son, we live in a world that has balls. And those balls have to be inflated by men with pumps.
I remember Deflategate. I don't know anything about football. I don't watch the Super Bowl outside the halftime, but I remember my life just being taken over by news of Tom Brady's balls. Well, I know it seems very funny, but to Tom, this isn't a joke. Just days after the accusations come to light, the Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, speaks to the media about it. Football's are something that he can talk about in much better detail than
than I could possibly provide. Yeah, his own coach refuses to stick up for him. So now Tom is on his own, no coach to defend him. So he decides to go in front of the press himself to answer questions about balls, which he does for more than 30 minutes. You know, I didn't alter the ball in any way. I have a process that I go through before every game where I go in and I pick the balls that I want to use for the game.
At that point, you know, to me, they're perfect. I don't want anyone touching the balls after that. I don't want anyone rubbing them, you know, putting in the air and I'm taking the air out. To me, those balls are perfect. And that's what I expect when I show up on the field. And there's one response that immediately becomes a soundbite. So can you answer right now? Is Tom Brady a cheater? I don't believe so.
And by the way, the Patriots win the Super Bowl and Tom's named the Super Bowl MVP. But Deflategate won't go away and it actually really tarnishes his reputation and causes a rift between him and his head coach. It also prompts some journalists to start digging into the backstory of Tom and his personal guru.
And the next thing coming, it won't be a cheap shot. Because under a new, harsher spotlight, some of Tom's most troubling beliefs will be exposed for all to see. From Wondery, I'm Sarah Hagee. And I'm Emile Niazi. And this is Scamfluencers. Coming, attention, up.
In our last episode, we saw how Alex Guerrero, a gifted personal trainer with a snake oil streak, teamed up with NFL superstar Tom Brady. Now, with his guru at his side, Tom appears to start questioning the system that took him to the top, and he becomes convinced he can do the impossible, play championship-level football well into his 40s. He's out to secure the legacy, not of a team or a franchise, but of one man.
In May 2015, a few months after Tom's press conference, an investigator hired by the NFL finds that Tom was probably at least generally aware of inappropriate activities surrounding Deflategate.
The league issues Tom a four-game suspension and fines the Patriots $1 million. The Patriots deny the investigators' findings, calling them incomplete and incorrect at best, and Tom adamantly objects to them. He actually appeals the decision in federal court. In September, a judge overturns his suspension. The NFL immediately appeals that decision, but for now, Tom can keep playing while the court battle rages on.
Then, a month later, another explosion shakes up Patriots Nation. Boston Magazine drops a bombshell article. Amil, can you please read us the headline? Tom Brady's personal guru is a glorified snake oil salesman.
This really feels like after years of escaping the spotlight and real scrutiny, the foundations of his little pyramid scheme are starting to fall. I know. I mean, at this point, it's been years and someone's finally covering it.
The article, written by journalist Chris Sweeney, exposes Alex Guerrero's past. Like the fact that the FTC fined him for calling himself a doctor when he isn't. And that the FTC also dinged him for promoting a drink, Supreme Greens, that he claimed could prevent cancer and AIDS. And he lied about a study of terminal patients.
It's the first time the public hears about Alex Guerrero's past and all of these shady dealings, and it's pretty humiliating for Alex, and it puts Tom in a really rough spot. He could either put his team first and disavow Alex to avoid scandal, but on the other hand, Tom's just spent the offseason fighting a legal battle against the NFL with no help from the team. So, Emil, what do you think he does? ♪
I think Tom Brady chooses Tom Brady and backs Alex. Exactly. Tom does an interview with Boston's WEEI radio station and goes on the defensive. He says he has tremendous belief in Alex and what he's accomplished over the last decade or so. And he also says that Alex has never been wrong.
But the hosts of the show push back. They ask Tom how he can support someone who's been accused of quackery. And, Emile, can you please read Tom's response?
He says, quote, when you say this sounds like quackery, well, there's a lot of things I see on a daily basis in Western medicine that I think, wow, why would they ever do that? That's crazy. It doesn't work. But that's just the way life is. I think a lot of things that are the norm that are very systematic don't work. The hosts don't give up their line of questioning. They ask Tom about Alex's run-ins with federal regulators, and Tom shrugs it off,
He says those are all things that happened years ago and that there are a lot of gray areas. This is one of those things where even though it's Tom Brady and he doesn't need my help, I want to throw him a lifeline and just say, pal, give it up. Like this guy is doing stuff that's really, really bad. And now he's putting your whole legacy in danger. Yeah. And again, he defends NeuroSafe, the sports drink that's marketed as unhygienic.
a seatbelt for your brain. And he says he drank it himself before the FTC pulled it from shelves. You know, as a parent, I just think having Tom Brady's support behind something like that, that is so not just wrong, but dangerous, it really upset me because I think there must have been a lot of parents who bought that
drink for their kids playing football, thinking that it was somehow going to protect them from the very real damages that those head injuries can cause. Well, this radio interview becomes huge news. And it's the first sign that Tom's starting to think outside the Patriot way, because now he's thinking about Tom's way. And that will put him in the crosshairs of one of the most powerful coaches in the league.
About nine months later, in July of 2016, the appeals court upholds Tom's suspension for Deflategate. At this point, Tom spent more than a year fighting an uphill legal battle. His only option would be to appeal to the Supreme Court. But Tom decides enough is enough. He accepts his four-game suspension.
And Tom's pissed. Fans are distraught, and the coaching staff has to scramble to salvage the beginning of the season. But one person has to have been at least a little bit happy about the situation. Tom's backup, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Jimmy is 25 years old with a rugged beard, hazel eyes, and dimples. He's a Midwestern kid with an aw shucks attitude who signed with the same agent as Tom. But for the last two years, while he's been Tom Brady's backup, Jimmy hasn't exactly been set up for success.
Tom doesn't see it as his job to train his replacement. He's even iced Jimmy out when he outperforms him in practice. Poor Jimmy. I know. But now, with Tom ordered to the bench, Jimmy's finally getting the chance to start as quarterback for the New England Patriots.
Jimmy's seen as a super talented rising star in the NFL, and his head coach, Bill Belichick, believes in him. But seeing Jimmy position himself as the future of the Patriots franchise is Tom's worst nightmare. Except he isn't there to see it. He's in Italy, sunbathing in the nude with his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen. If I was Jimmy, this would be the most frustrating part is like, just go live your beautiful life. Move on. There's more to life than football.
Well, unfortunately for Jimmy, in his second game, he's knocked out with a shoulder injury. So later that week, he decides to do what tons of Patriots starters do. He seeks treatment at TB12, Tom and Alex's sports therapy center, which is just across the street from Gillette Stadium. But when Jimmy shows up for his appointment, it's locked. No, no. He's getting iced out by Alex and Tom. This is every person's story.
Worst nightmare at work. I know. And Jimmy calls a few of the trainers, but no one picks up. It takes a phone call from a Patriots operations employee days later to get Jimmy into the TB12 building. And by the way, this is all according to ESPN's Seth Wickersham. He's been covering the Patriots since 2001 and literally wrote the book about all this behind-the-scenes drama.
Jimmy denies the account when it's made public, and Tom and Alex deny it too. Or at least that Jimmy was intentionally locked out of the building. But either way, the message is clear. There's only room for one starting quarterback in New England, and that's Tom Brady. But Jimmy isn't the only player getting mixed up in this epic standoff between TB12 and everyone else.
Tom Brady comes back from suspension in October 2016. Just four months later, he leads the Patriots to a remarkable Super Bowl victory at age 39. But one of his teammates, Rob Gronkowski, has to watch the Super Bowl from the sidelines. He injured his back, and now he has to have surgery.
Rob, or as the sports world knows him, Gronk, plays tight end, which is basically a jumbo-sized receiver. He's enormous, 6'6 and 265 pounds, and he's got a big smile, a huge jawline, and a party animal reputation.
Just a few months earlier, Gronk took over a Norwegian cruise to the Bahamas and packed it with 700 rappers, DJs, comedians, and fans who paid to party with him, and his dad and three siblings. People just seemed to love him. Who wouldn't love a guy called Gronk? I know, but despite how carefree Gronk seems, he's taken a beating in his career.
He's had four back surgeries, four forearm surgeries, one knee surgery, and one ankle surgery, all before the age of 30. Injuries have kept him from playing a full season for years now. So now, in the spring of 2017, he's considering retirement.
Tom does not want Gronk to retire. Gronk's one of the best tight ends in the history of the NFL. Together, they've scored an insane number of touchdowns, and he's a great teammate. They're bros. So with Tom's encouragement, Gronk decides to hold off on retiring and try something different in the offseason. Emil, any guesses as to what he does?
No, I don't know this man, and I'm suddenly feeling so protective over Gronk. Don't tell me that he's about to start trading at TB12. Oh, he starts training with Alex Guerrero. He gets vigorous massages in an effort to achieve pliability. Remember, that's Alex's theory that long, lean muscles are more durable than thick, dense ones. And Gronk also starts eating like Tom, an alkaline diet that's all about eating organic and avoiding sugar and...
Nightshades. Come on. Now Gronk, our party animal who probably loves throwing back a tequila and a bag of tomatoes, has to suddenly stop eating nightshades? You're telling me this meat and potatoes man can't eat potatoes? That's like telling Shrek he can't live in the swamp. So when Gronk shows up to training camp in the summer, he tells the team that he's going to follow Alex's instructions on how to train.
But Belichick is pissed. He thinks the Patriots medical staff know what's best for Gronk. Fed up, Belichick actually yells at Gronk for choosing TB12 over team docs in front of the whole team. Gronk is probably fuming, but he doesn't back down. He says he's sticking with Alex. It's actually kind of the last straw for Belichick.
Gronk may have won this battle, but in the showdown between TB12 and the Patriots, Belichick is determined to win the war. In September of 2017, Tom and Alex published the TB12 method book with Simon and Schuster, and it's an immediate success. It hits the number one spot in the advice category of the New York Times bestseller list, and the cover, well...
Well, Amila, you've got to look at this. I mean, it sort of looks like a sports magazine. You've seen them on the newsstands, but it's a close up of Tom Brady's beautiful face. And the sort of subtitle is How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance. And you're just thinking, oh, my God, this man wants to live forever and actually thinks that he can because of Alex Guerrero.
Well, you might also notice that Tom Brady is credited as the author of the book. But when he and Alex give interviews about it later, they call it their book. As in, they wrote it together. And it has some recipes, workout ideas, and some real wacko statements. Like suggesting that if you drink enough water, you won't get sunburned. The idea that you could drink enough water to not get sunburned is...
the shocking stuff. The book is part of their growing TB12 branded ecosystem. They've expanded to newsletters, workout videos, brain games, exercise equipment, and protein supplements and snacks.
And the company's goal has changed. It used to be about accelerating injury recovery and helping athletes play longer. And now they say they want to redefine strength, health and wellness for an entire generation. This is why ambition is bad. Alex Guerrero couldn't just be satisfied with bilking a couple of high profile athletes. Now he's got to change wellness for everybody. I agree. I mean, deal with Tom. Tom is...
is your cash cow. Yeah. He will support you forever. Like why expand it and open yourself up to the world? Like what kind of arrogance is that? Flew too close to the sun.
And Belichick notices that the popularity of TB12 among Patriots players is creating weird power dynamics, especially for new players. Tom is such a legend already that a lot of younger players call him Sir. And some of the guys Tom appears to throw the football to the most, like Gronk, are TB12 guys. So for players trying to get Tom's attention on the field, they figure they might need to gain favor with him off the field by going to TB12.
Some of them feel like seeing Alex could literally make or break their careers. This is awful. This is so bad. It's really wild that he's become like this mob boss of his team. And to be fair, not all Patriots players want to go to TB12. But they tell Patriots staff that they feel pressured to go anyway. A
According to ESPN, one player goes to TB12 for treatment. But he's worried that Alex's famously intense massages might keep his legs from healing right. So he asks Alex to focus on his arms. Another player says that team trainers want him to do squats, but Alex wants him to avoid lifting weights. And some players are just turned off by how strict the TB12 method is, especially the diet. And the media takes notice.
One Fox Sports analyst even compares TB12 to a cult. Meanwhile, Seth Wickersham, the ESPN reporter who broke the story about the whole scandal, says...
But Belichick wants to regain control. So he calls Tom in for a meeting to discuss this pressure to join TB12.
And Tom's all, what pressure? At least that's what an anonymous source told ESPN. So Bill takes the next step and revokes Alex's access entirely. No more office at the stadium, no more access to the sidelines during games, and the trips on the team jet? Forget about it.
Now, Alex is only allowed to treat Tom Brady in a private room at the stadium. If you're Belichick, this is an impossible position to be in. I would just basically have him banned from everywhere my players are. Alex texts the players he's seeing, making it sound like Bill is refusing to let them train at TB12, which isn't true. And Patriots staff feel like this was a strategic move to drive a wedge between Belichick and the players.
They call him Yoko Guerrero. Tension is building inside the Patriots organization. With Tom and Belichick at odds, there's only one man who can settle the score. He's going to have to make the final call, siding either with a legendary coach or a once-in-a-lifetime player.
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Just use the code SCAMPOD. That's happymammoth.com, M-A-M-M-O-T-H, with the code SCAMPOD to get 15% off your entire first order. Bob Kraft is 76 years old. He was raised in a working-class, Orthodox Jewish family outside of Boston and made his fortune in paper and packaging.
More than two decades ago, he bought the New England Patriots for $172 million. Under his ownership, the Patriots went from league punching bag to epic, unprecedented dynasty. He handpicked Bill Belichick as coach, and he often refers to Tom Brady as his fifth son. But now, in the 2017 season, that dynasty has come to a turbulent crossroads. ♪
Tom's contract is expiring in the next two years. He wants to play for the Patriots, but he is 40 years old now. And Belichick wants to start playing Jimmy Garoppolo, the hot young quarterback he drafted. Meanwhile, Bob Kraft wants to keep peace between two men he considers family—
What's a billionaire to do? Oh, gosh. I mean, it seems so cut and dry to me. There just is like no gray area in this for me. I would just fire Tom Brady. I would be like, move on with your life. Go live in your mansion. It's time for Jimmy Garoppolo to take the stage. Well, Kraft is actually leaning one way.
After his wife died a few years back, he let his white hair grow out, and he started wearing suits with no ties and pairing them with Air Force Ones. And he's dating a 38-year-old actress and shows up on TMZ. He's in his golden years, and he's having fun, just like Tom. Tom's cool and exciting. So Kraft makes it clear that he's sticking with Tom, and he tells Belichick to trade Jimmy Garoppolo. Belichick is furious.
So he shoots off a text to the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. And when that coach gives him a call, Belichick trades Jimmy Garoppolo, one of the most promising young quarterbacks in the NFL, to the 49ers for a second round pick.
OK, as I mentioned, I don't know anything about football. So is that good? Is that bad? Is he angry? Well, the consensus in the NFL is that this was a very not great trade. Basically, Belichick was reportedly so mad at being overruled, he orchestrated a trade that was super lopsided in favor of the 49ers and really bad for the Patriots.
It's like he's cutting off his own nose to spite his face. And it's totally uncharacteristic of Belichick, who is the ultimate team first guy. OK, he was heated. He did something to undermine his own team because he was so upset. And that does seem very out of character for this man whom I know nothing about, given everything that you've just told me.
Yeah, I mean, we'll never know what he was really thinking, but it's clear that something unprecedented is going on with the Patriots this season. But it isn't over yet. This feud is about to be exposed, making the conflict between Tom, his coach, and his guru front page news.
Despite the behind-the-scenes drama, the Patriots cruise to the playoffs. But a week before their first playoff game in January 2018, they wake up to an explosive article on ESPN.com. It's written by Seth Wickersham. It gets into Alex's shady past, the locker room tension around TB12, and Kraft overruling Belichick on the Jimmy G trade.
It's a damning portrait of the power struggle between Kraft, Belichick, and their star player. The article asks, is this the beginning of the end? The response is immediate. The Patriots' workplace drama gets plastered all over the headlines, and the person taking the brunt of the media scorn is Tom.
Alex is officially making Tom look bad. The Patriots are trying to focus on the playoffs, but the news cycle is so vicious and so damning that they're forced to respond. The same morning the article comes out, the team puts out a statement saying the team's owner, its head coach, and its quarterback all stand united. And Tom takes his defense a step further, going on Boston's WEEI to deny everything and the article.
Again, it's hard to even answer those questions. It's so far from any truth that I know or any characterization of my relationship with my teammates. Again, I think this speaks just to someone, whether it's the writer himself or whoever he spoke to, what agenda they may have.
you know, in painting some type of picture. This isn't the first article that's come out about Alex and his sort of shady practices. And I'm just wondering how many of these exposés is it going to take for people to start really looking at Alex as the scammer that he is, and more specifically for Tom to start realizing that Alex is bad for his brand? Yeah, I mean...
It is weird to me that he's like, all these people have an agenda. But not Alex. Yeah, but even as the Patriots win two playoff games and make it to the Super Bowl, Bill's comments to the media suggest there's some truth in the reporting. After a playoff game, Bill declines to praise Brady's performance, saying...
Tom did a great job and he's a tough guy. We're not talking about open heart surgery here. Boom. I mean, if my coach said that about me, I would quit football right there and then. That's like the kind of thing you say to someone who you know is like good at what they do, but you're like, who freaking cares? Yeah, big whoop. Well, the Patriots go on to lose to the Eagles in the Super Bowl. And that's when everything really cracks open.
After the Super Bowl loss and yet another Belichick burn, Tom's demoralized. He might be the greatest quarterback of all time, but he can't even get the respect of his head coach. So Tom asks team owner Bob Kraft if he could be released from the last two years of his contract. And Bob says no. Tom could demand to be released, but he'd risk losing his massive fan base and tarnishing the TB12 brand.
And TV12 is just about to open a new two-story, 10,000-square-foot flagship location in Boston across the street from the Boston Public Library. Going back to the cult comparison, you have to wonder...
how Tom Brady doesn't see what's right in front of him. Like, so many people that you would think he trusts and respects who have helped him throughout his career, like Belichick, are sort of raising these red flags, and he's just refusing to acknowledge them. Yeah, and the common denominator here is Alex. The tone inside the Patriots organization has shifted.
Belichick's camp and Tom's camp appear to start staking out opposite corners. Here's Tom in an interview with ESPN sportscaster Jim Gray just months after the Super Bowl loss. And so when Giselle says feel appreciated, this brings to mind Coach Belichick and Mr. Kraft. Do you feel appreciated by them and do they have the appropriate gratitude for what you have achieved? I plead the fifth. laughter
Of course you're appreciated. They've given you everything you've asked for and you should have retired two years ago. Yeah, you know, even with all this, Tom still has faith in one man and it's obviously not Bill Belichick. So Tom gives him an ultimatum. Allow Alex Guerrero back into the facility or Tom will walk.
Belichick agrees as long as Alex doesn't interfere with any other players. It's a temporary truce, and for a short time, it works. The Patriots return to the Super Bowl in 2019 and beat the LA Rams. And at 41, Tom becomes the oldest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl and the first player ever to win six Super Bowls.
And this is where I go, right, you can ignore red flags as long as you're winning and you're achieving results and you're doing something that, forget football, most athletes do not compete at that level past the age of 30, 35. So it is pretty remarkable what he's managed to do. Yeah, I mean, it is undeniably remarkable. But playing for Bill Belichick is an ego-swallowing grind. And after 18 years, it's probably getting a bit old. But it's not just Bill Belichick.
So Tom skips voluntary practices. He spends the spring skiing, cliff diving, and going to Disneyland with his family. And that fall, he returns, reluctantly, to play another season for the Patriots. His buddy Gronk retired in the offseason. And though the season gets off to a great start, Tom is miserable. He can't help but feel that, despite his unparalleled success, he just isn't welcome in New England anymore.
Tom makes news when he and Alex both put their houses up for sale within a month of each other. The Patriots make the playoffs, but the 2019 season and Tom Brady's career at New England ends with a whimper. A loss at home to the Tennessee Titans. The sports world knows Tom's contract is up and that this is the end of an era. Here's what the announcers say at the end of his final game.
Just want to see the reaction here as Brady walks off the field. Will he ever step foot on Gillette turf again? Greatest career ever. Combination of him and Bill Belichick unmatched before I doubt you'll ever see it again.
A few weeks later, Tom officially announces that after 20 seasons of almost uninterrupted dominance, he won't be returning to play for New England. He's quitting the Patriots, but he's not quitting football. At the age of 42, he's going to find a new team to try and prove that Belichick is wrong and that he and Alex are right.
In March 2020, Tom Brady signs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And the only thing that's bigger news than Tom Brady switching sides is COVID-19.
Tom and Alex lean into this moment of uncertainty. Just as the world is shutting down, TB12 releases Protect. It's marketed as an immunity blend supplement created to support a healthy immune system to help you stay strong. And it has ingredients like vitamin C, zinc, and elderberry. Isn't it so wild that they're like, hmm, the world is shut down and in distress at this unprecedented time?
Let's create a little multivitamin. How can I make money off this? Well, it's only $45 for a 30-day supply. Tom steps outside into a beautiful garden on a sunny day to promote it on Instagram. We're in a tough moment, but I know we can overcome it. And just taking some of these small steps can really make a huge difference in your life.
A lot of celebrities during that initial beginning phase of COVID were out in their beautiful gardens, sort of convincing all of us that we could get through this together and that their lives and our lives were the same. And that video just took me right back to that and how...
incredibly well, it convinced me that our lives are so, so different and will never be the same. And no vitamin can bridge that divide. Yeah. I mean, at the time, people didn't know a ton about COVID, but it's like, this is what you're doing? Forbes calls it unethical and misleading. The Boston Globe called this blatant cash grab, something bordering on wartime profiteering.
And on that decidedly sour note, Tom heads down to Tampa to play for a ragtag group of underdogs and see if he really still has what it takes. And of course, the move has a strategic business angle. Winning is good for Tom's brand. But
Bill Belichick can only watch as a superstar he molded go south and plays for a rival team. Now, everyone's waiting to see if Tom is about to fall off a cliff or if he can still play world-class football at 43 years old.
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In August, just before the start of the 2020 season, TB12 announces a new clinic, TB12 Performance and Recovery Tampa, which is just minutes from the Buccaneers team facility. And then something even wilder happens. Gronk, Brady's favorite receiver and a TB12 acolyte, comes out of retirement to play for the Bucs. And they're like a dream team.
Tom Brady leads the Buccaneers to a wildcard playoff spot, and the Bucs make it to the Super Bowl for the first time in almost two decades. You can just imagine told in a different way with like really inspiring music in the background. This is like a total comeback story. This is for all the people like me, 39-year-olds who are thinking, man,
will I ever have a shot at the big time, even though I'm this age? And Tom Brady and Gronk are proving that you can. And it's just if it wasn't for that dang Alex, this is almost like a feel good story. Yeah, it's almost a feel good story if like it didn't involve Alex Guerrero and Tom Brady had like an entirely different personality and demeanor. Yes. Yeah. If if a lot of the details were different, but it's just funny because I'm strangely rooting for him right now. Oh, come on.
Don't go there now. Okay, too far, too far. As the oldest player in the NFL, Tom leads the team to victory. Only 25,000 fans attend due to COVID restrictions, but the whole world tunes in to see Tom Brady defy his haters and father time by taking a new team all the way to the top. Tom is named the NFL's most valuable player for a record-extending fifth time,
He's also got more Super Bowl wins as an individual player than any single NFL franchise. That is genuinely incredible. And I am a little bit like, wow, he did it. I can't believe he did. I really did not see that coming. I assumed he was going to tank it when he went to Tampa Bay. This is an incredible story. Right? And Tom succeeded with Alex Wright by his side. It
It's validation of every insane diet he's promoted, all the vigorous massages, and every time he went to the mat for Alex. Tom tried to stick it out in a brutally thankless New England system, but now that he's cut loose, he sees no downside in looking out for number one, or in his case, number 12.
The Bucs were totally fine with it. They even gave Alex his own Super Bowl ring to match the one he already has from the Patriots' last Super Bowl win. Ew, he gets his own ring too? He didn't do anything. We are as qualified as Alex to give vigorous massages. 100%.
And now that they're world champions again, nothing can stop Tom and Alex from their mission, turning their TB12 method into a global movement and becoming even more filthy rich along the way. After all that, Tom Brady announces his retirement in February 2022. Hang it up. The GOAT is done.
Just kidding. 40 days later, Tom announces he's unretiring. This season, Tom's 45 years old and still playing top tier football in the NFL. I mean, you know, kudos to him for still having the energy and stamina to play at that level at his age. But take a page from Serena Williams's playbook and retire with grace and do it once and move on with your life.
Well, to be fair, he is also staying busy off the field. Tom and his wife Giselle are shareholders in a crypto trading exchange called FTX. And Brady co-founded Autograph, an NFT platform. He also launched his own athleisure brand, Brady, where a running shirt will cost you $75. Well, that's good. I mean, he's finding other ways to scam people that aren't just selling supplements. Oh, and he...
He signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox Sports to be a lead analyst whenever he finally actually retires. So we'll be seeing Tom Brady and maybe Alex Guerrero too for the rest of our lives.
Well, Emile, this story has all the drama of a Greek tragedy. Where should we start? What a tale. And I think what's interesting is at the beginning, you know, I really saw Tom Brady as not a victim, obviously, but a little bit more pliable, if I can use one of Alex Guerrero's own words, as a victim.
And then you just sort of see this turn where the narcissism or that single-mindedness to achieve and to win turns him into a scammer. And seeing his sort of willful support of Alex, despite all of these people like Bill Belichick telling him, you know, you should probably part ways, makes me think so differently of him and everything that he's accomplished because it's just tarnished now in my eyes.
Here's the thing that kind of trips me up. Anyone can look at Tom Brady's success and be like, well, it worked for him. You know, it's like kind of this by any means necessary view of success. What I think it is, is that, you know, there's been diet gurus for women since time immemorial, but there are so few men who openly talk about what they eat, what they don't eat, and
talk about aging in this way to this level and at his platform. And I think that that actually makes this relationship so much more dangerous because this is kind of the guy that men look to and what he's espousing is so cuckoo. Yeah. And you know what? There are people I know who see something like, well, you know what? If it's good enough for Tom Brady, who's the greatest football player to have ever existed, like,
it's going to hurt me kind of thing. Honestly, even myself, and I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I did hear that Tom Brady doesn't eat nightshades, doesn't eat tomatoes. And at the time I was like,
oh man, if Tom Brady doesn't eat tomatoes, should I stop eating? Like that's how much of an influence he can have on people. This wouldn't have worked if Tom Brady wasn't such an amazing athlete and so good at his job. And that's the shield that Alex will always have, that Tom Brady is 45 years old and still able to play football. Yeah. At any point in this story, if Tom Brady had lost...
then Alex would be exposed for a fraud. But because Tom Brady is so good at what he does, Alex is allowed to keep on scamming. Yeah. Emile, having heard all of this, what is your takeaway from this story?
I mean, my personal takeaway is as someone who is kind of at that age where you're starting to think a bit more about your mortality and where your life is going, I just think it's okay to age. It's okay to accept that you are old.
and that that means a bunch of different things for your body, for your lifestyle, for your family. But it's okay. It's good. We live in a society where it's really like frowned upon to age publicly, to have gray hair, to have wrinkles, you know. And I think that is how a lot of people do allow themselves to be taken advantage of or to be manipulated because they're so scared of what aging means for their place in society. And I think that that's
We need to obviously address that. Yeah, I mean, I think the lesson here is it's okay to get old. Yeah, getting old is great. You don't give any Fs. You hopefully have a little bit more security and confidence. And maybe the Tom Brady lesson is that he's more insecure than any of us imagined. Wow, that's it. That's a ticket, Emilie.
This is Superstar Sports Scammer Part 2. I'm Sarah Hagee. And I'm Emile Niazi. We used many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were Seth Wickersham's reporting for ESPN and his book, It's Better to Be Feared, Chris Sweeney's reporting for Boston Magazine, and Jeff Benedict's book, The Dynasty. Sarah Enni wrote this episode. Additional writing by me, Sarah Hagee.
Our senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reed. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Tate Busby. Our story editors are Sarah Enney and Allison Weintraub. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Sound design is by Jay Rothman. Fact-checking by Sonia Maynard. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesound Sync.
Our executive producers are Janine Cornelow, Stephanie Jens, and Marshall Louis for Wondery. If you like Scamfluencers, you can listen to every episode early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.
