Fucking, this is just some. Can you imagine? Can you imagine getting to the point where you're doing that shit? You were a monster. And fucking walking around in your own flesh. I mean. And feeling like you're a person. Like you're just a fucking monster. It's just crazy. Like even in our business,

like I've seen some really weird shit. Yep. But

not that. That is just, that is

so crazy. Yeah.

It is a hole that will never be filled

inside a human like that. Nope. Never. As CEO, she would call people stupid behind their backs. One said quote, it was like mean girls. The Chief People Officer. Chief People Officer. CEO Chief People Officer. Announced at a SoulCycle conference that they were expanding the parental leave policy. And that at the same time that an exec had finally gotten pregnant. The exec had not announced she was pregnant. That was private information. Wow. So the exec complained. And then the CPO stopped talking to her.

But he's the

Chief People Officer. Yeah. That's like

your old Chief Officer. The Chief People Officer is hosting you.

I'm going to stop talking to you. I'm the Chief Post Officer now. Yeah. The Chief People Officer is ignoring you fully. What?

It is insane for a Chief People Officer to be a thing. And then for it to be ignoring people.

You're going to have to talk to the Deputy People Officer. Hello. I will be hosting you shortly as well. So 32 days after the exec had the baby, they fired her. Wow. She sued and you're not going to believe this. You want a settlement. Good. The shocking? The shocking. Yeah.

Yeah.

Now, Whelan was spending money on the company's dime. Sometimes she would take a helicopter from her apartment in Trebeca to the Hamptons. Her favorite execs had big expenses taken care of. And then she buys two Dior bags on the company card, which is $5,100. One bag was for one of her favorite execs who was in international markets. She said it was a thank you for opening the London studios. But she apparently tried to pass off both bags as the gift when she had kept one. So she keeps being asked for receipts. One exec said, quote, she lied about it. And then she repays the company, like three months later. But the board at this point is like, what the fuck? And the Chief People Officer has been having secret meetings with other execs and the CFO, Sundar Reddy brainstorming how to get rid of her. And it worked. The board's done and Whelan's out. And then that guy Sundar Reddy replaces her. And all the staffers call it a coup. And then execs start quitting because no one likes working for Sundar Reddy. He's worked. How bad

Sundar

Reddy must be awful. Headhunters are now warning people not to work at SoulCycle. Wow. And then there's more competition. Cheaper cycling franchises are opening. There's independent places all over New York that have better atmospheres. And then COVID hits. I'm surprised it's so late into the story that COVID hits. I felt like it was OK. So Sundar Reddy, the new CEO, worked from home in early March and told one employee, quote, I don't want to take transit. I don't want to risk it. And he asked employees to go into the office.

Yep. There we go. He's a boss.

Fitness businesses are absolutely crushed by the pandemic. 15% of clubs permanently close. The home app that is supposed to be a soul-sauce cycle app that they're going to make along with the bike is cannibalized by Equinox. So now it's an Equinox app. And the app is extremely confusing. SoulCycle starts opening outdoor locations, but soon starts closing studios and firing employees. Outdoor locations is hilarious. Welcome to Soulfield. They were firing people on group calls. Yeah, I bet. Quote, they just got on a call and blindsided the staff. And then they finally released their home bike. But Peloton is already, this is once you're into the pandemic, Peloton is cooking like it's taking. Yep. Yep. And then all these stories of racism and fat shaming and abusive behavior and inappropriate sexual stuff are published in Vox and Business Insider. So all the stuff I've talked about is from Vox and Business Insider. They should have just called themselves Trump bike. They should have just leaned in. They really should. They should have just

like everyone. It's just like he's just on the screen like before every class.

This is going to be an amazing

class. Yes.

Somehow high profile instructors leave. CEO Sunday ready is out and he's replaced by Evelyn Webster. In January 2021, Stacey Griffith gets vaccinated and posts about it on Instagram. Now this is when only healthcare workers are supposed to get vaccinated. And she calls herself an educator taking care of her community. Oh my God.

This is when the bubble like you leak

out of your bubble and people like, no,

you're in

the real world now. And by the time. Yeah, 100% everyone's like, who the fuck is this fucking bike lady? Like nobody knows who she is. It's

super important. I'm a celebrity.

So the internet goes fucking batshit crazy. And she is forced to apologize. She I remember she had to squeeze the vaccination out of her arm back into the syringe. Yeah. Yes. Griffith is also not good. She's known to throw mics at staff if the mic didn't work. If she didn't recognize a front row rider, she yell at the staff. Staff had to ride if her classes weren't full. Oh, that's the best. I'd like the rest of the comedians to sit in the audience for my show. A manager was riding three times a day, mostly to fill Griffith's classes.

Oh, the manager's like, huh, huh.

If there was an empty bike, Griffith would yell quote, someone get the fuck on that bike, which is not part of the work description. And Griffith isn't just mistreating staffers. Once Griffith told the writer, quote, you're lucky you're pregnant or else I'd really be on you. Wow. This is anti pregnancy culture is crazy. She was not pregnant.

Oh, okay. Doki. I'll be right back.

Wow. That person complained to headquarters, but nothing was done.

Oh my God.

One instructor yelled at a woman that she was mailing it in and asked why she even bothered coming. The woman had just had a double mastectomy. Oh my God. Oh my God.

God. Just look, all right, you want to be intense. Okay, be intense. Make it intense. Make it hard. But shaming individuals is so carelessly dumb.

It's fucking crazy. It's absolutely crazy. It's also like, I mean, you know, it's ableism. It's all the shit, but it's like these people that these workout people like their view of the world is so fucked up. It's so fucked up. Yes. Like not everybody. There's just people that are big. They can work out all the fucking time.

And they're big. Exercise exercising is like for your health, totally makes sense. But for the value to be put on the way you

physically look on this level is insane. Yeah.

It's like if you're doing exercise for, you should exercise for health. You should not exercise so that you can wear tight neon pants to class that show your cock.

Well, I disagree with that.

I do too. That's a camera. That's

like what am I talking about? At staff meetings, Griffith and Tollwood and Colewood talked shit about specific writers. Who were there like their main people that loved them. And now on top of all this, the writers are not great. So there's a bike called the Boyfriend Bike and it's right in front of the instructor's podium. So they called the Boyfriend Bike. An instructor tells a staffer to not let a specific writer sit there. She didn't want to look at her. She didn't like the way she looked. But the woman manages to book it online so the staffer immediately changes it. When someone changes your bike location, you get an immediate notification in your texts. Quote, she called literally 30 seconds of me doing that and began verbally assaulting me. She called me stupid. She called me the R word. She belittled me based on the fact that I worked there. She threatened to come into the studio and fuck us up.

Crazy. Just as a bike.

This is just the whole time I'm researching this, all I'm thinking is this is bike. This is your bike class. It's a bike class. Yeah, it's biking. This is a bike class. Being yelled at and cursed at by writers is normal. One worker complained and the company offered her a free t-shirt. We have a lot of these Monday at noon shirts sitting around. Staff were just supposed to take it. The company just thinks that's part of the job. You take the shit from the people. In February 2021, SoulCycle announced five Black History Month themed rides with accompanying tote bags and inspirational mantras from four instructors of color. Okay. I have some sirens going off, but I'll listen. The instructors said they felt pressured to host the rides. Now, a few Black instructors had quit saying that there was, you know, it's not blatant racism, but there's like a little systemic racism going on here. They're not advancing. They're not getting the good spots.

Well, it's also like when a capitalist, when capitalism is forcing people of color to

feel exploitative, it's like, yeah, you really got the message of this month. You could have done it without the free tote bag.

Sure. Yeah.

Your Black History Month tote bag from SoulCycle. Just can't even

as the message. It's

just like we're beyond pissing on messages at this point. Nothing says Rosa Parks like this SoulCycle tote bag. So one Black instructor, this woman, our last name is Wilson. She's one of the faces of the at-home app. And she quits. Quote, I can no longer allow my image to be used by a company that performs its activism when it's convenient for their bottom line or their seasonal campaign. Yep. So that's a huge blow to lose her. Other instructors are being demoted during the pandemic, but SoulCycle asked them not to change their titles on social media because they don't want people to find the app to know that they're shit in the bed. Yeah. That they're being assholes to be all.

It's so funny.

I went on Connor Kelly's social media

and he's just like a regular guy now on social media. Busy?

Is he not social anymore?

No, he's got like, he's like married with a kid and he's got like what? 15,000 followers, I think.

Well, that was the funny thing is reading these stories is how few people actually followed them on social

media.

Yeah, again, in the class you're huge. Yeah, but like it was like 12,000 people and you're like, yeah. Oh yeah, he is a dad. Look at that. Him and his wife and kids. Wow. You're right. Wow. Well, he's a fucking creep. So. Yep. Hey, Dave, at least our business never has a creep. Just get married and have a kid to make it look like he's not a real ship. So they're demoted and not allowed to say it on social media. Some didn't even know if they still worked for SoulCycle after being furloughed. They just didn't talk to him. Some studios open again after a little while. They added outdoor studios and instructors now had to haul the bikes out into parking lots. Awesome. SoulCycle stopped taking gift carts and we're selling new studio bikes online. An insider quote they need to fire cash. Yeah, it's a fire sale. In July 2022, SoulCycle offered to swap Peloton bikes for 47 studio classes, which is exactly the amount, $1,400. A month later, one month later after that, both SoulCycle and Peloton announced lots of layoffs and closures on the same day. Peloton had over expanded. They lost their fucking mind. SoulCycle was closing 20 of 82 studios. Top instructors had to take pay cuts. A source told page six quote, someone making $300 is now at a base of 100 plus writer. So they're doing it by writer head. You'll get paid by how many people you bring in. Wow. Others have had their classes cut from 12 to three a week.

Well, glad

you moved to New York. Janet Fitzgerald posted on Instagram that she was no longer the director of training and only had three classes a week and her writers were shocked. Quote, this is absolute madness.

No, no, everything else was madness.

Flywheel files for bankruptcy. So Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler couldn't just walk away with their millions, Gareth. They needed a new business. So this year, they opened Peoplehood. They announced it in the spring of 2022. The press was confused by the announcement.

Uh, count me among the press.

The chubby. I'm so ready. The this is the dumbest thing I've ever. This is the dumbest thing I've ever read about any company ever. It's the dumbest. If this is. I can't come on. Give me it. The company fis tille.

Oh, hey, if you're getting

better. Company facilitates gather sessions. Oh, 60 minute group conversations where people can quote speak freely and listen deeply. What the fuck?

Why? So we work without the building?

It will teach people listening skills to improve relationships. Gareth, it's only a hundred and sixty five dollars a month.

Oh my God. So we're now teaching human courses. It took it took it only in this world could people

be like, we're going to sell a class on how to be a person. They also sell merch. Lots of merch shirts and hats and hoodies and water bottles. I'm a person now. Writers and Jesus sing Kurtz in the cut quote. A dozen chairs are arranged in the circle. A song is played. Someone starts to play Coldplay. Oh my fucking God.

We have

found the bottom of the trash.

Wow. Oh my God. We are left. I would jump through a window like I

was in the mob and the feds just raided the room. We're led through a bit of deep breathing and it begins and then Gareth and then Gareth. He's soul cycle instructor leads them.

So they're trying to repurpose. They're done trying to repurpose the bikes. They're repurposing the instructors. They're using soul cycle language and they're encouraging people to share their problems. Guys, listen, you had some bikes, you had some mics. It had a good run. We're done with you.

Move on. You are a husk. But there is no conversation allowed. Okay, that's an interesting twist. Quote. You can only respond by snapping your fingers or patting your heart.

This is on. This is like this is is this the dumbest thing that's ever happened on the show? How do I 65? This is the dumbest. This is the dumbest thing that's happened in modern times on the show.

This is so beyond.

This is the dumbest thing that's recently happened. Let's say that.

This is this is spectacular. This is so stupid.

This is as bad as capitalism gets. A membership to be a membership to be in a person club where soul cycle instructors use their coded language. Psalms bike and they don't you're not

allowed to communicate unless you're hitting your chest or snapping. I mean, I'm not done. Oh, no. Do you think I was done with people? I'm done. Everyone I want everyone to go to peoplehood.com. By the way, you have to look at it. So. So you only have 30 seconds to share.

And they sharing just as snapping? Oh my god. And then people snap.

And then people snap back. Dave, this website is incredible. Dave, this is this is you

know what it looks like? It looks like public domain

images and ideas have a website. Yep. Yep. Yep. It's

it's just.