Meadow

I appreciated hearing from her, but I kept thinking, "She is not yet... fully okay." Naturally, having been involved with this cult takes its toll on a person but some guests seem to be further along the road to healing than others. I felt really bad for her.

Do you all ever wonder what they would come up with to Fair Game you? I've got a few skeletons in my closet, but I don't know how they'd find them out.

When Leah and Mike were interviewing Janet Reitman, I told my husband, "These are the three bravest people in the world." I read Janet's book while on a sunny beach in Mexico and my blood was running cold. It was worse than that time when I was 12 and read "The Amityville Horror House". I feared for Janet's life. Heck, I feared that Scientology knew that I was reading this book on a beach in Mexico. I see that I'm not the only one to notice Leah's flattering lighting!

Erika's (non)reactions when getting her scores last night was unsettling. 8! ~zero reaction~ 8! ~zero reaction~ 8! ~zero reaction~ 8! ~zero reaction~ She puts on this front of being strong! and confident! and all I can think is, "Aww, you are obviously deeply insecure and scared." I can't be the only one who sees through her act. I'm just glad that I no longer have to see her act on this show.

He was a decent dancer, but I'm curious... besides all of these Bachelor shows, does this guy have a real job?

Could someone please take pity on me and point me in the direction for an explanation of this obviously funny backstory?? I gather it's something about Tom Cruise and him saying that and maybe there's a video?

As much as I've come to admire Mike Rinder, I can understand and respect where you're coming from. You make very fair points. I mean, we still prosecute Nazis for war crimes and are not moved by how much time has elapsed or what the circumstances were. They were adults who did these things and there should be accountability. I think what makes Rinder different to me is that he doesn't have to be making amends in this very public, very dangerous way. He could be living quietly on a beach in Jamaica. If he was, that might indicate that he simply grew tired of being abused himself and got out. But the fact that he knowingly is taking on a group with the will and the resources to destroy him and his loved ones in the hopes of saving others from being abused is pretty impressive to me. Plus, I think he must know that not everyone is going to consider him a hero. He's going to be criticized and fairly so. He's put himself out there for that criticism and here we are debating it. I think that's reasonable, considering what he did.

What I found particularly telling was that it was Travolta's employee who helped a pregnant Spanky and her baby escape. Spanky called her and asked her to be in a car at a particular location the very next day and hung up before any questions could be asked. The employee showed up and was shocked when Spanky handed her a baby, jumped in the car and said, "GO!". She did and got them out there. It's one of my favorite escape stories. (Spanky's full-term baby ended up being only 3-4 pounds because she spent most of her pregnancy in the RPF not being fed. So awful.)

New shirt plan: "You don't have the *$@& rank to read this shirt!"

I just read it. You have a toddler, huh? It's going to be a tough read. Nothing grotesquely hideous, just overall hard to understand neglect of and indifference to children. It made me hug my children more when I finished. Her story is going to stick with me the longest, I think, because she was just a child. Her statutes of limitations have not run out.

~dying laughing~ Especially at Lord Donia's "You don't have the rank to wear that shirt!" I would so wear the shirt, but I have kids and I'm not taking the slightest risk of poking the crazy and having them get harassed. But how I would love to be on Season 2 of Rindah and Remini and have Leah open with her putting on her reading glasses and saying... "Here is what the Church of Scientology has to say about Meadow: Meadow is an adulteress who flirts shamelessly with a married man who has already been declared evil, abusive, and a pathological liar. She repeatedly practices medicine without a license in a pathetic attempt to diagnose Church officials with serious psychological conditions, even going so far as to proclaim them as 'possessed by demons'. Meadow is in desperate need of getting on with her life and getting off of her computer."

The child neglect is the part that I find unforgivable. You beat your coworker? Tensions were high and he'd do the same to you, so forgiven. You Fair Gamed someone? You were brainwashed and regret it now, so forgiven. You left your baby in a urine soaked crib? You're dead to me, unless you're Spanky Taylor, who saw her sick baby, grabbed her and made a break for it. SherriAnt, I think you're absolutely right. I think when Scientology collapses, we'll hear some truly alarming stories that have been hidden. Not every neglected baby or child survived illnesses. There have been a number of suicides that are covered up. There have been homicides. The cult expert, Steve Hassan, who does counseling for those who escape said that out of all ex-cult members, Scientologists have the deepest and longest lasting damage. I hope and pray that there will be accountability for all of this.

Oh my gosh, I was so caught up in whether my beautiful Mike Rindah is part cyborg that I missed the thing about babies not needing Kool cigarettes, lol! I was a little alarmed at Leah's answer to the "What would you say to David Miscavige" question (and I think My Beautiful Mike Rindah -tm was, too). She seemed to think that Scientology is salvageable, if he would clean up his act. Rinder and I were both looking at her like, "Uh... honey? Are we not on the same page that the whole thing is a bunch of hooey? 'Cause I thought we were." I'm going to Florida next month and I so want to wear a shirt that says, "Where's Shelly?". I won't, because I'm a coward like that. But I'd love to see that become a thing.

I'm a stoic. I do not complain or let my suffering show. But a lack of emotional response to someone else's pain is not a perfectly fine way to go through life (and I'm sure you didn't mean it that way). It's the sign of a sociopath (and I'm sure I don't mean that Mike Rinder is one!). I adore Mike Rinder. I think there is every reason to believe that he felt deep emotion in the face of Steve Hassan's pain. For all we know, Rinder has been trained always to be non-reactive... or he and Hassan have already had this conversation in private... or the camera editing was wonky or whatever. I just think that for the sake of everyone's healing... victims', Rinder's, audiences'... it might behoove Rinder to be extra generous with a whispered "I'm so sorry". bam So powerful.

Let's not forget mentally deranged and in my personal suspicion, possibly possessed by the/a devil.