Abby Lee Miller: Scam Like Nobody's Watching | 120
Scamfluencers
Wondery
4.1 • 7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2024
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Before she became the most infamous dance teacher in America, Abby Lee Miller ran a struggling dance studio in Pittsburgh. Shortly after declaring bankruptcy, she gets the break of a lifetime: she’s cast as the lead in Dance Moms. She becomes a reality TV star overnight, and even as she leads young dancers to stardom in front of millions of viewers — fighting their moms every step of the way — she schemes to keep her newfound wealth a secret from the courts. And when curtain finally falls on her fraud, Abby insists on an encore.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, scam influencers listeners. If you're as hooked on these jaw-dropping schemes as we are, you'll love Wondry Plus. Think of it as you're all access past the world of scams. Add free episodes, early access, and exclusive deep dives that uncover even more shocking details. Don't just listen. Immerse yourself in the chaos with Wondry Plus. |
| 0:29.5 | Sarah, I know you love reality shows the way I love reality shows. |
| 0:33.6 | Do you ever watch ones that have to do with children or maybe around like mom culture? |
| 0:39.6 | I do remember there was one that was particularly bleak from like 2016, and it was the mother-daughter experiment celebrity edition. And that was messed up. Ran for one season, |
| 0:46.3 | very dark, and yeah, so I like mother-daughter stuff. Right. Well, I ask because today, we have a story |
| 0:52.8 | about one of those women on television who loves to yell at little kids. |
| 0:56.8 | And incredibly, that's not even close to being her worst crime. |
| 1:03.2 | It's early December 2012 in Erie, Pennsylvania, peak holiday season. |
| 1:08.6 | Judge Thomas Agresti is sitting in front of the TV. |
| 1:11.5 | He's 62 years old with light brown hair, |
| 1:13.9 | wire-rimmed glasses, and a mustache. |
| 1:16.6 | Thomas is a bankruptcy court judge |
| 1:18.3 | who's been serving Erie County for nearly a decade. |
| 1:20.9 | But right now, he's just trying to enjoy his weekend. |
| 1:24.6 | He's channel surfing when he lands on a show |
| 1:26.6 | called Abby's Ultimate Dance |
| 1:28.3 | Competition. It's a spinoff of the Lifetime Reality Show Dance Moms. This isn't a show |
| 1:33.8 | the judge would normally watch, but right now he can't take his eyes off of it. Because the |
| 1:38.5 | star of the show, Abby Lee Miller, is a debtor in his court, meaning she's supposedly broke. Yet, here she is, starring in a |
| 1:46.6 | reality show named after her. Just two years ago, Abby filed for bankruptcy. She told Judge |
| 1:52.9 | Thomas that she's been struggling and filing for bankruptcy was the only way she could press |
| 1:57.0 | pause on her dance studios mounting bills. It's been a long and complicated process to get |
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