The $3 Billion Energy Drink Scam: The Rise and Fall of Bang with Emma Willmann and Anjelah Johnson Reyes | 80

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From substitute teacher to energy drink mogul, Jack Owoc rode a wave of caffeine to build Bang Energy into a billion-dollar empire. Bang promised to make you smarter, stronger, and immune to hangovers. Turns out, the only thing it boosted was CEO Jack Owoc's bank account. But when Monster came for his market share and the music industry came for his TikToks, Jack learned that no amount of “super creatine” could keep him out of bankruptcy court.

Emma Willmann (Crashing, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (MadTV, Funjelah) join Misha to drink up all the juicy details of how America's third largest energy drink company came and went in just a decade.

Follow The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

The Big Flop is a production of Wondery and AT WILL MEDIA, hosted by Misha Brown.

Produced by Sequoia Thomas, Harry Huggins and Tina Turner

Written by Anna Rubanova and Luke Burns

Engineered by Zach Grappone with support from Andrew Holzberger

The video podcast is edited by Olivia Vessel and Lindsay Gordon

Managing Producer is Molly Getman

Executive producers are: Kait Walsh and Will Malnati for AT WILL MEDIA.

Legal support by Carolyn Levin of Miller, Korzenik, Sommers, & Rayman.

Senior Producers for Wondery are Adam Aseraf, Matt Beagle, and Jennifer Kline Walker.

Managing Producer is Sara Mathes and the Senior Managing Producer is Callum Plews.

Music Supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Frisson Sync

Theme song is "Sinking Ship" by Cake

Executive producers are Lizzie Bassett, Dave Easton and Marshall Lewy for Wondery

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Listen to The Big Flop on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-big-flop/ now.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Imagine a world where you could listen to The Big Flop without any breaks?
0:04.7	Newsflash, you can.
0:06.6	By joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts.
0:11.0	You'll get early access to episodes of The Big Flop and enjoy them entirely ad-free.
0:17.1	It's the ultimate way to immerse yourself in the drama of these business debacles.
0:26.6	Listen up, all you sleepy losers out there.
0:34.9	Today on the big flop, we're going to get you absolutely jacked up with the loudest,
0:40.9	tastiest, most creatiniest energy drink on the market. That's right, we're talking bang
0:48.2	energy, a product that made billions of dollars while seemingly saying it could fix your brain. Too bad for its CEO
0:58.7	that Monster Energy got all roided out with rage and tried to destroy it. I started off on 28 years ago
1:08.8	sleeping on an air mattress. I had no money, but I had this crazy idea.
1:12.6	Creatin peptide helps with all forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's.
1:16.6	If this product does what the CEO claims, then this product would be classified as a drug and not a supplement.
1:22.6	There have been numerous questions regarding super creatine and whether it's real. I can assure you that supercreatin is real.
1:30.4	We are on a sinking ship. Let's talk about something that might be keeping you up at night.
1:44.5	Cyber security. According to Vantor's latest state of trust report, it's the number one concern for UK businesses.
1:51.6	That's where Vantar comes in. Whether you're a startup, growing fast, or already established, Vanta can help you get ISO-27-001 certified and more without the headaches.
2:02.7	And Vanta allows your company to centralise security workflows, complete questionnaires up to five times faster, and proactively manage vendor risk to help your team not only gets compliant, but stay compliant.
2:14.9	Stop stressing over cybersecurity and start focusing on growing your business.
2:19.8	For a limited time, our audience gets $1,000 off Vanta at vanta.com slash Wondery.
2:26.9	That's V-A-N-T-A dot com slash Wondery for $1,000 off.
2:32.6	Because when it comes to your business, it's not just about keeping the lights on.
	...

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