Journey to the Fringe · Journey to the Fringe

We're ranking assholes (part 5 of 5)

January 23, 2026·59 min·5 clips

After five years and 48 episodes, Taylor finally reveals the top 10 biggest assholes in fringe culture.

1. Journey to the Fringe delivers its self-described 'magnum opus' — the top 10 biggest assholes across 48 episodes of fringe and paranormal coverage. 2. Hosts Taylor and Chelsea have been building this list across five years of episodes and compare their personal rankings throughout against an AI (co-pilot) reference list. 3. The episode's core thesis is that fringe figures can be ranked objectively by harm done, using a 50-point scale across five named categories: deception and fabrication, vibes, harm, grift, and legacy. 4. Billy Meyer (Swiss contactee, Swiss UFO photographer) opens the top 10 at number 10 with Taylor's score of 39; he scored an 8 in deception, 9 in vibes, 7 in harm, 7 in grift, and 8 in legacy. 5. Prince Andrew enters at number 9 with 39 points; Chelsea's lowest single category score in the entire top 10 is Prince Andrew's 4 out of 10 for grift, explained by the difficulty of scoring inherited wealth as a grift. 6. The Good News International Church — a Kenyan doomsday cult led by Paul McKenzie — is number 8; at the time of the show's original episode it was the second-largest mass suicide on record behind Jonestown. 7. The Fox Sisters, credited with sparking the 19th-century spiritualist movement, are number 7 despite Chelsea placing them 20th on her personal list; both hosts agree their 'second-level grift' of admitting the hoax and then monetizing the confession elevates their asshole score. 8. David Politis (former police officer, Missing 411 author) comes in at number 6; Taylor gave him a 10 in vibes, noting he coerced celebrities into signing autographs and was involved in prostitution stings during his police career. 9. Falun Gong enters at number 5 with a 42 from Taylor; the hosts flag the group's ownership of the Epoch Times, connections to Trump events, and the harmful medical practices within Shen Yun's training compounds. 10. The Moonies (Unification Church, founded by Sun Myung Moon) are number 4 with an 8-8-8-9-9 from Taylor; co-pilot placed them first overall with a 45, citing the assassination of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by a man whose family was financially destroyed by the church. 11. The Warrens (Ed and Lorraine) are number 3 with a 45 — Taylor's breakdown is 9 deception, 9 vibes, 7 harm, 9 grift, 10 legacy — the 10 justified by the Conjuring film franchise making them household names beyond fringe circles. 12. Taylor and Chelsea disagree on the Fox Sisters versus Madame Blavatsky (HPB): Chelsea believes HPB's deception 'runs much much deeper,' while Taylor notes the Fox Sisters are more foundational to seance culture specifically. 13. The hosts repeatedly note that 'legacy' is the most contested category, with Chelsea scoring it based on lay-person recognition and Taylor weighting it toward cult impact and endurance. 14. Co-pilot (AI) scores are used as a reference throughout — the AI placed the Moonies first (45), the Good News International Church fourth (44), and the Warrens at only 14th (40), which both hosts reject as too low for the Warrens. 15. David Politis scored notably low from co-pilot (24th, 36 points) because the AI viewed his deception as 'implying mystery rather than fabricating outright' — a framing both hosts disagree with. 16. The Falun Gong scored an 8 in harm from Taylor; the hosts note that after scoring Good News International Church a 10 for mass deaths, it became difficult to assign equal harm scores to groups without direct fatalities. 17. Both hosts acknowledge the Moonies episode (season 3, episode 11) requires the Japan arc episodes to fully understand, given the Shinzo Abe assassination connection. 18. The episode has a conversational, sometimes chaotic format with both hosts interrupting, laughing, and revisiting past episodes to double-check details; energy is high and opinionated throughout. 19. Listeners who have followed the full five-year run of Journey to the Fringe and want the payoff ranking will find this essential. 20. People unfamiliar with the show's covered subjects — Billy Meyer, Paul McKenzie, David Politis, Falun Gong — may find the episode harder to follow without prior context.

As heard by us

A foul-mouthed finale that ranks the show's worst grifters with blunt, amused contempt.

Journey to the Fringe ends on a sharp, deliberately cranky note, using a top-10 count of the biggest assholes the hosts have covered, across 48 total subjects and a 50-point scale in five categories.

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Want a savage top-10 finale that ranks 48 episodes of fringe subjects with a 50-point asshole score?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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