Extreme: Muscle Men

BBC
  • 4.3 (38)
  • PERSONAL JOURNALS
  • WEEKLY SERIES
Extreme: Muscle Men

Get exclusive episodes, early access, and more

$4.99/mo or $49.99/yr after trial

Muscle Men is season one of Extreme, the BBC podcast that knows no limits. Each action-packed season tells the story of people who've pushed themselves to the very edge of what's physically or mentally possible - and in doing so, have changed the world... 1980s Los Angeles. A young, amateur bodybuilder named William Dillon comes to California in search of the supersized American dream - to get absolutely jacked. But beneath the smell of sweat, pulsing disco beats, and the rhythmic clank of weights, there's a secret. Many of the bodybuilders and gym rats he meets are using steroids to achieve their pumped up physique. And if that's what it takes to make it big, Dillon's willing to do it too. But not only that, he's smart. He recognises there's money to be made from selling the promise that you can get ripped, quick. Dillon, along with the cult hero of the steroid underground - the 'steroid guru' Dan Duchaine - and David Jenkins, a Scottish Olympic medallist with a nose for business, will launch the largest illegal steroid dealing ring the USA had ever seen. As steroid use grips small-town gym-goers, pro bodybuilders and elite athletes, the cops, legislators and the world of international sport scrambles to crack down. Historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, presenter of hit podcast Welcome To Your Fantasy, reveals how the rise of America's fitness and gym-culture through the 20th century collided with the unregulated availability of steroids in the 1980s, transforming the way we see our bodies, and the lengths to which we'll go to in the pursuit of perfection. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mo Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Season 1

  1. EPISODE 1

    Introducing Extreme - Muscle Men

    Muscle Men is season one of Extreme, the BBC podcast that knows no limits. Each action-packed season tells the story of people who’ve pushed themselves to the very edge of what’s physically or mentally possible – and in doing so, have changed the world... Under the hot California sun, amateur bodybuilders and a former Olympic medallist build the biggest illegal steroid dealing ring the US had ever seen. And America gets ripped. Episodes will be released on Mondays, starting on Mon 29 July. If you're in the UK, you'll be able to listen to the latest episodes of Extreme - Muscle Men first on BBC Sounds Extreme: Muscle Men is presented by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and produced by Novel.

    3 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    1. All That Glitters

    Meet William Dillon. A young amateur bodybuilder from small-town Illinois, who dreams of getting ripped. It’s the early 1980s and across the USA a fitness revolution is underway. Exercise has become a national pastime and Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking the jacked-up physique mainstream. Dillon is one of many young men with a new kind of American dream - big muscles, and big money. In 1984, a lucky break transports Dillon to star-studded LA, and the world’s most iconic bodybuilding gym, Gold’s Gym. There, to the sound of clanking steel weights and a pumping disco beat, a new physical ideal is being forged that’s changing the way Americans look in the mirror. But Dillon’s about to learn that, beneath the glittering surface of this world, there’s a secret. And when he discovers the chemical key to how many of the guys get BIG, it will set him on a path that will change his life - and many others - forever. In the first episode of Extreme: Muscle Men, historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela - presenter of hit podcast Welcome To Your Fantasy (Gimlet) - reveals how the California beach body became an iconic symbol of the 80s fitness boom. When that boom collided with anabolic steroids, it sparked a chemical and criminal revolution that would transform bodies all across America. Featuring William Dillon, former bodybuilders Joe Troccoli, Sandra Blackie and Dr Jeff Golini, and former co-owner of Gold’s Gym, Ed Connors. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    30 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    2. The Guru

    Historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela lifts the lid on the steroid underground - a world of risk-taking and experimentation that lies beneath the glamorous surface of life in the 1980s LA gym scene. It’s all about making it big, at any cost. This is the scene that young bodybuilder William Dillon is initiated into, now that he’s settled into the California lifting community. He meets The Steroid Guru aka Dan Duchaine, a maverick anabolic enthusiast with a chemical fascination, who isn’t afraid to experiment on himself - or anyone else. Duchaine is a cult figure in this world - his book The Underground Steroid Handbook spread the secrets of juicing to gym rats all over the USA and beyond. From that meeting with Duchaine, Dillon spots a big opportunity that marries his two favourite things - strength and wealth. Featuring William Dillon, Joe Troccoli, Sandra Blackie, Dr Jeff Golini, and former bodybuilder and co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook, Mike Zumpano. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    29 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    3. Get Ripped. Quick

    Prior to the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas Venezuela, the issue of sports doping was largely flying under the American public’s radar. But when 19 athletes are found positive for using banned substances at the games, steroids are thrust into focus. And a stigma starts to grow. At the same time, authorities are cracking down on the manufacture of one of the most popular anabolics in the bodybuilding community - dianabol. It’s the perfect setting for a black market boom. Enter William Dillon, Dan Duchaine and an entrepreneurial British ex Olympic track champion named David Jenkins who turn the steroid drought into an opportunity. Together, they supercharge their steroid operation. In Episode 3 of Muscle Men, historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela looks at the evolution of the use of steroids in sports, from its early days in the Soviet Union’s sports programme, to its rise to the highest levels of international sport. Featuring former bodybuilder William Dillon; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; and former Olympic weightlifter and weightlifting coach Michael Cohen. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Britain’s Hopes for Munich - Associated Press Archive, AP Television CBS Evening News report on the Pan American Games - CBS News Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    30 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    4. Perfect Square Pecs

    In the lobby of Caesar’s Palace Hotel in Las Vegas there’s a modern-day shrine to a 2000 year old adonis - complete with perfectly square pecs. Michelangelo’s David. 17 feet of white marble beefcake. This is an ideal that bodybuilders can only aspire to. And in the 80s bodybuilding scene, a particular image of perfection emerges and begins to transform what American culture thinks of as a desirable man - one that’s bulked up and defined. But in the 1980s, the supersized muscular body isn’t approved of for everyone. Host, historian and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela explores how strong, muscular women’s bodies were policed, while gay men were excluded from mainstream gym culture, instead forging a strong and vital subculture. In this atmosphere, for many, steroids seem to offer the perfect quick fix route to “perfection”. And there’s money to be made - the steroid ring built by Dillon, Duchaine and Jenkins is making money hand over fist. But can this Supersized American Dream last forever? Someone is watching them… Featuring former owner of Gold’s Gym Ed Connors, former bodybuilders William Dillon, Joe Troccoli and Sandra Blackie, personal trainer and author of Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture Erick Alvarez, and Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: It Happened One Night - Frank Capra, Columbia Pictures Remarks on Physical Fitness, 30 March 1962 - President John J Kennedy, White House Audio Collection Bob Paris interview - The Oprah Winfrey Show, Harpo Studios Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    29 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    5. The A Team

    Nobody gets arrested for dealing anabolic steroids. That’s the assumption bodybuilder Dan Duchaine, William Dillon and their fellow ring-members are relying upon, as they build the biggest steroid trafficking operation in America. But that’s all about to change. As President Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs rages in the mid 1980s, the ring find themselves in the crosshairs of a team of dogged investigators leading the fight against steroids. Host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reveals how a newly formed National Steroid Taskforce put steroids enforcement, once seen as a fringe issue by the authorities, on the map. That’s bad news for Dillon and his fellow steroid dealers. But catching them won’t be easy… Featuring William Dillon; Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service, and former special agent in the Criminal Investigations Division of the IRS, Stephen Gelman. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke Panorama: Dying to Win: Drugs in Sport - BBC1 Ronald Reagan speech, 1986 - The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library ‘Say No To Drugs’ Public Service Announcement - Mike Tyson Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    29 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    6. One Last Hit

    In the summer of 1986, bodybuilder William Dillon moves to San Diego to leave his steroid dealing days behind him, and live a quiet life of working out and running a gym. Or at least - that’s the plan. When Dillon’s old life comes calling, with the promise of easy money, it’s hard to resist. Dillon returns to the steroid dealing ring he set up with a crew of gym rats and former athletes. But this time, they’re going to do things differently. Keep it professional and stay off the radar of the authorities. But as host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reveals, for Dillon, keeping control of the steroid empire he’s built is going to be easier said than done. And when events begin to spiral, things get violent. Dillon pins his hopes on one last deal - his exit strategy, so he can cash out and move back home to Illinois. But he’ll have to move quickly. Because federal investigators are planning an ambitious undercover operation that could take down the steroid ring once and for all. Featuring William Dillon, Mike Zumpano, and Stephen Gelman. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Sportsworld - NBC Interview with Dan Duchaine - Bill Philips’ Muscle Media 2000 magazine Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    28 min

  8. EPISODE 8

    7. French Fries or Bust

    When bodybuilder William Dillon moved to LA, he dreamed of getting rich quick by selling the promise of big muscles in a bottle. But in the spring of 1987, that dream has come crashing down around him. With the authorities closing in on the steroid dealing ring, and fearing for his life, it’s time for Dillon and the steroid dealing ring to face the music. In the fallout from the investigators’ operation, things get ugly. Loyalties are tested, and Dillon’s life could be on the line. News of what was then the biggest steroid bust in American history travels across the US and beyond, and host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela explores how it lay the groundwork for an anti-steroid movement that’s about to transform the way these drugs are policed and regulated. Featuring William Dillon, Mike Zumpano, and Professor Daniel Rosenke, Professor of Sports Studies and Stirling College-Chengdu University Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke CBS Evening News, 1987 - CBS Panorama: Dying to Win: Drugs in Sport - BBC1 Senate hearing into steroid use by professional athletes - Senator Joe Biden, US Pool, Associated Press Archive Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    29 min

  9. EPISODE 9

    8: The Genie Is Out

    In the wake of the steroid ring’s downfall, the headline-grabbing prosecutions combine with sports scandals and anxieties about steroids making it into high school locker rooms. Lawmakers decide to take action. The Steroid Control Act of 1990, spearheaded by none other than then-Senator Joe Biden, promises to deal with steroids once and for all. But the USA already had a taste of what it felt like to get ripped - really ripped. And it’s hard to stuff the genie back in the bottle once it weighs 240 pounds of pure muscle. Today, as millions of Americans take steroids with the aim of bulking up, host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reckons with the enduring legacy of the steroid ring, and an era which transformed our ideas about fitness and beauty. Featuring former bodybuilders William Dillon, Shawn Ray and Sandra Blackie; Mike Zumpano, co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O’Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Nightline, ABC Special for Monday, Nov 20, 1989 - ABC Olympic Games History, Seoul 1988 - BBC Senator Joe Biden remarks on Democratic Anti-Drug Legislation, July 31 1989 - C-Span House Session, September 22, 1988 - C-Span Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

    29 min
  • 9 Episodes

Shows with Subscription Benefits

  • The day’s top stories from BBC News, including the latest on the Middle East conflict – bringing you developments from Lebanon, Israel, Gaza and Iran. Delivered twice a day on weekdays, daily at weekends.

    • 4.3 (6490)
    • DAILY NEWS

  • Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

    • 4.6 (4857)
    • HISTORY

  • Season 5: Finding Mr Fox. Investigating a plot to smuggle around a hundred million dollars’ worth of cocaine. Also: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods. Women accuse Mohamed Al Fayed of rape. And: The Abercrombie Guys. Investigating sexual exploitation claims against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch. Delve into a World of Secrets: the global investigations podcast from the BBC. Uncovering stories around the world and telling them, episode by episode, with gripping storytelling. Latest season: Finding Mr Fox. Investigating a plot to smuggle around a hundred million dollars’ worth of drugs from Brazil to Europe and the miscarriage of justice that followed. But where is the man Brazilian police believe to be at the centre of it all? As the Rich Harvest yacht set off from Brazil to Europe, the sailors on board thought their transatlantic crossing would be the trip of a lifetime. When they stopped for repairs on the African tropical islands of Cape Verde, the lives of the Brazilian crew would be changed forever. Yemisi Adegoke and Colin Freeman retrace the boat’s journey along “Highway 10.” It's a true crime story of smuggling, scandal, narcotics, police raids and injustice, with one question at the centre of it all… where is Mr Fox? Previous seasons of World of Secrets: Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods. Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed – then owner of Harrods, one of the most famous shops in the world – is accused of rape and attempted rape by women who worked for him. Now they refuse to be silenced any longer. Season 3: The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s, in the South African city of East London – by one person. He killed so many, he lost count. In piecing together this story, we expose the disturbed past and racial injustices of South Africa itself. Season 2: The Disciples. The cult of Nigerian prophet TB Joshua. A story of miracles, faith and manipulation, told by people from around the world, who gave up everything for one of the most powerful religious figures of the century. Lured by TB Joshua’s claimed healing powers, they live as disciples in a guarded Lagos compound, cut off from family and friends. Season 1: The Abercrombie Guys. An investigation into claims of sexual exploitation made against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch. He and his British partner were accused by several men, recruited for sex events they hosted around the world. #WorldofSecrets

    • 4.7 (712)
    • DOCUMENTARY

  • Interviews, news and analysis of the day's global events.

    • 4.3 (883)
    • NEWS

  • The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Greg Jenner brings together the best names in comedy and history to learn and laugh about the past.

    • 4.7 (2527)
    • HISTORY

  • If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values. The acclaimed writer and podcaster Jon Ronson has seen friends swallowed up in them to the extent that it's ruined their lives. Jon was curious to learn how things fell apart, and so he went back into the history of the culture wars to find some of the origin stories: the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led us to where we are today. He had no idea what he'd find, but he's uncovered some extraordinary people and the strangest, yet most consequential tales.

    • 4.6 (538)
    • PERSONAL JOURNALS

Get exclusive episodes, early access, and more

$4.99/mo or $49.99/yr after trial

View Subscription FAQs

4.3
out of 5
38 Ratings

About

Muscle Men is season one of Extreme, the BBC podcast that knows no limits. Each action-packed season tells the story of people who've pushed themselves to the very edge of what's physically or mentally possible - and in doing so, have changed the world... 1980s Los Angeles. A young, amateur bodybuilder named William Dillon comes to California in search of the supersized American dream - to get absolutely jacked. But beneath the smell of sweat, pulsing disco beats, and the rhythmic clank of weights, there's a secret. Many of the bodybuilders and gym rats he meets are using steroids to achieve their pumped up physique. And if that's what it takes to make it big, Dillon's willing to do it too. But not only that, he's smart. He recognises there's money to be made from selling the promise that you can get ripped, quick. Dillon, along with the cult hero of the steroid underground - the 'steroid guru' Dan Duchaine - and David Jenkins, a Scottish Olympic medallist with a nose for business, will launch the largest illegal steroid dealing ring the USA had ever seen. As steroid use grips small-town gym-goers, pro bodybuilders and elite athletes, the cops, legislators and the world of international sport scrambles to crack down. Historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, presenter of hit podcast Welcome To Your Fantasy, reveals how the rise of America's fitness and gym-culture through the 20th century collided with the unregulated availability of steroids in the 1980s, transforming the way we see our bodies, and the lengths to which we'll go to in the pursuit of perfection. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mo Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Information

  • Channel
    BBC
  • Creator
    BBC
  • Episodes
    9
  • Seasons
    1
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2024
  • Show Website
    Extreme: Muscle Men
  • Provider
    BBC Studios Distribution Limited

More From BBC

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada