Episodios
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We’ve come 12,000 kilometres from Auckland to Medellín, on the trail of Chris Ashenden, the chief executive of AG1. We don’t have his number or his address, but we think he lives here.
Today’s Medellín is a vibrant city that’s attracting new investment and faces from around the world – but the legacy of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the paramilitaries still echoes in violence on the streets. You might expect us to pack Kevlar body armour for our visit. Instead, we pack our gym gear – because one thing we do know about Chris the Kiwi, is where he works out.
Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The US Food and Drug Administration reveals it’s received 118 adverse event complaints from AG1 users – this year alone. In particular, there are 30-plus reports of liver harm in 2023 and 2024.
The billion dollar company dismisses the liver harm complaints as “extremely rare”, saying it can be caused by a range of things such as alcoholic liver injury, viral hepatitis and autoimmune disease. The FDA hasn’t investigated the complaints to confirm whether they are indeed caused by AG1 – but some consumers and scientists are calling for an official investigation into this glamour product championed by superstar influencers.
Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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We talk to people like Andy and Lisa who’ve used AG1 – and they’re not happy. They want to know what’s in the green powder supplement, in what quantities – and whether there’s any scientific evidence it has any health benefits.
That’s a good question. So we bring in four world-leading university nutritionists and toxicologists to critique the research. They’re concerned there’s no gold standard large-scale clinical trial – and most of AG1’s published research is in a few controversial pay-to-play journals. The professors warn consumers can have little confidence there’s any credible science underpinning this expensive daily supplement.
Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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For years, AG1 has boasted of being ‘Made in New Zealand’. But where is its mystery factory? We track down a little-known contract manufacturing company in the sunny city of Nelson – and discover a much darker story.
Despite trading off New Zealand’s clean, green brand, AG1 has been quietly shifting its production to America. In the past year, this has cost nearly 180 New Zealanders their jobs – and piqued the interest of the country’s commerce regulator. If AG1’s 700,000 customers can’t trust the ‘Made in New Zealand’ claim – how can they trust the other claims on the label?
Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Joe Rogan is one of the world’s wealthiest influencers – and we’re told AG1 is one of his best clients, paying him about $10 million a year to promote its popular green powder. Scientist Dr Andrew Huberman gets about $2 million. Gwyneth Paltrow, Formula 1’s Sir Lewis Hamilton, Olympic champion Allyson Felix … the list goes on.
AG1 is the OG of influencer marketing; it spends more on audio than just about any other company in the world. But are the company and its well-paid ambassadors being upfront? Some customers say they’ve been persuaded to drink a supplement that they now believe has impacted their health. The Food and Drug Administration has had 118 reports of harm from AG1 users and their doctors, this year alone.
Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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A leaked recording reveals the Kiwi founder of billion-dollar supplements firm AG1 misrepresented his criminal history in public statements and in a meeting with the company’s president and staff, just this year. Chris Ashenden’s high-powered American lawyer claimed he had never been charged with a crime, or convicted of a crime, or been the subject of an arrest warrant – but none of those things was correct.
We listen to the recording alongside Anita Mika, who lost her home in Chris’s property scheme. Her sister also lost her home – but she died without seeing justice done. ‘We can forgive, but we never forget,’ Anita says.
Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Travelling to New Zealand’s southernmost city, with a chill wind that feels like it’s blowing off Antarctica, we discover it was a woman named Dee Chisholm who first blew the whistle on Chris the Kiwi’s criminal property schemes.
But tracking her down won’t be easy…until we drive out to a small remote mining village called Nightcaps.
Everyone has secrets. And in this episode, we finally meet the protagonists – some might call them antagonists – who faced off in former police officer Chris Ashenden’s first clash with the law. It won’t be his last…the story of AG1, the world’s favourite green powder supplement, is blowing up big.
Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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We track down families who lost their homes in 'Chris the Kiwi’ Ashenden’s property dealings. And what happens next is what Powder Keg, the podcast, is all about – Ashenden, his unorthodox billion-dollar business and his magical mystery powder.
All we know is that his company AG1 is headquartered at an address in Carson City, Nevada. If it comes to the crunch and he doesn’t front, we’ll need to go there to talk with the company’s founder.
What we didn’t know is the story of criminal offending that will emerge – a story that Chris the Kiwi didn’t want told.
Listen to the first 3 episodes now. Episode 4 is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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When investigative journalist Jonathan Milne started slugging back an expensive, vivid green AG1 shake every morning to get in shape for his 50th birthday, he knew what the company’s chief science officer said – that the green powder product would make him healthier.
What he didn’t know about were the adverse reports to the Food and Drug Administration of liver damage, nor of the scrutiny by the courts, and now of a national regulator.
Episodes 1 and 2 of Powder Keg are live now, with Episode 3 also available for subscribers to DELVE+.
To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Chris Ashenden and Jonathan Milne are both Kiwi blokes in their late 40s. Chris has an unrelenting personal ambition – it’s served him well. The business leader’s quest wasn’t for the Holy Grail, it was for a holy green drink.
Jonathan is an investigative journalist. What’s served him well is his doggedness. And when Chris wouldn’t front for an interview about the success of his green powder shake and his US$1.2 billion company, Jonathan began asking questions.
At first, Chris’s AG1 supplement had been targeted at sportspeople and gym freaks – but by last year, we reveal he’d rebranded to target the widest possible market of middle-America…desk-bound 30- or 40-something mums and dads, anxious to get back in shape.
Episodes 1 and 2 of Powder Keg are live now, with Episode 3 also available for subscribers to DELVE+.
To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Some stories grow from a green shoot; some explode like a powder keg. The global supplement market is worth $200 billion a year, and Chris Ashenden is a rock star of the industry. Yet in his home country of New Zealand, nobody had heard of him. Investigative journalist Jonathan Milne wanted to tell his story – but when Chris proved elusive, alarm bells began to ring. In the latest electrifying podcast from DELVE, we investigate the superstar endorsements, the science and the safety of the world’s favourite green powder, AG1. Listen to a story that will entangle the biggest names in audio, from Joe Rogan to Andrew Huberman to Gwyneth Paltrow. We follow the money, dig into the crimes and commission our own lab analysis. From the chill of the Southern Ocean to a record Mexican heatwave, from Colombia to the Caribbean, we chase down AG1’s founder to tell the story he didn’t want told.
Episodes 1 and 2 launch Thursday, October 31, with Episode 3 also available for subscribers to DELVE+
To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Our final episode in this season coincides with world headlines about a man facing execution for the same diagnosis that imprisoned Zita. Shaken baby syndrome is being called “junk science” in the US, but it has upended the life Zita had hoped for in New Zealand. Now out of jail, she is battling her impending deportation with Immigration NZ, all while continuing to maintain her innocence. Will she get to see her daughter? Will the international experts come through in time? And why won’t Starship Hospital front up on this case?
Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.
Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Things really start to wind up when Melanie and Bonnie have a major breakthrough and track down a UK paediatric pathologist who was at forefront of overturning murder charges in a high profile London case. She throws a whole new light on our case and will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew.
Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz
*Listen to the first eight episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Episode 9 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.*
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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How did moving to live in the dream country of New Zealand end up like this? Prison, divorce and a baby in the custody of the state.
Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz
*Listen to the first seven episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Episode 8 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.*
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Zita continues to maintain her innocence as the courtroom drama concludes with the judge delivering a sentence Zita is totally unprepared for. In jail, she is put in an isolation wing after inmates call her a baby killer.
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Did some of Baby K’s fractures occur while on 24 hour watch in the hospital? What about the traumatic birth? “Doctors sometimes can and do get it wrong”…all this and more in the final address of Zita’s lawyer.
*Listen to the first five episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Episode 6 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. DELVE+ subscribers get Early Release, Ad Free listening.*
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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What is it like to be charged with child abuse in a foreign country? Zita finds out as she faces the might of Starship Hospital at her criminal trial.
*Listen to the first four episodes free. If you want to hear today's Episode 5 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. DELVE+ subscribers get Early Release, Ad Free listening.*
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The NZ police investigation ramps up and, with their child taken, the couple have their house bugged, their phones tapped and just as they think it can’t get any worse…it does.
*Listen to the first three episodes free. If you want to hear today’s Episode 4 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. DELVE+ subscribers get Early Release, Ad Free listening.*
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Melanie and Bonnie meet the young couple at the centre of this case and they begin to unravel the complex cascade of events that led to a young mother being accused, convicted and jailed for two and a half years - and the daunting fight that lies ahead.
*If you want to hear Episode 3 as soon as it's released, become a subscriber to DELVE+*
Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.
Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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What happens when the dream country, New Zealand, becomes a living hell? The Boy in the Water creator, multi-award-winning journalist Melanie Reid, is in the middle of another story when she receives an email that causes her to drop everything and get on a plane. After a year of extensive investigations, we now bring you that case.
Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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