Burning Down The Hype House with Chaz May and Brendan Sagalow | 97

Speaker 1 Before we dive into today's tale of catastrophe, I have to tell you about Wondery Plus. If you're someone who craves the juicy details behind the biggest flops, Wondery Plus is exactly what you need.

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Speaker 1 Do y'all remember the days of dreaming of having a treehouse built in your backyard, a place where all the neighborhood kids could come and hang out?

Speaker 2 I'm afraid to say it, but I think those days are long gone.

Speaker 1 Because today, we have hot young influencers who aspire to buy multi-million dollar mansions with floor-to-ceiling windows that give the best light for their content. content.

Speaker 1 Yeah, mansions full of teenage content creators.

Speaker 2 What could go wrong?

Speaker 2 You have TikTok.

Speaker 1 You're probably familiar with the Hype House, a group of influencers who rent big, expensive homes, live together, and create videos like this.

Speaker 3 People in his house are afraid to speak up and to stand up for what they believe in.

Speaker 4 Trying to have fun and bring people together, that was the whole concept of it. And then quickly, I realized like you have to have a business in place.

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Speaker 1 From Wondering and at Will Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time.

Speaker 1 I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar and currently in my middle-class white woman ukulele era at your bestie Misha.

Speaker 1 I'm so excited because on the show today we have a comedian. You can catch his comedy special on YouTube.
It's Brendan Sagalo.

Speaker 2 Hey, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 The crowd goes wild.

Speaker 2 YouTube specials.

Speaker 2 Woo!

Speaker 1 Also joining us is a comedian, fellow content creator, and my friend. It's Chas May.

Speaker 2 Hey, Chas.

Speaker 2 Hi, Misha. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 Been waiting for this day.

Speaker 2 Oh my God, you guys are friends outside of this?

Speaker 1 I mean, parasocial. I feel like the new kid.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 You guys are like Regina George, and I'm Lindsay Lohan.

Speaker 1 I do have a burn book for people who are on their show.

Speaker 1 Just kidding. Well, today we're unpacking the saga of Hype House, which was a crucial era of the TikTok influencer ecosystem.

Speaker 1 So what do you know about Hype House and the people who are in it, if anything?

Speaker 2 I know literally nothing.

Speaker 2 i'm assuming it's a bunch of kids in their late teens early 20s that are uh somehow can afford this house and then they they just are creating videos all day and they don't see an end or where this is going to go at all and they don't picture that they're going to be old one day ding ding ding that was right on the nose

Speaker 1 yeah hype house was a group of influencers some that were super young like you said teenagers who lived together in a mansion in los angeles and created social media content basically around the clock.

Speaker 1 It was a machine. So it's an idea that like both does make a ton of sense, but it's also completely insane.
It's so strange, very dystopian. So we got to know who was the brains behind it.

Speaker 1 And the idea comes from a guy named Thomas Petru.

Speaker 1 Kind of. It's not like he came up with it all on his own, but prior to launching Hype House, he lived in an OG influencer mansion that set the stage for literally all of this chaos to come.

Speaker 2 Okay, but let's back up.

Speaker 1 Who is Thomas Petroux? And how did he become such a big name online? Petru's childhood is relatively unknown, but he does hint at issues with his family and having a tough time at school.

Speaker 1 As a teenager, he made content online, like for the defunct platform Vine, and then he moves over to YouTube in 2015. And there he slowly starts to build a following.

Speaker 1 Now, around this time, YouTube is outgrowing its middle-class white woman with ukulele era and blossoming into its some guy being the absolute worst phase.

Speaker 1 What do you know or remember about YouTube circa 2015?

Speaker 2 Nothing. Same.
Nothing. Yeah, no, not much.
That guy with the really high-pitched voice, I remember that. Fred? Oh, yeah.
Fred. Fred.
Yeah, it was like Fred, Bo Burnham, and then beheading videos. Oh.

Speaker 2 Okay, not my thing. You didn't get my YouTube.
No.

Speaker 2 What's your YouTube special about?

Speaker 2 It covers all three. Oh,

Speaker 1 that's so crazy.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, at the top of YouTube's very problematic food chain is a pair who will do anything for likes and views. The Paul brothers, as in Jake and Logan.

Speaker 1 And on Jake Paul's 20th birthday, he and Logan announced the formation of Team 10, a social media collective. And all the key members of Team 10 will live together in a mansion in Calabasas.

Speaker 1 Now, they'll constantly be creating content, branded videos, slice of life shorts, and pranks, of course, all with the idea of racking up as many views and dollars as possible.

Speaker 1 Now, the super fun content they make will include hiring an excavator to put their friend's car in the pool and literally starting fires.

Speaker 2 Oh my God.

Speaker 1 Yeah, lighting a mattress on fire and jumping in the pool to take selfies with the car they sunk, just regular grown-up stuff.

Speaker 1 Now, Team 10 is shockingly successful, despite countless Paul Brothers scandals and controversies. And in early 2019, they add a new young creator to their stable, Thomas Petru.

Speaker 1 So that's where, that's where he gets this club.

Speaker 1 Our boy Tommy.

Speaker 1 Now, after four years of building an audience online, Petru's reached the big time, and he joins the ranks of Jake Paul.

Speaker 1 But after only three months of pranking and razziness bros, Petru is supposedly fired and therefore has to leave team 10.

Speaker 1 Now, Petru says the firing from the content house is completely bogus and for like no reason, but why do you think someone would get fired from a frat house? I don't know.

Speaker 2 You did say that someone put a car into a pool and then started fire. So there's got to be something.

Speaker 2 inappropriate that's happening. If you're in a house that's doing basically jackass kind of stuff and you're still getting fired.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So Petru's not too discouraged though.
He is business-minded and he's prepared to make some moves.

Speaker 1 And now Patrue's still dealing with some of those childhood insecurities and he says his family didn't have a lot growing up and he doesn't get along with them.

Speaker 1 So whatever it takes, all he wants is to set himself up financially. Now being ousted from Team 10 just means that now Petru will have to form his own collective.

Speaker 1 And it can't be that hard to run a successful content house, right?

Speaker 1 No, all you got to do is find the most up-and-coming social stars with the highest subscriber counts and convince them to all move into a mansion in LA.

Speaker 2 I mean, is this not the most inspiring story? That's pretty easy.

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 1 You know what? I just literally just this moment remembered during one of my like viral moments being invited to a content house.

Speaker 2 No, wow.

Speaker 1 Like maybe like 2022 to live?

Speaker 2 Like to be a full-time, oh my God. I honestly, it's not a bad idea.
I think we should do it.

Speaker 2 Let's finish the podcast and see how it is.

Speaker 2 Yeah, let's see how it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 I was like, I have a really good doctor, and I understand that I look younger, but I'm almost 40 years old. I'm not living in a house with 19 years old.

Speaker 2 Like, not going to happen.

Speaker 1 So, in the spring of 2019, Patrue links up with a lady named Daisy Keach, an aspiring fitness influencer who just moved to LA to make it big. And when I say big, I'm referring to her butt.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Keach has a dedicated social account called at Keach Peach for her butt, which she says is completely real, by the way. No BBL here.

Speaker 1 She even gets a physician to certify its authenticity.

Speaker 2 What? Right, right. And people won't just say something for money and clicks.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'll pay you $100 to say this is real. Now, she does, of course, have an eight-week program folks can sign up for to learn how to get a bigger butt for just $47.

Speaker 2 Oh my God. And what is the name of this?

Speaker 1 Yeah, just for

Speaker 2 research. Just for research.

Speaker 1 Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1 So Patrue and Keech, they have different accounts about how their professional relationship started.

Speaker 1 She says he was desperate for work, so she graciously hires him as her personal photographer and editor. But that's not what Patrue says happened.

Speaker 1 He claims he was her photographer, but he wasn't getting paid for months.

Speaker 1 Whatever the case, they inevitably start talking about starting up a team 10-style collab house.

Speaker 2 That seems like the perfect time to start a not getting paid. You're like, let's open up another venture.
Right. Yeah.
Makes a ton of sense. Yeah, right.

Speaker 1 Right. But clearly, they don't seem to be on the same page right from the beginning.
So hold on to your butts, especially you, Daisy, because this might be a bumpy ride.

Speaker 1 So without naming any names, have you ever agreed to work with a person that you knew you weren't going to get along with?

Speaker 2 His initials are BS.

Speaker 2 You son of a. he's on this pod not son of him, mother of him.

Speaker 2 Um,

Speaker 2 me, no, no, I haven't. I try, I try not to.
I think sometimes you go to collab with someone and you're like, I don't know if this was the right fit, you know, or something like that, but never.

Speaker 2 I'm also not starting a business with them.

Speaker 1 Absolutely, exactly.

Speaker 2 Same. I try to do the least amount of work possible.

Speaker 2 My bills are paid.

Speaker 1 I'm taking the day off.

Speaker 1 So, Keech and Petru, they start assembling their new crew and they team up with Chase Hudson, aka Lil Hoodie, a popular online musician.

Speaker 1 And Petru also brings on his friend, Alex Warren, another musician, and Alex's instant model girlfriend, Coover Anon.

Speaker 2 All these names suck so much.

Speaker 2 I thought that, and then you said Coover Anon, and I was like, okay. Yeah,

Speaker 2 that sounds like a whine.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I literally have no idea who these people are.

Speaker 1 So we'll get into some that you'll recognize some in a little bit, but according to Petru, he and Warren, they have been chatting about starting a collab house for years.

Speaker 1 So that's why he brought him on. And reportedly, Keach and Hudson put down $18,000 each, while the rest throw in $5,000 apiece.

Speaker 1 So together, the five Gen Zers, just to be clear, most of these people are still teenagers, raise just under $50,000 for a security deposit on a mansion.

Speaker 2 Oh my God.

Speaker 2 Was this before Airbnb? Couldn't they just get an Airbnb? This is giving like Lou Pearlman vibes.

Speaker 1 It is absolutely giving Lou Pearlman. If you haven't checked out our episode on Lou Pearlman, that's a great one.

Speaker 2 Oh, look at that. Yeah, thank you so much for that plug.
There you go.

Speaker 1 Now, once the ball gets rolling on this thing, the hype house literally comes together in 13 days. The crew starts planning in November and signs a lease two weeks later.

Speaker 1 The house they pick is a classy

Speaker 1 style abode. It's 6,600 square feet with a huge backyard and pool.
And these kids, they move fast. You'll notice that everything that goes down from this point on happens very, very quickly.

Speaker 1 So for the house, obviously they're going to need more than just five people. Chase Hudson, who I guess is a popular dream boat, becomes the de facto talent scout.

Speaker 1 And here's his secret formula for finding primo influencers to invite to Hype House. Quote, you either have to be talented at something or a weird, funny mix, or extremely good looking.

Speaker 1 Thanks, Zulander.

Speaker 2 Damn it.

Speaker 2 I can't be any of those stuff. None of those things.

Speaker 2 Damn.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Hudson's apparently not the brightest bulb in the bulb closet, but he does convince some hot young TikTokers to join up.

Speaker 1 In addition to the founders, the initial Hype House crop includes Charlie and Dixie DiMelio, the undisputed queens of TikTok at this time, and the nearly as ubiquitous Addison Ray.

Speaker 1 So let's take a look at an early promo picture.

Speaker 2 This is crazy.

Speaker 1 So what's the vibe?

Speaker 2 Addison Ray? No.

Speaker 1 This is giving skim milk.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's giving terrifying white people.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's giving JC Penny. It's

Speaker 2 giving Axe body spray, it's Abercrombie and Fitch in their darkest days. I can smell the photo.
Yeah. Also, the fact that this is a Merry Christmas from the Hype House is so funny to me.

Speaker 1 Merry Christmas, no color involved.

Speaker 1 So for the listeners only, they're all wearing white t-shirts and blue jeans and white sneakers.

Speaker 1 And literally all of them are white.

Speaker 2 Oh my God,

Speaker 2 it's terrifying. It is terrifying.

Speaker 2 And they're all very young.

Speaker 1 That's the other thing.

Speaker 2 What could go wrong? What could go wrong?

Speaker 1 So Hype House launches in December 2019, right around Christmas, and it's an instant hit.

Speaker 1 It only takes minutes for hashtag Hype House to trend on social, and only a couple of weeks for videos tagged with Hype House to reach a hundred million view count on TikTok.

Speaker 1 The official account gains 7 million followers in one month.

Speaker 2 Why?

Speaker 1 Because of the people involved.

Speaker 2 Why do people like this stuff?

Speaker 1 I will never have the answer for you.

Speaker 1 We'll see some content later. You can choose for yourself if that's your cup of tea.
Well, even though Hype House is far from the first content incubator, it is the first to go mega viral on TikTok.

Speaker 1 And TikTok is the platform of the moment. I mean,

Speaker 1 all of this being said, we're making jokes, but like, what would you give to have that level of virality? Because these kids are rich now.

Speaker 2 Oh, for sure. I mean, Addison Ray, can't, I still can't believe Addison Ray was a part of this.
Or like the D'Amilios. I mean, that's crazy.
I know. That's nuts.

Speaker 2 But to live in a house, it's not worth it.

Speaker 2 Like that photo you showed is like, it's the same energy of like walking through a mall and there's like a group of teenagers walking towards you and immediately your heart stops. Yes.
Yes.

Speaker 2 Like and you're living in that? It's not worth anything.

Speaker 1 Yeah. But you know what though? I mean, if they're 18, 19 years old, that's what, you know, frat and sororities are like.

Speaker 2 Which also.

Speaker 1 Which also, not for me, but, you know, plenty of people do it. These ones are just making a lot of money doing it.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I feel like every day you'd walk, you'd like almost walk into a room and then you'd hear them talking about you and then you'd like stop and you'd be like,

Speaker 2 yeah.

Speaker 2 Is everyone mad at me? Yeah. You'd have, you have to walk in and pretend you didn't hear that.
Hey, you guys.

Speaker 1 We posted the same video at the same time. She got 7.1 million likes and I only got 7 million likes.

Speaker 2 Everyone has that. The conversations too are that.
And it's like, hey, did someone use the milk? Like, did someone finish it? Like, I can't imagine.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's so funny. Yeah.

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Speaker 1 Well, in January, the New York Times publishes a puff piece on Hype House, and it credits Petru and Hudson as the masterminds behind the whole thing. They leave out Keach.
So, not great. No.

Speaker 1 Keach later claims she felt nervous talking to the press and that Petru had his manager there to give him pointers, but there's already this bit of tension among the co-founders right from the beginning.

Speaker 1 Now, meanwhile, the group still hasn't figured out how they're going to actually monetize. On the plus side, overhead costs are low once you account for the rent.

Speaker 1 But unlike YouTube, where production values keep leveling up as you go, there's no special equipment necessary for TikTok.

Speaker 1 The influencers just have to figure out what to film and then use their phones to do the rest, including editing and effects.

Speaker 1 However, Because the house has no furniture and the pool remains cold for a few months, the most popular shooting location becomes one of the bathrooms. What? It is a nice bathroom.

Speaker 1 Actually, we have a picture. Let's take a look.

Speaker 2 Oh, that is nice. Wow.
That's a good bathroom. You're like, it's a nice bathroom.
Yeah, we were all like, we were like, let me see this bathroom. Yeah.
Look at the stairs to the bathtub.

Speaker 2 This literally looks like what's behind me right now. This looks like my apartment.

Speaker 1 I was just going to say, that is a studio New York City apartment.

Speaker 2 And I'm against a wall right now because there's no part of my apartment that looks nearly as nice.

Speaker 1 I know, the decorative blue stone.

Speaker 2 very, very shiny. We all did this from our bathrooms.

Speaker 2 Should we do a hype house?

Speaker 1 So, in the first two months of hype house, over a thousand TikTok videos are filmed in that ludicrous bathroom.

Speaker 1 God, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 Because my hell also would be sitting in that bathroom while suddenly hearing someone doing a, like, hearing a TikTok sound and be like, oh, yeah, I met. You're sitting there.
You're like, hello?

Speaker 2 Yeah, can you guys wait just like two seconds? You just hear, I'm a savage.

Speaker 1 But even if the house doesn't cost much to run, how are these kids going to make money? That's the question.

Speaker 1 TikTok is exploding, but all of the ad revenue is still stuck on older platforms like YouTube and the now Instagram.

Speaker 1 But once the pandemic kicks off and all the children are stuck at home glued to social platforms, the media landscape flips on its head and TikTok famous becomes just as valuable, if not more, than actually famous.

Speaker 1 This is right around the pandemic. So what was your experience of TikTok TikTok around this time?

Speaker 2 I mean, it kind of did not, I don't want to say save anybody, but it was like, it was pretty perfect. Like everybody needed kind of a distraction and then you're just on it.

Speaker 2 You know, that's all it really did was just a distraction. Yeah, no, the timing is, it's too perfect.
It was pretty perfect.

Speaker 2 It took me a while to like adopt it.

Speaker 1 Same. Yeah, I would post on Instagram and Facebook to let my mom know I was still alive.
But, you know, like,

Speaker 1 it wasn't my thing. And now it's like my whole job.
So that's crazy. But by the end of March, the money spigot, it was officially on.

Speaker 1 A well-placed TikTok campaign can earn up to $250,000 back then, probably a lot more today. And millions of Americans are spending hours on the app every day.

Speaker 1 And if companies want to reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha, they need Hype House. Patrue brags that anyone can blow up if they just make one video inside the house, even if they have zero followers.

Speaker 1 And one Forbes writer, he tests this this theory out they create a tick tock account and make a hype house video and according to this writer the video quickly gains half a million views we would watch it together but it has been since deleted but was it in the bathroom was it in the bathroom it must have been in the bathroom but we do have some content so let's take a peek at some primo hype house content i gotta tell you i didn't know how excited i was gonna be when you said that and i'm actually surprised with myself that i'm like yes let's see this this all right guys welcome to the vlog first try

Speaker 8 how hard could it be thomas

Speaker 2 oh my god

Speaker 8 oh my god all right if i make this one alex is

Speaker 2 oh my god they're all 13.

Speaker 2 yeah

Speaker 2 i didn't want like i don't like i don't wish violence on anybody but honestly i look at that and i'm like wouldn't it just be great if a couple of guys in ski masks just hogged on him and just robbed him, not hurt anybody, just like really put things into perspective.

Speaker 2 It's also, there's something very spooky about the foundation. This looks like found footage.
It's getting Blair Witch Fraud. I'm like waiting to find out something horrible.

Speaker 2 Very paranormal activity spooky.

Speaker 1 I think it's also a commentary on how weird humans are. We did an episode on Bang Energy, and one of the clips that we watched was Bang Energy doing ads in

Speaker 1 a context.

Speaker 2 They were probably a big part of this house. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And it was just like, these kids are just literally, they're not doing anything. They're just turning their phones on and laughing a lot and saying curse words and no, like no thought behind it.

Speaker 1 And it was just getting millions and millions of views.

Speaker 2 Why?

Speaker 2 Why? Like there are certain things that are happening now in the

Speaker 2 zeitgeist that I understand that maybe some older people wouldn't. Like when someone watches someone play video games, I get that.
I can get that. You're like, I don't want to play the game.

Speaker 2 Let me watch this guy play. But what is it? I don't understand the appeal to it.
But does that make me like an old guy? I think it's the bathroom. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 People just really like real estate. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Look at that freaking bed. That's a tile.
Yeah, that's a little crown molding. God, I wish I had stairs to my bathtub.

Speaker 2 I do. I do.
You do?

Speaker 2 Can you imagine the way I would wear a robe and drop it as I walked up those stairs alone

Speaker 2 and And then

Speaker 2 get into that bathtub. I don't even like baths.

Speaker 1 So with so much success so quickly, somebody's got to take the reins on this thing. And it's Petru because he's 21 years old and that makes him

Speaker 2 the oldest boy.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's also because, according to Petru, nobody else wants the responsibility.
Everybody wants to be equity partners, as he puts it, but nobody wants to show up for the important meetings.

Speaker 1 Now, already a few of the members start feeling like this dude's a bit controlling, and they might be right.

Speaker 1 But with all these kids, I mean, how important is it for somebody, even if it's a single person, to be running the thing? I think somebody needs to.

Speaker 2 But a 21-year-old? But a 21-year-old. Come on.

Speaker 1 Now, because there's no formal contract between Thomas Patrux and the rest of the team, tensions arise early. Like, all anybody has is a handshake deal.
And so it's really unclear who owns what.

Speaker 1 Maybe if these guys were not all 20 years old, they'd know better, but who am I?

Speaker 1 Now, theoretically, everyone's supposed to be sharing the profits, but almost immediately, Keech becomes suspicious that Petru and Hudson may have been striking secret endorsement deals with companies like Chipotle and Bang Energy.

Speaker 2 There it is. There's Bang.

Speaker 1 Keach also believes they will be selling merch without cutting her in or agreeing on the designs.

Speaker 2 What?

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're just like, you and your big butt gotta go.

Speaker 2 They're so cruel. I know.
People are so cruel.

Speaker 1 Now, Petru doesn't see any of this as a betrayal. He's running the house, doing the heavy lifting.
He should have a bigger stake.

Speaker 1 Now, he didn't invent the content machine, but like a social media mad scientist, he does want to perfect it at all costs. So you live in Petru's house, you got to live by Petru's rules.

Speaker 1 Break them and you're out, he says. So here are the rules.
You can have friends over, but nobody can just crash at the house without making content.

Speaker 1 If you want to be in the group, you've got to make content daily. Nobody can treat the house like it's their own personal house.
If you break something, you have a couple of weeks to replace it.

Speaker 1 And it's all good if the house is a revolving door. It's an incubator, not a prison.
What do you think?

Speaker 2 Honestly, I think that's pretty reasonable. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I think so. If you're going to be here, you have to be making content.
Break something, replace it, and no one's forcing you to be here.

Speaker 2 And this is a a handshake deal.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Also.

Speaker 2 Great. So if you break something, that's a handshake deal.
Right. Got it.
Yeah. With a bunch of teenagers.

Speaker 1 I think he's thinking handshake deal, like, you don't know how much money we are making or you're cut. They're thinking, yeah, but he doesn't realize it can go both ways, I don't think.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 Now, with Hype House popping off and Patrue edging her out, Keech finds herself in a predicament. She's here.

Speaker 1 She's helped launch this whole project, but she's not seeing much money or credit coming her way.

Speaker 1 And since she's still on the lease she's also liable for anything that happens to the house that's scary what would you do if you were her

Speaker 1 lawyer up lawyer lawyer uh lawyer absolutely so in january keech files three separate applications to trademark hype house but she hits a bunch of obstacles so she starts making plans to start her own house and asks existing members to join her it's like a coup Uh-oh.

Speaker 1 Once Petru finds out who's been disloyal, the Hype House unfollows any members that have been going behind his back, and Petru changes all of the passwords for Hype House's social accounts.

Speaker 2 What is this Game of Thrones? This is crazy.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So, and of course he doesn't tell Keech the new passwords.

Speaker 1 So in late March, 2020, Keech enters the Hype House mansion one last time, flanked by armed security guards so she could collect her belongings.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Wait, she brought security?

Speaker 1 She brought security.

Speaker 2 Okay. I was like, the hype house did not have security.

Speaker 1 But can you imagine? She's just like, I feel like Dixie is going to like slap the shit out of me. So I need to buy.

Speaker 2 What did she think is going to happen? I don't know. Addison Ray's like holding a butterfly knife.

Speaker 1 I know. It's so crazy.
She files a lawsuit against Petru and Hudson to gain ultimate control of the hype house trademark. And Keach demands a jury trial so she can set the record.

Speaker 2 Oh, man, why didn't she get that? Can you imagine? We needed that during the pandemic. We sure did.
Imagine being called for jury duty, and this is what it is.

Speaker 2 You're like, you're in there going with 12 other people going, I don't know. I don't know.
They're all

Speaker 2 the bathroom, I guess.

Speaker 2 To be the juror reading the final. Oh, I'd kill for that.

Speaker 2 The judge being like, I've worked in this career for 45 years.

Speaker 2 This is my last case.

Speaker 1 I'm done after this.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 She also posts a video explaining her side of the story, breaking down why she's suing, because Gen Z has to post about everything, including legal disputes.

Speaker 2 Get ready with me while we go to court. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 And to give you a sense of how quickly things are progressing, remember Hype House launched at the end of December, got big in January, and already there's a big lawsuit by March.

Speaker 2 That sounds right. It sounds about right.

Speaker 1 We're not even in Q2 of its existence.

Speaker 2 So,

Speaker 1 crazy. Now, Petru, he should be having the time of his life, hanging out with cool kids, making content, squirreling away cash for his dream future.

Speaker 1 But warring with former house member Keach has been a real buzzkill. After Keech files her lawsuit against Hype House and company, Petru, he can't sleep.
He stays up every night.

Speaker 1 He's throwing up from anxiety. In the mornings, he's exhausted.
And he's still trying to keep the machine running, making sure the rest of Hype House members are taken care of.

Speaker 1 Which is harder now because,

Speaker 1 why do you think?

Speaker 2 Oh, because of the pandemic. Oh, my gosh.
Ding, ding, ding.

Speaker 2 Oh,

Speaker 2 yes.

Speaker 1 So, yes, Hype House is supposed to be a fun, revolving door of talent who swing by to film some stuff and go. But because of the pandemic, traveling is now dangerous.

Speaker 1 Living with people who might be sick is dangerous. For all anybody knows, unless you disinfect your groceries and library books, you might die.

Speaker 2 Right. Living in New

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 So the non-permanent residents of Hype House go home to be with their loved ones and the accounts engagement on social media falls completely.

Speaker 1 Meanwhile, Keech doesn't want to just stay mad at former Hype House co-founders. She wants to get even.
She wants to get rich.

Speaker 1 Her plan is to start a competing content incubator called Clubhouse that'll blow Hype House out of that cold pool that nobody uses. Clubhouse launches on April 5th.

Speaker 1 Again, everything happens at breakneck speed around here.

Speaker 2 Wait, she opened this April 5th after the pandemic had literally just started.

Speaker 1 It was like two weeks ago.

Speaker 2 Oh my god. The first business to open during the pandemic.

Speaker 2 Honestly, good for her. Good for her.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So here's her announcement video.

Speaker 2 Welcome to the Clubhouse.

Speaker 6 I hope you guys are excited for what's to come. I'm super excited for you guys to see the content we're going to be creating here.
Get ready for some craziness.

Speaker 1 Are you pumped?

Speaker 2 I really do hate how much they think they're like, this is crazy. Get ready for some crazy stuff.

Speaker 2 Although it was great to see the diversity in that one.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think one of them was off-white. Yeah.
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Speaker 1 So the crazy content out of Clubhouse is what you'd expect from a fitness influencer during COVID. Sexy yoga with dogs, sexy quarantine bubble butt tutorials, stuff like that.

Speaker 1 Now, we're not here to kink or workout shame anybody. It's just what teens want to watch these days, these horny fitness obsessed teens.

Speaker 1 So, with TikTok blowing up, there's definitely room for two content houses, if not more. But Daisy Keach and Patrue's feud simmers on the back burner.

Speaker 1 And Petrue drops little breadcrumbs on social media, like commenting, quote, lies on lies on lies, in response to Keach's videos.

Speaker 1 While Keach claims Petru was too controlling, he of course refutes that. And in turn, he paints her as unfriendly and socially awkward.

Speaker 1 Now, the videos do nothing to clarify the situation and worse, cast a shadow over Hype House in the public eye.

Speaker 1 Eventually, Petru and Keach reach a settlement and bury their beef, but because of NDAs, we're not really sure what they agreed to.

Speaker 1 Meanwhile, Petru's lease on the first hype house ends mid-lockdown and his heaviest hitters move out.

Speaker 1 The D'Amelio sisters, arguably the biggest names associated with the house, announce their departure in May of 2020. Addison Ray, whose individual career is also skyrocketing, follows suit.

Speaker 2 Seeing a pattern. Seeing a pattern.

Speaker 1 I don't think it's that fun in the hype house.

Speaker 2 All work, no play.

Speaker 1 Now, all of this leads to a slowdown in engagement, which can spell death for a content house.

Speaker 1 In June, after building back his roster, Patrue moves Hype House into a swanky mansion in the LA Hills, which is surrounded by mega celebrities like Hallie Berry, Keanu Reeves, and of course, Leo.

Speaker 1 It's definitely an upgrade from the first house. Let's take a look at a quick pick.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 2 That's beautiful.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Would you put a deposit down on that, babe?

Speaker 2 Yeah, of course, if I can afford it.

Speaker 2 What's the deposit on that, you think?

Speaker 1 I don't know, but got some stats for you here. Hype House Numero Dos has four floors, an elevator, 10 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a theater, a game room, and a pool with its own waterfall.
The best part,

Speaker 1 yeah, yeah, the best part, floor-to-ceiling windows that give tons and tons of natural light, perfect for filming.

Speaker 2 And also a lot of windows to break. A lot of windows to break.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 When the second Hype House is announced, TikTok goes bananas and Patrue sees engagement like never before.

Speaker 1 Even on Instagram, a second-tier platform for the TikTok-first influencers, the group's content averages a million likes on a post.

Speaker 1 And of course, the more likes, the more likely sponsors will throw down major cash for Patrue and company to market their stuff.

Speaker 2 What could go wrong?

Speaker 2 Oh my God. I'm still like, imagine someone from the past hearing you say TikTok goes bananas.

Speaker 2 Like, what does that even mean?

Speaker 2 I also, the way that we're talking about this, like, it's historical. Like, we all were alive for this.
Like, where were we? I know.

Speaker 1 Living lives, living grown-up adult lives, I think.

Speaker 2 Wearing masks. Wearing masks.
There are going to be professors in college being like, and then Addison Ray moved out.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 So within mere weeks, there was another slowdown because there was the tick-tocalypse.

Speaker 1 That's such a weird word. Charlie D'Amelio, who's not in the house, and Chase Hudson, who still is, break up.

Speaker 1 Yeah. They were dating? The whole time.

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 1 And there are cheating allegations.

Speaker 2 Didn't have the people in the house?

Speaker 1 I don't know about that.

Speaker 2 I mean, how do you not?

Speaker 1 How do you not?

Speaker 1 How do you not? Now, the whole mess leads to a bunch of unfollows, not good for business.

Speaker 1 And other controversies also come and go, like when the hype house throws a rager while LA is still on COVID lockdown.

Speaker 2 There it is.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so people are starting to get tired of their antics, basically. Now, despite the virality of Hype House 2, Thomas Petru is losing money, which means it's time to kick things into high gear.

Speaker 1 In August, Hype House teams up with a production company to develop a reality show. Typical pipeline.
But even with the promise of a TV show, Patrux wants more immediate revenue.

Speaker 1 And in August, he tries what some believe is a good old-fashioned merch scam.

Speaker 2 Oh.

Speaker 1 Fans start grumbling when Hype House drops a bedazzled hype chain necklace that's somehow both free and worth $100.

Speaker 1 Now, you can only get one at a time and shipping is just 20 bucks. So the necklace costs 20 bucks.

Speaker 1 What's the dumbest thing you've ever paid money for?

Speaker 2 I can't say.

Speaker 2 It happened. It has happened so recently, and I'm so embarrassed about it.
I'm excited. It is, I can't believe I'm going to say this, a laboo boo.
What's a laboo boo?

Speaker 2 Continue, continue, continue.

Speaker 2 I cannot believe I just admitted that. That's really big.
What's a labo-boo?

Speaker 1 It's a modern-day beanie baby.

Speaker 2 If you haven't checked out our latest episode on beanie babies. Oh, this is great.
Wow. There's always a bugger.

Speaker 1 Thank you. What about you, Brendan?

Speaker 2 Anyway, I literally have it in my hand. So I saw the Bob Dylan movie.
I don't I don't know how to play this, but I bought this

Speaker 2 I just I bought it and I thought maybe I could learn it and it just is it a harmonica on a thing? It's a harmonica on a thing. Yeah

Speaker 2 on a thing.

Speaker 2 So you could play other so you could do your hands for free?

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 Oh my god, the talent.

Speaker 2 I don't even know why I need my hands free.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we're also gonna like, I don't know, do our nails. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So in December of 2020, almost exactly a year since the hype house hit the scene, Petruse switches up his real estate.

Speaker 1 He moves his team into a $5 million mansion just outside of LA in a gated equestrian community called Lexington Hills.

Speaker 1 The house is 11,000 square feet and sits on 20 acres. Now, that's a lot of space to dance and film music videos on.

Speaker 1 And again, it's got lots of natural light. So no more crowding inside of a bathroom for Hype House.

Speaker 1 And on April 22nd, 2021, Netflix announces it has picked up the show.

Speaker 2 Cha Ching.

Speaker 1 Say hello to Hype House, the show. Let's take a look at a poster.

Speaker 2 Oh, my goodness. Oh, my.
Friends before followers.

Speaker 1 Wow. What'd he say? Streamer Skip.

Speaker 2 Oh, Skip. Absolutely.
Although that kid right in the middle looks just like me.

Speaker 2 Hold on. Wait a minute.
Where were you? Yeah.

Speaker 2 January 7th.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so the reality TV show version of Hype House dropped on January 7th, 2022, and it turns out weird.

Speaker 1 The main beef of the show seems to be between co-founders Patrue and Hudson, because Hudson has, wait for it, moved out of the house.

Speaker 1 Also, critics pretty much agree that by the time this airs, everything about Hype House is passe.

Speaker 2 Wait, the guy was, Hudson was in the show, but by the time it aired, he was gone.

Speaker 1 No, no, that was like the beef of the show. Oh.
Like, that's what they created the drama.

Speaker 2 Guess I know what I'm doing today. Yeah, I'm

Speaker 2 going to go stream that.

Speaker 1 So.

Speaker 1 One might think the show would be all about these hot young influencers partying in their house and doing outrageous, irresponsible things, but the show is mostly a workplace drama where the stakes seem super unimportant.

Speaker 1 I don't know. And the tenants just seem embarrassed to be there.
According to Box, quote, it's extremely clear that no one actually cares about the hype house.

Speaker 1 And the only reason they're there is because Netflix cameras are there. So they can see right through it.

Speaker 1 Now, Petru, or at least the character he portrays, parades around the house demanding that its inhabitants churn out more and more content.

Speaker 1 There's an ever-present threat that any individual's view count might come down at any moment and they might stop making money because of it.

Speaker 1 Remember, nobody seems to be making any money anyway, so all of this stupid drama seems for naught. The whole thing is genuinely the opposite of hype, which is crazy.

Speaker 1 The show receives a lukewarm reception from audiences and downright anger from its stars.

Speaker 1 Larry Merritt and Chase Hudson both claim that their dramatic storylines have been falsified to make them look bad. Blame it on the edit, baby.

Speaker 1 There's also a lot of strange editing and confusing storylines because an entire cast member had to be edited out.

Speaker 1 What? By the end of filming, many of the cast members have decided to bail. They're just done with Hype House.
Now, Hype House, the reality series, it runs for just one season.

Speaker 1 And that's really bad for Patrue because while other members leave for greener pastures, he's stuck at the house. He bought this one.
So with a huge mortgage. Huge mortgage.

Speaker 2 Oh my God.

Speaker 1 So in January of 2023, after a year of post-TV floundering, real life comes knocking on Hype House's door.

Speaker 1 The landlord of the Los Angeles Hills Mansion, the second place Patrue moved the collective to, sues Hype House for significant damages, shocking, and unpaid rent. Shocking.

Speaker 1 Looks like Keach was right to be worried about Patrue. How much do you think he owes?

Speaker 2 Um, before I answer,

Speaker 2 this landlord...

Speaker 2 Knows that he rented it to a child, right?

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 2 Okay. I don't know if he should get his money.

Speaker 1 Quit a victim blame, Chaz.

Speaker 2 There has to be responsibility. I mean, come on.

Speaker 2 Yeah, right?

Speaker 2 Oh, God. I don't know.

Speaker 2 15 million?

Speaker 2 I have no idea.

Speaker 2 I would say less than a million. Yes.
More than

Speaker 2 500,000. All right.

Speaker 1 Well, according to the lawsuit, Patrux and the company owe over $300,000 for messing up the jacuzzi, the roof, and tile work.

Speaker 2 The roof? The roof?

Speaker 2 The tile of the bathroom?

Speaker 1 Probably the tile, that blue, that gorgeous blue tile.

Speaker 1 The stairs.

Speaker 1 The landlord also says that the hype house had actually already promised to pay for the damage through monthly installments of $10,000 for 40 months.

Speaker 1 But in reality, only $2,500 was paid per month for two years. The landlord singles out Petru, quote, we just want Thomas to pay the bill.
Thomas is the boss, you know, and he has the money.

Speaker 1 But does he?

Speaker 1 Oh, in April 2023, Patrue makes a big announcement. Let's watch.

Speaker 8 I said, when I reach success, I'm going to take the time to focus on myself. The only thing I focused on for myself was my work and materialistic things that I had always dreamed of.

Speaker 8 I'm ready to start prioritizing my mental health. So yeah, uh, that was for sale.
If you have $8 million lying around and want to come buy it, be my guest.

Speaker 2 Oh my God, everything about that was awful. First of all, he looks like a scumbag.

Speaker 2 He looks like, I don't know if you guys saw the third Star Wars, but he looks like Anakin as he's killing all those babies. And also,

Speaker 2 what a horrible pitch to buy the house. Hey, if you got $8 million lying around, take it.

Speaker 1 Now, I will say that we are recording this during men's mental health month.

Speaker 1 I'm going to leave some space for good old Patrue here. But $8 million is very optimistic, given that he bought the house for $5 million not that long ago.

Speaker 2 Did not appreciate that much, bro. Oh.

Speaker 1 But all's fair in love and real estate, right? Also, I would fib on my house valuation.

Speaker 2 Sure.

Speaker 2 I would.

Speaker 1 Now, spoiler, the house sells for just over $5 million and he does not make a profit.

Speaker 2 So. The fact that he sold it at all.
Yeah, well. Oh, good for him, yeah.

Speaker 1 So the hype house as a physical residence for a large group of TikTok stars effectively ends.

Speaker 1 In August, when the remaining members pack up their stuff to move, they still promise to collab under the brand name, but that doesn't seem to help Patrue climb out of the financial hole he's in.

Speaker 1 By late 2024, the original Hype House NDAs expire and they're ready to spill. Here's original co-founding member Alex Warren.

Speaker 2 Oh my god, I love this.

Speaker 9 Money from the record deal, but do you make anything from Hype House?

Speaker 2 No, never.

Speaker 10 No one made money off Hype House except for Thomas.

Speaker 1 How the fuck does that work?

Speaker 10 It was the whole thing where he like controlled the finances. Pretty much he just said, you know, all the money will be

Speaker 10 used to like pay for like a Hype House account. And so like we had an account for the Hype House purchases and stuff, and he just controlled it.

Speaker 2 Oh my God. Tale as old as time.

Speaker 2 This really is. Like, it's Lou Perlman, it's Barry Gordy, like all these dudes who are just taking advantage of these young kids.
While they were paying rent. Right.
Right.

Speaker 2 It's almost worse than the Backstreet Boys. The Backstreet Boys didn't have to pay rent on the studio.

Speaker 1 Right. So let's do a little where are they now? The Hype House accounts have been dormant since January of 2025.
Over its brief lifetime, the house was home to 42 members.

Speaker 1 The lawsuit with Patrue's second landlord seems to be unresolved, at least publicly. If you have a tip, please call the Big Flop hotline with more information.

Speaker 1 Some of the other OG Hype House members have found success outside of the house. Obviously, Addison Ray is a relatively successful pop star.
The D'Amelios are red carpet staples.

Speaker 1 Daisy Keach, the founder who had a falling out with the group early on, has seemingly moved away from making fitness content, but still has a following.

Speaker 1 You can still find everyone on social media, but Patrue doesn't post much these days.

Speaker 1 He is still on TikTok and Instagram, where you can find archived videos about his mental health journey, his struggle with eczema, and his carnivore diet. So maybe he can be our next liver king.

Speaker 1 If you have not yet heard our episode on the liver king, go check it out.

Speaker 2 You're like a pro.

Speaker 1 So here on the big flop, we try to be positive people and end on a high. So are there any silver linings that you can think about from Petru and the hype house?

Speaker 2 Are we done with hype? Are we done with content houses? Like, are they still a thing or are they done? I think that's kind of a, I hear about, I don't hear about them anymore.

Speaker 1 I don't hear about them anymore.

Speaker 2 So that's good.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we learned.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 2 As someone who has eczema, it's always nice to hear, you know,

Speaker 2 there are people talking about it, representation. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 Absolutely. You know, I will say, it seems like all those kids are growing up, so you love to see that.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, in their defense, if I was,

Speaker 2 you know, posting videos at 18 or 13, whatever age they were, it would be pretty horrible. Yeah.
Yeah. Same.
I mean, my videos would be boring.

Speaker 2 It'd be like a bunch of kids smoking pot and hanging out in a garage. Yeah.
Like saying lines from stepbrothers. That would be the whole thing.

Speaker 1 Mine would be practicing my hybrid flap.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it'd be you in that beautiful bathroom with those acoustics. There we go.
There we go.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, now that you both know about Hype House, the petri dish of social media content, would you consider this a baby flop, a big flop, or a mega flop?

Speaker 2 I mean, it really skyrocketed some careers. So I'm going to, I'm going to say, I mean, baby flop? Yeah, me too.
I think it's a baby flop. I think they,

Speaker 2 yeah, like they made careers out of this. So, and nobody died, nobody got too hurt.
You know, that dude is still,

Speaker 2 you know, he sold the house.

Speaker 1 Sold the house.

Speaker 2 So he's what, like $400,000 in debt?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, yeah, with the lawsuits.

Speaker 2 But so crazy, he had all those handshake deals. She may be covering that.

Speaker 2 Weird. That's crazy.
I know.

Speaker 1 Well, thank you so much to our guests who deserve all the hype, Chas May and Brendan Zagalo, for joining us here on The Big Flop. And of course, thanks to all of you for listening and watching.

Speaker 1 If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating or review or subscribe. We'll be back next week covering another flop.

Speaker 1 She's a global pop star whose antics-filled career has made many question, is she from a whole other world? A different dimension?

Speaker 1 Well, despite her 11 minutes in outer space, she's just the California girl. That's right, we're talking Katy Perry.
Bye!

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Speaker 1 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 Rubinova and Luke Burns.

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Managing producer is Molly Getman.

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