Are you bleeding? Is it because I called you the wrong pronoun? Andrew Tate jeered to the assembled leaders of his so-called War Room – a members-only online club which his followers pay thousands to join. Tate, a 6ft 2in kick-boxing champion, had just punched Matt in the face.
They were both wearing boxing gloves, and Matt was a willing participant. But he had been lured here under false pretences.
We were inside a fight gym in Bucharest where Tate had told us we could film him sparring. When we arrived, he said, Put some gloves on.
Matt was about to be taught a lesson which, after four years of investigating Tate, we still believe to be the central tenet of Tates philosophy: that violence underpins absolutely everything.
Nearby, the most physically intimidating man we had ever seen was subjecting a young War Room neophyte to a ground-and-pound finish, pressing him to the floor with his body while striking him repeatedly. The other men laughed at the display.
His fate didnt bode well for Matt, who had to endure another ten rounds, Tate told him. His last punch had drawn blood, but leaving then would have attracted ridicule and cut short our mission to infiltrate Tates inner circle.
The timer went.
Lets go, Tate said.
Can I at least fight someone closer to my weight size?
Sure.
In Andrew Tates world, combat and violence are the purest form of conquest, while women and money are the most important
This turned out to be a mistake, because though Tig, the man Tate beckoned over, may have been shorter than Tate, each of his biceps was wider than Matts head.
His punches built with power each time, until a final right hook caused Matt to lose consciousness for a moment.
When he came round, Matt asked Tig to stop.
You asked me to stop, Tig said, but if this were a street fight, could you ask the other person to stop?
Matt was beginning to learn.
In promotional videos for the War Room, over shots of men training in combat sports, smoking cigars and eating steaks, a voiceover declared: Life is competition. Competition is violence. In many modern forms of competition, we have attempted to water down the violent aspects. To replicate violence in the most sanitised way.
We have full-grown men growing as large and strong as possible to put a ball in a net, the voice continued, dripping with disdain, as opposed to hurting each other.
You are meant to struggle. You are here to suffer. If you do neither of these things, you are either dead or invisible.
If you want people to care who you are, become familiar with pain. If you do not struggle to become an exceptional man, you are nobody, and every female will prove to you: you may as well not exist. If you want to understand the itch that Andrew Tate and the War Room have been scratching in young men, then this is it.
Tates appeal preys on male insecurity and the need to compete with other men, especially for women.
He prises open those insecurities and targets them with his marketing, telling men they need to experience more hardship to make themselves better.
Tate says that modern life is too comfortable, that to become a real man you must go through suffering, and that this will lead to successful conquests. The first step in this is to buy his courses, with membership to the War Room costing £3,000 a year at the time of our reporting in August 2022 [now £6,000].
In his world, combat and violence are the purest form of conquest, while women and money are the most important.
Many young men judge themselves against Andrew Tate.
This is all part of his plan.
When you consider that in 2023, 47 per cent of 25-year-old men in the UK were still living with their parents, compared to just 29 per cent of women of the same age, there is a vast ocean of inadequacy and low self-worth to be plumbed by Tates exploitation.
Matt getting his face pounded in the War Room was an unpleasant experience designed to make him feel his own inadequacy in the realm of physical combat, but strangely – as he would later be told by many of Tates fans – millions of young men would do absolutely anything to be in his position.
Over the next week, we would see first-hand how Tates empire is built on making men feel deficient, and then offering solutions that require buying further into the groups ideology. We would also see how this conditioning can make men dangerous.
In the years weve been investigating Andrew Tate, he has become a household name that to many, defines a new era in misogyny. In August 2022, the 36-year-old Anglo–American kick-boxer-turned-influencers motivational videos, flashy lifestyle and controversial views had made him the most googled man in the world.
Tates videos had been viewed 12 billion times on TikTok alone. He became incredibly famous, incredibly quickly. At the peak of this rise to fame, we happened to be with Andrew Tate, inside his compound and secretive network.
Throughout this period and for a further two years, we would investigate Tate and his inner circle, eventually uncovering the dark truth behind the War Room.
Our story begins during Tates good years, when the followers were flooding in, and the allegations were still to come.
In November 2019, Jamie received an email about two webcam millionaires who were beginning to build a devoted following in the manosphere. As a mid-90s millennial Vice Media Group journalist who spent his time trawling the internet for cults and conspiracies, it piqued his interest.
The email was sent by a colleague, Lexi Rose, whose friends younger brother had apparently been lured into the manosphere by one of these webcam millionaires: Andrew Tate.
The manosphere is an umbrella term given to different online groups, websites and blogs, all of which deal with different topics for men, primarily sex and relationships.
These groups are distinct and propagate different views, but underpinning all of them appears to be a shared foundational belief that the world is being manipulated in unnatural ways to make life easier for women, at the expense of men.
Lexis email to Jamie included a link to the Instagram account of her friends brother, who Lexi claimed had paid thousands of dollars to join something called the War Room.
Visiting Tates website, Jamie could see that the War Room was Tates latest product – a private network of men who would be trained by Tate to achieve the pinnacle of masculinity and wealth, using Tates supposedly tried-and-tested techniques. The website claimed that membership to Tates War Room would give you direct access to Tate, as well as the ability to network with millionaires, attending private War Room events around the world.
In his videos, Tate argues that women should take some responsibility for sexual assaults, and that the world would be a better place if they had their body count tattooed on their heads
Looking at his burgeoning YouTube channel Tate Speech, it wasnt difficult to find extreme misogyny and sexism being spouted with the abrasive and, to some, comedic tone that Tate would become famous for.
In his videos, Tate would propose his solutions to the problem of modern liberalism, arguing that women should take some responsibility for their own sexual assaults, and that the world would be a better place if women had their body count (a pejorative term for their number of sexual partners) tattooed on their heads.
Tates views were so extreme, and his delivery so bombastic, that people debated in the comments whether he was genuine or a Sacha Baron Cohen-style comedian who was embodying a fictional character.
He was tall and strong, an ex-world-champion kick-boxer, and was considered attractive by some. If Tate was to be believed, he was also incredibly wealthy and had numerous girlfriends.
Manosphere influencers preceding him were older men, often out of shape, with seemingly unenviable lives. Tate, on the other hand, flaunted a life that was attractive to many men.
And he promised he could teach his followers how to have the same life. Such was the level of devotion he was able to elicit that they were willing to pay thousands of pounds to join his network and be taught by him at events around the world, behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes of the public.
When we went to Bucharest to start filming our documentary, we arrived at a warehouse with dark black cladding and a red trim.
It seemed a far cry from the luxurious mansion Tate flaunts on his Instagram.
If it hadnt been for the separate security entrance and two armed Romanian men out front, wearing matching 007 t-shirts, we probably wouldnt have noticed it.
The metal gates opened with a loud clunk, revealing two large LED signs bearing the name Tate and a red-tiled swimming pool.
A woman in her early 30s beamed at us. Two women in bikinis sat by the pool, deep in conversation with the hulking figure of a man I recognised as his brother, Tristan Tate.
And there was Tate himself, walking towards us in his signature skin-tight trousers, his shirt open to his navel. The sun glinted off his diamond-encrusted watch – and also highlighted the tattoo of a Cobra (another of his acquired names) on his left pec. Im the most famous person in the world! he declared.
While the outside of the house looked like a run-down warehouse in a poorly maintained car park, the inside appeared more like a Harrods catalogue. Expensive-looking speakers flanked what must be the largest TV screen money could buy.
A muscular man in his 20s sat behind a series of computer monitors, instructing students of Tates Hustlers University, an online community and course subscription that promised to teach students Tates secrets of wealth creation. His name, we were told, was Cousin Luc.
Women in stilettos cleaned surfaces as soon as our cameras started rolling, then disappeared when the cameras were off.
One of these women, Tate said, was Georgiana Naghel, who the Romanian press had once referred to as his girlfriend (though Tate also referred to her as his personal assistant).
Shes a witch, Tate warned us – a literal one, he stressed. We were told not to speak to her.
An American man with a grey, wizard-like beard and embroidered silk kimono leered over a computer, barking orders at another woman. We were told not to speak to him either.
Tate told us: Masculinity is rebellion and always has been rebellion. How can you rebel if you have a boss? Finance is a huge part of masculinity because masculinity is rebellion and freedom. If you have absolutely no money, youre a slave to the system.
Buying a Lambo for me? Its not even an expensive purchase any more. But I think another part of being a man – a large part of being a man – is signalling status.
Tate then brought this together against the cornerstone of his philosophy: violence.
Tate says finance is a huge part of masculinity, adding: If you have absolutely no money, youre a slave to the system
When Im talking about violence, Im talking about an underpinning life philosophy. Im trying to explain that the world always has been and always will be violent. Right now, theres Chinese hackers trying to hack American servers. Its a never-ending conflict all around the world. Its a war for resources, a war for states.
Its a war for females. This is all war, this is all the men have ever done – is compete. Weve removed the competitive element from masculinity and were trying to pretend its not true. But its absolutely true. Its always forever been true.
Violence is the underpinning of society and its the underpinning of masculinity.
Two of Tates most notorious courses were his PhD (Pimping Hoes Degree) and a supplementary course, Webcam Dreams.
The PhD appeared to be Tates number-one product, the one he spent most time promoting online. Its name was crude, and in true Tate fashion, designed to shock and engage.
If you purchased the course, youd receive an almost two-hour-long video in which Tate himself laid out his diagnosis and cure for the state of male and female sexual dynamics.
At least, this is how Tate would sell it to you, but what the course really seemed to do was teach those who bought it how to apply the tactics of a pimp, but in a digital age.
Our impression was that it explained how to attract unsuspecting women, then gradually make them more submissive, until you have complete dominance over them.
Once an unsuspecting subject is perceived to have passed Tates PhD test, she is ready to be converted from dating prospect to webcam worker.
The men who make it this far in Tates course are encouraged to use the teachings in the Webcam Dreams course to get these women working for them in the online sex industry, passing over their earnings to their boyfriends.
Tates logic seemed to be that certain women were more susceptible than others to doing sex work and giving the money to their pimp, and that it was easier than ever to find and exploit them in the online world. All you had to do was make them fall in love with you and sell them a dream.
For Tate, sex plays a key part in knowing when a person is ready to be converted to a webcam worker, claiming: You have to f*** them. And they have to love you.
Its essential to the business because otherwise, women have no loyalty.
Later in his course, Tate states: I dont mention webcam until after Ive had sex with the girl. You f*** the girl. After you f****d the girl you do the PhD test.
Passing the PhD test requires a woman to be so submissive to a man that they will do anything he says. Tate uses himself as living proof to his students that this is possible: Ive never met a woman who will not do the basics of what I say. Bring me coffee. Turn up where I tell her to. Listen to me. Not talk to other men. Basic things.
Tate seems to imply that his students control these women through emotional manipulation and the weaponisation of sex. In his PhD course he tells them: Your girl should want sex more than you . . . Thats a healthy relationship. It shouldnt be the other way around, because that puts her in a position of power. You cannot let these women ever be in a position of power.
War Room members appeared to believe, following on from Tates PhD test, that there were certain trials or training that you could put your new girlfriends through, to make them more submissive and therefore more likely to work on webcam for you.
We spoke to two women, Maria and Amanda, who told us about being given daily tasks, outside of their webcamming work. These included things like doing their recruiters laundry, buying him things with their own money or preparing his meals.
Maria recalled her recruiter waking her up at 6am to make him coffee before being allowed to go back to sleep. Both women told us that the men referred to these tasks as missions.
A message from one of Tates War Room generals, Iggy Semmelweis, hinted at the purpose of these missions:
Gs [slang for gangsta] gotta keep their women occupied with tasks – Missions – to keep them busy and proving their devotion. A chase cycle consists of . . .
1. You set the mission. 2. She completes the mission. 3. You reward her APPROPRIATELY for successfully completing the mission.
Set the Mission means you explicitly task her with doing something. That something MUST BE non-sexual in nature . . make me a sammich [sandwich] is a mission. Pick up my cleaning is a mission . . .
Yes this is Pavlovian Conditioning. Yes, this is operant conditioning. Yes, this is how you train dogs.
Deal with it.
Both Amanda and Maria had told us that their recruiters were keen on BDSM, and Amanda felt at times it was to introduce violence into the relationship. Some men shared photos of severe bruising on intimate areas of womens skin.
Tate borrows language from the street pimping community, referring to the first girl you successfully recruit as your bottom bitch (a term used among street pimps, meaning the prostitute who sits at the top of their hierarchy, often recruiting and managing future prostitutes).
She is generally considered to be the most loyal of a pimps prostitutes, and the one who has been with him the longest.
When dating a new girl who you think could be a potential recruit, you introduce her to your bottom bitch, who plays along as an ex-girlfriend who now works for your webcam company.
Tate creates a hypothetical scenario in which you go out with your new girl but invite your bottom bitch along: Your bottom bitch is the one who does the selling. You dont do the selling. The girl has to hear from a girl.
The method that Tate teaches in his PhD course bears a striking resemblance to something called the Loverboy Method, typically associated with human trafficking and coerced prostitution, in which a man weaponises affection to lure potential victims and puts them to work in the sex industry.
On Tates website he claimed that more than half of the 75 girls he had working for him were his girlfriends at the time, and none of them were in the adult industry before meeting him.
All it took was a simple Google search for us to discover this, but it indicated that the Andrew Tate story may be much bigger than people realised. We asked Tate about his PhD course. The Pimping Hoes Degree, Tate sighed. OK. Which is a play on words.
The influencers online course, the Pimping Hoes Degree, taught those who bought it how to apply the tactics of a pimp in a digital age
Dont take it all too literally. Dont have a meltdown. I, at one point in my history, most people who follow me know this, owned a webcam company. Its just me telling the story of me owning a webcam company.
We interjected, I saw on your website that every single webcam worker starts off as your girlfriend . . .
Well, thats not true. Its literally not true that I had 75 women working for me that all started as my girlfriend. We were a professional business, a professional outfit.
But some of them . . .?
Matt prodded.
Did some – some – of my girlfriends, who were my girlfriend, and then they saw the business and were like, Oh, cool. Ill try – yeah! But this was many, many years ago.
Didnt you at one point say in one of your podcasts that, with the girls that started as your girlfriend, and then did work for you in the webcam industry, 100 per cent of the profit went to you?
I didnt say that. Ultimately, the profit went to me in that we were a couple. The King and Queen worked together just like [on a] chessboard.
Trying a different route, Matt asked, Have you heard the term loverboy before?
The Loverboy Method? Yeah, yeah. But these girls were not prostitutes. These girls were girls sitting on a computer most of the time, fully clothed like an office job. Less than 20 per cent of the girls who work for me even took their top off.
Theyd just sit there and talk on a computer. So, its not . . . Theres no loverboy involved. Its a matter of . . . its a very professional outfit doing it, very professionally, providing a very professional service.
The girls got paid ridiculous sums of money. Ive made more women millionaires than youd possibly believe. Ive absolutely done more than any feminist in that regard. So, theres no loverboy involved.
Theres no forcing girls to do something they dont want to do. Theres no sex involved.
Nobody has concerns. Theres no female whos come out saying, I worked for Andrew, and it was exploitative. Not one.
But, as we will see in the next part of this series, this wasnt true, as women came forward to tell us exactly how badly Andrew Tate treated them.
Adapted from Clown World by Jamie Tahsin & Matt Shea (Quercus, £20) will be published on September 26. © Jamie Tahsin and Matt Shea 2024. To order a copy for £18 (offer valid to 12/10/24; UK P&P free on orders over £25) go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.