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If you’ve been looking for your next modern mystery podcast addiction, Missing Richard Simmons should be on your playlist.
Dan Taberski, a former Daily Show producer, is behind the podcast, which has been called ‘better than Serial’ on iTunes. Missing Richard Simmons explores the story of the fitness guru in half-hour episodes.
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Richard Simmons, the man once famous in the 80s for his unique workout style and curly locks sparked speculation when he abruptly disappeared from the spotlight in 2014.
He ran regular classes in his Beverly Hills studio, and was known for getting men to take their shirts off and shouting slogans like ‘sweat is just fat crying’. The people around him were inspired by his lively approach, but one day in February 2014, he didn’t show up for class.
It was very strange for him not to turn up, so rumours immediately spread the he had been kidnapped or was living as a woman in secret. His publicist denied both of those rumours to PEOPLE in 2016.
“As I have stated in the past, these claims are untrue and preposterous,” his rep said. “Richard, after 40 years of being in the spotlight, is now simply taking a break from the public eye and working behind the scenes to continue to help those millions of people worldwide in need of his assistance and on several projects to be announced soon.”
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In each episode of Missing Richard Simmons, Taberski talks to his old friends, who reveal what he was really like, and they discuss why he would have ‘ditched the world’.
“If you’re listening to this and you’re actually Richard Simmons, call me,” Taberski says at the end of the first episode. “People are looking for you.”
