Inst@Guru: Bentinho Massaro is a Podcast offshoot of a Television Series almost five years in the making. It examines the world built around Bentinho Massaro, a Dutch-born spiritual influencer who has amassed a global following through social media, retreats, and an elaborate system of teachings promising consciousness, transcendence, and love. What his followers found instead is a story that is by now familiar to anyone who has watched a high-control group up close… and one that is still unfolding.

The series draws on dozens of interviews with people who were inside Massaro's organization, including three primary subjects who lived at the center of it, and who agreed to tell their stories in full, despite significant six-figure penalty clauses in the NDAs they signed. It also features Dutch investigative journalist Ivo van Woerden, whose book In de Greep van de Goeroe (In the Grip of the Guru) is the most comprehensive investigation into Massaro yet published. Together, these voices build a picture not just of one man, but of how these things happen - who gets drawn in, how they are kept, and what it costs them to leave. Bentinho Massaro has been invited to participate. That invitation remains open.

IN PROGRESS

Name: Cory

Role: Girlfriend / Team Member / Inner Circle

Short Bio:

10+ years student of Bentinho. Joined Bentinho’s team around 2015 and became part of the core inner circle. Appears frequently alongside Bentinho during retreats and events and was present during later international travels. Romantically involved with Bentinho

Name: Kars

Role: Inner Circle / Team Member

Short Bio:

Joined Bentinho’s inner circle after attending retreats in 2016. Became a close member of the community working for Bentinho’s company and traveling with the team. 

Name: Romee

Role: Inner Circle Adept / Inner Circle / Facilitator

Short Bio:

Joined Bentinho’s community alongside Kars after attending early retreats. Became part of the core traveling and operational team. Is now listed as one of Bentinho’s facilitators on his website

Name: Allison

Role: Girlfriend / Inner Circle

Short Bio:

Became romantically involved with Bentinho after the Hawaii retreat period (around 2016). Lived within the Sedona and later Amsterdam community structures before leaving the group in 2019. Part of her romantic time with Bentinho was in an open/polyamorous relationship with Jocelyn

Name: Jocelyn (Joci)

Role: Girlfriend / Co-teacher 2017-2018

Short Bio:

Romantically involved with Bentinho during the Sedona period and occasionally appeared teaching alongside him during retreats and events. Was in an open polyamorous relationship with Bentinho and Allison

Name: Ariadne

Role: CFO / COO / Inner Circle 2017 - Present

Relationship Tier: 2

Short Bio:

Financial advisor and contributor to Bentinho Massaro's business and lifestyle.