Original subtitles

♪ ♪

(overlapping chatter)

MARIANA: Your classic American barbeque.

Perfect weather. Meats on the grill.

And a backyard full of friends.

But this is not your typical summer get together,

because this is Dr. Tony Huge's house.

MARIAH: Tony. We're ready for you, dude.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: And performance‐enhancing drugs

are at the ready.

TONY: Yeah!

MARIANA: Tony Huge is the face of a movement that

believes performance‐enhancing drugs, like steroids,

can turn everyday people...

TONY: Friends of Freedom. Pioneers of human evolution.

MARIANA: Into superhumans.

TONY: Instead of using medicine to make us average,

we can use medicine to make us evolve.

MARIANA: Tony's fans say his drugs make you feel like a god.

MAN: I don't wanna be average.

Whatever I can do to keep excelling, I'll do it.

MARIANA: But are the authorities closing in?

INTERROGATOR: You have no formal medical

training whatsoever, correct?

MARIANA: And are the dreams he's selling...

TONY: 100% legal. No side effects.

MARIANA: Actually nightmares?

THOMAS: Being superhuman on steroids is part of the game.

But the reality is, you can't be superhuman forever.

And your heart doesn't wanna be superhuman.

MARIANA: So they're playing with fire?

THOMAS: They're playing 100% with fire.

MARIANA: This is a story about the next

generation of steroids.

And the man behind the needle.

Do you think everybody should be taking steroids?

TONY: Absolutely.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: When I started investigating the underground

explosion of steroids in America,

there is one name I heard over and over again.

TONY: Dr. Tony Huge.

Dr. Tony Huge here. Dr. Tony Huge here.

Where in the world is Dr. Tony Huge, update?

MARIANA: Dr. Tony Huge.

Hi.

TONY: Mariana.

MARIANA: Reporting for duty, Tony.

TONY: Yes. Welcome.

You now get to see the behind the scenes of how we

actually build muscle, besides the drugs.

Although there might be some of that involved as well.

MARIANA: Okay.

OPRAH: Did you ever take banned substances to enhance

your cycling performance?

LANCE: Yes.

MARIANA: Performance‐enhancing drugs are notorious for

causing scandals at the highest levels of sports.

But these days, people like Tony Huge are bringing

experimental versions of those same drugs to the masses.

TONY: I'm gonna show you what we do before our

workouts as bodybuilders.

MARIANA: Just minutes after I arrive,

Tony invites me and a handful of his "guinea pigs,"

his words, not mine, into a locker room.

TONY: You know, they wouldn't do it openly.

We'll get kicked out of the gym if there's people around.

This is generic Chinese growth hormone.

This is an underground testosterone.

All right, Akaash, I'm loading your needle.

You want testosterone? Do you need test?

TONY: This is actually an extremely potent prototype.

A half cc would...

AKAASH: Oh, let's do it, let's do it, like...

TODAY: Okay. One quarter.

MARIANA: Ah, it looks like a big needle that I wouldn't

wanna stick on myself.

Yeah.

It's much bigger than I thought and thicker too.

TONY: So, now, this is Molly's shot.

In one month, she can make about a year and a half worth

of muscle‐building progress.

MARIANA: And why are you doing this?

MOLLY: I've always had insecurities, like,

with my body, with myself.

So it slowly but surely does help you gain that confidence.

MARIANA: Yeah, I'm feeling the pressure right now guys.

I'm feeling really tiny and terrible here.

I feel so out of shape right now.

Dr. Tony Huge is a larger‐than‐life figure

in the world DIY performance‐enhancing drugs.

You're Dr. Tony Huge.

Where did you get your medical degree from?

TONY: I don't have a medical degree.

I'm a Doctor of Jurisprudence.

Contact us at Hughes Financial Law today.

I'm a lawyer. Retired lawyer.

Yo soy Antony Hughes, le puedo ayudar en Espanol.

It's quite fortunate for the audience that I'm not an

actually medical doctor because if I was,

they would take my license for teaching the things that I do.

MARIANA: Tony is evangelical about the power

of anabolic drugs.

TONY: I love steroids.

I think before I came on the scene,

steroids were an even greater taboo,

so I've sort of made steroids cool.

Steroids. Steroids. Steroids.

I use them all the time in mega doses.

And I don't think it's a bad thing.

Be swell and swole, friends of freedom,

pioneers of human evolution.

MARIANA: Dr. Tony Huge is a fitness influencer,

a new type of social media star who posts workout

photos and advice.

ZAC (over phone): Now you and I have talked about getting ready for shows.

And this time, what I can do,

with some of these new compounds that you've

come out with...

MARIANA: Tony spends hours every day talking to people like Zac,

a 22‐year‐old bodybuilder prepping for a competition.

TONY: Okay. Let's do it.

Let's keep you healthy and get you in the best condition

you've ever been in, my friend.

♪ ("Move Pon Bakka" by Tambor Battant Feat. Brail) ♪

MARIANA: So when did you start taking steroids?

MARIAH: Uh, steroids?

I actually started taking about two years ago.

I didn't know I was taking them.

Someone told me they were vitamins.

MARIANA: Who? Who? Like a friend or?

MARIAH: It was an ex‐boyfriend.

MARIANA: And then when you found out, were you angry or?

MARIAH: No, because I liked the results that I got from them.

MARIANA: Back at Tony's house, his friends are open about

using steroids.

SOLDIER: If you're someone who's deploying all the time,

or you're in a specialist operations career field,

we don't get down days.

MARIANA: That includes a member of US Special Forces.

SOLDIER: We're hiking the tallest mountains,

we're in the hottest deserts.

Pretty much perform like a superhuman.

And when it's a life or death situation,

it's a small price to pay to take performance‐enhancing

drugs to be able to get back home to my family.

MARIANA: Who contacts you about steroids?

TONY: Everyone.

Teenagers all the way up to old ladies.

I kid you not.

And everywhere in between.

Police, 40‐year‐old female, house moms that are using them

to get in better shape.

MARIANA: Do you still take steroids now?

WOMAN: I do in the sense of if I wanna get ready for

Halloween, I wanna body paint.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

WOMAN: So for me to be able to body paint after three kids,

instead of me doing a cabbage soup diet.

MARIANA: Uh‐huh.

WOMAN: I wanna look strong and feel strong...

MARIANA: Uh‐huh.

WOMAN: And not to (bleep) up my metabolism.

MARIAH: Everyone has their poison, whether it's smoking,

or alcohol, or hardcore opiates, and you know,

things like that.

Pick your poison and that's the one I chose.

MARIANA: Tony is happy to give away performance‐enhancing

drugs at his party.

But how do everyday people normally get their hands on them?

Do you know where the steroids you take,

do you know where they're coming from?

SOLDIER: It depends.

MARIANA: You don't wanna tell me?

SOLDIER: Not at all.

MARIANA: So the anabolic's that you take,

where are those coming, where is it coming from?

MARIAH: Our source asked not to be named.

WOMAN: Um, I wouldn't say.

MARIANA: You don't wanna say? WOMAN: No.

MARIANA: See, I've spoken to several people here and nobody

wants to tell me where from.

Why is that?

SOLDIER: Well, I don't know you,

and it's a small community, and you're dealing with stuff

that can potentially put other people in jail.

MARIANA: Okay.

Can you just tell me if they come from overseas or they're domestic?

MARIANA: Okay.

Here's the thing,

I don't really take no for an answer.

So, after a few off‐camera conversations with Tony,

he agrees to show me where underground steroids come from.

Yeah. This is where he told us to meet him.

Not where you'd think they'd be doing steroids and human

experiments, you know.

I see this light over there.

(engine approaches)

Tony Huge, right here.

So, you're, it's not, is it here?

TONY: No, it's not here.

I'm gonna take you to it because the experiments that we do are kind of underground.

You're not supposed to experiment on humans and

you're not supposed to be making some of these compounds

the way we do.

And that's a lot of risk to me and the people I work with.

MAN: Yes. Yes.

TONY: Thank you.

MARIANA: When you mentioned an underground lab,

I definitely wasn't expecting something, so.

It looks, it looks like a real lab.

TONY: Well, it has to be clean and it has to have all the

tools that we need for any given experiment.

MARIANA: The DEA and FDA are the federal agencies with

oversight on steroid use.

They often make news for busting underground labs.

ANCHOR (over TV): DEA agents raided the facility.

REPORTER (over TV): A massive illegal drug operation.

Homemade drugs are especially dangerous to anyone who uses them.

MARIANA: Aren't you scared they could come after you?

TONY: Yeah, everything, they did.

They did.

MARIANA: Tony is the face of Enhanced Athlete,

a supplement company that was raided by the FDA in 2017.

That same year, Enhanced Athlete was accused in a civil

lawsuit of selling products not approved for human consumption.

INTERROGATOR: You said you've got a doctorate of laws?

You don't, you don't really think it allows you to call

yourself a doctor, do you?

TONY: Yes.

I was under investigation for many years and they were

surveilling me and, and my CEO ended up in, in jail.

ANCHOR: This is New Tonight.

A Sacramento man was sentenced to three years in prison today

for selling fertilizer disguised as fat‐burning pills.

MARIANA: And you guys were making that here?

TONY: That's what Scott was prosecuted for.

MARIANA: Why are you still here?

And why's he in prison?

TONY: Because I never made money from any of this.

I was a lawyer.

I sold my law firm and I took that money and I

invested it into research.

MARIANA: Tony claims that for him,

developing new drugs is merely a passion project,

albeit, a risky one.

So why do you let us film in here?

Why do you let us come here?

TONY: Because there's, there's a risk versus benefit.

This is my passion.

I retired from law to further the chemistry of bodybuilding.

Instead of just using medicine to make us average,

we can use medicine to continue to enhance us,

to make us evolve.

MARIANA: And who make, do you actually make all of this or

who makes this?

TONY: Coach Trevor is our lead chemist.

Hey, Coach Trevor!

MARIANA: Coach Trevor is Tony's secret weapon.

Hi.

TREVOR: Hey. How's it going? MARIANA: How are you?

I'm Mariana.

TREVOR: Trevor. Nice to meet you.

MARIANA: Nice to meet you.

The two are incredibly close, with an almost brotherly bond.

This is your lab?

TREVOR: This is it. This is ground zero.

MARIANA: And they have a shared passion for creating new

performance‐enhancing drugs.

TONY: Coach Trevor and I have gone over the protocol.

What I'm gonna start with is 50 milligrams per day.

MARIANA: Tony was saying that you're the main chemist.

TREVOR: I think they call it chef.

MARIANA: Sort of Breaking Bad kind of a thing?

TREVOR: No, meth, no.

MARIANA: Trevor is obsessed with the chemistry behind steroids.

He even has the chemical structure for testosterone

tattooed on his hand.

TREVOR: This is my favorite hormone.

First one I ever made.

MARIANA: The first one you made in a lab?

TREVOR: Uh‐hmm.

MARIANA: Trevor says he's permanently mutated his body

through years of experimental steroid use.

TONY: So Trevor's arms are just around 21 inches.

Mine are around 19 inches.

MARIANA: And mine are around, half an inch.

Despite the imposing exterior,

Trevor sees himself as a science nerd at heart.

If you wanted to, what drugs can you make right now?

TREVOR: Actually, it'd be easier to name what I couldn't make.

MARIANA: Could you make cocaine?

TREVOR: Yeah.

MARIANA: Can you make heroin?

TREVOR: Yeah. Very simple.

MARIANA: Do you know how to make fentanyl?

TREVOR: Yeah. That's, yeah.

MARIANA: Do you know how to make meth?

TREVOR: Yes.

MARIANA: If you can make any drug in the world,

why are you making anabolic's?

TREVOR: Because I could sell steroids to a lawyer.

He's happy and it improves his life.

If it's not hurting you, why not?

MARIANA: Is what you're doing dangerous?

TREVOR: Yeah, yeah...

TONY: Sometimes, really bad things do happen.

And, and afterwards, we sometimes say we're never

gonna do another experiment.

MARIANA: In a recent experiment,

Tony says he overdosed on a banned dietary supplement,

and he then vomited for two days straight.

TONY: But we are addicted to the science and pioneering,

and we do, we do continue experimenting even after

bad things happen.

MARIANA: The raw chemicals that you use here,

where did those come from?

TREVOR: Almost everything comes from China now.

MARIANA: Because these chemicals are often on the

DEA's list of banned substances,

companies in China have found inventive ways to

sneak them past customs.

TREVOR: Here's one.

MARIANA: Disguised as food.

TREVOR: Yeah. It looks like flour, right?

MARIANA: And so a lot of it is actually coming out.

So it's not dangerous that it's all over my hands, is it?

No?

TREVOR: Yeah, actually...

No, it's not. Nah, I don't wanna bust..

MARIANA: Today, Trevor and Tony are developing a new,

injectable version of a drug called "ASARM"

TONY: A Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator.

So, potentially the future of steroids,

all the benefits without the side effects.

MARIANA: And this is illegal?

TONY: This is illegal to sell to a human as a supplement.

It is legal to possess.

It is legal to use.

MARIANA: People are using the stuff that you guys are making

here in this lab.... are using this.

TONY: Yes, they are using these formulas by,

by facilities we have, are teaching how to make

these things underground.

MARIANA: That was a very around the way answer.

TONY: I was a lawyer. I was a lawyer before.

MARIANA: The stuff that is made here,

does it end up inside people's bodies around the country?

TONY: That's what I don't wanna answer.

MARIANA: Because that can get you in trouble?

TONY: Right.

I plead The Fifth. I plead The Fifth.

I plead The Fifth.

MARIANA: No matter what Tony might say;

there's a black market for these types of drugs.

And demand is high.

Is this some of the stuff you're delivering today?

MARIANA: I mean, so it's basically, it's a drug deal?

DAVID: Check this stuff. BUYER: All right.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: How long have you been selling steroids for?

MARIANA: A few days later, I find myself on a ride‐along

with one of Sacramento's busiest steroid dealers.

Are most of your buyers bodybuilders?

MARIANA: I'll be calling him David.

Is part of the reason you sell it is so that you

can take them as well?

So you can afford your own?

MARIANA: Oh, wow. So testosterone. Trenbolone.

MARIANA: If David were caught,

he could face five years in prison.

The maximum punishment for selling steroids without a prescription.

BUYER: Yeah.

MARIANA: David has agreed to wear a wireless microphone,

so I can monitor this deal from a nearby car.

DAVID: How's everything? BUYER: Oh, great, doing good.

DAVID: Yup. BUYER: Here.

DAVID: Five a joule. BUYER: Right on. Yeah.

MARIANA: They just did this right in the open.

Even the money was exchanged out in the open.

BUYER: Right on. Thanks. DAVID: Have a good day.

BUYER: I'll talk to you later. DAVID: Yes, sir.

MARIANA: David also allows us to secretly film a deal he has

arranged at a local gym.

MARIANA: David tells me that a steroid regimen can cost users

between a couple hundred and a thousand dollars a month.

DAVID: All right, bro. I'll see you, man.

MAN: All right, man. I appreciate it.

DAVID: Yes, sir.

MARIANA: So all of this is illegal though.

What you're doing, selling this.

MARIANA: This is totally illegal?

MARIANA: Do people buying steroids ever ask you about

any side effects or any of the dangerous side of it?

MARIANA: "What can I get to look like that?"

MARIANA: The demand for performance‐enhancing drugs

stretches from coast to coast,

and users are quick to sing their praises.

ZAC: I just love it.

It's like getting dressed in the morning.

What am I gonna do today?

I'm so interested in my body's physical ability to change,

especially so rapidly.

My body's my art.

I'm not happy with my masterpiece yet.

MARIANA: Zac used to inject the types of traditional

steroids I saw David selling in Sacramento,

but then he met Tony Huge online.

ZAC: We just, we chitchatted back and forth about

what I was doing, and he sent me a care package.

MARIANA: Of what?

ZAC: And he was, like, of SARMs and supplements from his company.

All of that stuff.

It was like $700 when I checked it out.

Now he seemed like this, you know,

hot celebrity kind of guy.

I couldn't believe that, like, me of all people,

he just sent it out to.

MARIANA: The two have remained friends and Zac has sought out

Dr. Tony's help as he preps for the Olympia Bodybuilding

Competition in Las Vegas.

Armed with Tony's new experimental drug,

Zac is on an extreme diet and working out five hours a day.

But he still has a lot of fat to lose and muscle to add.

ZAC: Hey babe, can you grab that mirror?

MARIANA: And he's running out of time.

ZAC: Tony just sent me some pretty awesome stuff.

You know the SARMs I've been running?

WOMAN: Uh‐hmm.

ZAC: He sent me the injectable version,

so I need you to put this in my shoulder.

WOMAN: Okay.

ZAC: Okay.

MARIANA: Zac's girlfriend is generally supportive of him

using anabolic drugs.

WOMAN: Okay. ZAC: Cheers.

Fast. There you go. Push deep into the muscle.

Ow. Ow.

MARIANA: Zac's mom on the other hand is decidedly not on board.

MOM: I mean, I know it's naive to think that most athletes,

professional athletes, aren't doing drugs.

But it's kind of a known thing in bodybuilding.

And that, it's terrifying.

ZAC: She was like, "Why compete in a sport that

relies on drugs to win?"

And she has a point.

MARIANA: Do you think he'll do well in this competition?

MOM: I don't know if you can win without doing drugs,

so I'm okay if he doesn't win.

I'm...

MARIANA: You prefer that he doesn't do drugs?

MOM: I would prefer that.

MARIANA: There isn't a lot of research done on SARMs yet and

what effects it can have.

Does that worry you?

ZAC: That's true.

But, I mean, it's just me taking a risk and putting a

leg out there and seeing what happens.

JEFF: Back then, I felt like a loser.

I felt like a zero, felt like a nobody.

And I found this thing, the sport that could give me

respect immediately for nothing.

You know, almost unearned, you know,

you get big in the gym and people were afraid of

me or respected me.

MARIANA: Like Zac, Jeff started bodybuilding and using

steroids when he was in his 20s.

But a decade later, he was diagnosed with heart failure.

JEFF: The heart thing, that's what everyone's risking.

And it's just when, when's your number gonna get called?

Like that's how bodybuilders die.

I was weak, like, weaker than I'd ever been.

And there was something obviously wrong.

When they use that word "heart failure", it's like,

yeah, that hit me like a ton of bricks.

And I got a kid right now, I've got a family, like,

"Yo, this isn't cool."

ABBY: Now that we have a baby,

it was putting a lot of strain on us.

JEFF: Many, many people I admire were doing steroids.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

JEFF: And they weren't dropping dead.

My hero's Arnold Schwarzenegger,

they're alive, they're still alive.

They were big steroid users.

MARIANA: Ironically, doctors only discovered Jeff's heart

problems when he was sent to the hospital for a different medical emergency,

also caused by steroids.

JEFF: Like my butt was so big, that, like,

I had elastic basketball shorts,

and I couldn't pull them up over my butt.

It was...

MARIANA: Because it was too big?

JEFF: Yeah. It was, like, I don't know if you can tell, like.

MARIANA: I can definitely tell.

JEFF: You know.

MARIANA: After injecting a batch of underground steroids,

Jeff got an infection so malicious,

that doctors had to amputate parts of his butt and legs

just to keep him alive.

JEFF: The lady was like,

"Holy (bleep), we gotta operate on you right now."

You know, there were seven surgeries to get the

infection under control.

And then there were five surgeries to clean it.

So there was 11 surgeries in 24 days.

MARIANA: Eleven surgeries?

JEFF: Eleven.

MARIANA: It was only then that Jeff began to rethink his

long‐time steroid use.

Tomorrow, Jeff will get the results from his cardiologist.

JEFF: I'm hoping that, you know, I'm gonna get

some good, good news.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

What would be the worst‐case scenario?

JEFF: Oh, it got worse, I mean, wouldn't that be scary?

ABBY: I'm hopeful that it will be a positive move in the

right direction but, you know, I, in my gut,

I don't think this is something that's just gonna go

away overnight, or in a few months.

MARIANA: Jeff is about to find out how a decade of steroid

use will impact his long‐term chance of survival.

♪ ♪

JEFF: I think some of the damage I did is probably

permanent as far as, like, an enlarged heart.

DOCTOR: Yeah.

JEFF: I don't wanna go back and body‐build.

I'm not looking for that.

I'm looking for, you know, how long can I live, right?

Like, I mean, if you look around this office,

who's here?

It's old men.

It's like, "Why am I here?"

I'm freaking 37.

Something's wrong, right?

MARIANA: Jeff has been under the care of a cardiologist for

the past year, ever since doctors treating his steroid

infection also discovered signs of heart failure.

So, doctor, because Jeff took testosterone for so many years.

DOCTOR: Right. Right.

MARIANA: Now his body doesn't produce it naturally

and he actually has to take testosterone to stay healthy.

DOCTOR: Right. Right.

This is the unfortunate irony for guys that are

looking to become superhuman, per se.

You know, they end up in a point where, again,

they obliterate their body's own ability

to produce testosterone.

MARIANA: Today, Jeff will be getting the results to see if

his heart has bounced back to normal.

DOCTOR: So there's, there's two main things we're

evaluating with that echo.

One is your systolic function,

which is the squeezing function,

and that was the one that was mildly reduced last

time you were here that actually does not look significantly different.

JEFF: All right. DOCTOR: Okay?

So it still looks a little bit sluggish.

JEFF: Yup.

DOCTOR: But there's another parameter that we look at,

which is the relaxation function of the heart.

JEFF: Right.

DOCTOR: And that was also quite abnormal last time you were here.

That looks significantly better.

JEFF: Okay. DOCTOR: Okay.

Now we're not, we're not at the point where I'd say your

heart looks normal, unfortunately.

JEFF: Right.

DOCTOR: I think you should sort of get your mind around

the fact that you're probably gonna be

on long‐term medication.

I worry about Jeff's longevity.

His heart actually hasn't bounced back to normal.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

DOCTOR: And the longer we see it,

that sort of suggests that something permanent

has happened there.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

And if he started taking steroids again?

DOCTOR: Not a good outlook.

MARIANA: We've heard from a lot of people that say that

there is a safe way of doing this.

The people that have gotten hurt,

it's because they didn't know what they were doing and they were taking too much or...

DOCTOR: Right.

MARIANA: But there is actually a safe way to do this they say.

DOCTOR: Right. MARIANA: What do you think?

DOCTOR: I think those people are kidding themselves.

The best data that we have are autopsy studies.

That means someone died.

Jeff, frankly, is lucky.

There's lots and lots of case reports of young guys having

heart attacks and having strokes, sudden death.

So your first symptom is dying.

THOMAS: What do I think of Tony Huge?

A very dangerous guy, because he's so seductive and his

social media is so amazing.

We have young men, boys, 13‐year‐old boys, 16, 18,

25 that are buying it hook, line, and sinker.

MAN: He wants to actually better the world.

MARIANA: In your average American suburb,

I meet up with two of Dr. Tony Huge's biggest fans.

When did you guys start taking steroids?

MAN: Four weeks ago.

MAN: Yeah, week four.

MARIANA: And how do you guys feel?

MAN: Honestly, it's, it's superhuman.

MARIANA: The shocking thing?

They're only teenagers, which is why we aren't showing their faces.

MAN: Just taking this, just the light dose that we are on,

has just been crazy.

MARIANA: Do your parents know that you're taking steroids?

MAN: No.

MARIANA: So do they see, have they noticed a difference in you?

MAN: Little bit.

They're kind of suspecting it now.

MARIANA: And aren't you guys afraid of all these dangers?

MAN: There's too many things like that,

in life (bleep) worry about a steroid or SARM giving you

some small side effect.

MAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: I mean, an enlarged heart is not a small side effect.

MAN: Well, of course.

MARIANA: Heart failure at an early age is not a

small side effect.

MAN: It's not a small side effect, of course,

but if you do the right thing, especially learning from

someone like Tony where he literally lays everything

out for you.

He, he gives you the training advice.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

MAN: He gives you the nutrition advice.

And he also tells you not to (bleep) do it if you're not healthy.

And I know there's that one percent chance to, what,

I take this first cycle, and I'm not gonna bounce back for

the rest of my life,

I'm on testosterone replacement.

I understand that risk and I'm willing to take it.

THOMAS: Are you kidding me?

It's 100% dangerous.

MARIANA: As Tony Huge arrives in Las Vegas for the start of the

Olympia Bodybuilding Competition,

I meet with Dr. Thomas O'Connor,

a physician who specializes in steroid abuse.

THOMAS: He's destroying lives.

He looks like he's a physician,

and he calls himself a doctor.

If they were medical professionals,

they'd be in jail.

MARIANA: So Tony Huge right now is creating this

injectable SARM.

He says it's like a steroid,

but without side effects, right?

THOMAS: Okay. It's, he's wrong.

It's not possible right now.

Pharmaceutical companies like to do what?

Make money.

MARIANA: So you're saying that if it was possible to

create a steroid without the side effects that the

pharmaceutical companies.

THOMAS: Billion‐dollar industry.

MARIANA: Okay.

And the fact that they're not all over it right now,

it's because.

THOMAS: It's, that's it's beyond the science of today.

MARIANA: Recently, the FDA released a statement saying

that SARMs can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke,

and liver damage.

The same side effects of steroids.

THOMAS: The patients tell me that, "Hey, doc,

I used to love Tony Huge, man, because he represented just,

like, freedom and all this kind of stuff."

TONY (over phone): You see me in my bedroom with a hot girl.

THOMAS: "And then I really took some of the drugs he

recommended and then I ended up in the hospital,"

or "My brother died" or

"A friend of mine is really suffering."

You see the bodies that are constructed.

Being superhuman on steroids is part of the game.

It's part of the trip.

But the reality is, you can't be superhuman forever.

And your heart doesn't wanna be superhuman.

MARIANA: When I first see Zac in Las Vegas,

it's hard to argue with the results.

His transformation is jaw‐dropping.

That's him before and after?

ZAC: It, kind of, just speaks for itself.

It's just nine weeks, yeah.

MAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: Holy moly, that is crazy.

This is in just nine weeks? Just three months?

MAN: Correct.

MARIANA: In just nine weeks, Zac dropped his body fat from

21% to 5%.

He credits a dedicated workout and diet routine.

MAN: Two training sessions a day.

Zero carbs of course and...

ZAC: I get, yeah, I've been doing three hours

of cardio every night.

MARIANA: He also credits the drugs that Dr. Tony

recommended, including the new injectable SARMs.

But the work is not over.

TONY: So the first thing I'm gonna inject you with is

RAD140, the injectable SARM.

MARIANA: Zac has 24 hours before the competition.

He and Tony plan to make the final hours count.

TONY: I'm gonna give you a dose of 40 milligrams,

which is, you know, that's pretty high for an injectable.

ZAC: That's a, yeah.

TONY: All right.

I'm gonna shoot it into your delt.

And this is gonna burn.

You're gonna wake up tomorrow morning looking more vascular

and harder and drier.

ZAC: Just in time for prejudging.

TONY: Perfect. Yeah.

ZAC: Yeah.

TONY: That's a good one. Oh, I see you twitching.

It stings, huh?

ZAC: Yeah, that one burn.

TONY: Oh, yeah. That stings.

And it's bleeding too, so I'm gonna hold pressure.

ZAC: It's getting pretty sore.

TONY: Where, where do, where do you want this last one?

ZAC: (bleep).

TONY: It's worth the pain.

Oh, the other thing I want you to take is Viagra.

ZAC: Okay.

TONY: Not for, not to get an erection.

We're taking this to push the blood flow into our muscles.

MARIANA: Tony really believes in his dream of a

steroid replacement with none of the risks.

TONY: We did some damage.

ZAC: Yeah. TONY: You ready to lift? ZAC: Let's do it.

MARIANA: But the reality is, he just doesn't know what the

long‐term dangers will be.

TONY: Push them up and out in front of you

little bit for upper chest.

ZAC: Like I told Tony, as long as he can guarantee

I'm not gonna die right away from this stuff,

then, it's okay.

MARIANA: Why do you put some much confidence and trust in Tony?

ZAC: Because not only is the man honest,

he's a really good friend too.

He's just an awesome uncle that,

that knows everything and takes care of you when you need it and is always around.

TONY: All right. You're gonna have to breathe more because your blood is

super oxygenated now.

MARIANA: When you hear all these stories about pros

taking steroids and the side effects and...

ZAC: Uh‐hmm.

MARIANA: You know, all the dangers involved,

does that scare you at all?

ZAC: No.

A lot of these guys overdo it and it screwed themselves.

I have enough knowledge to keep myself within a safe realm,

and I know enough to trust my gut.

MARIANA: Tomorrow, Zac will pit himself against other

aspiring bodybuilders.

It will be a test of both Zac's new physique and of

Dr. Tony's new wonder drug.

MAN (over PA): And coming up next,

we have competitor number 43, Ali Balighi.

MARIANA: It's the first day of Mr. Olympia,

and hundreds of bodybuilders are squaring off.

(inaudible)

MARIANA: Zac is about to go on stage for the amateur portion

of the competition.

If the judges like what they see,

Zac can fulfill his goal of turning professional.

ZAC: I don't consider myself natural at all.

I may not be using steroids,

but I'm still like using things that are

comparable and influence your hormonal balance.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

He's betting that Tony Huge's new experimental drug will

give him a competitive edge.

ZAC: With the injectable SARMs,

what I want is to look roided out without being on

mainstream roids and being way healthier.

(overlapping chatter)

MARIANA: Today, Zac will take on 24 other amateur

bodybuilders in the Classic Physique category.

MAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: Only the top three will advance and be given

their professional cards.

That's him. That's him.

TONY: Oh, Zac. Yes, Zac.

MARIANA: Are you nervous?

TONY: Yeah, I'm, I, I usually get nervous, like,

for the competitor, for the client so.

WOMAN: Yeah, Zac.

TONY: Beautiful.

WOMAN: Fifty‐one.

TONY: Tighten the lower abs.

MAN (over PA): Relax. Quarter turn to your right.

TONY: Wow.

MARIANA: Woo‐hoo!

When he first walks on stage,

I'm once again blown away by Zac's transformation.

MAN (over PA): Let's hear some noise.

Who do you guys wanna see?

502.

MARIANA: Contestants are called to the front of the

stage in groups of five.

Judges are looking for the perfect combination of muscle

definition and size.

Officially, steroids drugs are banned at Mr. Olympia.

But there are no drug tests today,

so it's impossible to know if any of these bodies were

sculpted with anabolic drugs.

MAN (over PA): 481, 485.

TONY: You see how some of these guys have a lot more

muscle than Zac has?

MARIANA: Yeah.

TONY: Now if Zac can get this amount of muscle with his posing,

with his structure,

then he could go really far in this sport.

MARIANA: You can see the frustration on Zac's face as

other competitors are asked to pose for the judges first.

MAN (over PA): 390, 476.

MARIANA: Tony believes that the bigger participants have

simply taken more drugs than Zac.

TONY: If he wants to grow after this competition which I think he will,

then it's time to start using some of the drugs that

can build a lot more muscle like the rest of

these guys have.

MAN (over PA): 315.

MARIANA: Yet another group is called up instead of Zac.

MAN (over PA): 502.

MARIANA: As the first session ends,

his odds are not looking good.

MAN (over PA): Relax. Thank you, gentlemen.

MARIANA: But there's still another round of the competition,

and anything can happen.

TONY: Zac. Amazing posing, incredible stamina.

But how do you feel?

Do you feel flat? Do you feel full?

ZAC: I mean, I might have just got my ass whooped.

TONY: Now, if you wanna use this as an experiment to see

how much we can fill you out with some more advanced

chemistry before the finals,

then that's what we can do right now.

MARIANA: Despite Zac's pessimism,

Tony sees a golden opportunity.

Like what?

ZAC: Like what? Is the question.

TONY: Like, like insulin, IGF, high carbs,

throw in some sodium.

Let's do it. Let's.

MARIANA: So that would be right now?

TONY: Let's do a three‐hour transformation.

MARIANA: Right now?

TONY: Let's get him some drugs and some food.

So this is, this is gonna be a little dangerous because

I want you to take a high dosage really to fill you out.

TONY: I'll grab some goodies to inject.

TONY: The insulin is gonna cause your blood sugar to drop.

And then I'm gonna inject you with AMP,

Adenosine Monophosphate to volumize your blood.

MARIANA: Tony is injecting Zac with hundreds of dollars

of free drugs.

TONY: And that also can make you very dizzy.

MARIANA: But what's the real cost for Zac?

TONY: I don't want you to pass out on stage,

but we're gonna get you right to the edge of

where you're gonna be a little bit dizzy.

Okay. I'm gonna put the insulin in last,

so first I'm putting IGF des, 200 micrograms.

Ah, what the heck, 250 micrograms.

TONY: Yeah.

TONY: Two, yeah, nothing's gonna happen to you.

But right before I shoot, shoot that,

I just want some pictures and, and video of you because it's

gonna work pretty quick.

So I've got my videographer here.

What do you think?

You got a good angle.

Of all the SARMs, this is one of the faster‐acting ones.

MARIANA: Are you doing any of these for the first time?

ZAC: Yeah, all of them.

TONY: Three hundred micrograms of IGF des,

five units of growth hormone, and fifteen units of insulin.

It's a lot to combine.

MARIANA: Zac is understandably nervous about taking

insulin in particular.

ZAC: Are we doing this whole shot in my glute?

TONY: On your glute, yeah. ZAC: On my glute?

TONY: And Vivian, how long until the rice is ready?

MARIANA: Insulin can be bought over the counter at any drug

store but injecting too much of it can lead to seizures,

coma, brain damage, or death.

TONY: As soon as we hit this,

I want you to start eating some carbs.

Don't like shove it down, but just start snacking on it,

get your blood sugar steady.

After the shot, I'm gonna put pressure on it so it disburses

it into the bloodstream faster.

MARIANA: Zac is also injecting AMP,

a steroid created for racehorses and not allowed for

human consumption.

TONY: It's gonna hyper‐oxygenate your blood,

and so you're gonna be gasping for air to get more oxygen

into your bloodstream.

This is actually very therapeutic.

It's actually very, very healthy.

Does it sting?

ZAC: Oh, yeah.

MARIANA: I'm not gonna lie.

I'm completely rooting for Zac to win this competition.

But I don't wanna see him die in the process.

TONY: Of all the SARMs, this is one of the

faster‐acting ones.

MARIANA: On a short break from the Mr. Olympia competition,

Tony is about to inject Zac with a long list

of anabolic drugs.

TONY: So this time, you're taking a 30% higher dosage

than we took at the gym for practice.

ZAC: Okay.

MARIANA: Tony is hoping to transform Zac's body

in just three hours.

TONY: Okay. So it stings a lot.

So we're definitely gonna have to put pressure because

the body's gonna react to that.

If I put pressure, it distributes into your

bloodstream quickly.

So this time...

MARIANA: It's a last‐ditch effort to impress the Olympia

judges for the final round of the event.

ZAC: So what's this gonna do for my physique?

TONY: Make your veins pop out, make your muscles fuller.

MARIANA: This is all against the rules of the Olympia competition,

and it's the kind of thing that can get you in trouble with the DEA.

How much of all the stuff you've given him,

how much of it is illegal?

TONY: Let's see.

So the AMP's not technically illegal.

It's a grey area.

This is something you wouldn't be allowed to sell to another

human for human consumption like a drug,

it's not FDA approved.

MARIANA: Are you allowed to administer them to somebody else?

TONY: Probably not.

MARIANA: Could he get in trouble for this?

TONY: No. Nope. MARIANA: Are you worried, Zac?

ZAC: If the po‐po come knockin', we'll run together.

TONY: You've got the number of your lawyer.

ZAC: Okay. TONY: Dr. Tony Huge. ZAC: All right.

MARIANA: After injecting half a dozen new anabolics into his bloodstream,

Zac arrives back at the competition.

He's due on stage in less than an hour.

TONY: Okay. That's pretty good.

So, now we can see some veins popping out.

He looks like he put on about eight pounds of

muscle in just a few hours.

MARIANA: It's true though.

You can totally see the difference now.

I don't think I could notice any of these veins before,

and now I can notice them all.

Zac's veins are popping,

and his muscles are noticeably bigger.

He's also feeling short of breath, a side effect of AMP,

the horse steroid.

He's worried that this won't be enough to

impress the judges.

I'm worried he's going to pass out on stage.

MAN (over PA): Competitor number 100, Daniel Chmura.

Competitor number 158, Luis Estrada.

MARIANA: As other competitors are eliminated,

Zac remains on stage.

MAN (over PA): 61, Anmar Ezzulddin.

MARIANA: He's still up there. TONY: Yeah.

MAN (over PA): Competitor number 204, Denny Guemos.

TONY: Good. Good.

MARIANA: They didn't call his number.

MAN (over PA): Competitor number 312...

MARIANA: But finally, Zac's name is called and

his day is done.

MAN (over PA): Competitor number 315.

MARIANA: He finishes tied for 16th place.

Not the results he was looking for.

Are you sad at all?

Are you disappointed?

ZAC: I'm not actually extremely disappointed.

I just didn't have the conditioning I needed so they

deserved it more than I did today.

MARIANA: At the end of the day,

Tony and Zac are both clear on one thing,

competing at this level will mean taking even more drugs,

and even bigger doses.

ZAC: I definitely felt good with Tony's little cocktail.

Yeah, that definitely worked, that whole thing.

TONY: Bodybuilding is a sport, and it's also art.

And the drugs and the steroids give us a bigger

paintbrush and more colors to choose from.

ZAC: That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

MARIANA: Would you call it an epidemic?

THOMAS: This is an epidemic where you look great,

but your day will come.

MARIANA: It's estimated that up to four million Americans

are now using steroids.

Hi, Tony.

TONY (over computer): Hi, Mariana.

MARIANA: How are you?

TONY (over computer): Good. Thanks.

MARIANA: So you've spent the last couple of months in Thailand,

is that right?

TONY (over computer): Yeah.

I'm building an epicenter of chemical transformations to

push the limits on performance enhancement.

MARIANA: When I last checked in with Tony Huge,

he's still promoting "Enhanced Athlete" products,

but he's got a new place to conduct human experiments.

Are you and Trevor planning on moving your whole

operation to Asia?

TONY (over computer): Yeah. We're transitioning right now, so yeah.

As fast as we can.

In Thailand, they have clinics on every corner.

We don't have to go through doctors and get

prescriptions for lab work.

Look, SHBG, Cortisol, DHT, Prolactin estrogen,

Growth Hormone.

We can just move much faster in Thailand than in

the US with our research.

MARIANA: In 2019, a bill was introduced to the US Senate

that would allow the DEA to arrest anyone making SARMs.

Are you ever afraid that the authorities will

come after you?

TONY (over computer): Yeah, sure, there's always a little bit of that fear.

Yeah. It's not so much that I'm running away from authorities

and law enforcement, as it is,

I'm just less of a target if I'm outside the country.

MARIANA: Do you think there's anything wrong with wanting to

be superhuman?

TONY (over computer): No.

I think that that is the next step of our evolution.

I mean, how strong can we become?

How amazing can we look?

How long can we live?

If people could just visualize when they felt the best in their life,

imagine having that all the time and then

imagine amplifying it.

That's what it feels like to be superhuman.

And once people experience, it's hard to go back.

MARIANA: This is what makes Tony's pitch so seductive.

He believes, with missionary‐like zeal,

in what he preaches.

TONY: All right. Here we go.

MARIANA: That sort of faith can be dangerous, even deadly.

But it's hard to argue with those convinced they're

on the path to salvation.

♪ ♪

Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.