What do an alleged doomsday kidnapping, a fake crypto fortune, a multimillion-dollar child modeling scheme, and publicly humiliating your kid have in common? Adults making very big decisions with questionable judgment.

In Episode 18 of Certified Bad Example, Jameel Mayers and August Black dig into stories where fear, money, ego, and parenting collide.

First, they unpack the alleged case of a mother who took four children overseas amid beliefs that the end times were approaching, including allegations of passport fraud and international parental kidnapping. That quickly raises a bigger question: if you genuinely believed disaster was coming, what would you actually do?

Then there’s money. A lot of supposedly existing money.

Jameel and August get into the story involving Katie Price and Lee Andrews and claims surrounding a multimillion-dollar crypto fortune that allegedly wasn’t what it appeared to be. From there, they tackle an alleged $4.6 million child modeling scheme involving advance fees, fabricated records, and opportunities that reportedly never materialized.

Finally, the conversation turns to parenting and public humiliation. Does embarrassing a child actually teach accountability—or does it just teach them that their parent is willing to embarrass them?

Along the way, Jameel and August talk consequences, grounding, classroom conflicts, helping kids recognize when they handled something badly, and why your child should always know they can call you when they need help getting home.

Because sometimes the lesson isn’t complicated: check the facts, keep the receipts, and maybe don’t make life-changing decisions while everybody else is asking, “Wait…what?”

What do Batman, James Bond, 35 girlfriends, a fake kidnapping and a severed hand have in common?

Apparently, nobody involved knows how to do anything the easy way.

Episode 17 of Certified Bad Example starts with Jameel Mayers and August Black debating men who live double lives — Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson as Batman, Daniel Craig as James Bond — before accidentally stumbling into an episode almost entirely populated by people taking that concept much, much too far.

First: a Japanese man accused of dating more than 30 women at the same time and allegedly giving them different fake birthdays so he could keep collecting birthday gifts.

Bruce Wayne has Batman. James Bond has 007. This man apparently had an entire birthday cinematic universe.

Jameel and August get into the surprisingly complicated question underneath it: when does lying to someone you’re dating cross from being spectacularly shady into actual fraud?

Then we meet an Arkansas mother accused of staging the kidnapping of her adult daughter to teach her about the dangers of meeting strangers online.

Because apparently “we need to talk about internet safety” wasn’t dramatic enough.

The case turns into a much more serious discussion about disability, vulnerability, online safety, fear-based parenting and whether traumatizing someone can actually teach the lesson you intended.

And finally: Slovenia.

A woman and her boyfriend were convicted in an insurance fraud scheme involving deliberately severing her hand with a circular saw in an attempt to collect insurance money for permanent disability.

We have officially traveled from “fake birthday” to “WHERE IS YOUR HAND?”

Jameel and August discuss the scheme, the prison sentences and the financial question nobody should ever need to ask: exactly how much money would someone have to offer before you’d even consider losing a body part?

The answer is not whatever they were offering.

The episode closes with August’s daughter announcing that she doesn’t want to go to school because it’s “all rhyming,” before Jameel and August talk about yelling, stressful mornings and the responsibility parents have for setting the emotional tone their kids carry into the day.

So what actually connects Episode 17?

Secret identities. Elaborate schemes. Questionable parenting. Terrible risk assessment. And an alarming number of adults who could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by choosing literally the second idea.

Certified Bad Example is hosted by Jameel Mayers and August Black.

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A dad runs onto a youth football field and trips a 9-year-old. A false pregnancy and paternity case spirals into allegations of fabricated evidence. A viral Crumbl video gets employees fired and triggers a state inspection. And somehow, that’s only part of Episode 16.

Jameel Mayers and August Black open with a tribute to Dolly Parton and the legacy she built through generosity, literacy advocacy, and actually putting her values into practice.

Then the bad examples begin.

The hosts break down the viral Crumbl bakery incident that raised some serious food-safety questions, before turning to a Wisconsin father cited after running onto a youth football field and tripping a 9-year-old headed toward the end zone.

Next comes the Laura Owens case involving false pregnancy and paternity claims, fabricated evidence, and the damage an elaborate deception can cause. That leads into a larger conversation about scams, charisma, social media credibility, and why “proof” deserves a second look when money is involved.

Jameel and August also get into the neighbor altercation involving Reacher star Alan Ritchson, debating provocation, self-defense, restraint, and the difference between being peaceful and being harmless.

Then there’s romance and investment fraud involving fake San Francisco 49ers connections—and a reminder that scammers don’t always look like scammers.

Finally, August puts himself on the Certified Bad Example list after losing his temper at a farmer’s market while carrying his child on his shoulders. The story becomes a conversation about anger, apologizing, accountability, and why kids should sometimes see what happens after a parent gets it wrong.

Episode 16 covers:

• The Dolly Parton legacy

• The viral Crumbl bakery incident

• A dad tripping a 9-year-old during youth football

• False pregnancy and paternity fraud

• Alan Ritchson’s neighbor altercation

• Romance and investment scams

• August’s farmer’s market blowup

• Parenting, anger, apologies, and accountability

“You’re not better than me, but we’re not the same.”

“If you’re holding on to anger and someone bumps into you, anger spills out.”

Certified Bad Example is hosted by Jameel Mayers and August Black.