Episode 498 · The Studio Revamp
Backrooms, Spencer Pratt, & The D’Amelio Family Disaster | The Tim Dillon Show #498
Jun 6, 2026 · 1:15:55 · 896,000 views · 17 segments, 114 moments indexed
Tim discusses the success of the Backrooms movie and how it's inspiring the wrong people, Spencer Pratt's doomed run for LA Mayor, the tragic story of Henry Nowak in the UK, Tik Tok influencer Charlie D'Amelio accusing her father of…
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- 4 min
Backrooms, Obsession, and the 'Lovable Flukes' of Low-Budget Hollywood
#Tim jokingly claims credit for the low-budget horror hits Backrooms and Obsession, then pivots to arguing these box office successes are flukes that don't represent a real trend, and mocks the desperate people calling him thinking they can replicate it.
5moments
- Tim claims he directed Backrooms and that the $118 million opening weekend is his money stolen by Hollywood.
- He also claims credit for Obsession, which grossed $166 million worldwide on a budget of $750,000 to $1 million.
- Tim warns aspiring filmmakers not to expect similar success, calling Backrooms and Obsession 'lovable flukes' that don't apply to them.
- Middle-aged people on drugs have been calling him claiming they'll now replicate these movies' success because it seems possible.
- Tim explains that horror movies made on low budgets rarely make this much money, which is why these successes are such a big story.
BackroomsObsessionCurry Barker
- 3 min
'Nothing Is Happening': Karen Bass, Spencer Pratt, and the LA Mayoral Race
#Tim lays out his 'nothing is happening' thesis using the LA mayoral race, predicting Karen Bass will coast to victory over challengers including reality star Spencer Pratt, and argues people are reading false hope into meaningless political shakeups.
7moments
- Tim's message for the day: nothing is changing, nothing is happening—the idea that things are changing is a mirage.
- Karen Bass is winning again in LA; Nithya Raman will probably surpass her when mail-in votes come in, but Bass will breeze into the election anyway.
- Spencer Pratt is excited because he can spend the next five months shooting his reality show while nothing actually changes.
- Tim identifies the main problem: everyone is so desperate and hopeless that they're reading too much into every single thing that happens.
- People claim Hollywood is taking notice as if it's groundbreaking, but independent films could get bought ten years ago and can get bought now.
- Spencer Pratt is not going to grab the reins in the most liberal state in the country and win—it was never going to happen.
- Nothing is happening, and Tim finds that freeing and beautiful.
- 3 min
San Francisco's AI-Fueled 'Cleanup' and London's Non-Dom Tax Exodus
#Tim argues cities like San Francisco only get 'better' for sinister reasons (AI companies wanting clean streets to build data centers), then transitions into London abolishing its non-dom tax rule, which is driving wealthy expats to flee.
6moments
- Spencer Pratt claimed he'd leave LA if he lost his mayoral election, but Tim argues there's no saving cities like LA or London—large parts are unlivable hellscapes that will only worsen.
- Politicians always claim one or two fixes will solve everything, but Skid Row has been Skid Row for decades and won't meaningfully improve, even with the Olympics.
- If Democrats were smart, they'd wonder why their ideology is pushing people toward voting for Spencer Pratt.
- San Francisco is getting better right now, but only because AI companies are moving in—not for reasons anyone would actually want.
- The homeless problem on San Francisco streets has disappeared, replaced by people building data centers to replace workers and their families.
- Tim compares San Francisco's transformation to the eye of Sauron—improvement through dystopian means, like how Mordor had no crime because everyone served the same dark purpose.
- 10 min
Spencer Pratt's Eco-Terrorism Destiny
#Building on the LA mayoral race bit, Tim delivers an extended fantasy instructing Spencer Pratt to become a real-life arsonist/eco-terrorist named after Stephen King's Trashcan Man if he loses the election, torching LA buildings nightly until killed or arrested.
11moments
- Tim explains the UK's non-dom tax loophole that let wealthy foreigners live in London tax-free on money made elsewhere.
- Tim describes dictator children driving Ferraris around Kensington and asking why their fathers are wanted at The Hague.
- When the UK abolished non-dom status, wealthy residents left for Dubai rather than stay in London without the tax break.
- Tim talks about how abrupt societal changes have real effects, citing San Francisco's recovery from AI money influx.
- Spencer Pratt said he'd leave LA if he loses the mayoral race, but Tim has a different plan for him.
- Tim urges Spencer Pratt to burn down LA if he loses the election, becoming like Trashcan Man from Stephen King's The Stand.
- Spencer Pratt should dedicate his life to eco-terrorism, going on nightly raids with homeless people and psychopaths to burn buildings.
- Fire has brought Spencer Pratt back into relevance after years off television, giving him more life than he's had in years.
- Tim details how Spencer should plant explosives in residential and commercial buildings, accepting some collateral damage casualties.
- Spencer Pratt could appear on talk shows during the day about the fires while starting them at night, potentially triggering a recall election.
- Tim's final advice to Spencer Pratt: burn it down literally, not figuratively, starting as many fires as possible across the city.
Friend of the showSpencer PrattThe StandBanksy
- 1 min
- 3 min
Tim reflects on his recent London trip, comparing it to America's 2020 reckoning, then introduces the story of Henry Noak, a young man stabbed by a Sikh man who was initially treated as the victim by police under 'two-tier policing' directives.
8moments
- England is cleaner than Newark, which looks like a third-world slum despite New York being his beloved city.
- London is having its own 2020 moment now, with migration issues, speech debates, and dueling protests between Tommy Robinson's anti-migration crowd and pro-Palestine immigration advocates.
- Henry Noak, an 18-year-old in Southampton, was stabbed by a Sikh man with a ceremonial knife.
- When police arrived, the Sikh claimed he was a victim of a hate crime while Noak said he'd been stabbed, and cops decided to cuff the kid who was bleeding out.
- Noak dies in handcuffs saying "I can't breathe," the same words George Floyd used.
- Police directives openly state they won't treat everyone equally, acknowledging past inequity and promising to "correct" it by considering historical context.
- Because of these equity-focused directives, when a white kid claims he was stabbed and a Sikh claims to be a hate crime victim, cops prioritize the latter's narrative instead of appraising the scene.
- Tim notes that applying complex historical analysis to crime scenes is beyond what police, who aren't the brightest people, are equipped to do.
Henry NoakGeorge FloydTommy RobinsonNew YorkEnglandLondon
- 6 min
Tim and his cohost watch and react to the actual body camera footage of the Henry Noak stabbing, mocking the confused, seemingly dim British police as the dying teen is handcuffed while officers doubt he was actually stabbed.
7moments
- Police aren't the brightest people, but they should still be able to respond to facts on the ground.
- Cops are being asked to consider historical trauma and equity frameworks they don't even understand.
- Tim describes the traditional job of British police: hitting Irish people with clubs and forcing them back into their neighborhoods.
- Police are now instructed to consider historical and demographic context of different communities rather than using a color-blind approach.
- When a Sikh and a white kid show up bleeding, the Sikh's accusation of racism means cops have to accept it without questioning.
- Tim points out how dumb the responding officers are while watching the body cam footage unfold.
- The British cops in this footage are genuinely stupid, though Tim clarifies not all cops are dumb.
College of PolicingNational Police Chiefs CouncilBritish police
- 8 min
British Cops as Historical Idiots and the 'Adolescence' Netflix Show
#Tim riffs on the historical role of British police as club-wielding thugs poorly suited to modern 'equity' policing directives, tangents into doing British/Australian/Scouse accents, and praises the acting (but mocks the heavy-handed messaging) in the Netflix show Adolescence.
10moments
- British cops for 200 years only beat drunks in the street with clubs, now asked to assess cultural ramifications of incidents
- Tim notes it's funny that drunk people lie about being stabbed, and cops immediately disbelieve them
- The Netflix show Adolescence is about a kid inspired by Andrew Tate to stab someone, with phenomenal acting but heavy-handed messaging about Joe Rogan and radicalization
- Cop dismisses the white kid's claim of being stabbed because he assumes the Sikh is the victim
- Two reactions to the stabbing incident: attacking random brown people, or ignoring it completely and saying it has no meaning
- London comics live in fear of BBC calling them racist, which would destroy their livelihood on the city's traditional media landscape
- Britain has a more top-down paramilitary system of customs and rules that inspires compliance, unlike America's looser approach to speech
- UK society is currently experiencing its 2020 moment six years later, with people sick of not discussing what's actually happening around them
- The dam is breaking in Britain because people feel stymied by customs and requirements they never signed up for
- When you try to shut people up it works for a period, then you have to start killing them, because most people's primary activity is talking
BBCAdolescenceAndrew TateUnited KingdomJimmy CarrRicky GervaisJoe Rogan
- 2 min
London's 2020 Dam Breaking and Why Britain Still Matters
#Tim concludes the London segment by arguing British society is now hitting its own free-speech reckoning a few years behind America's, contrasts London favorably against 'boring' France and Italy, and notes Beirut's destruction by Israel in passing.
5moments
- Tim explains the two ways to control people: buy them off or kill them.
- He spent 21 days in London and appreciates it as an important place, unlike Italy and the South of France, which are beautiful but don't matter.
- London is one of the oldest civilized societies in the world, cosmopolitan and global, worth observing for both what Britain does better than America and what it doesn't.
- Tim appeared on Piers Morgan's show and spoke to people in London who are starting to admit there are issues there.
- People riot to riot, not to honor the dead—the emotional appeals from families don't matter because that's not the actual reason for the unrest.
- 1 min
Tim reads an ad for NeuroGum's energy and focus mint variety pack, describing the ingredients and promo code.
3moments
- NeuroGum's new energy and focus mint variety pack offers peppermint, spearmint, and wintergreen flavors.
- Tim's pitch: NeuroGum uses natural green tea caffeine, L-theanine, vitamin B12, and B6 with no sugar, no aspartame, and no crash.
- NeuroGum's memory and focus gum contains American ginseng to support mental clarity without the jitters.
- 3 min
Tim reads an Ethos life insurance ad that drifts into a long dark joke about a 'completely healthy' friend who avoids a string of near-misses only to inexplicably shoot himself in the office.
4moments
- Tim sets up a story about a completely healthy guy with inexplicably bad luck to scare people into getting life insurance.
- The story unfolds like a Final Destination scenario: safe drive, functioning elevator, careful handling of hot coffee, nothing catastrophic happens.
- Without warning or explanation, the man pulls a gun and shoots himself in the middle of the office, staring at a temp he didn't know.
- The craziest part: no one knows how he got the gun, and he likely didn't have life insurance anyway because suicides typically aren't covered.
- 3 min
TikTok's Pandemic-Era Teen Millionaires and the D'Amelio Sisters
#Tim recalls the 2020-era phenomenon of teenage TikTok stars like Charli and Dixie D'Amelio running LA social scenes, setting up the story of Charli's parents being accused of stealing her money.
7moments
- Tim describes LA in 2020 when TikTokers ran the city while older celebrities stayed home to avoid bad press.
- Mobs of teenage millionaires would go to restaurants and waiters—failed actors—had to explain dishes like béarnaise sauce to them.
- Charli and Dixie D'Amelio symbolized the meteoric rise possible on TikTok during that era.
- The D'Amelio parents have been accused of stealing millions from their daughter Charli's account.
- Tim's response to Marc D'Amelio's denial: the father should have stolen from his daughter.
- When children become famous, parents have every right to steal their money—it's a time-honored tradition and the actual reason for making them famous.
- Charli D'Amelio wasn't famous for any real reason; a Chinese guy flipped a switch and she looked like the girl next door, which TikTok was designed to create.
Marc D'AmelioCharli D'AmelioDixie D'AmelioTikTokHeidi D'AmelioAddison Rae
- 15 min
Tim reacts to video of Charli D'Amelio's father defending himself against accusations of stealing her earnings, arguing at length that parents of successful children are entitled and even obligated to steal from them, and compares Marc D'Amelio to the mother in the musical Gypsy.
18moments
- Tim argues Charli D'Amelio's parents were within their rights to steal her money because she became famous for nothing.
- He elaborates on how he would have stolen her earnings, describing TikTok as a tool for exposing children to predators.
- Responding to Marc D'Amelio's defense, Tim calls him a shady criminal but admits to liking the family for that reason.
- Parents of successful children hate them—a long-held American tradition explored in the musical Gypsy, which Tim says is the greatest musical in the country.
- Tim explains that parents steal from their successful children to cope with their own lack of recognition and success.
- He wishes Marc D'Amelio had stolen all of Charli's money and given it to Israel because they're committed to peace.
- Anyone starting a sentence with "Hey look" is guilty—Tim identifies this as a tell in Marc D'Amelio's defensive responses.
- Marc D'Amelio is incredibly guilty, as evidenced by his laughing and claiming normalcy while denying the theft accusations.
- Marc claims he wouldn't even know how to move money offshore, which Tim dismisses as an obvious lie about a simple process.
- The theft wasn't about needing money—it was about Marc feeling undervalued and resenting his daughter's success.
- Marc accidentally confesses by discussing seeing opportunities his kids had that he never did as a child.
- When Charli accuses him of stealing, Marc responds "We're living the dream"—which Tim identifies as the actual American dream now.
- Marc is casual about the accusations because he knows life is a horrific casino and his daughter's fame is meaningless.
- The musical Gypsy perfectly captures this dynamic: a parent obsessed with their child's success, eventually confronting that it's not their turn anymore.
- Tim performs the Gypsy parallel as Marc D'Amelio: "When is it my turn? My daughter entertained pedophiles on a Chinese app."
- This is the oldest dream in America—living vicariously through your children's success, then hating them for achieving it.
- Advertisement for Neutrofol hair growth supplement.
- Neutrofol for Men section of the advertisement.
Charli D'AmelioMarc D'AmelioFriend of the showTikTokGypsyAudra McDonaldIsrael
- 1 min
Tim reads a straightforward ad for Nutrafol hair growth supplements, describing the men's formulas and promo code.
- 1 min
Tim reads an ad for Mud/Wtr, the coffee/chai/matcha alternative with mushrooms and adaptogens instead of caffeine, describing the starter kit offer.
2moments
- Tim describes loving coffee's taste and ritual but experiencing anxiety spirals from the caffeine hit.
- Mud Wtr offers the same morning ritual with functional mushrooms and adaptogens instead of a full caffeine dose.
Mud Wtr
- 6 min
Tim pivots to Ivanka Trump discussing her and Jared Kushner's massive off-grid private island project in the Mediterranean, contrasting it with unfulfilled Trump campaign promises on groceries, immigration, and transparency, and reflects on why Trump's early honesty about being rich once felt refreshing.
10moments
- Tim discusses marriages needing a shared project, like home renovation or building something together.
- Jared and Ivanka Trump are building a massive off-the-grid private island in the Mediterranean with no current power.
- Trump voters expected him to improve working-class American lives, tackle immigration, eliminate DEI, and increase government transparency on classified topics like 9/11 and Epstein.
- None of Trump's promised policies happened, but at least his daughter and son-in-law are building something exciting on their Mediterranean island.
- Tim interrupts to comment on the Tsarist nature of the Trump family and their desire to show how differently they live from ordinary people.
- Tim expresses mixed feelings about Russia—respects some aspects like Putin's bear-swimming, but doesn't support war or antagonism toward the country.
- The Trump family became czarists, wanting to display their wealth and distance from normal life, though initially Trump's honesty about his riches was refreshing compared to typical rich-guy posturing.
- Tim stays in nice hotels when traveling to London and Paris thanks to show listeners, and rejects the idea that he should experience the 'real' versions of those cities.
- Modern London and Paris are just rich kids pretending to be something authentic; Tim prefers places where wealthy people openly acknowledge being rich without pretense.
- Early Trump appeal came from his honesty about being an egotistical maniac who told people nobody does things like him, rather than pretending to be relatable.
Ivanka TrumpJared KushnerDonald TrumpDEIRussiaVladimir Putin
- 6 min
Tim argues the Trump family has become a royal 'czarist' dynasty selling the public a vicarious fantasy while enriching themselves, then details how Ivanka and Jared's Albanian island (Sazan/'Trump Island') is riddled with nuclear bunkers and tunnels, framing it as elite doomsday prep amid coming economic collapse.
10moments
- Tim describes Trump as a czarist figure who once seemed charming but now that he's selling off the government, the appeal is gone.
- He admits he hoped Trump could be a rich scumbag liar who might actually do something for ordinary people, but that didn't happen.
- Obama was cerebral and contemplative on talk shows, but he deported people and locked up whistleblowers while media ignored it.
- The Trump family sells the glory of the state the way Russian czars did, making people live vicariously through their wealth.
- Ivanka's island project in Albania is causing riots; locals burned down the president's house in protest.
- Jared and Ivanka are buying Sazan Island, an Albanian ex-military base with 3,600 nuclear bunkers, as a doomsday bunker disguised as a luxury resort.
- Rich people want you excited and happy for them because they're making it out while the planet falls apart.
- They're not just preparing for catastrophe—they're making it happen through the policies that create the crisis.
- In the next six months, affordability and costs will skyrocket, making America financially unlivable for ordinary people.
- Your only escape if you're not rich is either having a kid who can make money on TikTok or becoming Spencer Pratt and grabbing a gas can.
Donald TrumpIvanka TrumpJared KushnerBarack ObamaBernie SandersSazan IslandMarc D'AmelioSpencer Pratt+1 more