What did Reckless Ben find living undercover with Twelve Tribes and the Yellow Deli?

Reckless Ben told Shawn Ryan he lived about three weeks on a Twelve Tribes farm that supplies its Yellow Deli restaurants, sleeping in a shared yurt with about 20 people. He described 12-hour days of manual labor in 100-degree heat followed by restaurant shifts, and said members taught him that freeing the slaves angered God, that women belong in the kitchen and that medicine interferes with God's plan. He said several members told him their babies had died without medical care.

• Ben said the group's love bombing worked on him even though he knew what it was, and by week three he half believed his mission was the farm.
• Ben was thrown out after a leader found the SD card in his spy glasses, and he said a Colorado location later caught on to him too.
• Shawn Ryan said he and his wife ate at the Yellow Deli in Pulaski, Tennessee, about nine years ago and left unsettled.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Shawn Ryan Show (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

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