''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura'' is an American

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

hosted by

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, actor, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2 ...

and broadcast on

truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...

. It ran for three seasons from 2009 to 2012 and was canceled in 2013.

Format

Former Navy

Underwater Demolition Team Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), or frogmen, were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized non-tactical missions. They were predecessors of the navy's current SEAL teams. Their primary WWII func ...

(UDT),

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, actor and

Governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. ...

Jesse Ventura examines various

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

on subjects such as

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

, government surveillance and secret weapons projects. In the first season, Ventura teams up with a group of investigators consisting of skeptic Alex Piper, reporter

June Sarpong June Konadu Sarpong (born 31 May 1977) is a British television presenter and executive. She was a panellist on ITV's ''Loose Women'' and is currently a panellist on the Sky News programme '' The Pledge''. In November 2019, Sarpong was appointed ...

and investigator Michael Braverman. In season two, Piper is replaced by investigator

Daniel Kucan Daniel Charles Kucan (born October 16, 1970) is an American carpenter, artist, interior designer, actor, writer, and television personality on the Emmy Award-winning TV series '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition''. Early life Kucan was born and ra ...

in a few episodes. In season three, Ventura's son,

Tyrel Ventura Tyrel may refer to: People * Tyrel Dodson (born 1998), American football player *Tyrel Griffith (born 1985), Canadian curler *Tyrel Jackson Williams (born 1997), American actor * Tyrel Lomax (born 1996), Australian professional rugby union player * ...

, and

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

's son,

Sean Stone Sean Christopher Stone (born December 29, 1984) is an American actor, filmmaker, and television host. Stone hosted a show on the Russian state-funded network RT America until the network was shut down in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine ...

, are part of the investigative team.

Ratings and reviews

The premiere episode was watched by 1.635 million viewers, TruTV's biggest audience for a new series launch. The next two episodes were watched by 1.586 million and 1.301 million viewers. Over the first three episodes the series averaged 1.5 million viewers, up 60% from the same time slot a year before. During January the show averaged 1.6 million viewers, helping truTV deliver its biggest month ever in prime time. Critics who have reviewed the show include Linda Stasi of ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', who called it "mindless, good fun and a hoot to watch aging action stars still taking action", and Robert Lloyd of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', who wrote, "Whatever truth is out there, it's filtered here through what is arranged more as an adventure series than a documentary."

Controversy

'Police State' criticism

An episode from season two titled "Police State" caused some controversy when it investigated allegations that various prison-like facilities built around the country that are operated by the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA) will be used during

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

for the internment of citizens who are deemed a threat to national security. Officials have said the facilities are emergency FEMA camps for the housing of civilians displaced by natural disasters.

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Steve Cohen Steve, Steven or Stephen Cohen may refer to: Sportspeople * Stephan Cohen (born 1971), French pocket billiards player * Steve Cohen (gymnast) (born 1946), American Olympic gymnast *Steve Cohen (judoka) (born 1955), American judoka and Olympian *Ste ...

from Tennessee, a co-sponsor of a bill which aimed to create temporary FEMA camps for the housing of people affected by hurricanes or

earthquakes An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

in his district, was interviewed for the show. Shortly after the episode aired, Cohen called for the removal of this program from truTV's lineup. He called the episode an "outrageous distortion and an outright lie," as well as "dangerous and irresponsible." He said "when the media purposely distort the facts to create confusion and mislead people, they must be held accountable. Unless we actively debunk false and misleading reports, we risk leaving the public with a dangerously skewed vision of this country." Cohen said he was "shocked and appalled" that

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

would air a program "so full of inaccuracies and irresponsible distortions." Another allegation brought up in the episode focused on a private facility outside

Covington, Georgia Covington is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia and the seat of Newton County, and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, its population 14,113. History Covington was founded by European immigrants to the United Stat ...

, that was stockpiling thousands of plastic bins alleged to be used as coffins for mass burials. In a response to the criticism, Misty Skedgell, a

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

spokesperson, described ''Conspiracy Theory'' as an "entertainment program that appears on an entertainment network." Although most of the episodes of ''Conspiracy Theory'' have been rerun, the "Police State" episode has been shown only once, owing largely to the controversy surrounding the content of the episode.

Production issues

After two seasons of the show, the creation of future episodes was in doubt when, on January 25, 2011, the ''

Drudge Report The Drudge Report (stylized as DRUDGE REPORT) is a U.S.-based news aggregation website founded by Matt Drudge, and run with the help of Charles Hurt and Daniel Halper. The site was generally regarded as a conservative publication, though its o ...

'' announced that Ventura had filed a lawsuit against the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

and the

Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within, and connecting to the United States. It was created ...

(TSA), for what he calls "warrant-less and suspicion-less scans and body searches." Ventura, who has a titanium

hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi (half) replacement. Such joint replacement o ...

, claimed that he sets off metal detectors and is always pulled out of line for lengthy pat-downs. The day of the announcement,

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American far-right and alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcas ...

, a consultant and frequent guest, said on his show that he had witnessed a pat-down of Ventura at the

Atlanta International Airport Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 li ...

while filming for ''Conspiracy Theory'', during which Ventura loudly protested that "America is turning into

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

." Jones said Ventura, who flew two to three times a week for ''Conspiracy Theory'', refuses to fly commercially again, a vow he reiterated after his lawsuit against the TSA was dismissed in November 2011. In May 2013, Ventura confirmed that the show has been discontinued and there will be no fourth season.

Unshown "TSA" episode

In a November 2012 appearance on

's ''

Infowars ''InfoWars'' is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC. Talk shows and other content for the site are created primarily in studi ...

'' conspiracy-theory radio show, Ventura claimed that he and his team filmed an episode contending that

full-body scanners are carcinogenic but that the episode did not air on the instructions of

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...

network executives. Ventura contended that persons unknown "influenced truTV to do that."

List of episodes

Season one (2009–10)

Season two (2010)

Season three (2012)

References

External links

''Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura'' Website
*
Jesse Ventura on Global Warming: A Secret Plot to Take Over the World? Chattahbox.com article
{{TruTV 2009 American television series debuts 2000s American reality television series 2010s American reality television series 2012 American television series endings TruTV original programming Television series about conspiracy theories Jesse Ventura