MLM – The Original Lampasshole

How Jeremy “Meatball” Fouts Can Prove He is Not a Snake Oil Huckster

People ask why I have such vitriol for Jeremy “Meatball” Fouts and his snake-oil schemes. What do I care if a bunch of chumps get suckered by a huckster? No skin off my back, right?

To some extent, I don’t care. If somebody stays up late, sees an ad for an obvious boondoggle on TV like “The Thigh Master” and blows $40 then realizes it is a piece of garbage….well, they learned a cheap lesson and it ends there. Plus, you kind of brought it on yourself – the Thigh Master is more of a passive screw job.

Jeremy “Meatball” Fouts is a different kind of animal, however. A snake, to be exact. He makes wild promises of riches and being an “independent business owner” who badgers everyone in their social circle with outlandish and demonstrably false claims. He wants you to go and recruit other people into his scheme – not just buy a product from him. It’s all about the recruitment, not the product.

If Jeremy “Meatball” Fouts had actually invented revolutionary new products that led to incredible results, he could sell it like a normal person on a store shelf or Amazon or a health food store – where it would compete and presumably dominate the inferior products. The fact that he doesn’t do this speaks volumes. The “product” is mediocre, overpriced and secondary to his true aims – which is recruiting more suckers.

So this is an ACTIVE scam instead of a passive scam, like the Thigh Master.

Don’t believe me that it’s all about recruiting instead of product? Here is a snap shot from a meeting right here in town last month – sure looks like they are pushing the recruitment thing to me…it also is shaped very much like a pyramid:

Four people each recruit 4 people…then those 16 people recruit 4 people…etc, etc, etc. The people at the bottom of the pyramid will definitely get screwed – and the bottom gets bigger all the time. Which is why the FTC studies show that 99% of MLM participants lose money.

Google searches turn up loads of stories about poor suckers who get into MLMs and ruin their lives. Elderly people and single moms who believe slime balls like Jeremy “Meatball” Fouts and mortgage their homes, run up $20k in credit card debt, and have piles of unsold products in their garage – all because they believe the b.s. coming out of the mouths of a slime ball who told them they could make millions.

Meatball Fouts has been in the MLM game for a LONG time. He HAS to know that it ends badly for a majority of people…yet here he is, pushing b.s. stories about untold riches.

So….back to why I care. If I was in a crowded HEB in my small town surrounded by strangers and a rattlesnake came slithering into the store, I would feel the strong urge to yell “SNAKE!! Watch out!” even though I could just as easily walk away and keep my mouth shut. I mean, why would I care if a complete stranger gets bitten by a rattlesnake? I guess I’m just a big-hearted fool….plus it is totally normal human behavior. Only a complete pyscho WOULDN’T warn the strangers around him they are about to get bitten.

There are a few things Jeremy “Meatball” Fouts can do to prove he is not a snake-oil huckster preying on the gullible:

FIRST: Release an income disclosure statement for CorVive salespeople. I have requested one (twice) by email and gotten no response. If people really are all getting rich doing this, you’d think Meatball would be more than happy to show me the evidence.

I want to know the following:

Total distributors throughout the year
How the total distributor count is calculated (as of a certain date, using averages, or other methodology)
Number of new distributors during the year
Number of distributors who quit during the year (so you can calculate the churn rate)
Turnover rate
Number of distributors earning $0
Definition of “active” distributor
Total number of distributors at a supervisor or leader level (i.e. have recruited other distributors)
Total number of “active” distributors at a supervisor or leader level
Amount of product purchased by each level of distributor for the year

I suspect the CorVive income disclosure statement would look very much like the Plexus income disclosure statement below (and all the other MLMs):

82.41% make average $300 per year

5.12% make average $1,707 per year

8.96% make average $3,778 per year

Right there, we are up to 96.5% of people make under $3,778 per year – and that does NOT include all expenses! Like hosting parties, paying for and driving to Plexus conventions, hotel rooms, “leadership retreats” (sound familiar??), etc. Hardly the vast riches promised by most MLMs.

SECONDLY: Show me the scientific studies (preferably double-blind) that prove many of the wild CorVive claims I hear. Claims like “this product removes toxins and chemicals” and “can help with ADHD”. Hell, show me ANY study of ANY CorVive product proving ANYTHING special about CorVive. I have requested these by email also: no response.

THIRDLY: Jeremy “Meatball” Fouts can explain to everyone why he left GenesisPURE, why GenesisPURE disappeared and was rebranded as LivePure and his relationship with Robert Lindsey Duncan – who paid a huge fine for pretending he was a doctor.

Until Meatball answers these reasonable questions, I will keep yelling “SNAKE!” to warn those around me of a predator in our midst.

MLM Cult Aspects

It is very funny to watch the MLM members circle the wagons to defend against any dissent, logic, reason or facts. This is EXACTLY what cult members do when someone tries to talk sense to them.

One of the reasons why MLM reps defend their company so passionately is that they use cult-like tactics to recruit and retain people, something MLM campaigner David Brear has long argued. Here are just some ways MLMs are like cults:

Just like a cult, MLMs offer the promise of a utopian-like existence (in this case making easy money working from home doing what you love, and making new friends).
Just like a cult many MLMs are led by a god-like figurehead, or have equally worshipped key figures high up.
Just like a cult they have unscientific, mysterious secrets to success (for example, mindset and the law of attraction). If you fail to be successful you’ll be told you had a negative mindset or just didn’t work hard enough – it’s always your fault, not the flawed model.
Just like a cult they encourage alienation from any dissenting voices, even from family and friends. So if a friend tries to make you see sense, you’ll be told they’re negative or jealous of your success. [ya’ll just jealous haters!!]
Just like a cult they use unnecessarily complex structures to hide the truth of their business model. Hence PQVs and seemingly endless status levels, like ‘Purple’, ‘Diamond’ and ‘Crown Princess’. [or COR12, COR80 and COR200, lol]
Just like cults they use shame and fear to recruit. If you don’t join you’re a ‘wage slave’ trapped in a job you hate on the conventional work-retire-die treadmill.
Just like a cult they use fear to control. When one high status rep left, all her ‘friends’ in the MLM were warned not to talk to her. She was also discredited and slandered through the spreading of untrue rumors.
Just like a cult they have an authoritarian grip over their reps. If you question anything you’re shamed for not ‘believing’ or ‘trusting’.
Just like a cult they use the moral high ground as a cover or diversion – often by associating themselves with a charity or starting their own. [or maybe praying for all the evil, jealous haters!]
Just like a cult, MLM recruits often appear to go through a sudden change in personality. One example is the relentless positive social media posts they make. They are not allowed to be ‘negative’ (or even just real).

And finally, just like a cult, MLMs can only exist with unquestioning devotion. If you examine them using cold, hard facts [like their income disclosure statements – have any of you requested income disclosure statements from CorVive? I did. They refused to send me one] they just don’t make sense as a viable business proposition.

This is why they so often use emotion and deflection to shut down any argument. Just try to have an open, honest conversation with someone in an MLM, or the MLM themselves and you’ll discover how hard it is to get facts out of them!

Indeed, we have no doubt that if you show this to a friend in an MLM they’ll dismiss it as lies, rubbish or negativity. But ask them to factually rebut each point and they won’t be able to. They’ll tell you how amazing their own experience is, or that their MLM is different. But it’s not.

Ten Ugly Truths About MLM Schemes

Great article about how terrible MLM schemes are LINK HERE.

Summary from the linked article above:

They rely on recruiting, not selling
The MLM model makes it impossible for majority to make money
MLMs offer worse odds than roulette
MLMs incentivise their reps to buy from them
MLMs need to constantly recruit to replace those who quit
MLM reps are unpaid sales reps, not “business owners”
MLMs are unregulated – you can’t know if they are a FRAUD
MLMs damage relationships
MLMs are very similar to pyramid schemes
MLMs operate like cults

Just How Overpriced Are CorVive MLM Products? UPDATED

The CHEAPEST option starting out (according to carnival barker James “Jimmy” West Cor200 and his hilarious video of lies) is the Ach13ve kit, which STARTS at $100.

Knowing how slime balls like Jeremy Fouts (founder of CorVive) operate, I’m sure there are additional costs in there, but I’ll give slime ball Jeremy Fouts the benefit of the doubt, and go with an even $100.

**UPDATE** – a CorVive huckster on Facebook just told somebody that “the 15-day package you need with XLR8 is $134”. Holy christ…are people REALLY paying $268 per MONTH for stuff you can easily buy for $96 per month elsewhere?? Please tell me they aren’t.

What do you get for $100? [actually $134] A measly 15 day supply of protein powder (CorPower) and XLR8 (their Ketone goBHB supplement).

See all the slick and clever names??? Ach13ve? XLR8? That’s so you don’t notice you are buying the exact same crap everyone else sells for far less. You are paying for the packaging.

As I’ve covered before, there are TONS of protein powders out there that are very reasonably priced. My example was 72 servings for $53 – or about 74 cents per serving. I’ve personally used this powder for 18 years (no, I don’t get paid to say that, nor do I win trips to Mexico).

So – a 15 day supply of the stuff I use costs about $11. But it’s even worse! CorVive only gives you 22 grams of protein per serving and many other (cheaper) places give you 24 or 25 – which is 10% more. So, I’ll be charitable to slime ball CorVive founder Jeremy Fouts again and call it $10.35 cents for MY 15 days supply of whey protein.

[Of course, if you are a guy lifting weights, you need to take in between 150 and 220 grams of protein per day to actually build muscle – so you would need 6 or 10 of these per day, but we’ll ignore that for now. It’s also only 100 or 130 calories, so it is HARDLY a “meal replacement” item, seeing as the average person eats between 1800 and 2800 calories per day, depending on gender]

[ What is goBHB and exogenous ketones? Click here to learn more. ]

So that leaves $89.65 [*updated $123.65*] to be accounted for when comparing normal supplements to CorVive’s over-priced products. I guess that XLR8 stuff must really be good, to cost over $89 for a 15 day supply!!!

Not really. Go to Amazon and search for “goBHB” – there are DOZENS of choices with the same ingredients as XLR8 – and MUCH cheaper. They even use the EXACT same phrases that carnival barker James West Cor200 does! Phrases like “increases mental focus! Supports weight loss!”

After only 30 seconds of searching, I found a product with the same ingredients in the same amounts as XLR8 for $76 (Ketond Advanced Ketone Blend). That sounds like a lot of money, until you realize that is for a MONTH supply…not 15 days. So we cut that in half to $38.

Add my protein cost of $10.35 to the $38 for the goBHB product and you come up with $48.35. Compare this to CorVive “STARTING at $100” price tag, and you are being gouged for over 100% markup!

Why would CorVive charge you TWICE [*UPDATED – almost TRIPLE] what this stuff is worth? Because in a MLM scam, the shit rolls downhill and the money rolls up! It rolls up right up into the pockets of Jeremy and Candace Fouts…the slime balls who started CorVive. In MLM schemes, according to FTC studies, roughly 99% of participants LOSE MONEY.

MORE GOOD NEWS: On EVERY CorVive product, you will notice a little * next to EVERY claim…and later you will read that “these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease”.

Know what that means? It means you are on your own and Jimmy West (Cor200) the carnival barker and Jeremy Fouts the slime ball can say just about any slippery thing they wish.

They can say absolute crap like “the number one cause of weight gain is the body not passing waste” (yes, James West says this lie over and over)…and that they just happen to have a laxative (yes, it is a laxative, not a ‘cleanse’) called CorRenew. CorRenew has senna in it. Senna is simply a medication used to treat constipation and to evacuate the large intestine before surgery. It does NOT ‘remove impurities and toxins’ – your body does that all by itself.

Remember, there are around SIX HUNDRED MLM schemes in operation right now…and around SEVENTY of those are in the “weight loss, dietary supplements, health supplements” category.

Every one of those MLMS is full of acolytes with eyes full of dollar signs and thinking THEIR pills/potions/powders are special. They aren’t.

CorVive is not a revolutionary product or idea. It’s just another MLM – and, according to Federal Trade Commission studies, between 96% and 99.6% of MLM participants LOSE MONEY.

Before you throw money at a slime ball like Jeremy Fouts (who was previously deeply involved in GenesisPURE – a now defunct MLM that sold – you guessed it – nutritional supplements) ask CorVive for an income disclosure statement. That statement will tell you EXACTLY how much money MLM participants make. If they refuse to give you an income disclosure form, you should run the other way as fast as you can.

In the next post, we will delve into the history of hucksters Jeremy and Candace Fouts...how they used to work for GenesisPURE under a scammer, quack and hustler named LINDSEY DUNCAN.

Wanna Lose 500 Pounds and Make a Million Dollars??? PM Me!!

I feel like I’m living through the Salem Witch Trials…and the entire town has lost its mind. CorVive!! CorVive!! CorVive!!!

“Just take our powder and you’ll lose 50 pounds…all while eating bacon! Unless you want to bulk up and add muscle…then you will add a pound of muscle every 48 hours!! I swear by this…even though I’ve only been using the product for 16 days! Trust me! I know I’m overweight and just started using this product 120 hours ago…I’m not just trying to win a cheap trip to Mexico…I swear!! I just care about you and your long-term health!!”

Yeah, right.

Since I enjoy exposing fraud and stupidity, I must comment on this CorVive nonsense and hucksterism. My jurisdiction doesn’t end at City Hall.

Lest you feel the need to succumb to these outrageous MLM claims, let me expose some scientific truths about the human body when it comes to weight loss and/or muscle building…you might just save $1000 and STILL lose the weight:

First Rule: the only way to lose fat is to burn more calories than you consume. Period. The First Law of Thermodynamics (conservation of energy) states that energy cannot be created or destroyed….only transformed.

Fat is stored energy. In order to lose weight (fat), you must expend more energy than you consume. Period. End of sentence. Potions and pills and powders will not “melt fat”. It is literally impossible. Anyone who says otherwise is either deliberately lying or is too lazy/stupid to learn the basics of the human body and caloric intake/expenditure. Or maybe they are just trying to win a trip to Mexico! LOL. Seriously. MEXICO!!! The place they are reduced to begging people to travel to, due to drug murders.

A pound of fat contains roughly 3500 calories. If you wish to lose a pound of weight every week, you must run a caloric deficit of roughly 500 calories per day. In other words, you must eat 500 calories less than you burn. A calorie is a calorie. You can eat 2000 calories worth of McDonalds and Twinkies and as long as you burn 2500 calories…you WILL lose a pound a week. Period.

Likewise, if you eat 3000 calories of kale and spinach and cauliflower every day and burn 2500 calories, you will GAIN a pound a week. This is a scientific fact. It is not in dispute. Anyone who says otherwise has no idea what they are talking about. Or possibly retarded…or, trying to win a trip to Mexico.

The ONLY thing that matters is calories in versus calories out. Period.

Overpriced CorVive potions and powders and pills do NOT enter into the equation. Simply burn 500 more calories than you consume, and you WILL lose weight. I know that isn’t sexy. It is quite boring. But it costs nothing and it WORKS. If a clown tells you to spend hundreds of dollars on some fancy packaging of vitamin B12 and whey protein and you will lose 20 pounds a month? Well….that is a lie. It is a lie they tell you to get you into the scheme and make money for themselves…and maybe win a trip to Mexico. Seriously….MEXICO!!! LOL.

I ACTUALLY saw a CorVive video where one of their carnival barker huckster con men stated that most people are overweight in this country because their body “isn’t getting rid of all the waste” – and of course, you needed a “cleanse” to “detoxify” (they never specify what these “toxins” are, of course) and you need the CorVive detox to lose all that weight.

Statements like that are borderline fraud, in my opinion. You don’t need “cleanses” to “detox” your system. Your liver, kidneys and colon have been ridding your body of waste since the day you were born. If they didn’t, you’d be dead already. Cleanses and “detoxes” are absolute, 100% scams.

These hucksters of the latest fad or powders will never come right out and admit that you just need to eat less calories (partly because it doesn’t fit with their gimmick, partly because people don’t want to hear that they have to [GASP!] count calories or [GASP!] eat less of them, and partly because it’s hard to make money off of something that is simple, obvious and free.)

BUT every successful fat loss diet makes you do it anyway. How? By getting you to do things that just so happen to restrict or reduce your calorie intake. For example…

Eating less carbs means you’re eating less calories.
Eating less fat means you’re eating less calories.
Eating less “dirty” junk food means you’re eating less calories.
Eating less processed foods means you’re eating less calories.
Eating less grains means you’re eating less calories.
Not eating after 7pm causes you to eat less calories.
A raw food diet, vegan diet, paleo diet or any remotely similar diet eliminates many of the foods you were regularly eating, which means you’re now eating less calories.

Noticing a trend? In every single case, less calories end up being eaten. And like magic, it causes you to lose fat. But what some people incorrectly think is that it was the reduction in carbs, or fat, or grains, or sugar, or junk food, or processed food, or not eating after 7pm or ridiculously overpriced powders and pills or whatever else that made it happen.

It wasn’t.

It was the reduction in calories that indirectly came as a result of all of these other things. Sure, these “things” are what caused the deficit to be created, but the deficit itself is what actually caused you to lose fat.

Second Rule: It is literally impossible to gain four pounds of muscle per week. Even if you are a teenager who is just starting out lifting weights AND you are genetically predisposed to gaining muscle easily, the BEST you can hope for is MAYBE 3 pounds of muscle per MONTH. More realistic is 1-2 pounds of muscle per month…and that is still on the high end. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying or on steroids. Or selling you something for their own gain. Telling beginners that they can gain massive amounts of muscle in one month is setting them up for failure and possibly injury.

If you STILL don’t believe me, and you think all that slick re-packaging of old ideas is REALLY all it takes to lose weight, then ask yourself why there are so many fat people walking around this country. If there was an easy potion to take and lose huge amounts of weight, obesity would be long gone. Clearly, it isn’t.

MLM structures have been around since the 1980s – Amway, Herbalife, Juice-Plus, etc, etc, etc…and ALL the people selling it thought they were going to make a fortune. 99% of them did not. Only the weasel circus barkers at the VERY tip-top make any big money. The rest of the suckers are left with empty bank accounts and disappointment. Don’t be a sucker.