- I want you to gently uncap your urine samples.
All right, now, the first thing we're gonna do,
and we'll do it together, and, people at home,
I want you doing this as well when you go to the bathroom,
is to smell your urine.
- [Narrator] That's Dr. Oz,
the former daytime television doctor
who has shifted his focus from trying to get people
to smell their own piss to trying to get them
to vote for him.
That's right, he's running for Senate in Pennsylvania,
going up against Democrat John Fetterman.
But who is he?
Dr. Oz was raised by Turkish immigrants
in Wilmington, Delaware,
which is coincidentally the hometown
of "Parks and Rec" cameo star Joe Biden.
But prior to Oz fixing to run for a U.S. Senate seat,
he was working on fixing people.
After obtaining three degrees from two Ivy League schools,
Oz took up a residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital
in New York, where he worked in general surgery
and cardiothoracic surgery.
In 1993, he became an attending surgeon,
and in 2001, he became a professor of surgery
at Columbia University.
His show's old website states that Oz has authored
over 400 original publications, book chapters,
and medical books, and has received numerous patents
for his work in medicine.
In addition to his incredibly successful career in medicine,
Oz has also drawn criticism for long promoting
and amplifying bunk medical treatments and theories.
In 2014, he was called to Washington,
where he defended the validity of his claims,
including a magic coffee bean that aids weight loss.
- I actually do personally believe in the items
that I talk about in the show.
I passionately study them.
I recognize that oftentimes that they don't have
the scientific muster to present as fact,
but nevertheless, I would give my audience
the advice I give my family all the time.
As an intent to engage viewers, I used flowery language,
I used language that was very passionate,
but it ended up not being helpful, but incendiary.
- [Narrator] In a 2014 study published in BMJ,
investigators dissected 40 random episodes
of "The Dr. Oz Show".
They found that 46% of the claims Oz was making were,
in fact, backed by evidence,
but more than half of the claims were either unsupported
or actually went against the science.
But this didn't stop Oz from winning nine Daytime Emmys
for his show where he frequently educated
the American public on very complex medical issues.
- If your pee had a personality, what would yours be?
Welcome, Patricia.
Do you have to go pee a lot?
You might've done the pee dance, you know the pee pee dance?
What's your pee type?
One of my all-time favorite things: your poop and your pee.
- [Narrator] In 2021, Oz announced
he was running for Senate,
bringing his highbrow TV series to an end
in January of the following year.
He was now just a former television star
and pseudoscience monger turned politician.
So who endorsed him?
A man of the same ilk: Eric Trump's dad.
- I endorsed another person today, Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania.
- [Narrator] Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania
despite living in New Jersey for the last two decades,
a fact his opponent brought up by way of Snooki.
- Hey, Mehmet.
This is Nicole Snooki.
Wanna say best of luck to you.
I know you're away from home and you're in a new place,
but Jersey will not forget you.
I just wanna let you know.
I will not forget you.
And don't worry because you'll be back home in Jersey soon.
This is only temporary.
- [Narrator] Temporary or not, what's Oz running on?
What does he care about?
- I'm pro-life.
Life starts at conception.
That's how I feel.
- [Narrator] So he's anti-abortion.
What else?
- [Oz] Back off, Biden.
Give us freedom to frack.
- [Narrator] Okay, he wants to drill.
What else?
- Our Second Amendment is not just about hunting.
It's about our constitutional right
to protect ourselves from intruders
or an overly intrusive government.
- [Narrator] This is all par for the course
I'm just like you even though I own
several multi-million dollar homes,
one of which has a basketball court
and a wine cellar in it stuff.
So why him?
Why does he need to throw his stethoscope
into a U.S. Senate race?
He says COVID-19 was the catalyst for his run,
writing on his site,
It's an interesting reason to run,
considering Oz contributed to the nation's
pandemic shortcomings by promoting hydroxychloroquine,
a drug shown to be an ineffective treatment
for the coronavirus-19 infection.
He also amplified the sentiment that schools should reopen,
even if that meant a few kids would die.
- Schools are a very appetizing opportunity.
I just saw a nice piece arguing that the opening of schools
may only cost us 2 to 3% in terms of total mortality,
and it might be a trade-off some folks would consider.
- [Narrator] Oz later backpedaled and said he misspoke,
but this is why he claims he's running:
to offer solutions like these on a grand scale.
But so far, the people of Pennsylvania
want a second opinion.
Oz is trailing in fundraising and the polls,
and it seems hardly anyone is ready or willing
to follow the doctor's orders just yet.