- Hey Katya, did you go to college?
- Did you go to Boston University?
- I think so. (laughing)
- I wanted to be a therapist.
- I gotta be a fan of musical theater.
- As if that wasn't gay enough,
- I then went to beauty school.
- Yeah, and then your antique shop, inevitably.
- Your neckline, so beautiful.
- Hi, I'm Trixie Mattel.
- And I'm Katya.
- And we are two queens who like to watch.
- And today, we are watching the Netflix original
documentary film, "Operation Varsity Blues."
Get it, blues, blues, ooh.
(suspenseful orchestral music)
- Spoiler alert ahead.
We will be discussing the details of this program.
- Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin.
- Rich people really can do anything.
- Until they can't.
- I don't know what the point of the BFA is.
- If you're not gonna be an engineer,
a doctor or a lawyer, what's all that schooling for?
(laughing) - It doesn't make any sense.
I think it's because we're supposed
to feel like if we don't go to school,
then we're not serious about whatever we wanna do.
- Right, so in order to be serious about something,
you have to spend $60,000 a year for four years
to kind of learn about it a little bit.
- It's more than a scam, it's a scab.
- (laughs) It's a scab.
(whimsical music)
- John, how are you?
- [Katya] Gonna meet Rick Singer,
the orchestrator of the con.
- Stealing from the rich and giving to the also rich.
- (laughs) Yeah.
- [Trixie] Okay, these are recreations
of wiretap transcripts, got it.
- I tapped a phone at a Fresh Brothers Pizza,
and I still listen sometimes.
Extra cheese, he's feeling spicy this week.
- So if you said Harvard--
- [Man On Phone] Harvard, it's about 1.2 million.
- (snaps) Gag.
- Is this real?!
- Oh listen, abso-(bleep)-lutely it is.
- Stanford's asking for 50 million, and they're getting it.
That's the crazy thing. - What the (beeps).
This is wild, this is snatching my wig off.
Mary, ain't no undergrad that good.
- I didn't know it's actually possible,
if you were rich, to just call someone and go,
"Can we pay this much to get our son
to that college," no matter what.
- I blame capitalism.
- It's like when RuPaul let me on "Drag Race"
and he was like, "You just have
to get me an Everlasting Gobstopper."
- (laughs) Yeah.
- So we're trying to get ourselves like a 34 on the ACT.
- [Man On Phone] So Mark will do that.
Really could be a 33, could be a 34, could--
- Oh, oh, oh, oh!
You can cheat the ACT scores too?
- Of course.
- (Bleep) this is crazy. (claps)
Money is more dangerous than a gun.
- Yes.
- And I have that on a shirt available at DragQueenMerch.
He's flying coach.
- Did I go abroad?
No, I didn't go abroad.
- You felt like you were abroad.
(laughs) You started wearing berets.
(talking over each other) The striped shirts, yeah.
I wouldn't say I went to school in Italy,
but I went to Old Spaghetti Factory a lot.
I'll never trust a man with a salt and pepper bowl cut.
- This all seems like the grooming habits
and practices of a predator. - Predator.
He did rowing, that's cool, next to two fridges.
- In the basement of an Arby's.
- Because I was always suspicious of Rick Singer,
I started to keep a file.
- I love this doing investigative journalism.
(talking over each other) - I know.
I got a dossier, new one at the house.
- (laughs) You don't even have a printer.
- Handwritten. (laughs)
- He was exaggerating, fabricating there
on kids' applications, changing their race
from white to Latino or African American.
(Trixie gasps)
(exclaims) - Affirmative action, yeah.
- What happens when the child shows up and is not Black?
- It's light fraud. (whimsical music)
- Who's the bigger crooks, colleges or churches?
- Churches by far. (claps) - Churches.
- Or how 'bout a for-profit college?
- They're all for-profit, Mama.
My version of this is going to Disney.
- The FastPass? - Yeah.
I got to go to Club 33 and did you know
that even membership at that club is 30 grand or something?
- And they had probably had a little peephole
where you can see poor people gladiator-ing to death?
- Hi, poor!
You look poor! (laughs)
We're gonna learn a little more
about the difference between a back door,
(beep) hole. - Mm-hmm.
- Side door.
- [Both] Colostomy bag.
- The difference between those types of deals.
- I'm a special agent with the FBI.
- Her name's FBI Affidavit, she's gotta work for the FBI.
That's a sign.
- The front door means getting in on your own.
The back door is making a donation.
- [Trixie] I mean, I'm familiar with using the back door.
- Back door just gets you in the faculty lounge.
- [Affidavit] The parents would make a donation
to his foundation to conceal the fact
that they were bribe payments.
- Oh!
- [Affadavit] Parents paid Singer 25 million to--
- (beeps)-ing A.
- I admire the hustle and if this guy applied
this sort of hustle to--
- A legal practice, dismantling the current system
that allows for this kind of fraudulent tomfoolery.
- All the smart ones are usually evil.
- Honey, you said it.
(scoffs) Say it again!
- Higher education has become increasingly a commodity.
- No shit, mother (beeps).
I guess they're paying for the name, right?
'Cause (stammers)--
- That's all it is, my child. (mutters and gags)
- It's also fun to lie, like I went to Harvard
to use the bathroom.
- Absolutely, I was in Stanford, Connecticut.
- (laughs) Four of those are my years at Stanford.
- [Narrator] Every year, they get younger.
- That's a child, Mary.
18 year olds can't drink, but they can borrow hundreds
of thousands of dollars per year.
- One year of beauty school is $20,000, but guess what.
I can actually transmute that into dollar signs.
- Yeah, 'cause everyone has hair.
Well, almost everyone.
Almost everyone. (talking over each other)
And I have to say, Perry, hot.
- [Katya] Yeah, he would slip it in?
- [Trixie] Look at these college campuses.
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee didn't look like that.
We had a Noodles and Company.
He's hot too.
Maybe it's just suits, I guess I just like suits.
- I think you're just horned up and ready to get (beeps).
(Trixie moans)
- You have some students getting in on pure merit,
but many others getting in due to preferences
that skew rich and white.
- That is crazy.
- Yeah well, I mean, you know.
- Oh my God, hello, I'd like to report a crime.
It's against the law in the United States of America.
This outfit.
- Bob, I'd like to schedule a hit.
(whimsical music)
- I think you're doing a disservice to your child
by teaching them at a formative age
that things like this can be bought.
These institutions are filled with people
who will go on to cheat, scheme,
and scam their way into billions.
- I can't believe I'm this rich and this naive.
- I know, you'll get there though.
You've only been rich about three years.
- I'm looking to become more jaded, go on.
(whimsical music)
- [Narrator] When the dad sent me the picture,
he was way too high out of the water.
Nobody would believe that anybody could get that high.
- They're taking his face and putting it on athletes
to make it look like he is a athlete.
What happens when you get to the court, Mary?
- That's gonna be one hell of a fiasco.
He's like, "I can't stay on the phone with you.
I have to get a bang trim." (laughs)
- [Narrator] He knew athletic admissions from the inside.
- All right, so the first thing Stanford's
gonna want is a silver bowl cut.
- [Narrator] It seems as if Singer targeted sports
that were under the radar.
- What is that sport?
- Water polo.
- That looks hard. - So hard.
- You know who's doing the work in sailing?
The wind. (chuckles)
Just be a boat being blown by the wind and be like--
- Yeah.
- I first got connected with Rick Singer
through a phone call.
He called me after practice one day.
- We're about to meet the sailing coach
who got dragged into this, pretty much
against his will, who was a real person.
(whispers) (beeps)
- You would (beeps) him, what?!
I almost said he was kinda hot,
and I thought you were gonna make fun of me again.
- [Narrator] Molly got in and the family's so excited--
- Well, she could have got in on a hair scholarship.
- Hello. - Beautiful.
- Pantene Pro-V full ride.
- Show these dumb, white, rich (beeps) for who they are.
- It's very white, this is the entitlement.
- And the greater master plan,
how do we make sure the richest get the best opportunities?
- Yes. (whimsical music)
- We should start this business.
But we're talking to the poor kids.
- The poor kids.
- Everyone gets glasses 'cause they're smart.
- Racially ambiguous, different lighting.
- There's a Star of David on this ear.
- And also chanting in Sanskrit.
- Yeah, it's a warrior pose with a football.
- Yeah, and then mazel tov!
- Yes. (laughing)
And a lasso, "Wow, this kid's a kaleidoscope of can-do!"
- Even if these rich kids just went to community college,
they'd still be having a successful life afterwards.
Undergrad is a scam, no matter where you go.
You know what people did in undergrad, they dropped acid
and felt each other's (beeps) in the hallway.
- My mom, she said, "Where do you wanna go?"
I said, "How 'bout Green Bay?"
She was like, "Ugh, farther."
(whimsical music)
It's not gonna be explained in detail
how they cheat these SAT scores.
- [Lawyer] I'm a lawyer, so I'm sort of rules-oriented.
- [Trixie] Sort of rules oriented.
- [Lawyer] We need to get your daughter tested
for a learning different.
- Learning what?
- I also need to tell your daughter
that when she takes the test, to be stupid.
To not be as smart as she is.
The goal is to be slow.
- This is crazy!
- Unbelievable.
- They're faking being differently abled.
'Cause now we're talking about abusing how rich you are,
abusing the integrity of athletics,
abusing the integrity of standardized test-taking.
This test being truly standardized
would be the only way somebody with a lot of potential
could actually get recognized.
It's so gross. - Yeah.
- [Layer] They write their answers on a separate sheet
to the side of it, so that we can re-bubble.
She'll think that when she's done with the test--
- She doesn't even know!
- [Lawyer] She'll say to you, "Dad, it was so hard or--"
- She doesn't even know!
- [Lawyer] That whatever score we decide
that we want to give-- - It's diabolical.
She doesn't even know she's committing crimes,
and then lookit--
- [Katya] Oh my God, I'm so smart.
- Her taking the test and being like, "That was hard."
I mean, (stammers) I mean, crazy.
- [Announcer] Michelle Janavs, whose family created
Hot Pockets, accused of paying 100 grand
to boost her daughter's ACT score.
- I love Hot Pockets.
- You do.
- And my younger daughter is actually studying.
- Then let--
- Then let the (beeps)-- - Let her do it, God (beeps).
- Let her do her job.
You're the (beeps) heir of Hot Pocket.
How much do you need?
What if she doesn't go to college?
- Invent a Cool Pocket.
(whimsical music)
- Being able to hire someone to coach your child
to be better at test taking is an advantage of the rich.
- Standardized testing is no indication
of anything other than your ability to take a long test.
- 'Cause somebody could just study really hard
for that test, and then just be kind of dumb
and disappointing and lazy.
- And also an asshole, a conniver.
- I failed my driving test three times.
So what does that tell you about how I did on my SAT?
- I think I had like a 1250 or a 12?
I don't think it was more than 1500.
- I think I was the first one in my family to go to college.
We didn't have Rick's number.
How much money you need, Rick?
My mom makes $11 an hour. (laughs)
(whimsical music)
All right, so Rick Singer, when he's not scamming,
he's on the apps and he meets a lovely lady.
And what's the point of becoming rich
if you're not gonna find another rich woman
with a silver bowl cut?
- [Katya] It's Carrie Bradshaw.
- And at 53 years old at the time--
- Oh, if she was 53 then, she looks beautiful.
- Yeah, (beeps).
"Rick and Morty," she just wants
to watch some "Rick and Morty."
- [Patricia] I met him up for dinner and it was--
- Work.
- Palazzo pants.
- One time I sent him an emoji, the Bitmojis--
- Oh, she's a Bitmoji girl, crazy gal.
- I'm a crazy girl!
- [Patricia] Getting up every morning, 4 AM.
- This is when it turns into "Paranormal Activity."
I have only worked out really early like that a few times.
Your workout's over by 6 AM,
you're like, "Am I Bill Gates?"
- [Patricia] He had been leading
and living this secret life.
- You know what, as somebody who wears a disguise
and goes by a different name for a living, I can relate.
- You know what, the only secret I'm willing
to admit is that...
(laughs) this.
(whimsical music)
Okay, now we're gonna get into Lori Loughlin,
famously played Becky on "Full House,"
a wonderful show about great people with good morals.
- Becky with the bad morals.
- Yes, roll the footage, show me Lori Loughlin crying!
- [Katya] Wow, she's so pretty.
- [Trixie] Yeah, Instagram influencer.
- She had millions of followers.
- That's me, Naomi Fry.
- Oh God, I hate this.
I have a really hard time with people who are influencers
who just are living their life, it's crazy.
- It's white, mediocre, blech.
- I created my own collection with Princess Polly.
- God, she looks great.
Why is this girl trying to go to college?
More like Lori Above-the-law-ghlin. (laughs)
- [Trixie] God, her mom is so beautiful.
- I don't give a (beeps).
- That's the problem, my brain is so broken.
I'm so American, I see her on the front
of a news thing, saying "She's a liar," and I'm like,
"She looks gorgeous." - Her bangs are incredible.
- What has she had done?
- [Interviewee] And sent these pictures to Rick Singer,
and had them accepted into USC as coxswains.
- What the (beeps) is that?
- What is that?
- Cock sign?
- They just said she's a cock sign.
- Coxswain, the caboose.
- I love a fake-fake, listen, hi fake!
- Off to school.
- [Trixie] Imagine being so pretty, you can show your face
at that angle. - Yeah.
- Do you know what I look like at that angle?
An Easter Island head. (laughs)
- I just wanna go home.
- [Trixie] I went to just one class and I already wanna die.
- I still hate it, but I'm grateful
that I get to be educated, even though I hate it.
- Bitch is all fraudulent.
- [Interviewee] Rick Singer wrote an email confirming
to Olivia's parents that she was going
to be accepted at USC. - I love this.
- Keep it hush hush.
(whispering) (laughs)
- [Narrator] Olivia Jade and her parents discussed how
to avoid the possibility of the high school counselor
disrupting their admissions scheme.
But it might be a flag for the weasel to meddle.
- Guess what, (bleep), you are the weasel!
- Mama, (claps) you're the weasel, nosey bastard!
- [Trixie] Nosey bastard, jealous all the time.
- [Rick] But I had no knowledge
of Olivia's involvement in crew.
- Ooh. (whimsical music)
I didn't know it was so bad that this (beeps)
had never been in a goddamn boat.
This (beeps) has never even had a bath.
(laughs) This is crazy.
When I was in basketball in high school--
- Screaming.
- The coach would reach over and grab my shirt and go,
"Firkus, you're in, Firkus, Firkus,"
and just throw me off there. - (beeps) anyone in there.
- And I'd be like, "Which way do we run," no idea.
- I would love it if they made her audition.
- I would kill to see that.
- "Hey guys, it's me, I've been rowing.
Check out my single of 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat.'"
(whimsical music)
All right, so finally the scheme is gonna blow up
in his face and he's gonna get caught,
and Just-ina is served.
- Tricky Dick will be singing the blues.
- What happened is that somebody was arrested
on an unrelated securities charge,
and that person traded information.
A gentleman by the name of Rudy Meredith.
- [Katya] You're just giving him up, I love that.
- Is this a sting, is this a sting operation?
Are we gonna wear wigs?
- Oh my God.
- I've always wanted to wear a wig.
- (laughs) Girl, it's about to be over for her.
- Yeah, she's-- - Curtains.
- [Trixie] Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones
are right inside, with all the lasers.
- Hi, Rick.
- Hi, we're here to talk to you about lesbianism.
- [Katya] FBI.
- Why don't you step inside?
- [Trixie] Work, (beep)!
As somebody who was interrogated by loss prevention
at Macy's once, they like to keep you in the dark.
We have Mr. Singer calling people
from his scams and schemes, and it's tapped.
"So did you get my stupid kid in college yet?"
(laughs) - It turns out,
that was the most devastating phone call of my life.
- (gasps) Don't get got.
- Don't get got.
- [Rick] So I wanted to let you know,
our foundation is being audited.
- Don't audit my foundation in this lighting.
- Yeah. (laughs)
I feel like you'd be a good queenpin.
- Yeah!
- Shouldn't we get together for a coffee
over this, as opposed to over the phone?
- No. - Trust no (beeps).
- "Postmates, we're at the front door."
I said, "Really, what's in the bag?"
- What's the scam?
- Okay, so we have some of the fallout here,
the celebrities. - Media circus.
Who's to blame, finger points--
- "Fuller House"? - Flop House.
- [Interviewee] So the FBI agent started asking questions
about Rick Singer.
- [Trixie] Melissa McCarthy in a blonde wig.
(laughs) And this is John Belushi.
- [Interviewee] Promptly went upstairs, sat down on my bed--
- (beeps) himself.
- You're being charged with mail fraud, tax fraud.
- (laughs) I'm gonna get charged with female fraud.
(both laugh)
Do people really go to prison for--
- I mean--
- This type of financial (beeps)?
- Usually, someone is made in spectacle
and an example of, like Martha Stewart.
But they're like, "Okay, we have to put one white person
in jail this year," and then they get out in three days.
- Actors, coaches and CEOs are among those charged.
- They had guns drawn and everything!
- Wendy, Wendy! (clapping)
Wendy is in the FBI, bitch.
Wendy was calling the FBI saying, "Well apparently--"
(Katya laughs)
- Acting director of the CIA Ms. Wendy Williams. (chuckles)
- Apparently, the Pine-Sol lady
was taking a bribe to get into Trump University.
- Yeah, and then wanted free tickets
to the Dula Peep concert.
- Hello? (laughs)
Not celebrities literally going to prison
and Wendy going, "They went in with guns."
- [Paparazzi] How are you after the college scandal?
- You in paparazzi?
- Are you kidding me, no.
- "Go to jail." (laughs)
What if they un-blurred that,
it was your picture and your screen name?
"Absolute queen of rowing, we stan."
That is so, (claps) (beeps) that was a gay person.
- I've been watching pretty much every single one
of her videos. (gasps)
- Don't admit that. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Trixie] And you know what,
here's a video of me unsubscribing.
- Oh! (whimsical music)
- The poor gets a laugh for once, (claps) bitch.
- I mean, and not even really
because she did what, 13 days in a minimum security--
- I can't wait for her to put out a book,
like "My Side of the Story."
- Or you know, "Recipes from Jail."
- "Sephora discontinued by pallette
and now it's just a lip gloss collab." (mimics sobbing)
(whimsical music)
- In a shocking--
- In a dramatic--
- Completely blindsiding--
- Turn of events!
Rich white man avoids prison, who could have predicted it?
- Is this "The Twilight Zone"?
- Let's see what happens.
- [Interviewee] Dick Singer, you're goin' to jail.
- One month in prison.
They need to take all their (beep) money and assets,
liquidate them, and then--
- I love that. - That's a better idea!
- I love that. - No prison.
- And lifelong community service, like lifelong.
I want this (beeps) 70 years old,
picking up trash on the highway.
Do we think that a rich mom needs to go to prison?
I mean, she's not gonna change from that experience.
- [Katya] No, she's gonna come out worse.
- Oh my God, these rich people.
(sniffs) "We lost the house in Malibu."
- How 'bout this-- - Oh my God!
- 85% of their liquid assets went towards impoverished--
- Or it goes toward my liquid (beeps).
(laughs) (whimsical music)
As a graduate of the last decade,
I would just like to say that I'm appalled.
- Lovely shape.
- It's stunning. - It's a lovely shape.
- And you know what, when it's this far in,
it hits the spot. (laughs)
People need to change their relationships
with college in general.
- Stanford, Yale, that (beeps) doesn't matter.
It's all about Bunker Hill Community College.
- Honey, honey! - Night classes.
- I wanna see you at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
I wanna see you at a work study.
- On your time, on your schedule.
Maybe you're a single mom, that's great.
- Well honestly, this program truly has everything.
- Disbelief to shock, to awe, to anger, to resentment.
- This really sparks a lot of conversations about,
we can punish the individual, but the individual's operating
in a system that isn't meant to work.
- Yeah, we gotta burn down the house.
- So, watch "Operation Varsity Blues" on Netflix.
- Netflix!
- Who needs college, when you got these?
- Somebody's gotta process
the rage. - Oh, ah!
- Oh oh oh, injuries.
Injuries, medic! (laughs)
(stately orchestral music)