Slide down the rabbit hole of McKamey Manor with us. As we pull back the curtain and expose the truth.
If you were offered $20k to endure 8 hours of physical and mental torture would you? Many have been offered and tried but all have failed. Russ gives vague guidelines of what you must do in order to win that bounty. This gives the illusion that the contestant actually has a chance at winning the prize. In reality even if you endure everything thrown at you and you never quit, the vague guidelines given are impossible to complete.
Webster’s Dictionary defines Fraud as:
A. Intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right.
B. An act of deceiving or misrepresenting.
Now we know the definition of fraud but more importantly let’s see what the state of Tennessee has to say.
Tennessee Code Consumer Protection Act
§ 47-18-124 & 47-18-120
Here is where you can learn more about how the state of Tennessee views consumer protection.
https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2021/title-47/chapter-18/part-1/section-47-18-124/
And
https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2021/title-47/chapter-18/part-1/section-47-18-120/
The bounty amount has fluctuated throughout the years. Starting originally, and for a brief time at $1k and raising to its highest at $20k. It should be noted that not all contestants are offered the bounty. Sometimes the contestant themself will not be interested in the money, they are there for the challenge. As for the random others that the bounty isn’t offered, that reasoning is unknown. The examples we are about to share are what we personally saw and witnessed from 2018-2019. The years before and after this time period, we have seen proof of the bounty being used to entice contestants to show up. However, we are unaware of the specific details and guidelines that were set during those times by Russ. It is very possible the guidelines are still the same or have always been that way.
From 2018-2019 if offered the bounty this is a run down of what you may be told and the reason why we say it's impossible to win. It is important to note Russ attempts multiple ways to disqualify you from winning the bounty. What must be remembered is whether or not he disqualifies you of the bounty mid tour, you have still shown up, and paid your “donations” with the impression you have a chance at winning the cash. When in reality the chance was never there to begin with.
Once you have met the requirements to attend the week of your show you are met with a series of humiliation tasks leading up to your visit to the manor. The tasks are to be shown live in the Official MM FB group. With each Contestant these tasks seem to switch up but they range from going out in public singing while dressed in your onesie, to contacting local officials in TN and attempting to interview them about why they dislike MM or Russ. For each task you successfully complete you gain a fail card. Like most things in the MM world the purpose of the fail cards switches up randomly and at Russ’s own whim. The most common purpose Russ uses for the fail cards, are for them to allow you to skip a stunt or task you might be struggling with, during the night portion of your tour, without having to quit entirely. The other times, each Fail Card represents a certain portion of the bounty. For example: if you need to use a fail card it may deduct $500 from the bounty but you get to skip the stunt you used it on.
Your tour starts in the morning or afternoon with the contract signing. While signing the contract you partake in bootcamp. This is where most contestants lose all the fail cards they have earned. Not all Contestants do though, some go into the night portion of the tour with cards. Sometimes the bounty isn't affected at all by the loss of cards. There is no rhyme or reason to why this is. The only reason we can assume that some people get to the night portion with fail cards and the bounty still on the table, is because Russ knows he has this rigged.
After bootcamp is when the night portion begins. To win the bounty you must start the clock and from there last a total of 8 hours without quitting. the clock can be started by completing a specific task within a designated stunt. This is the fail safe, the clock is never able to start. During our own experiences there were 3 ways to start the clock. We will go through each scenario along with why it is impossible.
The most popular stunt RAT RACE is what most people have heard about in the past. The goal is to navigate through a maze built with rat cages. You are blindfolded, hooded, have headphones on blaring music, and a walkie talkie taped to the side of your helmet so Russ can communicate with you. As you make your way through the maze you are repeatedly sprayed in the face with water as Russ walks on top of the cages you are crawling attempting to crawl through on your back.
What you are told is, if you make it through the correct path in the maze when you reach the middle you will find a key hanging from a plexiglass shelf. When you pull this key the glass will tilt and Rats will fall on top of you. At this point the clock WILL START. You can then remove your blindfold and navigate the rest of the way through the maze that is now electrified.
Here is the Truth. There is no path that takes you to a key. There is no key. All rat race really is, is a series of connected cages that basically just runs you around in a circle until you quit because you are unable to take the constant spraying of water on your face. You are told you can only win the bounty by starting the clock. That clock can only start when you find the key, the key which does not exist, rendering this impossible to complete and is a complete misrepresentation of what was promised after making your donation.
The second stunt you could do in an attempt to start the clock is OBLIVION/SPECTRUM. This is actually two stunts where one ends the other starts the clock. Oblivion is several interlocking trenches. The Contestant is blindfolded and hooded, wearing a helmet with a walkie talkie taped to the side. The trenches sometimes have water in them. The contestant must crawl around the trenches in order to find a sewer tunnel and crawl in it. The tunnel is slanted upwards and you must crawl up it into a small shack. Once inside the shack The Contestant removes their hood and blindfold. At this point they must find a key to a hatch on the shacks floor. Unlike Rat Race this KEY exists. Once the key is found the hatch is unlocked. This is where the clock comes into play once again. Under the hatch is a well about 10 feet deep. The contestant is lowered to the bottom. On the well wall is a series of numbers. At the bottom of the well is another hatch with a numeric lock on it. It is told that if you figure out the numeric lock combination that hatch opens and it leads to Spectrum which is an underwater maze. Stepping foot into the Spectrum starts the clock.
What really happens is the contestant is lowered into the well. The numbers on the wall are just random numbers with no logical way of giving you the combination. The lock is a random number lock so it is functioning. There is a slim chance, but out of just pure luck it is possible for someone to unlock it. However if they do when they open the hatch they will just see the floor of the well that the hatch is bolted to. To prevent this Russ begins adding water to the well while the contestant is in it. Enough water is quickly added so it limits the visibility of the lock preventing contestants from getting the combination. Like Rat Race there is a major misrepresentation on how its possible to win the bounty. Even if you are able to unlock the combination lock, the clock will not begin until you get into Spectrum, an underway maze that does not exist. It is impossible for one to start the clock according to Russ’s guidelines.
The third and final stunt that led to the clock starting during our time period was ALICE. Contestants were told they would have to crawl down a rabbit hole head first. The rabbit hole would be filled with something. Russ will not say what that “something” is, but the contestant will quickly figure it out when they go down the rabbit hole. Russ will then instruct you that at the bottom of the rabbit hole is a pressurized weight table. Once you displace your weight on that table a secret door will open and lead you into Wonderland which at that point the clock will start. Wonderland is a haunt said to have a giant Cheshire Cat with a slide for a mouth. Russ says that the walls of this building will fold in if the contestant doesn't make it out in an hour. Their goal is to battle Alice at the end.
Let’s break down the reality of what really takes place. Like almost everything at MM Contests again have on the blindfold, hood, helmet and walkie. This information comes from past contestants that have attempted it. The Contestant is brought to a vertical ball pit. The contestant begins to crawl down head first. Once they are in, a weighted grate is put over the top causing the contestant to be stuck in place. Unable to move, water is turned on and begins to run through the balls and absorb into the contestant's hood that covers their face. Not only are they restricted in movement but now their breathing is also restricted. The contestant will stay in this position until they quit and Russ decides to pull them out. There is no pressurized table, there is no wonderland. Once again without these items The clock cannot begin and yet a 3rd way Russ misrepresents the possibility to win the bounty.
Not only is Russ misrepresenting that bounty but also the fact these attractions or stunts are not what he presents them as. Contestants that don’t attend for the bounty are being lied to about what they are going to experience. There are costs associated with attending The Manor that should not be overlooked. Just because it's called a donation does not make it right. Here is just a brief list of financial costs a contestant would have to then likely put out to attend MM.
Travel Cost:
Gas / Flight / Rental Car
Hotel
Food
Doctor visit for medical Clearance / Sports Physical
Items Required to be brought to your tour. These are found in an introduction pamphlet emailed to the contestant before attending as of 11/4/19, it may have been adjusted since.
Not mandatory but requested.
$60 donation
Mandatory items
50lb bag of dog food
1 box of dog treats
1 roll of colored duct tape
1 pack of AA batteries
Glitter and face paint
2 helium filled balloons
Food and drinks to snack on
Several towels that will be ruined
Copy of driver's license, sports physical and insurance
Ear plus
Gloves
Onesie
We have been asked many times if Russ even has $20k to give, the response we have is this. What does it matter is that cash is real or not if it’s impossible to win. Not only do contestants leave with no bounty but they also don’t get the experiences promised to them. You will find a packet in the resource library. This packet is from the 3 hour Abyss Tour and was created for the 2019 Desolation Tour. This is what the contestant gets before arriving for their tour. In this packet you will see stunts that either do not exist or are extremely misrepresented.
