Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Au Pair Affair Murder Trial: Brendan Banfield Takes The Stand In His Own Defense
28 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. What if mind control is real?
If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?
Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka neurolinguistic programming.
Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Whether it is getting swatted or just hateful messages online, there is a lot of harm in even just reading the comments.
That's cybersecurity expert Camille Stewart Gloucester on the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. Every season is a chance to grow, and the Therapy for Black Girls podcast is here to walk with you. I'm Dr. Joy Harden-Bradford, and each week we dive into real conversations that help you move with more clarity and confidence.
This episode, we're breaking down what really happens to your information online and how to protect yourself with intention. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Crook and Chase Nashville chats with the coolest cat in country music. He is edgy. He's fun. He is Chase Matthews.
Keith Urban helped make him a global sensation last year, but it's his recent number one hit, Darling, that put Chase on the map and launched a fun and difficult conversation about lovers who cheat and lie. That's why I'm scared to get married. You're giving me trust issues, brother.
Crook and Chase Nashville chats with Chase Matthews. Listen and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Chapter 2: What led Brendan Banfield to testify in his own defense?
That was their conversation. She was complaining about how hard it was to be on dating apps. But then at one point he testified she was scrolling through the matches she had. And she said, isn't it funny? Look, they're all like you. And he said their names were Brandon, Brendan and Brennan, like versions of his name. That was a weird, you looked at me, you were like, what?
I don't know why that was relevant, but I guess they were just trying to build this notion that maybe she was doing it on purpose to flirt with him in the kitchen. Okay, but yeah, that was an odd thing. But to you, again, I didn't understand a setup. What happened?
You all just start, you all have nothing but a purely professional relationship, and then one night she decides to text, comes downstairs, tells you about her dating life, and all of a sudden, you're all in a relationship. Boom. That's what it seemed to be, or at least according to him, that is what happened. It was maybe the first time Christine and Valerie were both out of the house.
Maybe it was the first time they were alone because she started working there in October of 2021. And he says this happened in August of 2022. And that's really, really important because then it's, he's able to address very effectively, in my opinion, this notion that really, are you serious? So I'm in a relationship.
And by the way, he said he set it up from the beginning that this was just an affair, that he loved his wife, he was going to stay with his wife, that he had had multiple affairs, and that Christine had had affairs, and that they had made it through, and this was just going to be an affair.
Right.
That, I think, might have been one of the most effective lines for me today, at least narratives, I should say, to hear that the two of them had worked through affairs. set off a question of, well, why was this one so special that in six weeks you want to kill your wife? Yes, and that is exactly what he said.
He said, I think it's an absurd line of questioning for something that is not serious, that a plan was made to get rid of my wife. He said, I was with her for six to eight weeks. And why would that be all of a sudden the moment in which I say, I want to kill my wife and run off into the sunset with you? That resonated. It took off a lot of...
motive, if you will, because Robes, is he worried about his wife finding out? She's going to say, oh, you're at it again, versus oh my God, my whole life is going to blow up. He would think he could survive another. That was effective. It was effective.
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Chapter 3: How did Brendan describe his relationship with his wife and the au pair?
He's had the McDonald's app for years. That's verifiable. And he's barely gotten started on his testimony. And while he's saying all these things, he's not, like I said, he's not overacting. He doesn't seem rehearsed. He doesn't seem planned or robotic. He just seems like a guy trying to say, hey, this is what happened. The other big win, should I call it a win? Maybe I shouldn't go that far.
But the other major headway I thought they made, Robes, had to do with Christine's laptop. Folks, stay here. Another big, big point of this case is that laptop, who had access to it and where it was. Well, he has testified, and the defense has once again, Robes, made things make sense to me. Stay here.
what if mind control is real if you could control the behavior of anybody around you what kind of life would you have can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car when you look at your car you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you i gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused Can you get someone to join your cult?
NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka neuro-linguistic programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.
It's about engineering consciousness.
Mind Games is the story of NLP, its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey there, this is Dr. Jesse Mills, director of the Men's Clinic at UCLA Health and host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, guys everywhere make the same resolutions. Get stronger, work harder, fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all?
To kick off the new year, I sat down with Dr. Steve Poulter, a psychologist with over 30 years experience helping men unpack shame, anxiety, and emotional pain they were never taught to name. In a powerful two-part conversation, we discuss why men aren't emotionally bulletproof, why shame hides in plain sight, and how real strength comes from listening to yourself and to others.
Guys who are toxic, they're immature, or they've got something they just haven't resolved. Once that gets resolved, then there comes empathy and compassion.
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