Jared from Subway: Catching a Monster (2023– ) User Reviews

The blond lady doesn't feel like a reliable narrator

[nafowler · 5/10 · 18 March 2023]

It's hard to know what to make of this Rochelle reporter after 1st episode. I kind of don't buy that she instantly picked up that Jared was a predator and it seems like she's selectively telling the story. I don't doubt her overall story is true but I'm wondering if she was really interested in him at first, then it became apparent to her at some point later in their relationship and that's when she started recording. Predators don't want to be found out and it would be unusual for him to share something that would tip off a reporter of all people at one of their first interviews. Of course I can see why she wouldn't want to admit this but there is something off about a reporter deciding to do a "honeytrap" on their own and only going to police later. I don't know, I could be wrong. Either way she's annoying - and why is her kid in this documentary?

Reporters making themselves part of story is always annoying in documentaries (though I see it's slightly different here if she teamed up with FBI). I don't know a thing about Keith Morrison nor his kids and it's why Dateline is so successful. I wish people making docs would do more reporting / journalism and ask questions rather than letting people like her go on and on. (But not the victims of course)

"I wanna talk about Me!!!"

[rothrules69 · 5/10 · 8 June 2023]

This is gross and upsetting and disgusting, I wish there were more we could do so people like Jared never sees the light of day ever again, but this was all about Rochelle Herman, when she's making these tapes with Jared saying absolutely disgusting things she's like very complicit with him like they were a couple plotting out who to stalk next, I felt her to be going along with this over YEARS! And what exactly did the wife of Russell do to get MORE jail time then Jared? Absolutely disgusting and I pray for the survivors. And why didn't the FBI help more when she went to the local police? And where was her ex husband? Just so many open ended questions.

Catching a Monster. The title says it all

[johnnmilw · 6/10 · 4 July 2023]

I watched this movie to learn something about this 'Jared' guy and what his crimes were. Yes, I could have went to the search and found out the depth of what he did, just like I could go to the internet and find out the who's and why's of Jeff Dahmer, Ted Kaczynski, the Catholic Church, etc...to find the gory details. In this case, I was ok getting a story. No, it wasn't the typical 'documentary' style detailing the official police case, with many of the people involved at that time giving 'testimony' on camera, re-telling the case. Here, it is told by one person, a central figure in identifying this guy (and friend), with support from others who have first hand accounts of who these folks were and the case against them. Sure, as with any 'history', it's narrator sounds sanctimonious, but I can see past that to find out much of what I need to know...and YIKES! I didn't know, until now.

Needed an editor

[kcwilson-896-109457 · 6/10 · 24 June 2023]

This could have been a powerful 80 minute documentary about Jared Fogle, his life, crimes, capture, and the why of how all this happened. Instead we got nearly an hour of Rochelle Herman, who did a great job helping to catch him, but ultimately her story isn't very interesting. If that entire section was eliminated, this could be much better.

There's also an odd trope where they constantly offer warnings of potentially disturbing language, which every viewer is well aware of at all times. The warnings actually feel like they are trying to sensationalize the horrific nature of the statements Fogle makes.

Sickening

[yanafcammbusiness · 7/10 · 3 June 2023]

The acts described in this is incredibly sickening and I actually couldn't watch this straight through. The people criticizing Rochelle Herman are out of line. She was significantly impacted by this investigation, she deserves to tell the story. This isn't about the acts, it's about the investigation. If 20/20 or 48 hours has produced this, of course it would be more about the acts. But the name of the show is "Catching a Monster", it's about the capture and the investigation. It was well done and turns your stomach, as it should. The events described of course were horrifying and frustrating. Well done show. 7/10 because it's just disturbing.

Production value

[metaberk · 6/10 · 16 March 2023]

While so many here criticize Rochelle, that is completely misplaced. She is not one of the producers or director - blame them for featuring her interview so much and for the sections they chose to use. But even worse, blame them for making us watch so much footage of Rochelle with such hideous lighting and makeup. I just can't imagine why they couldn't give her decent lighting so they didn't create horrible lines on her face, and provide a makeup artist to prepare her for TV not theater.

While so many here criticize Rochelle, that is completely misplaced. She is not one of the producers - blame them for featuring her interview so much. But even worse, blame them for making us watch so much footage of Rochelle with such hideous lighting and makeup. I just can't imagine why they couldn't give her decent lighting so they didn't create horrible lines on her face, and provide a makeup artist to prepare her for TV not theater.

While so many here criticize Rochelle, that is completely misplaced. She is not one of the producers - blame them for featuring her interview so much. But even worse, blame them for making us watch so much footage of Rochelle with such hideous lighting and makeup. I just can't imagine why they couldn't give her decent lighting so they didn't create horrible lines on her face, and provide a makeup artist to prepare her for TV not theater.

Just watch episode 3...

[NullUnit · 3/10 · 8 March 2023]

The first 2 episodes are filler... a waste of time, build up to 3... they are more about Rochelle Herman than about Jared.

Herman is a hero for stopping Fogle and Taylor.. no denying that. And Fogle and Taylor deserve every single repercussion they've suffered .... if not a great deal more.

However, regarding this series....

All the "meat" in this series is in episode 3. The third episode covers the actual crimes and outcome. Quite honestly there's really not a great deal actual content to watch in the first two episodes - they are just over-dramatized leading... over-dramatized leading.. over-dramatized leading.. over-dramatized leading.. to get to episode three.

Just skip the first two episodes and watch the third, that's all that's necessary.

Note that the FBI, The Indiana State Police, and Fogle family had no participation in this documentary (it's disclaimed). So there are no real tangible legal or investigatory facts presented here beyond what may be already publicly available.

The only "new" facts come in the form of voice recordings which may have never been heard before (I hadn't heard them.) After hearing those.. ANYONE who thinks Rochelle Herman coerced or "tricked" Fogle into ANYTHING is blind to cold-hard facts and is merely kidding themselves.

Disappointing, too long, too much Rochelle.

[holchie · 3/10 · 11 March 2023]

As others have said better than I will, this could have been a better documentary, a shorter documentary, if edited a bit more. After the second episode, I was wondering why this was entitle "Jared from Subway," instead of "Rochelle Rochelle." She did have a lot of guts turning Jared in, but too much time spent on how it affected her. Maybe a little less of that and more about how Jared was arrested and sentenced by the court, and where he ended up. The actual consequences he faced were covered in about five minutes at the end of the third episode. I would have liked to know more about his circumstances now and when he'll get out.

Feels Like it's About Rochelle Herman

[helenahandbasket-93734 · 4/10 · 7 March 2023]

This *could be* such a compelling story and there's plenty of material here, but my God, why does this 60-year old woman still clinging desperately to her 25-year old self have to be so prominently featured in this?

What Jared did was despicable, disgusting, and disgraceful but she's making this into some salacious soap opera that's completely unnecessary to the telling of the story- she's telling this story like it's a tawdry sex scandal, but this is a predator who actively preyed on children. She's not a superhero but she sure wants to sound like one, desperately trying to make this about HER and how SHE felt, how SHE was doing so much, and SHE was a victim; ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

There's real children involved here, and are willing to tell their stories, their lived experiences and trauma. Instead we're subjected to THREE ENTIRE EPISODES of this woman who clearly has a narcissistic need to be seen, especially when she ACTUALLY ADMITS TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING AIRING HER EVIDENCE ON THE RADIO! AND THEN, claims to have PTSD, and again HER STRUGGLE is horrible!! I just cannot understand how in the world the show runners actually thought making this debacle focus on Rochelle was the right direction to go. Did they seriously wonder why no one in law enforcement really wanted anything to do with this nonsense? When your entire premise focuses on a clearly unwell woman with some serious issues and sees no problems with contamination of evidence, corrupting evidence, going public with accusations that are nothing but what would be considered entrapment in a court of law, and leave her open to incredibly damaging to her and her property, having absolutely nothing to do with her unreasonable safety fears.

I have incredible sympathy and compassion for these poor victims- that they're even remotely sane at this point is a great credit to those who surrounded them after this travesty came to light. I am only giving 4 stars for their willingness to come forward and be so incredibly courageous.

Everyone else involved in this catastrophe of a project deserves zero stars. There's no way to fast forward past the sheer volume of Rochelle and her ego, so I can't even recommend doing so but just keep in mind when watching that you're going to find yourself rolling your eyes so hard you'll likely have eye strain.

Seems written and produced by the main character, who is not Jared

[maaronslc · 2/10 · 15 March 2023]

I hesitate to call this a documentary. It appears completely written and produced by Rochelle Herman, even with "cliffhanger" comments before each pause for commercial break. This could have been a 45-minute show.

I'm guessing here, but screentime per "character" Rochelle Herman: 90 percent Jared Fogle: 4 percent All FBI agents:2 percent Ozzie: 2 percent Others: 2 percent.

I appreciate the lengths Herman went to in order to catch Fogle. It appears, however, that it was done to the detriment of her life and family for a career bump that never happened.

Rework it into a 45-minute documentary and make it available to 60 Minutes.

Over Produced & Poorly Focused

[gkitchen-80600 · 2/10 · 26 March 2023]

I feel like they really missed an opportunity to make a professional documentary here. Why oh why is this produced like a cheesy horror film? I didn't know the Jared story but at first I thought he could be innocent because Rochelle kept giving poorly stated opinions like "pony tails = pedophile". I grew to despise her by the end of it because it was clear she felt this was her story to tell despite being the worst at telling it. What is with the music? This isn't Unsolved Mysteries. Sound effects are just ridiculous. WHAM, BOOM, SWISH, shut up already and tell the story! Anyway, the final chapter is good enough and the testimonies given were good ..minus Rochelle.

Informative but nausiating

[rustman-71312 · 8/10 · 28 May 2023]

Learning what people can be capable of these things is surreal and can cause a person to lose their naivety. There's a dichotomy we must learn to balance, being open to the fact that people can be deviant without mistrusting everyone. I wonder how healthy parents teach their kids how to do this in a way that is not too heavy but poignant enough so that they kids learn the lesson. The whole process is terrifying to think about. The grooming, the objectifying of other humans, especially the little ones, the fact that others are deviant and are willing participates, the fact that people who were seemingly 'normal' can be 'turned' into willing participants... I shutter to think.

Rochelle Rochelle

[Linda1973 · 2/10 · 27 May 2023]

Jared is a horrible person who should never be released. His actions were despicable. That much is true.

However.... I do not believe for a minute that Rochelle was trying to expose him simply to save children. She comes across as a vain, narcissistic, self serving fame seeker. I feel that she simply wanted to expose him to become famous herself and when things weren't moving fast enough by the FBI, she feared someone else would get there first so she took matters into her own hands to make sure she got the story first.

And my god how many times did she have to tell us how beautiful people think she is? Jeeze.

Save yourself and just watch episode 3. You can pass over her overacting and dramatic scenes ("excuse me, I didn't expect to start crying"...putting her long manicured nails over her eyes...ugh)

Rochelle Herman is a narcissist

[mryan-92014 · 2/10 · 18 March 2023]

Jared Fogel may be a monster but Rochelle Herman seems to have just as many mental health issues. She turned this documentary into a series all about her, her self described heroism, requirement to always be in the spotlight, etc. . I'm not sure if what she did was entrapment or not but whatever it is, it was creepy. Contacting the news to tell her story, going on about being called beautiful when she was younger; listen lady, no one cares. This could have easily been condensed down to a one hour special if Rochelle's histrionics were taken out. I wanted to hear from the victims, etc, not this Rochelle. I walked away from this more annoyed with her than Jared, and that's really saying something.

The Rochelle Show

[ricodog99 · 1/10 · 17 April 2023]

As others have said, just skip to the third episode if you want to get any real information. This creature Rochelle who proclaims herself every child's hero is disturbing and pretty obviously mentally ill. Her "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" vibe is completely off putting- she spends as much time talking about how she was hot back in the day as she spends trying to convince the viewer her years-long relationship with Fogle was altruistic and she is the savior of all kids. Her actions, though- leading Jared Fogle the sicko along and reinforcing his twisted pedophilia, laughing as he talks about sex with kids, is disgusting. ID should really take a look at how this stinker of a documentary got the green light, it's just awful.

I don't get the hate

[Zenkai76 · 10/10 · 16 June 2023]

People are complaining about the woman who put her mental health, her family, her career on the line to expose child predator? That's messed up, these people don't have a heart or are part of Jared's fan club. This is her story and how someone like Jared can destroy your life!

I remember when this story broke, I didn't pay much attention to it even though at the time I use to watch the Biggest Loser all the time and Jared would often jump in as a guest since Subway was a huge sponsor. I just assumed Jared had sick images of children on his computer and he got caught. I had no idea just what a monster this thing is, it doesn't even deserve to be called human.

What is scary is the whole FBI involvement because even though they had this on going investigation it wasn't the reason he got caught! There is only 2 conclusions can come of this, either the FBI is that incompetent or they were covering for Jared.

Super long tons of filler

[primantieq · 1/10 · 1 June 2023]

The documentary should be 90 minutes long, not three + hours. There's a TON of repeated information and shots of people driving/the beach etc. What was interesting just gets beat out of you by people talking about how disturbing it is instead of just giving the information.

They have access to victims and people directly involved in things but spend a ton of time talking to other people And constantly playing videos of Jared From commercials or whatever like yeah we know who it's about we get it just give us the information. The more interesting part is how much law enforcement "cant" do anything when confronted with evidence of illegal things happening.

Ego trip for old lady

[terrejolly · 1/10 · 8 March 2023]

I'm sorry, this woman's story is just ridiculous. She cared more about her involvement with this predator than she did about her own children's mental health. The story could be told in 60 minutes and she obviously involved herself with a predator and is trying to legitimize that involvement. The FBI has people trained to do these things, why use her? I feel terrible for the children truly affected by him. I sickened this woman is trying to draw attention to herself. I'm sorry her children were frightened and paranoid because their mother inserted herself into a child porn investigation. There is nothing noble about her behavior.

Poorly made

[quiksilva19 · 3/10 · 28 May 2023]

I appreciate what Rochelle did and I think what she went through is bad but they focused for almost the whole story on her. This story is about the victims. This story is about the cops. As much as I hate it, it's about Jared. They should have had her in it for a quarter of the time. They should have focused about Jared's past and the cops. They could have done more on the court case and the results. They just focused on her. The bad part is, she was really annoying. She attempted to cry multiple times with no tears. They talked about so much of her stuff that they said stuff twice. It was just a really bad documentary. Could have trimmed it up into two episodes.

So disturbing!

[sherripadgitt · 9/10 · 28 May 2023]

This was really hard to watch and listen to. It is hard for me to understand why the FBI took so long to do anything to bring this guy down. There were so many different things they could have done and directions they could have gone to get something done. Instead they put this woman through absolute torment while her family falls apart trying to get enough evidence to bring him in. Had not one of those FBI ever watched, "To Catch a Predator"???

This was a good documentary and I actually heard more than what was necessary to convince me that Jared is a terrible human being. It is disturbing to know that there are probably many predators out there that don't get caught. And didn't Rochelle's son say he moved to Thailand? Isn't that where Jared claimed he got his underage children? I wish they would have pressed him about why he chose to move there. That left me feeling very weird about it and then the documentary was over. Why would they even include that part?? Like, what?

So awful, such a waste of time

[bplagesse · 1/10 · 29 December 2023]

This should be titled "one woman's fruitless attempt to catch a monster". 2 1/2 of the episodes were an interview of a woman who was/is clearly starved for attention. At the very end you find out that all she did didn't even matter. He was charged and plead guilty to crossing state lines to solicit from a minor. All the evidence was gathered from communications he had with another monster. So you sit there for 2 hours listening to this woman's sob story about how horrible Jared is (which he is, no denying that), then you get to the end and find out that her "work" didn't even lead to his conviction. As everyone else has said, it is over-produced. I should have come on IMDB first to read the reviews before wasting 3 hours of my life.

Too Much Rochelle

[Juliajulie · 1/10 · 17 June 2023]

I was interested in learning more about Jarod and what lead to his demise but felt like this was not so much a documentary about him but rather a story about this woman Rochelle and how she became obsessed with him to the point that she jeopardized her own kids' safety. I could barely get through the show. I became more and more annoyed that she was making everything about her, despite her claim that she was doing all this "investigating" for the sake of others' (children's) safety. I feel sorry for the victims and those hurt by this and wish "documentary" shared more about Jarod. I'd skip watching this show. It was a waste of time.

Blah, blah, blah

[umax1200 · 3/10 · 2 April 2023]

I agree with the other comments about this story could have been soooo much better, compelling, sensational, etc , if Grandma had stop hogging the story and making it more about her. "I did this", I was there", "he like flirting with me"...blah, blah, blah...smh.

Not making any excuses for what the "monster" did, but its clear that this woman was trying to relive her 15 mins of fame in front of a new set of cameras. I applaud her "mommy sense" for picking up on the small hints Jared was dropping, but the story gets a little over dramatic and drawn out, in my opinion, in how she presented what she was doing in discovering/gathering evidence against Jared.

Just tell us what happened and how this man was put behind bars for his crime(s). Its not about you.

The story of the Subway Sicko

[rcollins20 · 10/10 · 13 March 2023]

Typical low reviews on IMDb for a very well produced documentary series. The episodes do feature quite a bit of Rochelle Herman, but I feel that it's fairly justified given that she went undercover for years, secretly taping her conversations with Jared Fogle, in a very courageous effort to bring the Subway spokesman to justice. The series also contains many scenes from the over 300 Subway commercials that Jared filmed as well as footage from his many public/media appearances leading up to his eventual arrest and conviction. Sensitive or vulnerable viewers may want to avoid watching however as the episodes go into horrific detail about the exact nature of Jared Fogle's hideous, repulsive and evil crimes. A must watch for those interested in true crime stories.

3rd episode is the only one based in reality.

[backus1611-1 · 1/10 · 25 March 2023]

Sorry Rochelle Herman, you were probably the worst human in life the FBI enlisted to get rid of a sexual predator. You spent years talking to predator Jared and was able to elicit not 1 single word, NOT ONE WORD, that would get him arrested. You did absolutely nothing and now got 2 episodes detailing how you were able to do not 1 thing, while he spent years abusing who knows how many, if any. PS, you'll have to actually investigate to see if anyone actually has accused this horrible human, Jared, of rape, because this crap tells you very little, except how wonderful Herman was and how it hurt her so much. Finally, we get episode 3 where we get the actual crimes he's been convicted, which by the way, had absolutely nothing to do with the self aggrandizing Rochelle from the other, useless episodes. I probably missed it, but then they suddenly mention 14 victims. HUH? Probably need to see the 3rd again, but what? Glad he's in jail, really sorry this completely incompetent 'operative' Herman got 2 useless episodes. Her 'contribution' could have been 10 minutes of the 3rd episode, and some of what Jared said should definitely be heard, but she's completely useless in trying to get anything the FBI could use to prosecute him. She was completely useless....for years!