Episode 1: Welcome to Camp Shane

Summary

Camp Shame: Episode 1 – Welcome to Camp Shane

Published: June 5, 2025 | Host: Kelsey Snelling | Produced by I HeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In the premiere episode of Camp Shame, host Kelsey Snelling delves into the controversial history of Camp Shane, one of America’s longest-running weight loss camps for children. Touted as a miraculous solution in a fatphobic society, the camp promised transformative weight loss for its young participants. However, beneath the glossy facade lay darker truths of emotional and physical strain that persisted for over five decades. This episode sets the stage for an eight-episode investigative series aimed at uncovering the hidden costs of body shaming and the flawed system that allowed Camp Shane to operate for so long.

The Allure of Camp Shane

Camp Shane, founded in 1960 by Selma Ettenberg, was marketed as the premier weight loss camp for kids and teens. The camp boasted a picturesque location in the Catskills, complete with traditional camp amenities such as ropes courses, soccer fields, and swimming pools. Parents were drawn by promises of rapid weight loss, often up to 35 pounds in just a few weeks, alongside activities designed to foster friendships and confidence.

Notable Quote:

"You send the child, you send your money, they send the child back, the weight is gone. It's that seductive." (05:46)

Life at Camp Shane

Upon arrival, campers experienced a structured environment that emphasized both physical activity and strict dietary controls. The camp’s design, including a notoriously steep hill leading to the cafeteria, inadvertently served as an additional workout for the children. Activities were rigorous, with campers engaged in six to seven hour-long sessions daily, leaving little room for rest.

Notable Quote:

"It checks all the boxes and it's so easy." (05:43)

Camper Experiences and Community Dynamics

Former campers shared their initial excitement and subsequent revelations about life at Camp Shane. The camp was depicted as a “bubble” where children, often labeled as misfits in their regular lives, could shed their extra pounds and gain acceptance among peers facing similar struggles.

Notable Quote:

"It's the most fun you'll ever hate. That sums up camp in one sentence." (05:54)

Carl Evans, one of the campers, recounted how the camp provided him with a sense of liberation and confidence that he had struggled to find elsewhere. Similarly, Arielle Burger described the pervasive sense of shame associated with food and body image from an early age, which Camp Shane sought to address.

Diet and Exercise Regimen

The camp implemented a highly restrictive diet, often serving between 1200 to 1500 calories per day regardless of the camper’s age or activity level. Meals were minimal and repetitive, including items like French toast sticks, cereal, and small portions of protein. Such stringent dietary controls, combined with excessive physical activity, led to rapid weight loss but also left campers hungry, tired, and at times, restless.

Notable Quote:

"A kid who weighs 180 pounds should not be down to 150 in eight weeks. It's not healthy." (29:30)

Coping Mechanisms and Contraband

Faced with hunger and strict controls, campers developed creative methods to circumvent dietary restrictions. Sneaking food became a common practice, leading to the establishment of a black market within the camp. Campers traded contraband items like candy and chips, turning food into a form of currency and a source of rebellion against the oppressive rules.

Notable Quote:

"It's like the Sopranos of camp chain." (34:26)

Staff and Counselor Dynamics

Counselors at Camp Shane, including David Attenberg and his wife Zipporah Janowski, played pivotal roles in shaping the camp’s environment. While some staff members fostered a sense of community and self-esteem, others enforced the oppressive dietary and exercise regimes that contributed to the camp's toxic atmosphere.

Notable Quote:

"I don't know that I fully understood body shame until I went to a fat camp and it's why it was called Camp Shame." (05:59)

The Sudden Closure of Camp Shane

In 2021, after over 50 years of operation, Camp Shane abruptly closed its doors, leaving parents and campers bewildered. Investigations by state authorities revealed troubling practices and mistreatment of children, prompting media scrutiny and public outcry. The abrupt shutdown exposed the underlying issues that had been masked by years of celebrity endorsements and glowing testimonials.

Notable Quote:

"Nothing about that camp was right." (44:18)

Host’s Reflection and Investigation

Kelsey Snelling shares her personal connection to Camp Shane, motivated by her own experiences and a desire to understand how a place designed to help children became so harmful. Through extensive interviews with nearly 100 former campers, counselors, staff, and parents, she aims to uncover the systemic issues and cultural fatphobia that sustained Camp Shane’s operations.

Notable Quote:

"But someone should have asked questions." (42:43)

Conclusion and Future Episodes

Episode 1 serves as an introduction to the complex history of Camp Shane, highlighting both its initial appeal and the problematic practices that ultimately led to its downfall. As Kelsey Snelling commences her investigation, listeners are left with a critical understanding of the intersections between childhood obesity, body image, and the societal pressures that fuel such controversial institutions.

Closing Quote:

"The camp works. Kids lose weight." (42:32)

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Key Takeaways

• Historical Context: Camp Shane operated for over half a century, promoting rapid weight loss for children under the guise of a traditional summer camp.

• Toxic Practices: Strict diets and excessive exercise regimens led to physical and emotional strain among campers.

• Cultural Fatphobia: The camp was a product of a society obsessed with thinness, reinforcing harmful body standards from a young age.

• Contraband and Rebellion: Restrictions led to the creation of a black market within the camp, symbolizing the campers’ resistance.

• Abrupt Closure: The sudden shutdown of Camp Shane in 2021 unveiled long-standing issues, prompting investigations and media attention.

• Investigative Journey: Kelsey Snelling’s personal connection and extensive research lay the groundwork for exploring the deeper ramifications of Camp Shane’s legacy.

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Further Listening

Stay tuned for the subsequent episodes of Camp Shame as Kelsey Snelling continues her exploration into the hidden narratives of Camp Shane, uncovering stories of mistreatment, resilience, and the enduring impact of body shaming on former campers.

Subscribe to Camp Shame on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @CampShame for updates and behind-the-scenes content.

Transcript

[Kelsey Snelling]

This is an I Heart Podcast. Welcome to Camp Shame. The story about a notorious fat camp, one family's greed and the heavy price of shame. You can listen to all episodes one week early and completely ad free with an I Heart True Crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts.

[California Psychics]

Subscribe today at California Psychics we know some people can't read the career warning signs like your boss still not knowing your name.

[Carrie]

You, Tina, Lisa, Sheila, whatever. Get that report to me by lunch, okay?

[Kelsey Snelling]

It's Carrie, ma' am.

[Carrie]

Just get it done.

[California Psychics]

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[Kelsey Snelling]

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[David Attenberg]

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[Kelsey Snelling]

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[Trey Farrow]

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[David Attenberg]

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[Kelsey Snelling]

Listeners, please note you'll hear the word fat used a lot throughout this series. Many of our speakers use it as a neutral descriptor. Some use it with pride. In this episode, we also mention specific weight and weight loss numbers. This language could be sensitive for some listeners, so please take care. Camp Shane that's S H A N E is a summer camp much like any other. A tall fence surrounds a sprawling wooded property, and inside sit all the makings of a great sleepaway camp. A ropes course, a few soccer fields, a swimming pool, and rows and rows of bunks. When you walk the grounds, you're sure to see kids parading around in tie dye, counselors thickly coated in sunblock. And you might even hear the unmistakable melody of reveille.

[Zipporah Janowski]

So revelry. Am I saying it right Reverie, revelry, I don't know, we'd wake up to like patriotic music like you're in military camp.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Is it the one that's like, is it that one?

[Zipporah Janowski]

Maybe, yeah.

[Kelsey Snelling]

After wake up and a bit of breakfast, campers were ready to start the day making memories that would last a lifetime and experiencing many, many firsts. First friendships, first kisses, first wins, first.

[Zipporah Janowski]

So I had my very first boyfriend, I had my very first kiss during a movie night and it was just really, really good for my self esteem. For me it was the best summers of my life.

[Nelson Jan Catarino]

You will make friends at camp that you're closer with than your best friends in the outside world.

[Kelsey Snelling]

But Camp Shane isn't exactly like your average summer camp. Here. Kids don't eat s' mores at bonfires. There are no popsicles on hot July afternoons. And reveille signals more than just the start of the day. It signals the approach of a morning workout. At Camp Shane, kids aren't just here to make memories and get outdoors. They're here to get thin. Mikey agreed to go to Camp Shane.

[Zipporah Janowski]

Which is a weight loss camp for young kids. David Edinburgh has been on the front.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Lines of fighting childhood obesity for more than 40 years as the founder and co owner of Camp Shane. And the goal here is to lose up to 35 pounds in just weeks. Camp Shane operated for over 50 years and in that time was applauded by Tyra Banks, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil and even Oprah Winfrey. It was featured on MTV, ABC, the BBC and in the New York Times. The first time I heard about Camp Shane, I was a junior in college. My sister had been looking for summer jobs and during a frenzied late night research session pulled up a wild looking job post Fat Camp New York counselors wanted. I didn't even know fat camp was a real thing. But the posting promised an unforgettable summer with top of the line activities all centered around kids who were misfits in the outside world. Were we intrigued? Were we Absolutely. Were we qualified? We hardly knew a thing about weight loss or nutrition and we didn't really have any experience with kids. But four months later we were in Ferndale, New York, ready for Camp Shane counselor orientation. When I first got to camp, I didn't know what to expect on the other side of the tall wooden fence that surrounded the ground. But pretty quickly I realized what that fence concealed.

[David Attenberg]

It checks all the boxes and it's so easy.

[Kelsey Snelling]

You send the child, you send your money, they send the child back, the weight is gone. It's that seductive.

[Nelson Jan Catarino]

It's the most fun you'll ever hate. That sums up camp in one sentence. It is the most fun you'll ever hate.

[Kelsey Snelling]

I don't know that I fully understood body shame until I went to a fat camp and it's why it was called Camp Shame. This is Camp Shame. I'm Kelsey Snelling. This is a story about fat camp diet culture and the heavy price of shame. During the production of this series, I spoke to nearly 100 people, former campers, counselors, staff and parents. Today we'll hear stories from a handful of them. They represent campers from the full 50 plus years that camp Shane was in operation. We'll get to know a lot of them throughout this season, but for this episode, we're going to get to know Camp Shane itself.

[David Attenberg]

Hi, I'm David Attenburg.

[Kelsey Snelling]

I'm the director and founder of Camp Shane.

[Zipporah Janowski]

And I'm Zipporah Janowski, David's wife and a co director.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Camp Shane was founded in 196068 and.

[David Attenberg]

We are the original, longest running weight loss camp anywhere.

[Kelsey Snelling]

For decades, Camp Shane was marketed as the premier weight loss camp for kids and teens. It was the perfect place to meet new friends and get outside. Camp Shane had it all. Ziplines, arts and crafts, and a fan favorite, go karts. In addition to fun activities, camp provided cooking classes and nutrition education from celebrity chefs, as well as group therapy to uncover the root causes of campers weight gain. Despite the camp being a huge success, it actually got its start as a humble family business. Camp Shane, the brainchild of a woman named Selma Ettenberg, was meant to be a safe haven for kids. A place to shed extra pounds without judgment. Selma took out ads in newspapers across the country and sent out brochures to prospective families. She, along with her husband and children, even made house calls to interested families armed with VHS tapes, more brochures, and a pitch for a summer of fun and fitness. David Attenberg, whose voice was in that ad you just heard, was part of that family. And in the 1980s, he was the camp director.

[Trey Farrow]

David actually came to my house, gave us the whole presentation about how the camp was and, you know, all the great things, showed me the video, everything like that. And my parents are like, oh well, why not?

[Kelsey Snelling]

That suck quick.

[Trey Farrow]

I was a camper, 81 to 85 if I remember correctly. And then I came back as a counselor twice.

[Kelsey Snelling]

He was about 10 years old when he first went to the camp and after the house call he was pretty pumped about going level playing field.

[Trey Farrow]

So we have nothing to worry about. Everything's gonna be cool. They're gonna, you know, they're gonna feed us well. We're gonna lose weight. We're gonna be active. But I felt like it was easier to be active or keep up with a bunch of kids that were equally overweight. So how bad could this be?

[Kelsey Snelling]

That level playing field that Seth talks about was so important to the campers. They were in need of a place where they could feel at ease, A place where they weren't picked last. A place where they were able to be more than just the fat kid. Because in the real world, being a fat kid is really hard. Here's Seth again.

[Trey Farrow]

Once I was in a skating rink with this girl that I kind of liked, and I was kind of showing off for her. I was probably about 10.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Seth was trying to be cool and made a bit of a scene by messing with a younger kid at the rink.

[Trey Farrow]

This kid's mother was standing there, and the first words out of her mouth was, hey, fatso. And that sort of took me by surprise, because I would never, never in my life would I say anything to a kid like that.

[Kelsey Snelling]

I could never imagine calling someone fat as a way to hurt them, let alone a child. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and there are many reasons why a person might be heavy. There's stress, genetics, hormones, medications, trauma responses, metabolic conditions. It's a long list. All that aside, body diversity is natural, which makes it endlessly disappointing that we live in a world where fatness is so demonized. When you're a bigger kid in a fatphobic society, you learn pretty quickly that the world is not built for you. You're judged every time you eat. You can't fit into desks at school. You're denied access to rides at amusement parks. And worst of all, you never really feel free in your body. You're always forced to cover up and lay low just to avoid harassment. For Carl Evans, a camper from the 2000s, the judgment he felt around his weight soured One of his most beloved activities. As a young kid, Carl loved swimming. In his hometown outside of Chicago, there.

[Carl Evans]

Was a swimming club, and then there was also, like, a public pond you could get a $5 summer pass to swim in. When I was really, really young, you know, kindergarten through, like, first and second grade, I was like a fish. I'd spend all day in the summers at these places.

[Kelsey Snelling]

One summer, Carl went to a birthday pool party with his brother.

[Carl Evans]

My brother. He'd make fun of my weight more than maybe anyone else in the neighborhood.

[Kelsey Snelling]

And at this party in particular, Carl.

[Carl Evans]

Remembers, he just really, like, laid in and decided to do like a whole stand up bit, even though I'm in third grade. He called them man boobs. That was like a real tipping point to, you know, strategic swimming for like the rest of my life. Until Camp Shane.

[Kelsey Snelling]

That moment shifted how Carl viewed himself. He started swimming with his shirt on. As he got older, he sometimes used his size to his advantage, like playing high school football. But he still wasn't comfortable in his body, and eventually his weight began to impact his health. In his teen years, Carl suffered a cardiac emergency that scared him and his family. That's when things got serious. After doing some research on weight loss camps, his sister found Camp Shane and Carl enrolled the next summer. The judgment kids face, especially during early development, can stick with them for years, even a lifetime.

[Zipporah Janowski]

Whereas I remember going to kindergarten orientation and they were giving out cookies, and I was so excited. My mom's like, she can't eat them. And I just remember feeling shame and embarrassment, like, oh, what if other people.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Heard this is Arielle burger.

[Zipporah Janowski]

I went to camp Shane in 1993, 94, 96, 98. I was 12, 13, 15, and 17.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Good memory.

[Zipporah Janowski]

I wrote it down. I took notes. I'm an attorney, so I take notes.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Arielle still carries painful memories from her early childhood. Like her first year at school.

[Zipporah Janowski]

I remember even like, birthday parties in school. Like, I would always be like, oh, the teacher. Like, oh, you can't participate. Like, that's so embarrassing. So there's like this feeling of shame that I even associate, like, to young childhood.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Ariel discovered Camp Shane after seeing their advertisements. Like many kids at Camp Ariel came from a Jewish family, and she was sent to camp ahead of her bat mitzvah, the ceremony that marks the time when a Jewish girl becomes an adult. Many families felt pressure to present their kids to the community in the best light. And in the case of many Shaners, this meant being slim. To achieve this, Ariel's mother took drastic steps. This is even before discovering Camp Shane.

[Zipporah Janowski]

She put a lock in her pantry at one point. And so it's like, what does that say to someone, right? Like, what do you lock up? I lock up jewelry or money. Why would you lock up food like that Made it even more powerful, I think.

[Kelsey Snelling]

When locking food away didn't help Arielle lose weight, her mother introduced her to some of the late 80s and early 90s most popular diets and diet foods.

[California Psychics]

Snackwell's chocolate sandwich cookies. So good. Can we ever make enough?

[Kelsey Snelling]

The Snackwell Cookies that claimed to be low fat accomplished this by adding additional sugar, which is true of almost all low fat diet foods. Introducing new lay's wow. Potato chips. They taste just as good as regular lay's, and because they're made with olean, they're half the calories and 100% fat free. In the late 90s, Frito Lay introduced wow. Chips, fat free versions of some of their best known chips like lay's, Pringles and Doritos.

[Zipporah Janowski]

Something in it was essentially a laxative. You would eat it and you would instantly get a stomachache and go to the bathroom. So it's like, hey, it's a win win. I just ate a whole bag of Doritos and I went to the bathroom. Five days worth of bathroom for one day. It was like the craziest thing.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Those wow. Chips were required to carry a warning and were eventually taken off the market altogether. And then there was Weight Watchers, which got its start in the early 1960s as a weekly support group.

[David Attenberg]

Weight Watchers new 1988 Quick Success Program is helping people lighten up in fat.

[Zipporah Janowski]

I started at Weight Watchers at seven. So I knew at seven years old, which is insane. At seven, I knew how many, you know, calories were in a gram of protein. Fat, carbohydrates. It was like this obsession.

[Kelsey Snelling]

The fad diets didn't help Ariel or anyone really get thinner. In fact, the focus on weight only made her feel worse. All this pressure to be thin puts kids at a high risk for depression, anxiety, and unhealthy relationships with food and their bodies. Here's Seth again.

[Trey Farrow]

No one really thought about the long term effects. And rather than positive reinforcement fostering that, you know, eat well and you'll live a long time, it's don't eat. You know, it's the negative reinforcement rather than the positive reinforcement. I can't blame my parents for that.

[Kelsey Snelling]

So when all of those attempts failed, Camp Shane felt like a miracle solution. Located in the heart of the beautiful Catskills mountains, Camp Shane is the oldest weight loss camp in the country. Come spend some time with us, make new friends, get into shape, and experience a summer that will change your life. But first, you had to get to Shane.

[David Attenberg]

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[California Psychics]

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[Carrie]

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[Kelsey Snelling]

The right career ew or the right relationship.

[California Psychics]

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[Kelsey Snelling]

To get to Camp Shane, campers had to first traverse the roads of upstate New York. Some kids, like Seth, had their parents drop them off. But many who flew into New York City from around the country had to take a cramped and crowded bus. After two hours of state roads and thousands of trees, a glimmer of civilization would appear through the foliage, a strip of fast food restaurants. Here's Nelson Jan Catarino, a former camper and counselor from Alabama.

[Nelson Jan Catarino]

And I remember pulling off in that exit and seeing like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Taco Bell, I think. And all the kids were like, oh, oh my God, I want Taco Bell, I want Burger King, I want blah blah, like screaming and like, I think the bus driver like kind of like pretended like he was going to turn left.

[Kelsey Snelling]

And that was the last time Most kids saw McDonald's, but not the last time they thought about it. Because just beyond this oasis of tasty high calorie goodness was Camp Shane. Two worn totem poles welcomed arrivals to the property. On the inside, 42 acres of lush green forest and hilly terrain were freckled by cabins, sports fields, and a few large buildings for gatherings. At the base of a notoriously steep hill sat the cafeteria. The whole design was a bit of evil genius. Walking around campus was a cardio session itself. But struggling up and down the hill was an added workout. Kids tested various strategies, like zigzagging, walking backward, and even rolling down just to get to breakfast. Ask any Shaner and they'll tell you right away. The hill was absolutely iconic. In its heyday, the camp's reputation was so respected and well known that a few celebrities even sent their kids to camp. Tommy Mottola, Steven Tyler, and Michael Bolton were just some of the famous parents who trusted Shane with their children. Here's Nelson again.

[Nelson Jan Catarino]

The really rich parents that would come in, like, limousines. Then you had, like, I think one summer, Mike Tyson's daughter was there, and he showed up in a helicopter and, like, landed on the field.

[Kelsey Snelling]

A helicopter landing is pretty cool. But so was having a child star as a neighbor.

[Zipporah Janowski]

Sean Weiss was there. And this Sean Weiss from Mighty Ducks, he was a legend at camp. Like, the coolest kid at camp. You wanted to know him, talk to him. He, like, walked around like he owned the camp. And then one year, they even played Mighty Ducks at movie night. It was like having Bradley Cooper walk around. It was crazy.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Despite celeb popularity, Camp Shane was actually quite restless. The buildings were humble and bare bones. The grass was often unmowed. Kids were out in the woods in cabins with no air conditioning or tv, and it didn't matter. Camp was the perfect bubble. A community of chubby children who were finally free to be themselves. Remember Carl, the boy who was bullied by his brother at a pool party? Years later, he was still uncomfortable swimming around others. But at Camp Shane, he had a revelation. After spending time in the hot sun, many Shaners looked forward to a dip in the cool water. Carl was worried about swimming, but this wasn't the outside world. Here's how Carl remembers that moment.

[Carl Evans]

We had pool on schedule, and I come down there, and some of the guys are walking down to the pool without shirts on. They just got their trunks and towel. That was pretty radical in and of itself. But when I got to the pool, it was another one of the veteran guys. He totally saw it. He's like, take your shirt off. And I was like, I will. And he's like, we all here for the same reason, baby. And he and I took my shirt off and the sense of liberation of, like, I mean, I really mean it. Like, it was like lightning and thunder crackling because I didn't jump in the pool. Took it off and just stood there and looked around and, like, could feel the breeze. It was a sunny day, and it might as well have been like a christening emancipation. You know, doves flying off kind of a thing, because that was the first, like, gigantic boulder. I took that shirt off and didn't jump in the pool and just sat there in myself.

[Kelsey Snelling]

That feeling is why Carl eventually became a counselor. Kids at Camp Shane could find a sense of security and even pride in themselves.

[Trey Farrow]

I would be walking on the campgrounds and the girls. It was like G9 through 12 that I'd be walking by, and all of a sudden I'd hear, Hi, Seth. From 30 girls. And of course that made me feel good, but it was certainly an ego boost.

[Zipporah Janowski]

Part of it was like, really good for your self esteem. Like for me, like I said, everyone's like, oh, she has such a pretty face. But now I was just, oh, she's just pretty.

[Kelsey Snelling]

There were so many people there who accepted and encouraged campers. Here's Nelson again.

[Nelson Jan Catarino]

Like, I was good at soccer. It was really good. But I would get picked last because I was heavy. But then at camp, like, I'm the pele. I'm like the star soccer player. So much so that, like when I was older, like, the counselors wanted me to play on, like I played on.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Their counselor team despite wanting to lose their fat. The f word fat was used with pride at camp Shane. The counselors and staff made light of fatness, which was a refreshing change of pace from the shame so many campers had carried in the past.

[Trey Farrow]

Here's Seth again, the weight trainer counselor. And he's one counselor who will always stand out to me because for one of the talent shows, he actually had a bunch of. We had all the campers from our cabin, you know, regardless of size, shape, whatever, big, small, you know, fat, skinny, whatever the case may be. And we went up there and we did like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Olympia, posing. We actually oiled up with baby oil. We went up there, chunky, skinny, whatever the case may be. And we were posing and the camp went absolutely insane. And he was one of these guys that again, just saw us as kids and wanted us to have a good time and feel good about ourselves.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Camp was a respite. Kids gained confidence in their new home. But it wasn't all friendship bracelets and kumbaya. Don't forget the camp's main goal was weight loss. Despite being free from the school bullies, homework, and social hierarchies, the one thing that carried over from the outside world at camp was dieting. According to newspaper articles and former campers, Camp Shane served a strict diet that ranged anywhere between 12 and 1500 calories. Meals could include a breakfast of two French toast sticks or cereal, maybe a sloppy joe lunch, perhaps a small chicken dinner. Kids were also given two snacks a day, A piece of usually bruised fruit, a cup of cottage cheese, or a small bag of chips. Campers were also kept busy with six to seven activity periods daily, each lasting about an hour. The small portions paired with excessive exercise naturally resulted in kids losing weight. Like a lot of weight and really, really fast.

[Trey Farrow]

A kid who weighs 180 pounds should not be down to 150 in eight weeks. It's not healthy.

[Kelsey Snelling]

The Camp Shane diet was not only minimal, but it was pretty much the same for everyone. Seven year old girls were fed the same as 16 year old athletic boys. And that low end of 1200 calories, while not suitable for even the youngest kids, was definitely below the recommended caloric intake for teens. Teen girls should consume at least 2200 calories a day. For teen boys, 2500 calories.

[Trey Farrow]

Because it was like a one size fits all. I mean, someone who was like me, who was maybe 30 pounds overweight but was active, was eating the same amount as someone who was a hundred pounds and inactive. That was a problem. It doesn't lead to sustaining this weight loss.

[Kelsey Snelling]

However, there were some exceptions in the early years. When a camper dropped enough weight, they were allowed back in the chow line for second helpings as a way of maintaining their new body. That is if the kitchen happened to have leftovers from that meal.

[Trey Farrow]

So you could be on like single bubble triples. So you'd be like they put you on breakfast or they put you on lunch maintenance or dinner or they put you on all three depending on how much weight you lost. When they figured that you hit some certain level, they would not want you to lose more weight.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Eventually those small portions and hours long workouts got to campers. They were hungry, tired, and at times a little unruly. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And campers got creative. Here's Ariel.

[Zipporah Janowski]

When we had skim milk, kids were like guzzling it so they had to stop. I think we had a salad bar one year without the dressing. The dressing like was very small or it was like a fat free dressing. And then they used to have ketchup and mustard on the tables for like hot dog day or hamburger day. And kids were like drinking the ketchup. There were crabapple trees and every year, I mean crabapples are like poison. Every year, inevitably a kid would eat a crab apple and go to the nurse and get sick. But it was like sort of like this like horrible joke. There's apples all around and you can't eat it. It was like very bible esque.

[Kelsey Snelling]

And the more campers were restricted, the more powerful food became. Remember those fast food restaurants the kids passed on the way to Shane? Yep. The kids remembered too and created a system to get food into camp.

[Zipporah Janowski]

So there's like one hole in the fence by like where the go karts are. They're like if you deliver to this hole in the fence and they give them like, exact directions of where to pull up what they would see across. They're like, if you deliver to this hole, we're going to give you a $200 cash tip, but only if you deliver to this hole in the fence. And they did. And the entire cabin smelled like Chinese food. There was, like, loaming everywhere. They ordered like $500 worth of Chinese and the entire cabin ate it.

[Kelsey Snelling]

The fence trick was so successful, campers continued the tradition for years. And sneaking around at night became so common, councilors had to patrol the grounds around the clock. When that became too much for staff, the camp brought in reinforcements. Here's Nelson again.

[Nelson Jan Catarino]

We had Matush, the notorious Polish night watchman. He scared the shit out of everybody because he was. We thought he was a vampire. Like, he just was, like, kind of wandered around. Then he was there at night and he was like, fast. He was so fast. He looked like Drago from Rocky 4 or whatever. Like, just. Just like you're out, like at night. We're not supposed to. And you see, like, you see a quick flash of light, and next thing you know, you turn around, he's like, get back to your bunk. What are you doing out?

[Kelsey Snelling]

But a giant Polish vampire wasn't enough to curb a shaner appetite. And the campers found other ways to get food. Ariel remembers the year the more entrepreneurial kids set up a black market.

[Zipporah Janowski]

So the boys in B12, they got a foreign counselor to somehow get almost like a Sam's or Costco size thing of M and Ms. And I remember they were $5 in the black market. And this was like in the early 90s, $5 a pack for one, like 50 cent package. It used to be back then. So the eminem cartel of B12 was like this huge thing, and you could tell who's the boss and who's the muscle. I'm telling you, this is like Rico. This is like the Sopranos of camp chain.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Campers obviously couldn't eat their contraband goodies out in the open. They had to find more unique places to snack.

[Zipporah Janowski]

And I got back to my cabin that night and I went into the bathroom and I was eating M and Ms. In the toilet. So yes. Is it disordered eating? Yes. So I'm eating M and Ms. In the toilet, and I remember someone in my cabin's like, I smell chocolate.

[Kelsey Snelling]

And I was like, how is this?

[Zipporah Janowski]

Is this like a bloodhound? What the hell's going on?

[Kelsey Snelling]

The bathroom also became Ariel's go to spot for hiding. Camp Shane's most coveted contraband item gum.

[Zipporah Janowski]

So you couldn't have your stash in one spot. And there was one year I was so smart, I thought I had a bunch of gum and I put it in like four Ziploc bags so it was completely airtight. I opened up the top of the back of the toilet and that gum went in the top of the toilet and it lasted the whole summer. That was my best stash. Absolute best stash.

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[Carrie]

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[Kelsey Snelling]

Sneaking food, black market candy, and generally finding creative ways to break the rules are time honored traditions at camp. And these stories take on mythical proportions summer after summer. But they also take on a different hue when you remember this is a weight loss camp, a place designed around how much kids weigh. This hyper focus on food turned stashes like Ariel's into power. Seth remembers you could trade for favors and you could use it to bet.

[Trey Farrow]

It's almost like when inmates use cigarettes to gamble. It was like we were using the hottest commodity in camp and that was food. It became institutionalized. It just boggles my mind. That became a currency. Food should not be a currency.

[Kelsey Snelling]

And speaking of prison, whenever Shaners were off campus, they were forced to wear bright orange T shirts. Camp Shane would sometimes offer field trips for campers like a day in New York City or an afternoon at the water park. The bright colors made kids easier to spot in a crowd and more importantly, it helped Shaners stick to their diet. Local vendors were told explicitly not to sell food to anyone in an orange shirt. It was extreme. But there were no days off from the Cheyne diet. This included visits to nearby camps for intramural tournaments. To prevent kids from cheating on their diets, the counselors packed chain specific lunches that they ate in chain designated areas.

[Zipporah Janowski]

Camp Shane we had to travel with our own food. We couldn't even get Gatorade. We had to have water and they would give us these sandwiches. They packed these sandwiches so it would literally be this soggy sandwich with a slice of cheese and a slice of tomato and maybe a slice of lettuce. And that is what you would eat. We'd be outside with our pathetic sandwiches.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Yep, the Shaners had to sit on the ground outside of the cafeteria. It didn't matter how well the kids played that day or how confident they felt the night before. In an instant, they were back to being the fat kids. Very hungry fat kids. And when an opportunity arose for food, you better believe they pounced.

[Zipporah Janowski]

So, like, a little boy in Camp Echo, I guess, was like playing outside, and he had a magnifier and he was zapping ants. It was really hot out. The sun was really bright. So he ended up setting some leaves on fire. So then there was sort of a little fire. Not that big, but still, it was enough to make the fire alarm go off. So the fire alarm went off. Everyone's running out. Well, the camp chain boys were outside. And literally when everyone started running out and there's chaos, they ran into the cafeteria and they just start grabbing whatever they can, eating plates that were left on the table, going up to whatever food line, but, like, just grabbing as much food. And at this point, because everyone was. It was chaos, Everyone was running around. They were just in there eating, eating. And the counselors were like, there's a fire. Get out. And it took, like, the Camp Shane counselors had to bring Echo counselors in to get the kids out. And it was just crazy. It just, like, describes what Camp Shane was like.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Camp Shane was a dysfunctional sanctuary, a place that preached confidence, yet celebrated campers for changing their bodies. A home away from home that worked kids to the bone. As one former camper described it to me, the camp works. Kids lose weight.

[Trey Farrow]

So I think that Oprah, Tyra, whomever, when they look at this camp, they.

[Kelsey Snelling]

See a bunch of kids that go in heavy and they come out thin.

[Trey Farrow]

And they're not asking any other questions.

[Kelsey Snelling]

But someone should have asked questions. In 2021, a few weeks into the summer season, Camp Shane suddenly closed. Camp closed. Parents left scrambling. The state is now investigating the sudden closure. Newspapers, TV stations, and even Bloomberg Businessweek rushed to cover what turned out to be a shocking twist of events. What happened to Camp Shane? How could a beloved celebrity endorsed camp that made millions in profits just close its doors with no explanation, with no promise of returning? What I saw when I was at Camp Shane stuck with me for years. And I struggled for a long time with what I should do about what I'd experienced. Part of me wanted to call the cops. The other part of me thought maybe I was being dramatic. But every time I tried to forget about Shane, something would pull me back. I started interviewing other Shaners, not just from my time there, but dating back all the way to the beginning of the camp itself. I wanted to understand how a place designed to help kids turned out to be so toxic and how it came to such an abrupt end. There was no guidance. It was more or less throw a bunch of kids at a place, call it a fitness camp by starving them. It was something. It was something out of a horror movie. Nothing about that camp was right.

[Trey Farrow]

What I didn't know at the time, though, is that he was grooming me. This experience still haunts me to this day.

[Kelsey Snelling]

Yet none of those things would be the end of camp until there were.

[Trey Farrow]

Campers leaving or counselors were leaving. Kids were getting sick, kids were getting hurt. They shut the camp down. And I figured if they were shutting it down that summer, they probably weren't going to come back.

[Kelsey Snelling]

And what were you feeling when you saw this or heard about this?

[Trey Farrow]

This can't be used against me in a court of law. A little shoddy, you know. Good. I'm glad. But at the same time, I said to myself, man, I wish that was me. I mean, yes, they got their comeuppance, they got their punishment. I would have felt good if. If I was the one who caused that to happen.

[Kelsey Snelling]

This is Camp Sh. We reached out to David Attenberg and his wife Zippora Janowski for comment. At the time of this recording, we have not received a reply. Camp Shame is a production of I Heart Podcasts. I'm your host, Kelsey Snelling. Camp Shame is produced by Brittany Martinez, Taylor Williamson, Sarah Schleed, Lucy Jones and Aaliyah Yates Graun. Our editor is Courtney Hommeister with additional editorial support from Lindsey Cradlewill and Grace Lynch. Our executive producers are Jenny Kaplan, Emily Rutter and me, Kelsey Snelling for iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Christina Everett. Fact checking done by Madeline Gore, Lucy Jones, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Lauren Williams and Fiona Pestana. Our theme music is produced by Shaun Patel. Special thanks to Lauren Moffatt, Naomi Harvey, Janelle Manzai, Ben Wong, Travis Prow and Stephanie Maulson. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram ampshame. That's with an M. If you or anyone you know went to Camp Shane, reach out with your camp stories. Already wondering what other sinister secrets lie beneath Camp Shane's happy facade. Don't forget to subscribe to I Heart True Crime plus, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. To get all episodes of Camp Shame one week early and 100% ad free at California Psychics.

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