Muscle Men: 8. The Genie Is Out

Summary

Podcast Summary: Extreme - Muscle Men: Episode 8, "The Genie Is Out"

Overview

In Episode 8 of Extreme, titled “The Genie Is Out,” BBC host Natalia Melman Petruzella delves into the tumultuous world of anabolic steroids within the bodybuilding community of the 1980s and early 1990s. This episode examines the rise and fall of steroid use among elite bodybuilders, the ensuing crackdown by authorities, and the lasting impact on fitness culture. Through personal stories, expert insights, and historical context, the episode paints a comprehensive picture of an era defined by the pursuit of superhuman physiques at great personal and societal costs.

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Sean Ray’s Rise and Fall

The episode opens in February 1990, spotlighting bodybuilder Sean Ray, a confident 24-year-old competitor in the Arnold Classic, a prestigious bodybuilding competition founded by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sean, a long-time steroid user since age 20, is initially unfazed when he learns that the Arnold Classic will implement its first-ever drug testing.

Sean Ray [00:36]: "Notification went out that this is going to be the first ever drug tested."

Confident in his ability to evade detection, Sean enters the competition with unshakable self-assurance.

Sean Ray [01:39]: "I went in very cocky, self confident, I should say that I've already beat these guys."

Sean triumphs, winning first place and a $60,000 prize. However, his victory is short-lived. Shortly after, he receives devastating news at a seminar in Toronto.

Sean Ray [02:14]: "I tested positive after I won the competition. It was a fast-acting water-based drug and I knew that I had taken it and I was notified that I was disqualified, that I was not gonna receive the check and that I would have to return the trophy."

The fallout forces Sean to relinquish his trophy and prize money, marking a poignant moment of accountability in bodybuilding.

Sean Ray [02:45]: "It's a tough lesson to go and take a trophy off of your mantle that I'd given to my mom."

This incident highlights the shifting landscape in bodybuilding, where steroid use, once a taboo subject, began facing stringent scrutiny and repercussions.

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The Broader Steroid Crackdown

The episode contextualizes Sean’s disqualification within a broader anti-steroid movement gaining momentum in the late 1980s. Following the collapse of a major steroid trafficking ring led by William Dillon, David Jenkins, and Dan Duchene, authorities and policymakers intensified efforts to curb steroid abuse.

Historian and podcaster Natalia Melman Petruzella explains:

Narrator [03:10]: "You could see this moment as a sign that even at the most extreme levels of bodybuilding culture, things really were changing..."

Despite these efforts, the entrenched culture of steroid use posed significant challenges to eradication efforts.

Sean Ray [03:31]: "The irony is that no one gave a shit. No one cared. The bodybuilding fraternity thought the whole thing was a farce."

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The Ben Johnson Scandal: ATurning Point

A pivotal moment in public perception of steroid use was the Ben Johnson scandal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Johnson's initial victory and subsequent disqualification for steroid use became a global headline, exacerbating the anti-steroid sentiment.

Daniel Rosenki [07:02]: "The urine sample of Ben Johnson, Canada Athletics 100 meter collected on Saturday, 24 September 1988, was found to contain the metabolites of a banned substance, namely stanozolol."

The scandal transformed the narrative around steroids from mere cheating to moral corruption, influencing both public opinion and legislative action.

Dan Duchene [07:54]: "Ben was the hero. He defeated his arch rival, the great Carl Lewis, the greatest athlete in history. And that narrative changed quickly and it changed to the charged up, politicized words disgraced doper."

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Legislative Response: The Steroid Control Act

In response to growing concerns, the U.S. government enacted the Anti Drug Abuse Act in November 1990, which classified anabolic steroids as a Schedule III controlled substance. This legislation introduced harsher penalties for trafficking and possession, particularly targeting distribution to minors.

Daniel Lundgren [09:12]: "Do you believe that more pressure should be brought to bear on the National Football League to be tougher on ball players involved in drugs."

Senator Joe Biden, among others, was instrumental in advocating for stricter steroid regulations, citing the drugs' threat to fair competition and public health.

Senator Joe Biden [08:44]: "The criminalizing of it by Congress was absolutely the last thing I would have done."

Despite these measures, experts like prosecutor Philip Halpern voiced skepticism about the efficacy of criminalization, arguing that it might drive the market underground, making steroids more dangerous.

Philip Halpern [11:02]: "I never was in favor of it."

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Health Implications and Expert Insights

Medical experts like Dr. Harrison Pope shed light on the long-term health consequences of steroid use, including cardiomyopathy and atherosclerosis, which significantly increase the risk of heart attacks.

Philip Halpern [12:10]: "Steroids affect muscles. The heart, in fact, is the strongest muscle in the body and it's the only muscle that never rests."

Research revealed alarming statistics, such as three out of 86 steroid users in a study having suffered heart attacks before age 45.

Philip Halpern [12:59]: "Of the 86 steroid users who I recruited to participate in our cardiac study, three of the 86 men had had a heart attack prior to the age of 45."

These findings underscored the severe health risks associated with prolonged steroid use, complicating the legislative and cultural battle against their abuse.

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Dan Duchene: The Steroid Guru’s Descent

Central to the steroid narrative is Dan Duchene, a key figure in the 1980s steroid trafficking ring. Duchene's influence extended beyond distribution; he propagated steroid use among gym-goers and personal relationships, fostering addiction and dependency.

Daniel Rosenki [18:26]: "You go so far down a certain road and there's really no way back."

Duchene's criminal activities culminated in his arrest in May 1991 for conspiracy to defraud the federal government by selling GHB, another performance-enhancing drug.

Dan Duchene [25:05]: "I don't look at it like it was wasted time, not ashamed of it at all."

Duchene’s complex character is explored through interviews, revealing a man driven by entrepreneurial spirit yet marred by unethical practices and personal turmoil.

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Impact on Bodybuilding Culture

The Steroid Control Act and subsequent crackdowns had mixed effects on bodybuilding. While intended to curb steroid abuse, competitive bodybuilding saw fluctuating enforcement. The 1990 Mr. Olympia showcased the first drug-tested event, resulting in disqualifications that left competitors like Sean Ray appearing less muscular.

Sean Ray [15:36]: "We were all smaller, we were all softer. We didn't have this wow factor."

The backlash against tested bodybuilders led to the abandonment of extensive testing in subsequent competitions, with some organizations like the International Federation of Bodybuilders claiming adherence to doping controls. However, many insiders argue that steroid use only intensified post-legislation.

Sean Ray [16:34]: "It's the wild, wild west today."

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Long-Term Legacy and Ongoing Challenges

The episode concludes by reflecting on the enduring legacy of the steroid era. Despite legal restrictions, steroid use persists, now facilitated by online markets and evolving drug formulations. Former traffickers like William Dillon transitioned to legitimate fitness industries, shaping modern fitness culture while grappling with their past.

Dan Duchene [27:05]: "If there's a way to cheat, and you can make money cheating, it's human nature to do it just the way it is."

Health risks remain paramount, with experts emphasizing the dangers of steroid abuse and the need for ongoing education and regulation.

Philip Halpern [24:32]: "I don't know what the solution is, but no one should have to die for a trophy."

Bodybuilders and industry veterans advocate for transparency and responsible practices, aiming to foster a healthier and more ethical fitness environment.

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Conclusion

“Extreme” Episode 8, “The Genie Is Out,” offers a compelling exploration of the steroid-fueled bodybuilding boom and its repercussions. Through personal narratives, expert commentary, and historical analysis, Natalia Melman Petruzella presents a nuanced account of ambition, ethics, and the relentless pursuit of physical perfection. The episode underscores the complex interplay between individual choices, cultural norms, and regulatory frameworks in shaping the landscape of modern fitness.

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Notable Quotes:

• Sean Ray [02:31]: "And to know that when the trophy goes, the entire experience goes. Because I was supposed to have a check for $60,000 and I had to explain to my parents, you know, I made a mistake."

• Dan Duchene [07:54]: "Ben was the hero. He defeated his arch rival, the great Carl Lewis, the greatest athlete in history. And that narrative changed quickly and it changed to the charged up, politicized words disgraced doper."

• Philip Halpern [12:24]: "Of the 86 steroid users who I recruited to participate in our cardiac study, three of the 86 men had had a heart attack prior to the age of 45."

• Sean Ray [15:36]: "We were all smaller, we were all softer. We didn't have this wow factor."

• Dan Duchene [27:05]: "If there's a way to cheat, and you can make money cheating, it's human nature to do it just the way it is."

• Philip Halpern [24:32]: "I don't know what the solution is, but no one should have to die for a trophy."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and conclusions of the episode, providing a thorough understanding for those who haven't listened.

Transcript

[Narrator]

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

[Sean Ray]

I never felt pressure as a bodybuilder. When you're a leader, it's hard to feel pressure. Where does that pressure come from? I'm at the top of the class.

[Narrator]

It's February 1990. Bodybuilder Sean Ray is 24 years old and totally confident about his next competition, the Arnold Classic. It's a new event, only in its second year and it was founded by the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. But this show is going to be different from any that Sean has competed in before.

[Sean Ray]

Notification went out that this is going to be the first ever drug tested.

[Narrator]

Show outside of the bodybuilding world. An anti steroid movement has been gathering steam. Now the change in climate is being felt at the very top levels of the bodybuilding world where steroid use is practically a given. For many of the top competitors it.

[Sean Ray]

Was a dirty little secret. But if everyone's doing it, who's cheating?

[Narrator]

Sean is no stranger to using steroids. He started when he was 20.

[Sean Ray]

The pharmacology of it was like the wax on the car had this really nice physique. I need to polish it up.

[Narrator]

But he's not fazed by the news about the testing.

[Sean Ray]

Never having any experience with drug testing, I thought I could run a small cycle and get off in plenty of time for the Arnold Classic where it would be out of my system.

[Narrator]

The competition arrives and Shawn hands over the obligatory pee sample when he walks on stage, oiled up and gleaming in a pair of tiny turquoise trunks. Sean isn't thinking about the drug test. This is his time to shine.

[Sean Ray]

I went in very cocky, self confident, I should say that I've already beat these guys.

[Narrator]

And he does. When the judges scores come in, Sean takes first place. They hand him a trophy and the promise of a $60,000 cash prize.

[Sean Ray]

I win the contest. I'm having dinner with Arnold, my father's there. Everyone's celebrating, business as usual.

[Narrator]

Days pass and Sean is still riding high on his victory when he's about to speak at a bodybuilding seminar in Toronto. He's backstage when he gets some news.

[Sean Ray]

I tested positive after I won the competition. It was a fast acting water based drug and I knew that I had taken it and I was notified that I was disqualified, that I was not gonna receive the check and that I would have to return the trophy.

[Narrator]

Four out of the 13 bodybuilders at the 1990 Arnold Classic are disqualified from the competition. When Sean arrives back home in the US he has to hand his trophy over to Mike Ashley. The bodybuilder who placed second.

[Sean Ray]

It's a tough lesson to go and take a trophy off of your mantle that I'd given to my mom. I drove it to Gold's Gym where they were going to pick it up and then ship it to Mike Ashley's house. And to know that when the trophy goes, the entire experience goes. Because I was supposed to have a check for $60,000 and I had to explain to my parents, you know, I made a mistake. Is there any coming back from this mistake?

[Narrator]

You could see this moment as a sign that even at the most extreme levels of bodybuilding culture, things really were chang that after the downfall of the steroid trafficking ring run by William Dillon, David Jenkins and Dan Duchene a few years earlier, the tide was really beginning to turn against the steroid boom of the 1980s. But it wasn't quite that simple.

[Sean Ray]

The irony is that no one gave a shit. No one cared. The bodybuilding fraternity thought the whole thing was a farce. Testing bodybuilders competing was not going to put a stop to people using anabolics because they work.

[Narrator]

The downfall of the ring helped to pave the way for a broad legal and cultural backlash to anabolics. But eliminating juicing in a culture that had grown used to muscle mass on tap, that was not going to be easy. I'm Natalia Melman Petruzella from BBC Radio 4. This is Extreme Muscle Men.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Episode eight the genie is out.

[Dan Duchene]

As many as one out of 16American boys has tried steroids by the time he finishes high school. But what are the long term health consequences? That's our story tonight.

[Narrator]

It's November 1989, four months before Sean Ray steps up to pose in the Arnold Classic. And in the newsroom of ABC's Nightline, anabolic steroids are at the top of the national agenda. ABC has gathered a collection of talking heads, including none other than the steroid guru himself.

[Dan Duchene]

Joining us from Boron Federal prison camp is Dan Duchene. Duchene was indicted in 1986 on charges that he was part of a steroids trafficking ring.

[Narrator]

There's even a shot of Dan working out in the dusty prison yard, pumping a set of weights in a gray tank top. When it cuts to the studio, Dan is wearing a beige shirt. His hair is graying a little at the temples these days.

[Dan Duchene]

What about the use of steroids by children under 19 years old? We got an estimated half a million of them, Mr. Duchank, that's a moral question as far as a physiological, physical question. Many of the side effects that men experience on steroids, aggressiveness, oily skin, acne, increased libido, are all side effects that boys go through during puberty.

[Narrator]

We're going to come back to this question of side effects later. But despite Dan Duchene audaciously sticking to his support for the drugs, there is a growing sense among politicians that they need to do something about steroids. President Reagan's war on drugs has been underway through most of the 80s. And now at the end of the decade, the anti steroid movement is about to get another big push of momentum. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the atmosphere in the nearly 70,000 capacity Seoul Olympic Stadium is electric. It's the finals of the men's hundred meter dash and all eyes are on two of the competitors. Team USA star Carl Lewis, he was.

[Dan Duchene]

A freak athlete, used to dominating everybody.

[Narrator]

And Ben Johnson, the Canadian hopeful, he.

[Dan Duchene]

Was one of those guys. He was just born to sprint. Ben's got a big lead right off the bat. You can see separation, which is crazy, crazy, crazy in a 100 meter event.

[Narrator]

As well as being a professor of sports studies at Sterling College, Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenki is also Canadian and a former competitive sprinter himself. So he knows every second of this race by heart.

[Dan Duchene]

The gap Ben had at 50 meters, 60 meters, it wasn't closed by Carl even a little bit. It was maintained the entire way to the finish line.

[Narrator]

Ben Johnson takes his place on the top spot of the podium to claim a gold medal and a stunning new world record. But just like Sean Ray, he has to make it past one final obstacle, the drug test.

[Daniel Rosenki]

The urine sample of Ben Johnson, Canada Athletics 100 meter collected on Saturday, 24 September 1988, was found to contain the metabolites of a banned substance, namely stanozolol.

[Narrator]

Ben's team gets him the hell out of there. By the time he lands in Toronto, he's in the middle of a media firestorm.

[Dan Duchene]

Ben was the hero. He defeated his arch rival, the great Carl Lewis, the greatest athlete in history. And that narrative changed quickly and it changed to the charged up, politicized words disgraced doper.

[Narrator]

It even made news across the Atlantic. This is a BBC Sport report from the time.

[Dan Duchene]

Good should never give way to evil. And this is evil that's being exposed. And I think they were right to expose it.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The Ben Johnson scandal cemented this association between steroids and immorality in the public consciousness. And these ideas spilled over into the political sphere too.

[Daniel Rosenki]

Do you believe that more pressure should be brought to bear on the National Football League to be tougher on ball players involved in drugs.

[Dan Duchene]

The answer is yes, and that's why I held hearings, particularly focusing on one aspect of a drug issue which is not a control substance. Steroids.

[Narrator]

That's Senator Joe BIDEN Speaking in 1989 in a televised interview on C Span. He was just one of the politicians driving the push for tougher measures on steroids. Just a couple of months after the Seoul Olympics in November 1988, the Anti Drug Abuse act was signed into law. It singled out anabolic steroids trafficking and introduced new penalties for it. For a single steroid trafficking offense, you could now face up to three years in prison and a fine, or six if you were prescribing or dealing to a minor. Steroids still weren't officially classed as a controlled substance under federal U.S. drug policy. But some states had already taken that step, beginning in California in 1987, the same year the Ring got busted in that state.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

What Biden and many of the politicians who favored this kind of regulation were arguing was that these drugs went against the American values of fair competition and hard work, and even worse, they posed a threat to the health of the nation's children.

[Dan Duchene]

Some students find this as the entry level into illegal drugs of a different sort. It's a very easy step then to take care of all of their problems with drugs, and we have to defeat this idea.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

That's Daniel Lundgren, a congressman from California, speaking in the House sessions on C span in 1988. It really demonstrates how the thinking around steroids had shifted. At the start of the 80s, steroid enforcement wasn't a priority. Now. Steroids were being framed as a gateway drug and in need of stricter controls. But from his cell at Boron Federal Prison Camp, Dan Duchene had a warning for the viewers of Nightline and policymakers on what they could expect from a crackdown.

[Daniel Rosenki]

Duchenne says he's only been replaced by more vicious people.

[Dan Duchene]

I've known black marketeers who mix testosterone powder with regular old Wesson salad oil.

[Daniel Rosenki]

And bottle it up.

[Narrator]

Criminalizing steroids, Duchenne was saying, would only open up the field for bad actors to make them even more dangerous. Dan Duchene wasn't the only one who had reservations about making anabolic steroids a controlled substance. In fact, he had an unlikely ally, none other than the man who prosecuted him, Philip Halpern.

[Philip Halpern]

I ended up talking to people in Congress and they thought I was going to be like, saying, oh, yeah, you know, we need to control this. I never was in favor of it.

[Narrator]

Halperin is being interviewed here in 2019 by Professor Daniel Rosenki. After catching Duchenne, Dylan and Jenkins, Halperin became the go to prosecutor for steroid cases. But he didn't think that classing steroids as a controlled substance was the answer.

[Philip Halpern]

I don't think it's a type of drug of general abuse that should be controlled. It was about informing the general public of the dangers involved in it so that they could make responsible choices. So the criminalizing of it by Congress was absolutely the last thing I would have done. As recently as 20 years ago. We couldn't study the long term effects of stories because there weren't enough people who had been using them into middle age to get an adequate study sample.

[Narrator]

This is Dr. Harrison Pope. He's a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He's been trying to understand the effects of anabolic steroids since the 1980s.

[Philip Halpern]

That's one of the unfortunate things about steroids is that they are very dangerous in the long term. Over a span of many years, the short term effects are very, very minor in the great majority of cases Today.

[Narrator]

Researchers like Harrison Pope have a much better picture of the damage steroids do to your body over time.

[Philip Halpern]

Steroids affect muscles. The heart, in fact, is the strongest muscle in the body and it's the only muscle that never rests. And so the heart is quite vulnerable to the effects of steroids.

[Narrator]

Dr. Pope studied the cardiac effects of long term steroid users and found that they were more likely to develop conditions like cardiomyopathy, which affects how effectively your heart can pump, and atherosclerosis, where your arteries become thick and stiff.

[Philip Halpern]

Of the 86 steroid users who I recruited to participate in our cardiac study, three of the 86 men had had a heart attack prior to the age of 45.

[Narrator]

According to Dr. Pope, about 98.5% of steroid users are male. And long term use can affect their testosterone levels too.

[Philip Halpern]

There appears to be some permanent reduction in testosterone levels or testosterone function in people who've taken steroids for a long period of time. This is something that only in the last five or 10 years has become really evident.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

A lot of this just hadn't been studied yet in the late 80s. So it must have been a confusing landscape for policymakers trying to figure out just how dangerous steroids actually were and how to tackle them with legislation. And amidst all the emotional rhetoric about children in danger and cheaters disgracing elite sport, one solution ultimately won out. The Steroid Control act was signed into law on 29 November 1990. What started with a few guys dealing in a gym in Southern California ended in a complete overhaul of the federal regulation around steroids. The new law meant that anabolic steroids were now a Schedule 3 controlled substance. Now possessing steroids for personal non medical use became a federal crime. It was the dawn of a new era. One the steroid ring and its downfall had helped to usher in. The legal landscape had changed, but so had the body ideals of America. Big muscles used to be seen as low class or narcissistic. Downright suspicious. Real men were all about their brains, not their bodies. Not by the mid-80s. But the fact that there was even a need for a Steroid Control act at all in 1990 is a testament to how the 80s and the steroid boom had shifted the expectations around men's bodies and created a demand for muscles. Putting a lid on that was not going to be easy.

[Narrator]

At the 1990 Mr. Olympia, the brawny competitors are limbering up to step on stage and pose. For the first time, the most prestigious competition in bodybuilding is conducting drug testing. Five of the top bodybuilders in the world have already been disqualified from competing. And some of the ones that are on the stage aren't looking quite as pumped up as normal.

[Sean Ray]

We were all smaller, we were all softer. We didn't have this wow factor.

[Narrator]

Sean Ray is there once again in his tiny turquoise trunks, but this time he's drug free.

[Sean Ray]

The fans were not happy with the way the 1990 Olympians looked. And I don't think that these people were excited to see guys that just didn't blow their mind.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The 1990 Mr. Olympia goes down in bodybuilding history as just a bit, well, deflating. Sean says. The next year, the steroid testing measures at the Mr. Olympia were abandoned. Today, the International Federation of bodybuilders who run Mr. Olympia say they've had doping controls in place since 1986 and that they follow the World Anti Doping Agency code and carry out random testing. But many of the bodybuilders we spoke to for this series maintain that at the top levels of the sport, performance enhancing drug use has only intensified since.

[Narrator]

Since 1990.

[Sean Ray]

It's the wild, wild west today.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Sean says he gave up steroids when he retired from competitions in 2001. The idea was that through tougher enforcement, the Steroid Control act would allow the authorities to crack down on a situation that had gotten out of control. But clearly the bodybuilding world was not about to just get in line with these new Laws. And in the years since then, anabolic steroid use hasn't gone away. The exact number of users in the US today is not known, but a 2013 study by Dr. Harrison Pope and a team of researchers estimated that between 2.9 and 4 million Americans had taken them. Clearly, the steroid black market is still alive and well. And now that steroid dealers can sell the drugs online or advertise on social media, users no longer have to rely on finding a guy in the know at the gym. But Daniel Supnick, a former U.S. customs Service Special agent who worked on the investigation into the steroid ring in the 80s, doesn't think that means the Steroid Control act has failed.

[Dan Duchene]

People still use cocaine, people are still using heroin and everything else illegal. Illegal activity is going to go on all the time, but it doesn't mean it's beneficial for people to use those things on any level. By declaring the drugs illegal, I have nothing wrong with that. If the government made that determination that potentially kids could be hurt by getting involved with this, injecting this stuff in their bodies, I wouldn't want my kids involved with that stuff. For the health.

[Narrator]

The steroid boom emerged from a community that thrived on a spirit of experimentation. So when steroids became more restricted, people began to look for other ways to to get big. And at the vanguard of that experimentation was, as ever, the steroid guru himself.

[Daniel Rosenki]

You go so far down a certain road and there's really no way back.

[Narrator]

That's Mike Zimpano, Dan's old gold's gym buddy, and his co author of the Underground steroid handbook, their 1982 how to Guide to steroid use. Doing time didn't mean Dan Duchene had lost his fascination for chemical experimentation. When he was released after serving 10 months of his sentence, it was time for the guru to figure out his next move.

[Daniel Rosenki]

In the early 90s, a drug called GHB had started to get very popular.

[Narrator]

GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, was first developed in the 1960s as an alternative anesthetic. But it's notorious for a different reason.

[Daniel Rosenki]

GHB was a date rape drug, and I was very worried when it ended up on the bodybuilding scene and you could walk into any health food store and buy it. And then Dan told me that he was also involved in manufacturing and selling GHB.

[Narrator]

In the late 80s, GHB caught on in the bodybuilding world as a dietary supplement and a sleep aid. In 1990, the FDA issued warnings about it and banned it outright in 1991. But that didn't stop Dan from selling it.

[Daniel Rosenki]

I really felt he was making poor decisions at that point.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

And Mike says Dan's experimentation didn't stop with himself. There are plenty of stories about Dan Duchene's controlling treatment of women.

[Daniel Rosenki]

When he would get a girlfriend, he'd try to find ways to make her not feel very valuable about herself so that she would feel like, well, I guess Dan's the best I could do. And then he would always get them on way too much anabolic materials of one type or another. He got a lot of his friends and girlfriends hooked on designer drugs, and they had a very difficult time getting off of them. One girl told me that she didn't sleep well for six months. She said when she was going through withdrawal, she'd stand in the shower and then lay in the shower for an hour just to kind of control the panic attacks and anxiety that she was having. He left some casualties along the way, and I felt very bad about that, and so did he. But he kept doing it. It's almost like he couldn't stop himself.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

In May 1991, Duchesne's house was raided by U.S. marshals. He was arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud the federal government for selling GHB. And in 1992, after a jury trial, Dan was convicted. He passed away in January 2000 from complications related to polycystic kidney disease at the age of 48.

[Daniel Rosenki]

Dan was a complicated character. Dan was not an evil person. He didn't want evil for people. But I believe that the trauma that he experienced as a child set him on a path to make decisions that weren't to his benefit or to the benefit of the people that he cared about. And I think that's a very sad thing.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The steroid boom of the 1980s helped to shape the image obsessed world we live in today, where getting shredded for a superhero movie is practically a rite of passage for a list actors. And sculpting a six pack like an ancient Greek statue has become a national pastime for many young men. The desire for a quick chemical fix that will give you bodily perfection or enhanced performance only grows. There are even more options of what to take, too. The Steroid Control act has been expanded to try to tackle the new drugs entering the market. But it's hard to keep up. It's also striking just how many people from the 1980s gym scene ended up shaping the legitimate side of the fitness world, too. David Jenkins was released from prison after serving nine months of his seven year sentence. He later expressed regret about his own use of steroids, saying that they make you become a liar and that you have to live with that lie for the rest of your life. Jenkins turned his hand to the world of sports drinks and supplements, the place where so many of the people in this story trained. Gold's Gym has changed owners over the years, and it's now a chain gym with branches on six continents. And often when you talk to people who were there in the 80s gym scene, people like Sandra Blackie, they're proud to have been part of that era.

[Philip Halpern]

It was probably. I'm going to get choked up. It was probably the highlight of my life to be a bodybuilder during that time. It was my opportunity to travel the world, get my citizenship in the United States and feel famous. I felt like a pioneer.

[Narrator]

Sandra is speaking to something really exciting, almost magical about that moment when the fitness world was young and people like her weren't just showing up every day at the gym to work on their own bodies. They felt like they were testing the boundaries of human potential. Today, some of those interventions are illegal, and elite bodybuilding is still a subculture. But that curiosity and optimism about how much stronger, faster, leaner, better you can get is still so foundational to fitness culture today. That said, even if this spirit has made its way to millions of casual exercisers who do not use steroids, the risks of steroid use are still undeniable. And concentrated in the bodybuilding world we're using is as apparent as ever.

[Philip Halpern]

We've had a high incidence of premature death, primarily due to heart attack, in our industry.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Sandra hopes that by talking about her own steroid use, she can start a more transparent conversation in the sport.

[Philip Halpern]

I'm open and honest to a point about my own history. I don't want to lie or continue to create a secrecy, because I want to be real. I want people to hear some real stuff. I don't know what the solution is, but no one should have to die for a trophy.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

William Dillon left the steroid world after his conviction. In spite of it all, the cop raids, the death threats, the looming possibility of prison, he says he doesn't regret his dealing days.

[Dan Duchene]

I look back on it in a very pragmatic way. I don't look at it like it was wasted time, not ashamed of it at all. My kids are not ashamed of it. My kids don't look at it like anything except being an entrepreneur. I was just being an entrepreneur in a gray area.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

These days, Dylan swapped selling steroids for running A range of different strictly legal.

[Dan Duchene]

Businesses, all using principles I used in steroids.

[Narrator]

William Dillon never did go back to start the farm he always wanted in Illinois. But after the ring went down, he did get one more chance to relive his bodybuilding dreams. One bright afternoon in San Diego, he steps out on a diving board in front of a crowd of families and tourists. The sun glints off the ripples in the pool beneath him.

[Dan Duchene]

I ended up doing a show at SeaWorld called Muscle Beach. It was a dive show.

[Narrator]

Dylan flexes his muscles playing to the crowd.

[Dan Duchene]

It had a bodybuilder and it had a nerd, and the bodybuilder was gonna be king of Muscle Beach. But he wouldn't do this big jump or something on the diving board, you know, it was a comedy show. This was really fun.

[Narrator]

Maybe one of the kids who watched Dylan posing and splashing about with his huge muscles would be inspired to build a body just like his one day. The same way that Dylan once dreamed of being so big that nobody could humiliate him on the playground or hold him back in any way ever again. That dream took him to the glamorous upper echelons of the LA bodybuilding world and its seedy underbelly.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It helped usher in a new era of chemically enhanced physiques fueled by a black market with Dylan, Duchene and Jenkins at the center. It made Dylan a lot of money. It got him arrested and convicted of a federal crime, too.

[Narrator]

And it helped to drive a radical reshaping of America's body ideals and all the pressures that come with it that we still live with today. But these days, Dylan has a different perspective.

[Dan Duchene]

You can never be invincible. Doesn't matter how big you are. 10 people can hold you down. But you don't know that when you're young. I think it's going to be real interesting what happens going forward. We're for sure going to keep looking for enhancers, no matter what. We always will. If there's a way to cheat, and you can make money cheating, it's human nature to do it just the way it is.

[Narrator]

The producer of Muscle Men is Caroline Thornham. The assistant producer is Mohamed Ahmed. The editor is Kathryn Godfrey. Sound design and mix by Nicholas Alexander. Original music by Silverhawk AKA Cyril Poirier. Our production manager is Cherie Houston. Our commissioning editor at the BBC is Dan Clark. Max O'Brien is the executive producer for Novel and I'm Natalia Melman Petruzella, your host and executive producer. Extreme is produced by novel for BBC Radio 4.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Humanity's Journey to understanding the body has been a gory one, littered with unethical experiments, unintended consequences and unimaginable pain in the human subject.

[Dan Duchene]

From BBC Radio 4, we investigate the stories of the discoveries that came at great human cost, but ones that also saved countless lives.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

I'm Dr. Julia Shaw.

[Dan Duchene]

And I'm Dr. Adam Rutherford. And in this series, we're going to investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins and reveal the untold stories of the people who endured them. Listen on BBC sounds.