Heidi Wong (3:07)
Every society needs people playing different roles to make it all work. Policemen, firefighters, teachers, bankers. Science seems obvious, right? But apparently, according to some scholars, the world also needs psychopaths in order to function. At least according to British psychologist Kevin Dutton. Dutton believes that psychopaths need to make up a full 10% of society. It's apparently because people who have that extra edge to them will dedicate themselves to things that most people won't. And they appear in all sorts of professions, from surgeons to journalists. In Dutton's study, chefs come in ninth place for having the highest prevalence of psychopaths, at least in British society. And it turns out there's a long history of stories about chefs who use their skills to do more than cook up a meal. There's a story in Greek mythology about one of Zeus's mortal sons, Tantalus, who stole nectar and ambrosia from the gods, thinking it would make him immortal. Well, it didn't work. So to test the gods, Tantalus thought for some reason, he could kill his son and feed him to them. To nobody's surprise, the gods caught onto him. As punishment, Tantalus was doomed to spend eternity standing in water surrounded by fruit. But anytime he tried to eat or drink, it pulled away from him. A couple thousand years later, William Shakespeare took his own spin on the topic of dangerous cooking with his play Titus Andronicus, which is about a Roman general who kills and cooks two men into pies after they assault and mutilate his daughter. And this theme has continued into modern times, from Game of Thrones to South Park. And in recent years, maybe the most famous instance of a chef turned killer is 2022's the Menu. In the Menu, chef Julian, played by Ralph Fiennes, invites his guests to enjoy a meticulously planned, brilliantly unraveling culinary horror show. It's giving. Yes, chef, for sure. Among the diners are a once famous movie star, Tech Bros. An absurdly wealthy couple, and of course, Margot, played by Anya Taylor. Joy. The meal begins with elaborate small bites that are more art than food. But as the night goes on, things take a dark turn. And it starts with a chorus called the Message, where a sous chef kills himself in front of the diners. And then it unravels even more until guests themselves become part of the final dessert. Our eyes and ears throughout the movie is Margot out of everyone. Only she really sees the insanity of the entire night. And because she doesn't really buy into fine dining, she's the only one to survive. Of course, this is an over the top satire of how intense chefs can be about their craft, or really, anyone can be about their craft. Screenwriter Will Tracy was inspired by a dinner he had at an exclusive restaurant in Norway. The name of that restaurant translates to Cornelius Seafood Restaurant. It's located on a private island, and Tracy had to take a private boat to get there. As he sat for his meal, he felt a weird sense of dread. Tracy didn't think the chef was going to kill him, but he did wonder what would happen if somebody had an emergency. They were miles from the mainland and anything could happen. Thankfully, Tracy and everyone else that night made it home safe and sound. But the crazy thing is, when it comes to some chefs, your safety isn't always guaranteed. If you're looking for an ultimate getaway, there's nothing quite like the south of France. The weather, the food, the history. You can't do much better. And the village of Brasquet seems to live up to that. This small, rural community of less than 200 residents is perched at the top of a scenic plateau surrounded by rolling hills and rivers. It looks like it's straight out of a storybook, but it's also the place of nightmares. In February 2023, a local pizza chef named Philippe Schneider and his buddy, a gravedigger named Loop, were on the hunt for a score. They heard a rumor that a guy named George McClair had a few extra bucks and and some weed somewhere in his property, which was in an isolated wood. So Philippe and Lou decided they would go and take it all for themselves. Once they made it into Georges property, the details get a bit fuzzy. Here's what we do know. Philippe and Lou came across George, who decided not just to hand over his things. Thinking he'd resist and call the cops, Philippe and Lou tied George up and gagged him. The only problem, they also suffocated and killed him. All of a sudden, what was supposed to be a simple burglary turned into murder. Philippe and Lou had no idea what to do with the body. They weren't exactly hardened criminals. You'd think since Lou was a gravedigger, they could just bury George's remains. Instead, they decided to make use of Philippe's background and keep him with something a little more unorthodox. Philippe wasn't just a pizza maker. He was also a trained butcher. And he decided to make use of his skills by taking George's body home, dismembering his limbs and chucking them into pots to stew down with vegetables. Apparently, this was to cover up the odor of a rotting corpse. Phillipe also burned his organs and his head, hands, and feet. Then he took the guy's ashes and spread them in a nearby yard. And Phillipe wasn't exactly safe. Subtle after that, either. Eventually, he and his girlfriend were spotted driving George's car around town. When someone asked what he was doing with the guy's car, Philippe replied that George was letting him borrow it, which was not exactly believable. After that, George's daughter started receiving strange text messages from his number and said that he was going out of town with a friend. But the tone didn't sound like him. The situation was extremely fishy. Before long, Philippe was taken in for questioning. He didn't bother denying what he'd done and confessed to everything. Philippe was charged with kidnapping, leading to death, concealment of a corpse, and endangering the integrity of a corpse. His accomplice, Lou, was charged with being complicit as well. When Philippe finally decided to speak to the press, he said the following. I have no words to express my guilt and my many regrets, but I understand the anger and disgust I can evoke. I offer my sincerest apologies to the family. This is an act of madness that should never have happened. I plead guilty to all the charges against me. The phrase an act of madness sticks out to me, given the correlation that we just talked about between chefs and psychopaths. Even so, he's not the only chef to cook. Their victim, David Viens, oversaw Time Contemporary Cafe in Lomita, which is just over 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles. One night in 2011, David and his wife dawn, decided to take a break from fine dining and go out to a reliable classic California pizza kitchen. After their dinner together, it's reported that David bailed to go shoot some pool with his buds. By all accounts, it was a tame evening until things went south. According to his testimony, David headed home after he was done playing pool. But the night wasn't over. When he got home, he and Don did some cocaine together. He says they began to fight after that. And while he didn't give many details, he did say that he suspected dawn was stealing money from him. And also she was pestering him a lot that night. Who knows if he was telling the truth, but what we do know is this. David duct tapes Dawn's mouth shut, then bound her hands and feet. But the next morning when he woke up, he freaked out. Why? According to him, Don was, quote, hard. And these are his words. It's clear that whatever happened that night, Don Viens died because of David. And like in our last story, he decided to use his culinary skills to get rid of the evidence. He took Dawn's body, stuffed it face first into a 55 gallon drum of water, and boiled it over the course of four days. Afterwards, he took what remained of her and mixed it with waste from his restaurant. Then he stuffed it all into garbage bags and threw everything into the dumpster, just like that. And he did keep one thing, her skull. And allegedly, he put it in his mom's attic. But he couldn't keep quiet about what he'd done. This is like Ed Gein level deranged, you guys. This is actually crazy. Note, this is not all chefs, okay? Just because you're good at cooking does not mean that you're going to do a bunch of drugs and then tie up your wife and then chop her into bits and then cook her. This is definitely an extreme. David. What the hell? David eventually confessed to his daughter, as well as a woman he dated after he killed Don. When David learned that investigators were on his tail, he threw himself off an 80 foot cliff, hoping the fall would kill him. It didn't. David recounted the ordeal in court from a wheelchair. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. And with that, justice was served. But if you think cooking is the only way that psychotic, murderous chefs get rid of their victims, just wait until you hear about this next one. Growing up in England, Stephen Port was a quiet, creative kid. When he got older, he went to art school and was passionate about cooking. But there was a side of him he'd been hiding. Steven was gay, and he was afraid of what his family would think, so he hadn't told them. And when he finally did come out, his mom's reaction was exactly what he feared it would be. And this wasn't the only disappointment Stephen felt from his family. Around the same time, he had to drop out of our school because he couldn't afford it. But Stephen kept cooking, and he even appeared in the background of an episode of Celebrity MasterChef. It seemed like things were looking up for him. Steven was also exploring his queer identity, notably on the Grindr app. But instead of flourishing in this newfound freedom, Steven became the exact kind of person you'd be terrified to meet online. Once he got onto Grindr, Steven developed an entire alter ego. On his profile, he said that he was a member of the Royal Navy and attended Oxford, neither of which was True. And while that's really sketchy, plenty of people lie about themselves online. But it didn't stop there for Stephen. Soon enough, he was luring young men to his apartment to hook up and do drugs, typically Mephedrone and Ecstasy. He escalated to drugging them with ghb, a powerful sedative that can easily kill you. And it didn't take long before he did. Stephen's first Victim was a 23 year old fashion student named Anthony Walgate. After meeting on an escort website, Anthony came over to Stephen's apartment, where Stephen drugged, assaulted, and killed him. He did the Same thing to 22 year old Gabriel Kovari, a Slovakian kid living in South London. Steven did this four times before he was caught. And what makes it even more tragic is that after an internal investigation, the police realized they'd made some serious, serious mistakes. They actually could have identified Stephen much earlier, right after he killed Anthony Walgate. Now, it doesn't seem like the pressures of the kitchen are what led to Stephen Port's crimes. If anything, cooking was one of the only bright spots in his life before it all went wrong. But in other instances, the obsessive internal drive to succeed in so many chefs can lead to tragedy. And sometimes that tragedy happens to themselves. Themselves. Bernard Watteau was no ordinary chef. His restaurant received the incredible honor of three Michelin stars in 1991, when Bernard was only 40 years old. In case you're not familiar with the Michelin system, receiving three stars is practically unheard of. For reference, there are only 157 three star restaurants in the entire world. Getting just one star means you're one of the best in the the game. Three stars means you're one of the greatest of all time. You know, the goats of the culinary world. And for someone like Bernard, who first started working in kitchens as a teenager, it was the ultimate payoff for a life spent obsessing over perfection. And after he got his three stars, Bernard ascended even more. Not only was his restaurant a hit, but Bernard himself was too. He became the first chef in France. France whose brand was a publicly listed company on the stock market. And he branched out to build an empire that soon included multiple restaurants. But that kind of success was hard to ustain. And in February 2003, there were whispers that Bernard's restaurant might be downgraded to two stars instead of three. Even though the rumor turned out not to be true, Bernard was supposedly really shaken up by it. Now, having two Michelin stars is still a huge honor, literally. In Hong Kong, the two Michelin star restaurants all have the chef's picture, like in front. Like that was the vibe that it gave, you know. But for Bernard, who couldn't accept anything less than perfection, it would have been unacceptable. According to his wife, Bernard's behavior started to change after this rumor came out. He was on edge, unable to be reasoned with. And in a tragic turn of events, on February 24, 2003, 52 year old Bernard took his own life. Bernard's wife said that he was prone to bouts of manic depression. He'd be giddy one moment and then in a deep well of despair the next. And it seemed like the thought of his life's work being unraveled was something he sadly just couldn't overcome. If we learned anything so far, it's that being a chef comes with intense pressure. We've seen that manifest into all kinds of tragic violence. And in this next case, it came in a way that you would never expect. Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today.
