Podcast Summary: Up and Vanished – Introducing Leaked, Hosted by Payne Lindsey

Date: December 16, 2025
Podcast: Up and Vanished
Host: Payne Lindsey (Tenderfoot TV)
Episode Theme: The origins of COVID-19 and the questions surrounding accountability, biosecurity, and scientific transparency

Episode Overview

This special episode introduces "Leaked," a new podcast hosted by Payne Lindsey. Departing from Up and Vanished’s traditional focus on missing persons and cold cases, this episode takes aim at perhaps the greatest modern mystery—where did COVID-19 come from, what don’t we know about its origins, and who is accountable? Lindsey sets out to explore these questions, promising a rigorous, nonpartisan investigation into the facts, controversies, and scientific debates that have surrounded the pandemic since its beginnings.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Scope of Biosecurity Threats

• [00:02] The episode opens by reframing national security:

  "The greatest national security threat for the United States is not China. It's not Russia. It's not North Korea. It's not Iran. It's biosecurity. Biological events have the greatest potential to change the way of life in America in a nanosecond."
  – Dr. Robert Redfield

• Lindsey sets the stage for the podcast’s core concern: the hidden, even existential, risks posed by biological threats.

2. Dr. Robert Redfield: An Overlooked Voice

• Dr. Redfield, former CDC director during the emergence of COVID-19, is introduced as a key expert whose views were underrepresented in public discourse.
• Lindsey highlights the tension around Redfield’s early suggestion that the virus could have come from some form of biomedical research:

  "When I suggested the COVID virus probably was a consequence of biomedical research, that it was not received with a lot of enthusiasm by the scientific community..."
  – Dr. Robert Redfield ([00:36])

3. The Lab Origin Hypothesis: Ostracism and Vindication

• The episode discusses how scientists questioning the origins of COVID-19 initially faced significant backlash, only for some to later feel vindicated as the lab leak theory gained traction.
• Lindsay cites the existence of a “manufactured consensus” and ferocious headwinds against dissenting views:

  "You knew that in 2020, everyone in the research community familiar with the basic facts understood that a lab origin was a real possibility."
  – Voiceover ([01:13])

4. Science, Truth, and Mixed Messages

• Lindsey zeroes in on the persistent confusion:

  "When you step back and strip away all the politics, and I mean really, please do that, because science and the truth are not beholden to any... political party. Objectively, there have always been and continues to be mixed messages about COVID..."
  – Payne Lindsey ([01:29])

• The show references external skepticism, pointing to the eerily similar names between the virus and the Wuhan lab:

  "The disease is the same name as the lab. That's just. That's just a little too weird, don't you think?"
  – Payne Lindsey ([01:53])

5. Personal Stakes and the Unclaimed Toll

• Lindsey underscores how the pandemic cost over 7 million lives and yet remains shrouded in ambiguity and lack of accountability:

  "I've investigated missing persons cases, murders, government coverups. But over 7 million lives have been lost from COVID... and all with no real accountability."
  – Payne Lindsey ([02:06])

6. From True Crime to Global Crime: Lindsey’s Approach

• Lindsey makes clear that "Leaked" will not debate issues like mask-wearing or vaccines, but instead pursue the underlying truth:

  "This isn't about debating whether or not you should wear a mask or get a vaccine shot. It's about finding the truth and accountability."
  – Payne Lindsey ([02:21])

7. Scientific Hubs, Arrogance, and Existential Risks

• Dr. Redfield delivers a stark warning about the dangers of unchecked scientific arrogance:

  "The reality behind it is the scientific arrogance to think that we can control science for the benefit of man. And there's no downside. And I'm arguing there's a big downside and we need to wake up to it sooner than later because that could destroy the world."
  – Dr. Robert Redfield ([02:46])

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Dr. Robert Redfield [00:02]: "The greatest national security threat for the United States is... biosecurity."
• Dr. Robert Redfield [00:36]: "When I suggested the COVID virus probably was a consequence of biomedical research, that it was not received with a lot of enthusiasm by the scientific community..."
• Voiceover [01:13]: "You knew that in 2020, everyone in the research community familiar with the basic facts understood that a lab origin was a real possibility."
• Payne Lindsey [01:29]: "When you step back and strip away all the politics... science and the truth are not beholden to any... political party."
• Payne Lindsey [01:53]: "The disease is the same name as the lab. That's just. That's just a little too weird, don't you think?"
• Payne Lindsey [02:21]: "This isn't about debating whether or not you should wear a mask or get a vaccine shot. It's about finding the truth and accountability."
• Dr. Robert Redfield [02:46]: "The scientific arrogance to think that we can control science for the benefit of man... could destroy the world."

Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:02 – Dr. Redfield reframes national security around biological threats
• 00:36 – Redfield discusses being ignored for raising the possibility of research-related COVID origins
• 01:13 – Consensus and ostracism in the scientific community
• 01:29 – Lindsey urges stripping away politics in the search for truth
• 01:53 – Lindsey points out the coincidence between the lab name and the virus
• 02:06 – Lindsey comments on COVID’s stunning death toll and lack of accountability
• 02:21 – Lindsey clarifies the podcast's focus: truth, not political debate
• 02:46 – Dr. Redfield warns about scientific arrogance and existential risk

Tone and Style

The episode blends investigative rigor with a somber urgency. Lindsey remains impartial and determined, shifting the true crime lens from missing persons to the global mystery and stakes of the pandemic. Both Lindsey and Redfield bring a sense of seriousness, skepticism, and an appeal to honest inquiry—eschewing politics in favor of facts.

Conclusion

"Introducing Leaked" sets up a broader true crime investigation: not of an individual, but of one of history’s greatest crises. Payne Lindsey, leveraging his Up and Vanished pedigree, teases a season devoted to unearthing hard answers and fresh perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic’s murky origins, institutional failures, and the costs of scientific hubris. The invitation is clear—a search for truth, accountability, and perhaps, a new kind of closure in a post-pandemic world.