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Netflix's new number-one show is a jaw-dropping shock doc

Reveals the dark side of social media and religion...

The third series of Bridgerton has been dominating the Netflix charts for a number of weeks now, but now there is a new number one with Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult hitting the top spot.

The documentary is a rather sad one, focusing on a group of TikTok dancers who signed up to a management company hoping for fame. Instead what they got was the feeling that they had joined a religious cult.

The documentary sees the dancers embroiled in the controversy come together to tell their side of the story, while their lives - and love for dancing - are also showcased. What's also told is the story of Robert Shinn, the pastor of the Shekinah Church and founder of talent management company 7M - although he has't been interviewed for the documentary.

Director Derek Doneen is no stranger to crime docs, having also contributed to the fantastic Heist crime series. Here it is a much more sombre affair - and no crime is yet to have happened in the eyes of the law - given the subject matter involves the lives of young dancers. Some of these dancers are still involved with the 7M talent management company that's at the centre of the documentary and the allegations.

Speaking about the doc to Tudum, Doneen said: “I think audiences will be surprised by how easily regular people can get sucked into cult-like groups and how devastating the impact can be on families, friends, and communities.

“I’m in awe of the families who let us in as they worked tirelessly to rescue their loved ones.”

Image Credit: Netflix

While the doc is still a little new to garner a Rotten Tomatoes score, there are a number of reviews for the documentary out there...

The Guardian reckons that Dancing for the Devil "takes its many stranger-than-fiction components and turns them into a story that is unusually sensitive, for Netflix at least, and also desperately sad."

The Chicago SunTimes notes that it's "Insightful at times but also incomplete, Netflix series explores Shekinah Church and its company 7M, which manages TikTok stars but resembles a cult."

Decider wasn't a fan, explaining: Dancing For The Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult isn’t necessarily one-sided, but it’s certainly unbalanced, in the sense that we hear a lot about the victims of 7M were told to do but not a lot about what drew them to Shinn and made them stay under his control.

According to Netflix's own charts, Dancing For The Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult is currently number one in the US and the UK and can be streamed in full now.

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