Theresa Caputo: The Experience

That’s what she calls her live show: “The Experience”. Well, let me tell you about the experience that I had at her show last night.

First off, my mom and I were huge fans of her hit TLC show “The Long Island Medium”. Shortly after my brother passed away in May 2013, I discovered the show on NetFlix (I don’t have cable) and I told my mom about it. We were hooked and quickly zoomed through all 5 seasons. I was amazed at Theresa’s gift of being able to communicate with dead people. I applauded her for dedicating her life’s work to giving healing messages to those that had suffered losses and needed to hear from their loved ones who had crossed over.

Losing my brother was the most painful and difficult thing I had ever gone through and I thought about how nice it would be to have private reading with Theresa to communicate with him again. Seeing as how Theresa lives in New York and is booked out for years, I knew my chances of every meeting her were slim to none.

But I joined her Fan Club (for $19.99) and hoped that someday I would be able to connect with her. Soon after, I discovered she was coming to my hometown for one of her live shows!! And low and behold it was right before my birthday! Seeing as how I was a Fan Club member, I got to purchase tickets before the general public and I quickly got online and purchased tickets for my mom and me to sit in the 3^rd row ($100 each).

As the days drew closer, mom and I grew more and more excited that we were going to be in the same room as Theresa Caputo! We carefully chose our outfits, jewelry, and mementos to bring with us in hopes that we would get a reading.

Mom took me out to dinner beforehand and we discussed how excited we were to see Theresa in person. We discussed how hopeful we were to hear from my brother (as well as my grandma, grandpa, and aunt). Being the realists that we are, we realized that our chances were slim. But it seemed like destiny that she had come to us and we were sitting so close to the front. We just KNEW she was going to read us!

We arrived in the sold out theater along with the other 2,798 hopefuls. We took our seats and took a photo of ourselves anxiously awaiting Theresa’s arrival on stage. Shortly afterwards, she did arrive and I grabbed my phone to snap a quick picture of her.

BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER!

Apparently, that is a crime of the highest proportions in Theresa’s husband’s eyes. Larry Caputo, who was standing next to the stage, ran (I’m talking he really hauled) over to me, climbed over the two rows of people in front of me, got right in my face, and shouted for me to “put that phone away and stop taking pictures!!!!” I was scared out of my mind! I honestly thought he was going to deck me! He was really aggressive and the look on his face was mean and snarly.

I quickly agreed, dropping my phone into my purse, fearful of reaching for it again to check on a text from my husband. I spent the first half of the show trying to calm down from the fear that Larry had instilled in me.

Then there’s Theresa.

She spent the first 45 minutes of her “Experience” promoting her show on TLC, her book There’s More To Life Than This, and her Fan Club. She also boasted about how many people have liked her page on Facebook and how man Twitter followers she has. It was basically an infomercial for Theresa Caputo the brand. Not to mention, there were t-shirts for sale in the lobby stating “The higher the hair, the closer to God”.

When she finally got around to the business of reading people, she brought out two cameramen who shoved their cameras into people’s faces with a light that was brighter than a thousand suns. They were told to stand up and speak into the mic. If they forgot, they were reminded repeatedly “Speak into the mic!”.

Theresa was rude, irreverent, and she even made fun of some of her participants. Like when Theresa asked this woman if her deceased dad had spoken another language. The woman said no, but Theresa kept hounding her. Finally, it came to light that the woman had received a bracelet from her dad with her name in Hawaiian on it. Theresa wouldn’t let it go. She made a huge production out of the fact Hawaiian is another language and she didn’t tell her the truth when she replied no to that question.

It was around that time that I completely changed my mind on wanting a reading from Theresa. I didn’t want to subject myself to the lights, camera, action! of it all. I didn’t want to talk about something so personal with a room full of 2,800 strangers. I didn’t want the whole thing broadcast up on the big screen up on stage. And I really didn’t want to be made fun of by someone that, up until that night, I had admired.

The final reading of the night was a woman who had lost her precious son days before his 4^th birthday. She informed the audience that she had been to Theresa’s show the night before in Portland, OR and knew that Theresa was talking about her son that night, but she didn’t speak up. Why? Because Theresa makes it clear from the beginning of the show that if she starts asking questions like “Who lost a son?”, you are NOT to shout at her. If you shout at Theresa, you will be removed from the theater. This poor woman said she was fearful of being removed from the theater in Portland and, instead, decided to drive to Theresa’s next show to try again. Theresa turned the whole thing into a 3 ring circus by calling this woman’s husband on the phone and making a big production about how she just KNEW that was their son! (instead of actually reading the woman standing in front of her and telling her things from her son)

By the end of the night, I had a throbbing headache. I couldn’t exit the theater fast enough! I was assaulted by Larry Caputo and disgusted by Theresa Caputo. First thing this morning, I unliked her on Facebook and stopped following Theresa, Larry, Larry Jr, and Victoria on Twitter.

After witnessing  Theresa’s “gift” in person, I now recognize her for what she truly is: a fraud. She preys upon vulnerable, grief-stricken people by cold reading them. She employs shameless techniques such as “piggy backing”. She has become a brand instead of a person. And she employs her bulldog of a husband to protect that brand. No wonder they enforce the “No photos or recording” policy so strongly. She can’t have all of her loyal fans knowing what a phony she is.

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