Ashley Flowers Crime Junkie empire in turmoil as staffer vomited from nerves before presentation: report

“Crime Junkie” podcast star Ashley Flowers’ $250 million true-crime empire has been rocked by an exodus of about 30% of its workforce — as burned-out employees chafed under the founder’s punishing demands and one worker recalled vomiting from nerves before presenting ideas to her, according to a bombshell report.About 30 of Audiochuck’s 100 employees have bolted over the past year, including its chief executive, chief legal officer and chief growth officer, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the company.Meanwhile, internal surveys reviewed by the news outlet showed employee satisfaction plunging from a score of 27 in April 2025 to negative 34 by the second quarter of this year.Some staffers complained of working early mornings, weekends and late into the night to keep up with Flowers’ “uncompromising expectations,” according to Bloomberg.One employee told the outlet that the prospect of pitching ideas to Flowers was so stressful that the worker blew chunks beforehand.Audiochuck acknowledged growing pains at the company, which Flowers founded in 2017 and transformed into a roughly 100-person operation.“As the company has grown quickly, its systems and processes haven’t always kept pace, and Audiochuck has worked directly to address that,” Audiochuck told Bloomberg.The behind-the-scenes turmoil stands in stark contrast to the runaway success of “Crime Junkie,” which is currently the No.2 podcast in Edison Research’s latest public national ranking and is attracting its biggest audience since its launch.Average weekly unique listeners are up 71% year over year, YouTube views have soared 400% and downloads per episode are at an all-time high, an Audiochuck representative told Bloomberg.But Flowers’ relentless push to expand the blockbuster franchise has caused friction inside the company, according to the report.In one episode detailed by Bloomberg, an employee began appearing in a series of “Crime Junkie” socia...