Long before Louis Theroux delved into the complexities of the ‘manosphere’, the acclaimed British documentarian may have inadvertently explored its fringes nearly three decades ago. At that time, he interviewed a male dating coach, often referred to as a ‘speed seduction specialist’.

In an episode of his series Weird Weekends, Theroux observed with skepticism as American author Ross Jeffries attempted to engage a woman at a California café using so-called hypnotic techniques.

The self-proclaimed ‘dating coach’, sporting glasses, displayed methods aimed at helping men bypass a woman’s initial judgments, often based on appearance, wealth, or social standing. He also bragged about maintaining relationships with multiple women simultaneously.

Figures like Jeffries, who specialize in instructing men on how to ‘capture’ women, have become central figures in the controversial manosphere. Here, influencers showcase their strategies while promoting damaging ideologies surrounding consent and attraction.

Creators such as Harrison Sullivan (HSTikkyTokky), Myron Gaines and Walter Weekes (Fresh & Fit), Russel Hatley, Stirling Cooper, and Hamza Ahmed push the envelope with extreme dating advice for men. Their content often includes guidance on ‘disciplining’ women or persuading them into situations like threesomes, through both online videos and costly coaching sessions.

Before the advent of the ‘alpha male’ TikTok dating coach, however, a faction of YouTube content creators propagated similar views in ‘street interviews’, when they asked women sexually inappropriate and awkward questions to ‘seduce’ them. 

But while the platform’s most notorious ‘pick up artists’ once had substantial followings, their clout has since dissipated – as we take a look at where they are now. 

Jack Manley 

Jack Manley earned over 1.4 million followers with videos titled ‘Hot Girls on Needy Guys’ and ‘Does Height Matter’

American YouTuber Jack Manley became internet famous in 2017 when he started hitting on inebriated women outside bars in Austin, Texas, and posting the clips online.  

He earned over 1.4 million followers with videos titled ‘Hot Girls on Needy Guys’ and ‘Does Height Matter’ as Jack, now 28, proved how his method of ‘seduction’ could overcome a perceived dating advantage like being too short. 

Uncomfortable clips showed Jack kissing women on the street or hoisting them onto his shoulder after a few minutes of chatting while demonstrating bizarre flirting ‘techniques’ like ‘saying nothing’. 

He leveraged his YouTube success into a coaching programme called ‘The Manley Method’ but stopped posting one year later. 

His channel has been wiped, barring 10 videos, but he is frequently featured in ‘cringe compilations’ put together by YouTubers like GunnarTV and Cody Ko.

In one video posted in 2021, Cody revealed Manley had migrated to OnlyFans at the time, but his account on the adult subscription platform has since been taken down.

Today, all that remains of Manley on the internet are stray comments about his whereabouts. One Reddit post reads: ‘Does anybody know what happened to Jack Manley TV?’ 

‘Seriously, I’m trying to find out,’ another message began. ‘He had a big channel and just completely disappeared three or four years ago…’ 

One Instagram page associated with Jack Manley is bizarrely described as a ‘charity organisation’. The last photo was posted on September 23, 2020, and shows Manley carrying a woman on his shoulder while holding a squirt gun with a microphone taped to it. 

Another profile associated with the controversial YouTuber has hundreds of short clips from his most popular videos and a link to his website – promising ‘My Best Product EVER’ – that is currently suspended. 

Justin Marc 

Controversial YouTuber and self-styled dating coach Justin Marc – who was accused of sexual assault last November – also posted ‘street interview’ videos on YouTube 

Justin Marc Aguiar, an Indian-origin YouTuber based in Toronto, was 17 when he started posting dating content on the platform. 

His earliest videos were about ‘picking up’ older women outside bars and clubs, along with ‘guides’ to dating ‘foreign girls’ and ‘how to get laid’ filmed in exotic locales like Cancun, Mexico. 

He plugged a website called ‘Lets Get Girls’ that promised to ‘explode your results with women’ before the controversial content creator – who was accused of sexual assault last November – started posting ‘street interview’ videos. 

In one such clip from 2021, the club promoter bragged about ‘picking up HOT Thai girls in Bangkok’ and included footage of him in bed with a scantily clad woman. 

He told viewers that the women he interviewed were ‘loving’ his ‘inappropriate’ questions about topics like oral sex, as Justin added: ‘They find it hilarious. I ended up making out with one of the girls.’

In another video, filmed in Helsinki, Finland, the ‘international dating coach’ advised his followers about ‘how to have sex in public’. 

The club promoter, who brags about lifestyle as a ‘VIP Nightlife Host’ on social media, also flogs $2,597 dating courses for men to ‘open, hook and close and pull gorgeous women’.

He also reportedly offers dating lessons from ‘certified pimps’ with their own social media followings, as Canadian news website CP24 reported they covered things like ‘how to cheat and juggle five girlfriends at once’. 

Justin has 143,000 YouTube subscribers and continues to post on his channel after he was accused of sexual assault. 

On November 27, 2025, Canadian media reported that Justin had been arrested and charged with one count of sexual assault that allegedly occurred at his apartment in Toronto’s entertainment district in August 2024. 

The 22-year-old woman, identified only as ‘Jay’, told CP24: ‘We thought we were going to a super-fun party. And when we got there, that was not the case. It was just Justin and his roommate.

‘I was being cornered in an uncomfortable position, so that’s why I was able to fight for myself and say “I need to get myself out of this situation.”‘

Jay added she was speaking out to warn other women about Justin’s tactics, explaining: ‘I would tell them not to engage with him. Don’t give him the time of day.  There’s no value in associating with a man like that.’

Justin’s lawyer, Dylan Finlay, said: ‘My client is presumed innocent. The charge laid against him is an allegation. At this stage, we are awaiting the specifics of what the allegation is, which will be provided to us through the disclosure process. 

‘That said, he denies sexually assaulting anyone. He will respond to the allegation fully in court.’

This isn’t the first time Justin has been accused of sexual assault; court records in Toronto show he was charged twice before, including in 2019 and 2023. Both charges were withdrawn. 

In the 2019 case, Justin agreed to an 18-month peace bond and paid a $500 surety. He was instructed not to communicate with the alleged victim or attend any place she lived, worked or went to school, CP24 reported. 

He also agreed not to possess any weapons. 

Since the latest allegation against Justin, he has continued to post on social media – including sharing NSFW clips of women dancing suggestively and kissing each other on Threads. 

Drew Meyers 

Some of Drew Meyers’ videos are titled ‘Want to touch my banana?’, ‘What age did you lose your V-card?’, and ‘How TikTokers pick up girls’

Drew Meyers, who also goes by Eric Davis, is among the male YouTubers who amassed a large following from recording ‘pick up’ interviews. 

He has over 220,000 followers on Instagram, where Drew shares the most outrageous moments from his longer clips with titles like ‘Want to touch my banana?’, ‘What age did you lose your V-card?’, and ‘How TikTokers pick up girls’.

He hasn’t posted on Instagram since 2025, but the last clip racked up over 10 million views as Drew asked a girl to describe how she lost her virginity in a truck. 

Drew has seemingly shifted his content from YouTube to TikTok, where he has over 350,000 followers.  

In one video, captioned ‘I bagged her’, Drew chatted up a woman called Sophia, who claimed 30 men had tried to sleep with her in the ‘last week’. 

However, the prank-style video ended with Drew putting a brown paper bag over the woman’s head. 

Adrian Gruszka 

Adrian Gruszka’s videos have translated into a nearly two-million following on YouTube, but the page has been inactive since June 2025

YouTuber Adrian Gruszka or Adrian Gee started posting ‘intentionally awkward and funny’ content, including ‘public trolling’ and ‘street interviews’ in 2011. 

His videos have translated into a nearly two-million following on YouTube, but the page has been inactive since June 2025. 

Like other ‘pick up’ creators, Adrian has shared interviews with women about masturbation, infidelity, nude pictures or ‘d*** pics’ and their sexual preferences. 

In other videos, the ‘globetrotting’ dating entrepreneur – who also sells financial development courses online – demonstrated how he could ‘pick up girls while juggling’ or by putting on an Australian accent. 

Adrian’s Instagram profile has not been updated since January. 

In one of his most recent posts, Adrian reflected on his journey that began in 2012 with a ‘cheap camera, zero followers’ while vowing to ‘create like it’s my last year’ in 2026. 

Another video from January 14, which was recorded in Brazil, showed Adrian encouraging a friend to ask a group of women for a sip of their drink. 

‘He didn’t even get the drink – he got the cream on top,’ Adrian captioned the clip.

Israel Padilla 

Israel Padilla started posting on YouTube in 2018 and has since racked up nearly 660,000 followers

Israel in a ‘pick up’ video 

Israel Padilla started posting on YouTube in 2018 and has since racked up nearly 660,000 followers. 

However, what began with prank videos gradually turned into street interviews as Israel asked women about their ‘body count’ – manosphere slang that refers to the number of sexual partners they have had.

In one video, posted last February, Israel seemed to reiterate the misogynistic belief held by communities within the manosphere that a woman’s worth is determined by her promiscuity. 

The video began with Israel saying ‘today’s agenda…trying to find a baddie to sleep with tonight on spring break’. At one point, he asked a girl her age for ‘confirmation’ before she replied she was 19. 

Elsewhere, when a girl asked Israel to take her on a few dates, he countered by saying: ‘What’s your body count?

‘If I’m investing, I want to know you have low mileage.’

As the conversation continued, Israel said ‘it don’t matter what the guy has, it matter what the woman has’. 

He added: ‘Does it make a man less of a man if he can’t change a flat tyre?’ 

A Sei whale that recently washed ashore at Rockaway Beach likely met its end due to a boat collision, according to scientists.

Specialists from the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society conducted a necropsy on this enormous 45-foot marine creature, which appeared on the beach last Thursday, officials reported.

During the animal autopsy, experts identified characteristic abrasions on the whale’s right flank. Further internal investigation revealed significant bruising in the surrounding tissues on that same side, officials noted, as reported by PIX11.

The initial evidence strongly suggests that a boat strike was the probable cause of the whale’s demise.

The whale, measuring 40 feet in length, was initially seen drifting approximately 15 miles off the Long Island coast before eventually coming ashore near Beach 95.

Swarms of the curious rushed to take photos of the whale and had to be cordoned off behind yellow tape, according to a Facebook post of the heartbreaking scene.

It’s extremely dangerous to stand near a dead whale, said experts.

When a deceased whale becomes beached, decomposition begins almost immediately. The whale’s body begins to bloat, and the sunlight’s heat hastens the process.

As the gasses expand, the skin thins and begins to give way. The pressure inside the whale builds to dangerous levels and can result in explosive consequences — and devastating injuries for anyone standing nearby.

Sei whales are listed under the Endangered Species Act, according to NOAA.

WASHINGTON — An unconventional event is set to unfold at the White House as President Donald Trump, an advocate of combative politics, embraces cage-match fighting.

In the upcoming weeks, the iconic lawn will be transformed with the installation of a 6-foot high wire-mesh fence shaped into an octagon. This will serve as the battleground for UFC fighters showcasing a mix of kickboxing, jiujitsu, wrestling, and other martial arts. The spectacle is scheduled for June 14, in celebration of Trump’s 80th birthday and as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary commemorations.

This display of raw, physical strength aligns perfectly with Trump’s fiercely confrontational persona and his brand of bold, assertive leadership—a no-nonsense, all-out approach to governance.

“I admire fighters,” Trump shared with podcaster Logan Paul during his re-election campaign, “especially those who endure 200 hits to the face and still gear up for the next round.”

Notably, Trump made history as the first sitting president to attend a UFC event, witnessing a dramatic 2019 fight that was halted due to a severe cut over a fighter’s eye, leaving a trail of blood.

To the uninitiated, the sport celebrates violence. It is wildly popular with young men.

“A lot of people don’t understand fighting and they think fighting is about anger. It’s not. If you’re angry when you fight, you’ll lose,” said veteran MMA referee and commentator “Big John” McCarthy.

“Fighting is about technique and style, and understanding how to make your opponent make mistakes while you don’t,” McCarthy said.

“I totally understand why he likes it,” he added of Trump. “Because I do.”

Friends with UFC and broadcast executives

It is hard to find a phrase more Trumpian than Ultimate Fighting Championship.

A committed devotee of hyperbole, Trump relishes grand descriptors that can elevate anything to its “ultimate” version. He also proudly fancies himself a fighter: “Fight! Fight! Fight!” became his 2024 campaign mantra, one crystalized after an assassination attempt that summer.

Then there is “championship,” another thing close to the heart of a president who constantly professes love for winning and those who do it frequently.

All of that means Trump giving UFC its largest-ever platform “is calculated. He knows what he’s doing,” said Kyle Kusz, a University of Rhode Island professor who studies the connection between sports and the far right.

Trump “uses UFC to portray himself as a manly sportsman,” said Kusz, who said he sees parallels between the sport’s style of masculinity and Trump’s approach to policy and politics.

The league is planning to issue 85,000 free tickets for the event. Trump said UFC boss Dana White, a longtime friend, will build “a 5,000-seat arena right outside the front door of the White House” and eight large screens in a nearby park for ticket-holders to watch from afar.

The show falls on a Sunday, deviating from UFC’s usual Saturday night time slot, and will be carried live on Paramount+, which is controlled by the Ellison family, also close allies of Trump. France even pushed back the Group of Seven summit it is hosting so as not to conflict with Trump’s birthday festivities.

Criticism of White House fight card

Trump has boasted that the event will feature “all top guys.” But fans online have panned the card for lacking top talent such as former two-division champion Jon Jones, who requested his release from the UFC immediately after being excluded from the White House show. Also absent is MMA icon Conor McGregor, whose first bout since 2021 would have been a seismic moment for the sport. The UFC’s White “knows the White House card sucks,” said former champion Ronda Rousey, who is mounting her own MMA comeback outside the UFC because she says the promotion would not meet her financial expectations.

Rousey, who is close to White, says the White House show “fell extremely short of expectations.”

While still being finalized, the card features two championship fights. Brazil’s Alex Periera will meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Then Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.

The White House did not answer questions about criticism of the card or the event’s aggressive politics. Instead, communications director Steven Cheung, said, “This will be one of the greatest and most historic sports events in history.”

Cheung, a UFC spokesman before joining Trump’s 2016 campaign, called Trump’s event “a testament to his vision to celebrate America’s monumental 250th anniversary.”

A UFC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump helped reinforce UFC’s mass appeal

Once famously derided as “human cockfighting” by late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., UFC has been a major sports league in the United States since signing a media-rights deal with ESPN in 2018, said Patrick Wyman, a historian and host of popular podcasts on the subject who is also a former longtime MMA journalist.

Trump, a fixture at heavyweight boxing matches in the 1980s, gave UFC a boost a generation ago by hosting early bouts, including 2001’s “Battle on the Boardwalk,” at his casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Wyman said that even as Trump and White have remained close, UFC has deliberately prioritized building the league’s brand over that of its individual fighters. That has kept most stars from achieving crossover appeal.

As a result, Wyman said UFC remains most popular with men in their mid-40s to early 60s – a demographic already inclined to be Trump supporters.

“I think it’s a pretty perfect encapsulation of the way that Donald Trump thinks about politics,” Wyman said of the White House event, citing its “transactional nature” and “how impossible it is to draw firm lines between business and politics.”

In 2014, Trump invested in his own, short-lived MMA league. A decade later, his reelection campaign enhanced his UFC ties, seeking to reach voters who do not usually engage in traditional politics.

Two days after he was convicted on 34 felony counts in a hush money case in June 2024, Trump went to a UFC bout in New Jersey, strolling out into the crowd with White while Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” blared. Trump’s campaign used footage of the raucous ovation to help launch its TikTok account.

Then, after his election victory, Trump triumphantly appeared with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a large political entourage at a UFC fight in New York. He also attended UFC bouts in Newark and Miami last year.

Trump, who has built a large portion of his domestic travel around sporting events, is not unique among presidents using sports to appeal to voters.

Republican George W. Bush zinging a pitch in from Yankee Stadium’s mound during the 2001 World Series is remembered as a moment of resilience after the Sept. 11 attacks. Republican Richard Nixon so publicly embraced his football fandom that aides worried it might alienate some voters, said Chris Cillizza, author of “Power Players: Sports, Politics, and the American Presidency.”

Such worries are gone today, though, since sports “now tends to self-select by political affiliation,” he said.

“In an era where people feel like politicians are mostly weirdo aliens,” Cillizza said “sports – playing them, having knowledge about them – represents one of the best ways to prove to voters you are actually a human being.”

Associated Press writers Greg Beacham in Los Angeles and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Approximately 500 organizations, collectively pulling in an estimated $3 billion annually, are spearheading the “No Kings” protest taking place nationwide on Saturday. Among these, some communist groups are leveraging the event to advocate for a “revolution,” as revealed by a Fox Digital News investigation. 

In St. Paul, Minnesota, where the main demonstration is set, Indivisible—a prominent Democratic political advocacy group backed by billionaire George Soros—has emerged as the primary organizer, according to the protest’s permit.

Fox News Digital has additionally uncovered significant involvement from a network of radical socialist and communist entities financially supported by Neville Roy Singham. This American tech entrepreneur, with strong communist beliefs, currently resides in China.

For nearly ten years, Singham has been backing a web of activist organizations that champion revolutionary socialist ideals, often joining forces in protest movements. These include the People’s Forum in New York, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition, and CodePink, co-founded by Jodie Evans—Singham’s spouse. These entities maintain close ties with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

All of these groups are dispatching members to the protests, with one organization explicitly stating their intention to convey a message of “revolution” during the demonstrations.

On Friday evening, at the corner of N. Fremont Avenue and N. 37th Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, members of the Twin Cities chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation packed a car with stacks of bright red protest signs they had prepared at the Dream Shop for Saturday’s demonstrations. They are part of the Singham network and co-sponsors of the St. Paul protest.

The posters read “NO KINGS. NO WAR.” with “PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION” printed at the bottom. Activists stacked the signs upside down with their wooden picket handles attached as they loaded them into the vehicle, preparing to distribute them at the next day’s main protest at the state capitol in St. Paul.

‘NO KINGS’ CALLS ITSELF LEADERLESS, BUT ITS OWN INTERNAL DOCUMENTS TELL A VERY DIFFERENT STORY

On Friday night, March 27, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Twin Cities chapter packed their car with protest signs outside the Dream Shop at the corner of N. Fremont Avenue and N. 37th Avenue. A network of socialist and communist groups funded by Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham said they plan to bring a message of “revolution” to Saturday’s #NoKings protests. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

Across the country, similar preparations have been underway among socialist, communist and Marxist activist groups from the Singham network that have openly discussed using the demonstrations to spread what they describe as revolutionary organizing. 

In New York, the People’s Forum called on members to join the New York #NoKings protest. It’s an organizing hub in the Singham network and sent Americans to Cuba in recent days to defend the communist regime there.

In Washington, D.C., Party for Socialism and Liberation called on supporters to assemble as part of a “Socialist Contingent.”

In Grand Rapids, Mich., the Freedom Road Socialist Organization instructed supporters to gather at the Rosa Parks Circle stage at noon as part of what it described as the “Anti-Trump Contingent.”

Freedom Road Socialist Organization activists have previously led aggressive demonstrations targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minneapolis. The group has an image on Instagram, using an upside-down triangle symbol that Hamas used to mark targets during attacks in Israel.

One message said, “People everywhere are becoming increasingly hostile to the Trump agenda, and more sympathetic to revolution. Now is not the time to sit on the sidelines, it’s the time to go out and join the people, get our revolutionary message in front of them, and turn a day of protest into long-term gains for the people’s movements.” Communist leaders talk about “people’s movements.”

People’s Forum, CodePink, Party for Socialism and Liberation and ANSWER Coalition rally members to join the #NoKings protests. (People’s Forum, CodePink, ANSWER Coalition, Party for Socialism and Liberation Instagram)

Posts circulating among socialist activist networks also explained “Why socialists should mobilize to the No Kings protests this weekend.”

“It’s the time to go out and join the people, get out our revolutionary message in front of them and turn a day of protest into long-term gains for the people’s movement,” one message said.

In Detroit, activists from Anakbayan, an organization aligned with communist movements in the Philippines, joined other groups within the Singham activist ecosystem.

Posts circulating from activists associated with the Denver chapter of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization included imagery referencing the Red Army Choir, Soviet symbolism and historical figures including Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.

The Maine chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, working with activists connected to Democratic Socialists of America and the ANSWER Coalition, called on supporters to join what organizers described as a “Unified Leftist Contingent.”

The message instructed activists to meet at the southwest corner of Montgomery Park, declaring that the contingent would stand against “imperialism, capitalism and state violence.”

“These systems don’t fall without pressure,” the message said. “We are here to organize, disrupt and build power to win something new.” 

The network’s messaging for the #NoKings echoes Singham’s own rhetoric describing the United States as a form of “fascism” and advocating organizing strategies rooted in Mao Zedong’s doctrine of a “People’s War,” which calls for revolutionary movements to embed themselves inside broader political struggles and radicalize them from within.

That strategy helps explain why the socialist groups are mobilizing inside the much larger demonstrations organized by mainstream progressive organizations, experts say. Large protests create massive audiences and national media attention, allowing smaller ideological movements to spread their messaging, recruit activists and build momentum for campaigns that extend well beyond a single day of demonstrations.

CodePink circulated graphics tying the protests to anti-imperialist messaging.

CodePink called for members to join demonstrations in cities including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and New York, linking the protests to opposition to U.S. policy toward Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and Palestine. Actress Jane Fonda joined a CodePink protest some days ago, protesting the war in Iran, and she will be at the St. Paul demonstration today.

One CodePink poster reads: “NO WAR. NO IMPERIALISM. NO KINGS.” 

In recent weeks, the group has supported Venezuelan strongman Nicholas Maduro, the late Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, President Xi Jinping.

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The United States’ $13 billion aircraft carrier has been temporarily removed from its role in the Iran conflict due to a series of onboard complications. Issues range from malfunctioning eco-friendly toilets to a fire damaging parts of the ship.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, known as the world’s largest aircraft carrier and the most costly warship ever constructed by the U.S., might face a year-long hiatus, as reported by the New York Post.

The 1,106-foot-long ship, which recently departed the Red Sea, is currently stationed in Crete for necessary repairs. This comes after it was withdrawn from operations only two weeks following its deployment against Iran.

For years, the vessel has been beset with issues, notably with its sanitation system, which has been problematic since at least 2020. Addressing these frequent clogs has incurred costs of over $4 million.

“Those eco-friendly toilets are not pressurized in the same way. They don’t flush through,” explained naval expert Steve Wills in an interview with the outlet.

The problems stem from the ship’s vacuum collection, holding and transfer system, a high-tech design adapted from the cruise ship industry that has required constant maintenance.

A 2020 Government Accountability Office report found the system required ‘onerous’ day-to-day maintenance, with each so-called ‘acid flush’ costing about $400,000.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine raised concerns earlier this month about the ship’s ‘persistent sewage system failures and inoperable laundry facilities’ following its extended deployment.

America’s $13billion USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier has been pulled from operations in the Iran conflict after a series of failures, including faulty toilets, sewage issues and a fire that damaged living areas

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not publicly commented on the reported issues aboard the USS Gerald R Ford

The carrier had been operating in the Middle East in support of US efforts against Iran before it was pulled from service.

Kaine warned the situation was taking a toll on the crew, writing to Navy Secretary John Phelan: ‘I am deeply concerned about the compounding mental and physical toll this long deployment and uncertainty is taking on our Sailors.’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not publicly commented on the reported issues aboard the USS Gerald R Ford.

He added that sailors and their families were being pushed ‘to a breaking point’ by an unpredictable schedule and a ship that, despite its $13billion price tag, was failing to meet basic living standards.

The carrier operates as a ‘floating city’ with a crew of roughly 4,500 sailors.

According to the report, the Navy installed a new toilet and sewage system similar to those used on commercial aircraft but scaled up for a crew of more than 4,000.

The ship was also hit by a fire on March 12 in a laundry area, which filled multiple sections with smoke, damaged berthing spaces and left some living quarters unusable.

Smoke is believed to have spread through the ship’s air circulation system, contaminating mattresses and linens and rendering some areas virtually unlivable.

The United Stated Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrives in Souda Bay on March 23, 2026 in Souda, Greece

Harbor tugboats approach the USS Gerald R Ford off Split, Croatia, on March 28, 2026, during a maintenance stop after Middle East operations

The damage was so severe that helicopters were used to transport laundry to other ships after onboard facilities were knocked out.

Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed said the fallout was severe, with hundreds of sailors forced to sleep on the floor for days.

‘I’m told that there are 400 sailors that spent many days sleeping on the floor,’ Reed said. ‘It’s been at sea now for almost a year, so that is an incredible stress on the whole crew.’

The warship has been deployed for around nine months, adding to concerns about strain on personnel.

The Navy’s 6th Fleet said the carrier remains ‘fully mission capable’ and will undergo assessment, repairs and resupply, though no timeline has been given.

An investigation into the fire is now underway.

Meanwhile, the USS George H W Bush carrier strike group is heading toward the Mediterranean to support operations, though it uses a similar sanitation system.

The Ford arrived at the Port of Split in Croatia on Saturday, according to the Navy.

The Daily Mail has contacted the Navy for comment.