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Doc Antle
Sri Mahatmayavi Bhagavan "Doc" Antle
- A God Am I: Seems to have a bit of a god complex, and demands his cult members to treat him as such.
- Animal Motifs: He seems to personify male lions, possibly intentionally. Besides the slight physical resemblance (long hair, tall), Doc is the "king" of his nature preserve, has a harem of women in his cult that all follow his lead, constantly speaks loudly, and is obviously very prideful.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: He's suspected of euthanizing sick cats and tiger cubs that have grown too old to make a profit off anymore. One of his former employees says that he shoved a capuchin monkey she was fond of into a freezer to psychologically torture her.
- Boomerang Bigot: Strangely, he's a cross between this and Straw Misogynist. One of his former employees says he once told her: "Men are pigs, and women are sheep." Not to mention his treatment of his female "employees". If anything, he comes across more as a hedonistic Straw Nihilist.
- Con Man: PETA considers his conservation work to be a scam, stating that donations he supposedly uses to fund overseas wildlife projects are just going back into his own pockets.
- Control Freak: Big time. Doc controls everything about the lives of his employees, from choosing their outfits, changing their names, and even coercing them to get breast implants. He also keeps trying to micromanage the documentary crew's camera shots in his interview segments.Eric Goode: [joking] I like that Doc is better at directing than we are.
- Domestic Abuse: Aside from his emotional abuse, he was also physically abusive to his wives. They admit he preferred to strangle them over beating them so he wouldn't leave any marks.
- Evil Mentor: Whether it was Doc's intention or not, he had a huge impact on Joe Exotic, and Joe himself refers to Doc as his mentor. Joe learned most of his private zoo practices from Doc Antle.Joe: He's taught me quite a bit, as far as being able to market the zoo and make money at the zoo.
- Faux Affably Evil: Doc Antle seems pretty normal when compared to Joe (and even Carole), and he comes across as friendly and charismatic. But behind the scenes, Doc is the leader of a sex cult, and has possibly euthanized tiger cubs after they grow beyond infancy. Every time his interviewers broach any subject that could put him in a bad light, he instantly changes his tone and tries to intimidate them.
- Greater-Scope Villain: See above. Whether he meant it or not, he is the main reason why Joe ran his zoo so terribly, and is arguably even worse than Joe.
- Harem Seeker: Doc is quite open about the fact that he has multiple "girlfriends" living with him at any given time.
- Insistent Terminology: In the 8th episode he takes pains to correct the record that, contrary to what was stated in earlier installments, he does not have multiple wives, he has multiple girlfriends as he is not legally married to any of them.
- Like Father, Like Son: His mother apparently shared his predilection for much younger partners, having an affair with Betsy's boyfriend when they were both about 20, then suggested that Betsy date her son instead.
- Light Is Not Good: Doc is usually seen dressed in white and lighter colours, and he has long white hair. However, he's far from a good person.
- Manipulative Bastard: Yup. Out of all the egomaniacal zoo owners in the series, Doc stands out as a master manipulator of animals and people.
- The Mentor: Not intentionally, but Joe looked to Doc as a mentor, and based a lot of his practices on Doc's. It's notable that they both treat their staff members like property, and they both callously euthanize tigers when they're no longer useful.
- No Indoor Voice: Doc's voice is always loud. He's not really yelling, but he's always the loudest person in a room.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: He's a doctor in Chinese medicine, which is roundly dismissed as pseudoscience by actual medical professionals. One of the interview subjects jokingly refers to it as a degree in "mystical science".
- Pædo Hunt: He preferred 14-year old girls, which would technically make him an ephebophile, but his admission that he lusted for Radha since she was 11 crosses into outright pedophilia.
- Phony Psychic: One of his earliest con man strategies was to present himself as an enlightened mystic with psychic powers. For instance, he told Sumati that he could simply will her pregnancy away with the power of his mind.
- Pragmatic Villainy: In contrast with JoeHoward Baskin: In addition to Joe, the most notorious cub breeder/petting operation is Doc Antle. Antle is much more sophisticated, much smarter.
- Spoiled Brat: His parents were incredibly wealthy, and he certainly has a very entitled and narcissistic attitude.
- Tom the Dark Lord: He's a narcissistic, manipulative cult leader whose real name is "Kevin".
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Possibly. Doc has been accused of euthanizing big cats that grew out of their cub phase because they couldn't be used in shows anymore.
Swamiji Satchidananda
Swamiji Satchidananda Saraswati
A "spiritual leader" and former mentor of Antle who ran the Yoga cult.
- Dirty Old Man: He presented himself as an enlightened sage, but he also molested several of his female followers.
- Evil Mentor: He was apparently rather fond of Antle and served as a model for how to operate a cult.
- Hypocrite: Demanded an ascetic lifestyle from his devotees, but believed himself to be above those rules because of his enlightened nature.
- Predecessor Villain: The show draws many parallels between Antle's cult activities and those of Swamiji. However, he's already been dead for several years.
"Wives"
Betsy Rogers
Betsy "Brahmi" Rogers
Antle's first wife.
- Older Than They Look: Not now, but at a time.Betsy: He was only interested in me as long as I looked like I was 12. Until the age of 30, I weighed 100 pounds. I had no curves, just nothing. That's what he liked.
Sumati Steinberg
Sumati Steinberg
The mother of Antle's child, Tilakam.
- Fiery Cover Up: A nude photo shoot with her and a boa constrictor. Brahmi found and burned them.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Antle eventually impregnated her. At first he denied the child was his, then he encouraged her to get an abortion. She refused.
- Metaphorical Marriage: Not legally, since it was her 15th birthday and he was already married, but she describes a ceremony where she "married" Bhagavan. After Radha left him, he asked her to marry him for real, but since she was already wise to the sort of person he was by that point, she declined.
Radha Hirsch
Radha Hirsch
Antle's second wife.
- Abduction Is Love: Ran off from home with Antle when she was still a minor.
- Old Man Marrying a Child: They had sex for the first time when she was 14, and married when she was 15 and Bhagavan was 26. She eventually realized how inappropriate this was when Bhagavan confided in her that he lusted for her since they first met, when she was 11 or 12. She left him when she was 17.
Staff
Steven Diamond
Steven Diamond
- '80s Hair: He used to have a mullet, which he jokingly apologizes for. However, because Steven was already showing signs of balding, Antle told him to get hair extensions while he was performing in Korea. The glue mixed with his sweat caused strands of hair to fall off mid-performance.
- Stage Magician: He performs a magic show. Antle started collaborating with him as he was interested in learning stage magic to bolster his image as a mystic with strange superpowers.
Mark Topping
Mark "Mitra" Topping
A former employee at Antle's Buckingham zoo in Virginia.
- He Knows Too Much: One interviewee speculates that Mark died because he knew Antle's "secrets".
- Loved by All: Everyone says he was so kind, so funny, so handsome, so full of life. Although part of this may be Never Speak Ill of the Dead.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Subverted. The episode covering him starts off implying that Bhagavan may have pushed him off a waterfall, but apparently he was not actually present during Mark's death. Bhagavan certainly had reason to want Mark dead, owing him tens of thousands of dollars, being jealous of Mark asking out Sumati, and Mark possibly having dirt on him. The person who actually last saw him — a friend named Paul — is convinced it really was an accident.
- The Stoner: He used to sell weed in Arizona and bragged about having 15 different kinds of reefer. He started working for Antle at his first zoo in Virginia because he was afraid the authorities were going to arrest him for being a drug dealer.
