Plot Synopsis

UNTOLD is a docuseries that brings fresh eyes to tales from the wide world of sports. Premiering weekly, each film kicks off at a pivotal moment -- the big fight, the Olympics, the playoffs -- and then delves deep into what happened beyond the headlines, as told by those who lived it, to reveal the grit, resilience, heartbreak, triumph, violence, comedy and pathos beneath the sweat. Whether it's the famous "Malice at the Palace" Pacers-Pistons brawl finally being unraveled by those who were on the inside, Olympian Caitlyn Jenner reflecting on her journey to winning gold, boxer Christy Martin in the fight of her life outside the ring, professional tennis player Mardy Fish opening up about his struggles with mental health, or a misfit band of hockey players known as the Trashers taking orders from the teenage son of an alleged mob boss, UNTOLD gets to the heart of the passion and single mindedness it takes to be a champion and the ways in which the triumphs can be undone off the field.

"Malice at the Palace" (Premieres Tuesday, August 10, 2021): Directed by Floyd Russ. November 19, 2004, is a moment the NBA would rather soon forget, but for the players, coaches, referees, and fans who lived through it, it's simply a night they can't shake from their memory or their reputation. It was an early season game, but for the perennially losing Indiana Pacers, there was no better place to stamp their newfound dominance than against the defending champions and bitter rival Detroit Pistons. As the game neared its end, Indiana firebrand Ron Artest shoved Detroit's Ben Wallace, sparking a brawl between the two clubs. When one fan arced a perfectly tossed cup of beer onto Artest's chest, it unleashed a type of melee that had never been seen before in the history of the NBA: players rushed into the stands, fans rushed onto the court, and police rushed into the building trying to control the pandemonium. Days later, in an effort to protect the league's image, commissioner David Stern would suspend Artest for the entirety of the season, along with 30 games for his teammate Stephen Jackson and 25 for Jermaine O'Neal, the longest suspensions in NBA history. The media then followed, labeling the players involved an unruly bunch of "thugs." Now, for the first time, we show the never-before-seen footage of that night and hear the story first hand from those that lived it, giving the players an opportunity to explain their actions and defend their character against a night that left their reputations stained both on and off the court.

"Deal with the Devil" (Premieres Tuesday, August 17, 2021): Directed by Laura Brownson. Described as one of the most influential female boxers of all time, helping legitimize women's participation in the sport, Christy Martin shocked the world by becoming a superstar after winning a blood-soaked undercard match at the Mike Tyson/Frank Bruno fight in 1996. Growing up in a small town in West Virginia, Martin was a popular standout athlete, and as she began to win her first amateur fights, she struggled with being open about her sexual orientation, choosing to keep her relationships with women secret. She later found a coach in Jim Martin, a professional boxing trainer who, despite his initial skepticism about "women's boxing," signed on to help train her. They would later become romantically involved, despite their 20-year-plus age difference. After landing on Don King's radar, Martin, under the moniker "The Coal Miner's Daughter," experienced a meteoric rise, including the cover of Sports Illustrated, breaking pay-per-view records in women's boxing along the way. The fall from that height was steep and included substance abuse, domestic violence and a harrowing brush with death. Martin reveals how she battled back to level ground and a content personal life, which now includes an induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Additional interviewees include Mike Tyson, Laila Ali, Martin's family, and convicted attempted murderer Jim Martin speaks for the first time since his imprisonment.

"Caitlyn Jenner" (Premieres Tuesday, August 24, 2021): Directed by Crystal Moselle. They say it's a competition to crown the world's greatest athlete. A brutal two-day contest of events that tests the running, jumping and throwing ability of its competitors. After a failed attempt in 1972, Caitlyn Jenner made it her mission to win decathlon gold in Montreal in 1976. Training every day for four straight years, she turned herself into the odds-on favorite. But for Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon was more than an athletic test. It was a welcome distraction from the far more challenging inner turmoil of coming into her own identity. After setting a new world record and winning gold in Montreal, Jenner's image became the standard for athletic excellence and propelled her into immediate American superstardom. The athletic feat she craved and celebrity image she crafted, however, also became the main deterrents from embracing her identity as she knew it. Told with an extraordinary collection of never-before-seen archival footage, including reels of newly discovered Olympic footage and home videos from the Jenner family, Jenner traces her life with new insight from winning gold to making the decision to transition to her relationship with her children -- Jenner is clear-eyed about who she was and who she is.

"Crime & Penalties" (Premieres Tuesday, August 31, 2021): Directed by Chapman Way and Maclain Way. What happens when a trash magnate with mafia ties buys a minor league hockey team and puts his 17-year-old son in charge? A roaring, brawling, bruising, bananas, yet short-lived success, that ultimately gets rocked by the FBI. In 2004, Jimmy Galante created the Trashers, a UHL ice hockey team in Danbury, CT, and installed his The Mighty Ducks-obsessed teen son A.J. as general manager. (If something sounds familiar about Tony and A.J.: Allegedly THE SOPRANOS was based on Galante and his family.) A.J. wanted to create a blend of pro wrestling and The Mighty Ducks -- "a combo of my favorite things, heroes and villains." The result was a team of misfits combining rough play and record-breaking penalty minutes that drew a loud and loyal fanbase, including some celebrities and coverage on ESPN. Then the FBI showed up to put a lid on the Trashers and Jimmy Galante.

"Breaking Point" (Premieres Tuesday, September 7, 2021): Directed by Chapman Way and Maclain Way. The story of Mardy Fish's foray into tennis chronicles his training at the famed Saddlebrook Academy as a teen, his brotherhood and constant competition with comrade Andy Roddick, and his inability to find major success like his predecessors, the American tennis icons of the 80s and 90s: John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi. In 2010, Fish got himself into the best shape of his life and emerged on the ATP tour as a force to be reckoned with, scaling the heights of the World Tour Finals in 2011 as the top seeded American player. Soon after, his anxiety began to swell and Fish tried to push through the mental strain at the 2012 US Open quarterfinals against Roger Federer. But an encroaching sense of dread and anguish was worsening by the day and everything came to a crashing halt. Fish bowed out of the match and was later diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder. As the number one ranked American male tennis player, he shockingly quit tennis and over the course of the next few years he largely disappeared from the public, staying in his house for months at a time. After seeking professional help, he worked through his trauma and went public with his struggles to help destigmatize anxiety and provide other athletes a model to follow when dealing with their own mental health issues. Fish has since become the US Davis Cup coach and describes his anxiety as, "A daily battle, but I win every day."



UNTOLD returned for its second season on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 on Netflix. The four-week season once again brings fresh eyes to epic tales from the wide world of sports. From football to basketball and streetball to sailing, these stories aren't the ones you've heard before, even if you think you have. Premiering weekly, each film kicks off at a pivotal moment and then delves deep into what happened beyond the headlines, as told by those who lived it, to reveal the grit, resilience, heartbreak, triumph, violence, comedy and pathos beneath the sweat. Whether it's the unknown tale of football star Manti Te'o's online connection, the ref behind the NBA gambling scandal, the rags-to-riches tale of a scrappy company transforming streetball into a phenomenon, or the astonishing Australian upset of the U.S. in the America's Cup, UNTOLD gets to the heart of the passion and single mindedness it takes to be a champion and the ways in which the triumphs can be undone off the field. Films are directed by Chapman Way, Maclain Way, Ryan Duffy, Tony Vainuku, Kevin Wilson Jr., and David Terry Fine. Episodes include:

"The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist" (Premieres Tuesday, August 16, 2022): This two-parter focuses on Manti Te'o', whose future in football showed promise until a secret online relationship sent his life and career spiraling. In Part 1, gifted linebacker Manti Te'o adjusts to life at Notre Dame and attracts attention from the NFL -- when an online connection begins to evolve. In Part 2, after suffering a personal loss, Manti questions the truth about Lennay and is forced to deal with the fallout when a shocking revelation comes to light.

"The Rise and Fall of AND1" (Premieres Tuesday, August 23, 2022): Born out of the playgrounds of New York City, the "AND1 Mixtape Tour" took streetball to the masses, challenging convention and picking up a team of basketball misfits along the way. This documentary traces the journey of how three young friends with a dream of bringing greater acclaim to the game they loved, connected with the underground artform of streetball, and ended up flipping the billion-dollar basketball industry on its head. AND1 co-founders along with streetball legends The Professor, Hot Sauce, Skip 2 My Lou, The Main Event, Shane the Dribbling Machine and more reflect on their experience and the brand's journey.

"Operation Flagrant Foul" (Premieres Tuesday, August 30, 2022): In the summer of 2007, news broke that an NBA referee was being investigated for gambling on his own games, igniting a media storm and sending the NBA, FBI and sports fans into crisis. That referee was Tim Donaghy and the story didn't just start and end with him, but wound its way from the small town bookies of the Philadelphia suburbs to lining the pockets of the notorious New York crime families and worldwide sports gambling underworld. For the first time, all three co-conspirators discuss their involvement and, unsurprisingly, their stories don't all line-up. Featuring revealing sit-down interviews with Tim Donaghy, Tommy Martino, Jimmy "The Sheep" Battista plus FBI agent Phil Scala, Donaghy's lawyer John Lauro, Donaghy's ex-wife Kim Strupp Donaghy, and more.

"The Race of the Century" (Premieres Tuesday, September 6, 2022): A chronicle of the thrilling 1983 America's Cup, this documentary is a classic underdog story. It tells the tale of the scrappy group of Australians who band together to dethrone the New York Yacht Club, and break the longest-running win streak in history -- 132 years! -- in the most prestigious sailing competition in the world. Key members of the 1983 U.S. and Australian crews sit down for interviews sharing their experience of this ultimate race to victory.
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Netflix kicked off the third season of UNTOLD on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, with new installments dropping weekly on Tuesdays through August 23. Premiering as a four-week summer event consisting of three films, the new volume pulls back the curtain on some of sports' most infamous events, including doping scandals, boxing's most hated heel, and a football star under scrutiny. The series tells several stories: how Jake Paul, the 26-year-old YouTube star turned boxer, who might be one of the most despised fighters in the sport, shrewdly used his unlikability to propel himself to wild success; how Heisman winner Johnny Manziel's wild rise as a promising young quarterback became too much to handle; how Vic Conte, the founder of a sports nutrition center, was at the center of one of the largest doping scandals in sports history; and finally, how the Florida Gators went from being league underdogs to winners of two BCS National Championships under notoriously demanding coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Tim Tebow.

"Jake Paul and the Problem Child" (Premieres Tuesday, August 1, 2023): In 2013, Jake and his older brother, Logan, lit up social media with pranks and antics posted first to Vine and then a YouTube channel that racked up millions of views. The brothers parlayed their online success into lucrative side hustles, with Jake releasing music and landing a role on a Disney Channel show (BIZAARDVARK). As their notoriety grew, so did tensions between the once-close siblings. When Jake's real-life controversies nearly ruined his career, he got a second chance as a boxer who shocked skeptics as he knocked out one opponent after another. UNTOLD tells the story of a wide-eyed kid from Ohio who morphed from internet sensation to most polarizing man in sports. The film is built on gripping interviews with the Paul brothers -- along with their parents, fans, fellow boxers, and the skeptical old guard.

"Johnny Football" (Premieres Tuesday, August 8, 2023): In 2012, the brightest star in all of sports was undersized freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel from unheralded Texas A&M, whose fervor on the field was rivaled only by his hard-partying ways off it. Dubbed "Johnny Football," the magnetic football player captured the nation's attention and initially relished his alter ego: "I wanted to be Johnny Football. Johnny Football never had a bad time," he says. But as the money rolled in, the scrutiny heightened, and Manziel rejected his newfound fame and suddenly lost his way. With astonishing candor, Manziel -- along with his family, coaches, former best friend, and agent -- details what happened behind the scenes as scandals piled up in the glare of paparazzi flashbulbs. He fumbled his shot at NFL success after the Cleveland Browns picked him in the first round of the NFL draft in 2014, but Manziel went on to search for something even greater.

"Hall of Shame" (Premieres Tuesday, August 15, 2023): Victor Conte's name is synonymous with the biggest doping scandal ever to rock the sports community, ensnaring top athletes such as baseball great Barry Bonds and track-and-field legends Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. For 16 years, Conte claimed BALCO Laboratories, his supplement and nutrition company based in the Bay Area, never dabbled in illegal performance-enhancing drugs. But by 2000, he went to the dark side and became the go-to guy for athletes in search of steroids, fame, and world records. The film features interviews with several of Conte's notable former associates -- including Montgomery and the anti-doping and IRS authorities who helped send him to prison after a 42-count indictment -- who give harrowing testimony as the legend of one of sports' most notorious names continues to unfold.

"Swamp Kings" (Four-Part Story Premieres Tuesday, August 22, 2023): After a blazing run in the '90s under Coach Steve Spurrier, the University of Florida's winning streak died out by 2005. Enter Urban Meyer, the Gators' demanding new head coach whose take-no-prisoners style bred not only a string of legendary victories, but also unrelenting drama that rippled well beyond the locker room. In their own words through extensive sit-down interviews paired with archival footage, the four-part series profiles Meyer and the titans he coached (Brandon Siler, Tim Tebow, Brandon Spikes, Major Wright, and Ahmad Black, among many others). It gives viewers a bird's-eye view of how they catapulted the Florida Gators from underdogs to winners of two BCS National Championships.