For Men of the Manosphere he followed three young men as they followed the rigid rules set down by influencers of discipline, training, and even abstaining from masturbation.
In a deep dive into the world of online influencers James has found young men subjected to shaming, isolation, and misogyny behind the façade of a brotherhood.
And while the interest in the extreme views of Andrew Tate is waning, there are other self-styled leaders stepping into the vacuum.
James has already investigated online scammers after his identity was stolen, and the dark world of the web in Hunting the Online Sex Predators.
He won an RTS Breakthrough Talent award for Hunting the Catfish Crime Gang, in which he travelled to Asia to expose how scammers are often forced to work by criminal gangs.
James Blake, right, with Jack who abstains from masterbation
For Men of the Manosphere he followed three young men, one just 16, as they followed the rigid rules set down by influencers of discipline, training, and even abstaining from masturbation.
“Essentially these communities place themselves as something that’s all about brotherhood and being part of a community which on the face of it sounds really good,” says James.
“They say, ‘we will show you how to be successful, how to be better, we will teach you skills.’
“But it very slowly becomes ‘now you’re in, you don’t need the outside world’, and it’s them against us and that’s a really unhealthy place to be.”
He was most disturbed by the ‘red pill’ beliefs peddled online, adopted from the Matrix and Total Recall films, and preaching the belief that men are oppressed in a world dominated by feminism.
One of the men he interviewed admitted he’d split up from his girlfriend because he’d embraced the ‘red pill’ belief that men could have multiple partners, but women couldn’t.
“You start to see the red pill stuff, about men believing they’re disadvantaged, the world favours women, and the only people you’re talking to all share that exact same opinion, which means there is no room for discourse,” says James.
“It’s crazy because it’s like you can’t be successful unless you follow this blueprint, which means you also need to dislike women, you need to mistrust women and you need to think that all women are out to get you.
“That’s obviously not the real world we live in but these guys are really believing that and it’s such a sad pessimistic outlook on dating, on relationships, on life.
“The guys following that red pill stuff run the risk of ending up very lonely and that in itself is a really sad thing.”
The worrying influence of the manosphere was explored in Netflix drama Adolescence, in which a 13-year-old boy murders a female classmate.
James discovered another side to the online communities, the profits they generate by getting men to sign up to lucrative self-improvement courses.
He spoke to 16-year-old Sam, one of over two million men who follow UK influencer Hamza Ahmed and his Library of Adonis. The teenager’s only friends are people he’s met in online communities.
“I can’t say for sure what these influencers are thinking, do they go to this market to do this on purpose, but I’m sure they are making a lot of money off the back of this,” says James.
“They need men to feel insecure and lost otherwise they’re not going to make money.”
He’s also examined his own brief interaction with the manosphere after the end of a long-term relationship and the death of his dad when James was just 23.
Reviewing the posts he shared at the time he was shocked at the misogynistic content among the messages of self-improvement.
“I came across content that was very positive but suddenly it started to talk about relationships.
“I shared a couple of those videos, and thinking back now I can’t believe I shared that, but it’s because you’re in that space you don’t even realise that could be offensive.
“I very quickly snapped back out of it but I can see how a lot of young men get into this.
“It sets up a very scary future for them because the longer they’re in it the harder it is to get out,” he says.
The 32-year-old stresses the importance of listening to men who have embraced the extremes of the manosphere, where the belief that women have ruined society are commonplace, and men are shamed if they’re not alpha males.
He got men to open up to him, including local fitness enthusiast Jack who preaches the discipline of not masturbating, by not judging them.
But the documentary maker, also a successful self-made businessman, admits he was left pessimistic by the confusion and loneliness he encountered among them.
With a crisis in men’s mental health and a worrying male suicide rate James says shaming, isolation, and exploitation are not helping, and finding positive male role models is essential.
While online influencers are enjoying a booming business he says the problem is there are so few positive male role models with the same high profile.
“I should be able to tell you five to ten really strong positive role models that I look up to, and I can’t. There are people I admire in business or television but there is no one who instantly comes to mind.
“But when you say name me a couple of influencers who are toxic masculine role models there are so many,” he says.
Men of the Manosphere is on BBC Three on Monday November 17, on BBC1 on November 19, and on the BBC iPlayer.
