You couldn’t turn on television in the early 2000s without seeing Jared Fogle aka Jared from Subway. It’s one of the most unique stories in the history of the world in my opinion. He’s one of the most obscure celebrities alongside John Wayne Bobbit and Kyle Rittenhouse. In no other version of reality are these men famous.
Jared later became famous for an entirely different reason. As this true crime documentary covers, there wasn’t anything Kosher on his menu.
Jared From Subway: Catching A Monster is most overdue true crime story out there
Because of his notoriety as a fat guy who lost weight walking and eating sandwiches, Fogle became a major public figure and hero to many. I used to eat Subway regularly before the company did its own criminal act and removed the five dollar footlong deal. Inflation caught up with them and the once popular restaurant seems is more of an occasional treat than an everyday expense.
What hasn’t been talked about much is exactly how Fogle was caught being a pedophile. It’s a known fact that he went to prison, but the details of his arrest and crimes haven’t been nearly as public. That’s where Jared From Subway, the documentary not the person, comes in.
This documentary takes a similar approach as the newest documentary about the Murdaugh Murders, the A Southern Scandal version over on Netflix. While Jared From Subway is an ID Channel production, it stays away from being journalist driven.
Our main companion on this trip is the woman who first tried to expose Fogle for the monster he is, Rochelle Herman. A radio personality who has two children of her own, she takes on the task of befriending the very-grabby Fogle and sets out on her own honeytrap mission to record him talking about his attraction to children. When she tries to go to the FBI with this, they inform her that for this to be done right, she’ll need to do it their way.
About half of this documentary covers how Rochelle builds trust with Jared who openly talks about his desire to do some ungodly things, even admitting acts he has already done. The other half focuses on Russell Taylor and his wife Angela and her two children. Jared and Russell are the main villains with Angela as an equally vile participant; a fact we don’t truly know about until the very end.
The Russell Taylor part of the whole Jared Fogle saga is something I had no idea about. This news story is already a couple of years old and my interest in crime wasn’t what it is today. It added a disturbing yet intriguing element to this story.
If there is one thing missing from this documentary it’s a lack of diverse people talking in front of the camera. We get enough information from the insiders who were involved. A few investigators or even criminals involved would have made this far more memorable. Too many people declined to participate which slightly hurts this documentary.
Fortunately, Jared From Subway: Catching A Monster checks off the rest of the boxes. The audio Rochelle recorded of him gives us a disturbing look into the once-beloved spokesperson.
The documentary starts off with two former classmates of Jared’s talking about his place in the school’s society and how hard life must have been as a fat kid. At first, it may seem like this will be a sympathetic take on him. After those first few minutes, no more kind words are said about Fogle. The documentary doesn’t try to justify his actions in any way despite an early hint that maybe he lost out on a bit of his childhood.
Overall Score: 8 out of 10
This was a documentary I’ve been waiting to see made. I’m not sure it could have been done much differently. It’s a clear case of a once famous man for one of the most ridiculous reasons getting a little too comfortable in his sick world. Jared really did think he was untouchable just because he was able to lose weight eating sandwiches. I’d definitely recommend this one if you can stomach his twisted desires as well as the disgusting actions of Russell and Angela.
Practically Trouble 
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