Tiger King fans listen up, there's a new true crime Netflix series set to occupy all your thoughts. Gunther's Millions has dropped on the streaming service today, February 1, and there are plenty of twists and turns that will have you gripping your seat.
Netflix's newest mind-boggling docuseries has it all – a ridiculously rich and adorable dog, yachts, private jets, and the humans that work for him who have been accused of being a a 'sex cult'.
The story begins with a German shepherd called Gunther, who supposedly inherited a whopping $400million (£323m) from a mysterious German countess.
He's living the high life, but there are dark and twisted secrets that are concealed by luxury. It gets incredibly complicated as Netflix exposes the 'hoax' behind the 'cult' who benefit from the money.
The four-part docuseries will take a closer look at the pooch's lavish life and the people who surround him. So who is Gunther and what is it all about? Here we take a look at the secrets, deception and the 'cult' behind the cute facade.
Who is Gunther?
For more than 30 years, stories about a line of German sheperds called Gunther have been swirling the internet.
The dogs are all claimed to be the wealthy beneficiaries of a mysterious German "countess" called Karlotta Liebenstein, who left her wealth to Gunther when she died in 1992, because her only son died before her.
However, it's now all believed to be a ruse created by business man Maurizio Mian, whose family owned an Italian pharmaceutical company called Istituto Gentili. It has been claimed that he is using German sheperds to promote real estate sales and other projects.
In the Netflix series, we are presented to German shepherd Gunther V, who is claimed to be the world's richest dog, with $400m tied to his name.
The story goes that "countess" died mysteriously and left $80m (£64m) to Gunther's great-grandfather, the first Gunther. From there, the care of Gunther and his descendants were left to the countess' son's good friend Mian who says the dog "must live the best life possible".
Through his investments with the dog's money, the wealth has supposedly grown to more than $400m.
In the documentary's trailer viewers are given a glimpse at the sort of luxury the dog enjoys – he has several properties, yachts, a private jet and 27 staff.
He has a breakfast made with the finest meat, vegetables and rice which is cooked by a private chef every morning, but he doesn't live alone with Mian, and he isn't the only one benefitting from the money.
According to the Netflix documentary, a "supergroup" of people to live with the canine. "I want to be a flea on that dog’s butt for the rest of my life," said one of the participants in the documentary.
The Netflix documentary explains that Mian wanted "fantastic looking" to come live with the dog, but one of them confessed it "got a bit twisted".
In the documentary they claimed that in order to live with Gunther they had to obey 13 commandments, and they were "watched 24/7," adding: "We were like lab rats." In another dark twist, one claimed they were encouraged to have sex with each other.
One of the interviewers in the programme asks one of Gunther's former housemates whether it was like a "cult," to with the embarrassed man laughs said the claim was "hilarious," before becoming really flustered.
One of the important topics the documentary brings up is whether it's all a hoax. It asks "Was the countess real?" and "Where did the money come from?".
Is the story of Gunther real?
In November 2021, Gunther hit headlines after he reportedly sold Madonna's old mansion for close to $30million after the trust that looks after him brought it for $7.5m.
Madonna herself posted a picture of herself on Instagram looking grumpy, with the caption: "When you find out a dog is selling your old house for three times the amount you sold it for!".
A probe by the Associated Press (AP) later claimed that the story behind Gunther's wealth was "erroneous", and that it had been created as a publicity stunt to boost property sales.
The publication said there had never been any evidence of a German countess.
They also noted that Mr Miam told an Italian newspaper in 1995 that the countess "was just an invention to publicise the philosophy of the Gunther Group and the Gunther Foundation," which was later changed to Gunther Corp.
However, four years later he retracted his statement, adding he had only said that to throw off the Italian press.
AP clarified that Gunther Corp, the trust, was the buyer and seller of Madonna's mansion, but that "the dog's role appears to be little more than a joke that's carried on for decades".
When doubts about the story emerged, director of Gunther Corp Monica Tirado decelined to answer questions because "there is an exclusive contract with a Netflix production".
In 1999 it was reported by the Miami Herald that Gunther was trying to buy a mansion from Sylvester Stallone, but the next day it reported that it was just a publicity stunt.
Mian had reportedly told the publication: "If you want to write it's a joke, you can write that. I won't do anything."
The Gunther's Millions trailer also ends with Mian, who is believed to be about 66, coming out with the outlandish claim that they are cloning dogs to keep the operation alive. He could be heard saying: "The dogs were cloned."
It's also claimed the hoax could involve a sex cult, according to The Times. According to the documentary, the band members who were living with Gunther were encouraged to have sex with each other.
Mian's own money appears to have come from his family's pharmaceutical business, which developed a treatment for the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis with the US pharmaceutical company Merck. The company was eventually bought by Merck in 1997.
Gunther's Millions streams on Netflix from February 1.
