Liver King Review: Is Brian Johnson's Ancestral Diet Worth It in 2026?

Brian Johnson built a multimillion dollar brand around a single claim: eating raw animal organs makes you superhuman. He goes by the Liver King, and by 2022 his videos of chewing raw liver and bull testicles had turned him into one of fitness's most recognizable faces.

His pitch centered on nine 'Ancestral Tenets': sleep, eat, move, shield, connect, fight, bond, and cold exposure. He sold the philosophy through a supplements company built on 'nose to tail' animal products and named his followers 'primals.' Then leaked emails surfaced showing months of steroid purchases, and the story flipped from ancestral purity to public apology.

Netflix turned the rise and fall into 'Untold: The Liver King,' a 70-minute documentary released in May 2025. This review breaks down who Brian Johnson actually is, what his diet and supplement brand claim to do, what the steroid scandal actually involved, and whether the documentary and the brand behind it are worth your time or money.

Who Is The Liver King?

The Liver King is the public persona of Brian Johnson, a Texas born bodybuilder turned supplement entrepreneur. Johnson was born in 1978 and grew up idolizing bodybuilders and action heroes, and he later credited that early obsession with strength for shaping the character he built as an adult.

Johnson has two sons, Rad Ical and Stryker, with his wife Barbara. He says the boys suffered from serious allergies as young children, and that discovery pushed him toward researching ancestral living as an alternative to conventional medicine.

How Did He Build His Following?

Johnson partnered with a marketing agency called 1DS Collective, led by John Hyland, to grow his presence on TikTok and Instagram. That partnership turned raw meat videos into a viral format, and it built an audience large enough to support a real supplement business within a few years.

What Is The Liver King Diet?

The Liver King diet centers on raw animal organs, with beef liver as the primary staple and other organs like bone marrow and testicles included regularly. Johnson frames this as a return to how ancient humans actually ate, rejecting processed food entirely in favor of whole, unprocessed animal parts.

The diet sits under his nine 'Ancestral Tenets': sleep, eat, move, shield, connect, fight, bond, and cold exposure, plus one more he markets as the unifying principle. Eating raw liver and organ meat is the centerpiece, but the tenets also cover lifestyle habits like limiting wifi exposure and going barefoot outdoors.

What Products Does He Sell?

Johnson turned the diet into a commercial supplement company selling organ based bars, powders, and capsules marketed as 'nose to tail' animal products. The pitch to buyers is simple: get the nutritional benefits of raw organ meat without having to source, kill, or prepare the animal yourself.

Is The Liver King Diet Backed By Steroids?

Yes, the Liver King used steroids for years while publicly denying it. Leaked emails surfaced in December 2022 documenting an ongoing steroid regimen, directly contradicting his public claims that his physique came from diet and lifestyle alone.

Johnson denied the accusations loudly and publicly for months before the leaked evidence became impossible to dispute. He eventually issued a public apology once the emails were reported, acknowledging the steroid use he had previously denied.

What Does He Say About It Now?

In the Netflix documentary, Johnson admits on camera that he misled his audience. He says directly: 'I want the world to know that I was wrong. I got all of it wrong. I don't know shit.' He also describes struggling with low self esteem going back to childhood.

What Is The Netflix Documentary About?

'Untold: The Liver King' is a 70 minute Netflix documentary tracking Johnson's rise from social media obscurity to viral fame and his subsequent fall after the steroid leak. It's part of Netflix's 'Untold' documentary series, appearing as Volume 5, Episode 2, and it was released in May 2025.

The film uses Johnson's own social media clips extensively, including footage of him and his family eating raw organ meat on camera. It also covers the business side of his rise, from the 1DS Collective partnership to the scale of the supplement company he eventually built.

What Do Critics Say About The Documentary?

Critical reception splits sharply. One review called the film 'stomach-churning' and said the raw meat footage was difficult to watch even for a committed carnivore, while also criticizing the documentary's structure as only telling half the story: the rise and the fall, with little examination of what came after.

A separate review argued the documentary skips deeper questions about the health risks of heavy meat consumption and the ethical cost of the diet, including a scene where the family kills and guts a bull on camera. That reviewer called Johnson 'a con man, a snake oil salesman, and a grifter' rather than a misunderstood outsider.

What Do Viewers Say?

Viewer reaction is more mixed than critic reaction. Some viewers who watched the full documentary described it as a well told story that presents a fascinating and worthwhile picture of who Johnson actually is, even while acknowledging the subject matter is uncomfortable.

Documentary Reception At A Glance:

What Are The Risks Of The Liver King Approach?

Eating raw organ meat carries real foodborne illness risk, since raw animal liver and other organs can carry bacteria and parasites that cooking normally destroys. The diet's own marketing leans on this raw preparation as a selling point, which is also its biggest practical safety concern for anyone trying to copy it at home.

The steroid use uncovered in 2022 adds a second layer of risk that has nothing to do with the food itself. Johnson's physique was presented for years as proof the ancestral diet alone builds extreme muscle, and that claim collapsed once the steroid regimen came to light.

Who Should Be Skeptical?

Anyone using Johnson's before-and-after transformation as evidence that diet alone can replicate his results should be skeptical. The documented steroid use means his physical results cannot be separated from pharmaceutical enhancement, regardless of what the supplement marketing implies.

Liver King: Final Verdict

The Liver King brand sold a simple story: eat like an ancestor, reject modern processed food, and get an extreme physique through diet and discipline alone. That story turned out to be incomplete. Leaked emails proved Johnson used steroids for years while publicly denying it, and he has since admitted on camera that he misled his followers.

The documentary itself is worth watching for the story, but critics are split on whether it goes deep enough. It shows the rise and the fall clearly, though several reviewers note it stops short of examining the health risks of the diet itself or the ethics behind it. As for the underlying diet and supplement brand, the core claim, that raw organ meat alone built that physique, does not hold up against the confirmed steroid use behind it.