Ontario Tech professor’s 2022 podcast adapted into four-part Crave documentary series

An investigative podcast co-created in 2022 by an Ontario Tech University professor in Oshawa has been adapted into a four-part Crave Original documentary series, according to an Ontario Tech news release dated Oct. 8, 2026. The series is titled Fool Me Once: Hunting Marcel Vautour, based on the podcast Catch Him if You Can.

The adaptation is one example of how independent, locally connected media projects can end up on larger platforms, while raising questions about how real people’s experiences are handled as a story reaches a wider audience.

Dr. Emilia King is an assistant professor in Ontario Tech University’s Faculty of Social Science and Humanities. Ontario Tech said Catch Him if You Can was co-created through Pink Moon Studio by King and business partners Dr. Maggie Reid and Evan C. King.

The podcast followed the case of Marcel Vautour, whom Ontario Tech described as an alleged serial romance scammer. Ontario Tech said information uncovered through the project contributed to a police investigation, but the university did not name the police service.

Ontario Tech said King served as executive and associate producer on the Crave documentary.

“The barriers to entry in podcasting are much lower than in film and television, but the potential to tell an incredible story is still there,” King said in the university release.

King said the shift to television brought additional collaborators and production considerations, and required a more concise approach.

In the release, she described ethical questions she said guided her work on the project, including consent and potential harm to contributors. “As researchers, we’re trained to think carefully about ethics: whether consent is ongoing, who benefits from the work, who might be harmed and what the consequences could be for the people involved,” King said.

She also pointed to the lack of formal oversight that can come with independent publishing online. “When you publish independently online, you often do not have an editor or an institution holding you accountable,” King said. “You have to bring that discipline yourself. The freedom to tell a story comes with a great responsibility to the people who trust you with it.”

Ontario Tech said the work on the podcast and documentary has informed King’s teaching and her work with the university’s Creators4Change Studio. The university also said King led the design of a new Master of Social Media Communication in Online Creators program.