Elizabeth Holmes really did fake the demo in Switzerland

I'm making my way through The Dropout on Hulu (shout out to Amanda Seyfried because she is really good) and just got to the episode where Elizabeth Holmes goes to Switzerland and fakes the demo for investors. I was like, no way she really did that in real-life, but turns out, yes! She did! The real-life story is very accurately portrayed in this once scene.

In the pitch, Elizabeth pricks her finger, puts her blood on the cartridge, inserts it into the machine, waits a beat, then a successful test result is revealed, because she's having that fake result beamed in from Silicon Valley where once, ONCE, they ran a successful test. They'd never run a successful test since.

According to John Carreyrou, author of Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, this is precisely what happened!!!

I didn't think I'd enjoy the series because I'd listened to the podcast and seen the newsmagazine shows on Theranos, but for some reason, I never really retained the details and the show really brings into high relief just how inSaNe this whole scam was. She really had no problem lying to get the money she needed!

Anyway, I recommend watching it even if you, like me, thought you'd be bored by it. The first episode is slow but dang does it pick up around ep 3.