Features
“The Cure for Hate” – how a former neo-Nazi Skinhead turned his life around
By BERNIE BELLAN On Sunday, November 19, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, in cooperation with the Jewish Federation, Westwood Collegiate, and an organization called “peace days,” screened a documentary film titled “The Cure for Hate – Bearing Witness to Auschwitz.” The film documents a visit made to Auschwitz by former neo-Nazi Skinhead Tony McAleer, during which he confronts his own violent past and discusses the long and complicated journey he has taken through his life
(As an aside, we also had a story in our January 19, 2022 issue, written by Jon Van Der Veen, in which Jon wrote about an interview he conducted with McAleer when Jon was a student in Atlantic Canada. You can find that story on our website, jewishpostandnews.ca..)
Following the screening of the film Tony McAleer was joined on stage at Westwood Collegiate by Westwood History teacher Kelly Hiebert to discuss the film. Also participating in the discussion was the film’s director, Peter Hutchison, who joined in via Zoom.
Interestingly, this was the second Sunday in a row that Westwood Collegiate, in cooperation with the Jewish Heritage Centre and the Jewish Federation – with particular thanks to Kelly Hiebert, served as the venue for the showing of a film and discussion afterward directly related to the subject of antisemitism. The November 12 event revolved around the screening of “Reckonings,” about which we wrote in our November 22 issue. (If you missed seeing that story you can also find it on our website
“The Cure for Hate” follows McAleer on a tour of Auschwitz, where he is accompanied by a Jewish Polish tour guide.
Here is a summary of the film’s storyline: “In the Jewish tradition, tshuvah means ‘return’, and describes the return to God and our fellow human beings that is made possible through repentance for our wrongs. Tony McAleer is a former Skinhead and Holocaust denier who went on to become a founding member of the anti-hate activist group Life After Hate. Profoundly aware and deeply ashamed of the lineage of hate he’d once promoted, Tony had long-contemplated traveling to Auschwitz in the spirit of tshuvah – to bear witness to the inconceivable ravages of the Holocaust, and deepen his personal work against the rise of extremist politics. This project documents his profoundly personal journey of atonement to Auschwitz/Birkenau – exploring the conditions that allowed for the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe; shedding a unique light upon how men get into, and out of, violent extremist groups; and serving as a cautionary tale for our time that underscores the dangers in allowing hate to be left unchecked.”
The film is fairly long – 74 minutes, and it is somewhat repetitious, as McAleer reiterates the shame he feels for his past over and over again, but it does offer some profound insights into what motivates many young men to be drawn to a violent neo-Nazi lifestyle.
At the beginning of the film, McAleer says he has often been asked: “How did you lose your humanity?”
He responds: “I didn’t lose it. I just kept it down until there was nothing left.”
As he begins his tour of Auschwitz, walking through the gate under the infamous sign that says, “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work will make you free), McAleer notes that when he used to get together with his Skinhead friends they would joke that when they’re done with the Jews the sign would read “Nothing will make you free.”
The film follows a pattern of McAleer walking along with the guide (who is often difficult to understand because of her heavy Polish accent), discussing his life and what led him to have an epiphany moment when he realized that the life he had been living was so wrong.
He observes at one point that “no one becomes a Nazi overnight. It’s a slow progression.”
As Jon Van Der Veen describes in his interview with McAleer, McAleer came from an affluent Vancouver family. According to Jon’s article, and something that is also mentioned in the film – although not to the extent it’s discussed in Jon’s interview, it was McAleer’s discovering that his father was having an affair that shattered his life and led him to descending into a downward spiral that culminated in his becoming a full-blown Neo-Nazi.
At one point, McAleer, who engages in quite a bit of introspection throughout the film, repeats something that was said to him by a psychiatrist who was treating McAleer: “All violence is an attempt to replace shame with self esteem.”
McAleer was influenced by a number of prominent Neo-Nazis, he says, whose names he recounts during the film, including; Richard Butter (who McAleer describes as the “spiritual leader” of the Aryan Nations, and who led the infamous 1978 march through a heavily Jewish neighbourhood in Skokie, Illinois which had a very high proportion of Holocaust survivors living there); Tom Metzger, of the White Aryan Resistance, and someone by the name of Lewis Beeton (although I may not have written that name down correctly since I could find no reference to anyone by that name on the internet).
Something that McAleer says during the film – and which is even more chilling than his description of his own long relationship with neo-Nazi ideology, is how so many neo-Nazi groups have been using the tactic of “mainstreaming,” whereby they educate their members to drop the appearance that is often associated with such groups, including uniform dress, scary tattoos and other such paraphernalia, and blend in with the “mainstream.”
Further, according to McAleer many neo-Nazis have been infiltrating police forces and armies in both Canada and the U.S. (Perhaps the most chilling story of such an infiltration came a few years ago when a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, Patrik Matthews, was unmasked as a member of a group known as “The Base,” thanks to the brilliant – and very brave investigative reporting of former Free Press reporter Ryan Thorpe.)
As the film progresses, McAleer describes the process through which he realized that his life had been a total waste. He acknowledges the contribution that his therapist, Charles Barron (who, incidentally, is Jewish), made to his coming to terms with what he had done with his life.
But, in treating him, McAleer says, Barron made him realize “This is what you did, it’s not who you are.”
The reason he had been attracted to neo-Nazi Skinhead ideology, McAleer observes, is out of a “search for longing and purpose.”
So, what turned McAleer around? There were two events that proved pivotal, he explains. One was the birth of a child. (He now has two, he noted during the discussion that followed the film, but he is no longer together with his children’s mother.)
The other event, he says in the film, “was receiving compassion from someone he didn’t expect it from.”
As well, he observes, “Allowing one to have compassion for oneself leads to compassion for others.”
Yet, in what comes as a dark warning toward the end of the film, McAleer states that “the inescapable truth is that white supremacist ideology, if left unchecked, always ends in violence.”
Following the film, McAleer and Peter Hutchison engaged in a discussion with Kelly Hiebert, followed by questions from the audience.
Kelly Hiebert asked McAleer whether there was “a transformative moment for you that led you to leave the movement?”
McAleer answered that “it was a process rather than a moment. For me it was the birth of my daughter. (His son was born 15 months later, he said.) Up until then I was a self-absorbed narcissist. I had been cut off from my emotional self.”
Someone in the audience asked Kelly Hiebert: “Why do you what you do?”
(Kelly Hiebert is a Governor General’s Award-winning educator who has made Holocaust education a key component of his teaching.)
Hiebert answered: “I do what I do to create a better world – for myself, my kids, and my students.”
Someone else asked Hiebert what he says to his students about what’s going on in Gaza?
He answered: “A lot of students are very confused. There’s too much information out there. I’m teaching them to develop a critical consciousness about what they’re consuming…to help them understand the difference between free speech and hate speech.”
Tony McAleer added: There’s confusion between identity and politics. It comes from understanding that it’s not the politics that’s wrong; it’s where I am that’s wrong.” But the identification with a certain brand of politics, he suggested, comes from “a thirst for community, a thirst for belonging.”
Peter Hutchison observed that the shift toward identifying with particular political beliefs “was never a defining characteristic when I was growing up…You end up getting ‘siloed’ in a lot of way. As Americans have become less identified with church, we’ve become much more strongly identified with ideology.”
And, as individuals become more immersed in particular ideologies, “it prevents us from seeing the humanity in one another,” he added.
The discussion turned to Holocaust denial. Peter Hutchison suggested that “if you can tear a hole in a little bit of data you can deny everything.” He went on to discuss the argument that there could never have been 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust – that it was Allied propaganda.
“It’s happening in real time,” Hutchison observed: “As information came in about a hospital (El Shifa – which was hit by a stray missile found to have been fired by Islamic Jihad) being bombed in Gaza, ”you can discount it or you can extend it to a much larger truth.”
Kelly Hiebert added: “People will believe the first thing they see.”
Someone asked McAleer: “What can you do to bring students together?”
McAleer answered: “Curiosity, courage, and compassion…What we try to teach young people is that it’s very hard to hate someone you meet.”
He cited as an example a student-led initiative that was put forward by students in an American high school – a program called “No one eats alone.”
The idea was to make sure that no one eating lunch would be left to sit by themselves. It was important to work with “students struggling at the margins,” he said.
In another school, students were asked to whom would they like to talk (among other students in their class) if they were “struggling.”
“We went to those students (the ones who were identified as one to whom the struggling students would like to be able to speak) and asked them if they would serve in that role.”
Hutchison noted that “it’s hard to teach ‘compassion.’ We teach ‘active listening’…how to be curious, how to wait your turn to speak…We also ask kids, ‘How does it feel to be hurt?’ “
Someone in the audience suggested that underlying a large part of the alienation that many young boys feel that, in turn, leads them to be attracted to neo-Nazi type groups, is wondering “How can I get girls to like me?”
McAleer responded that “We have to have better discussions about masculinity with young men…There’s a generation of young boys who feel alienated and there are groups who know how to pull them in.’
Peter Hutchison added: “Young men have heard the expression ‘toxic masculinity’ so often they don’t know what healthy masculinity is.”
And, while Belle Jarniewski made an observation about antisemitism sometime in the middle of the discussion, I thought it was particularly relevant to end this article with what she had said.
Belle explained that when a criminal offense occurs that has an antisemitic component to it, someone in the Crown Attorney’s office will often suggest that they ought “to bring in a Holocaust survivor for that offender to meet.”
“In truth,” Belle observed, “it would be much better if they were to meet someone like Tony.”
Features
Part 7 of the story of the Winnipeg con man: He meets a fellow psychiatric patient in Victoria Hospital; the plan to bring jets from Israel is brought closer to reality
By BERNIE BELLAN This is the seventh part of a story about a delusional Winnipegger who believes he is someone of great wealth and has spent the better part of 30 years contacting people all over the world telling them that he wants to invest in their businesses or projects. The first six parts of this story are all available to read under the FEATURES category on this website.
Here is part 7 of my story:
As I read through transcripts of conversations I had with the various individuals who would come to play different parts in what is quite a crazy story, some of those conversations were so weird that I wondered why I ever agreed to talk to certain people.
One such conversation took place with someone I’ll call Jack. Now, while Jack seemed perfectly nice, just like Rick, Dan, and Bob before him, the conversation veered off in crazy directions.
It was Rick who had told me about Jack, saying that it was Jack who had connected him with Fred Devlin. Jack’s connection to Rick though, as I was to learn while talking with him, was through their mutual interest in cannabis.
Jack said he first met Fred Devlin in 2022 when both were patients in the psychiatric ward at Victoria General Hospital in Winnipeg. There’s no need to go into any detail about Jack’s particular condition, other than to note that he said he suffers from a “seizure condition.”
To treat that condition, Jack explained, he uses cannabis. Here’s how he described what has happened to him when he has had a seizure and has been rendered unconscious: “When I go to the hospital for care, they place me in the psychiatric ward because they believe I’m a street drug user and not someone with a neurological condition that there’s no treatment for.”
So, it was when he was hospitalized following one of those seizures that Jack says he met Fred: “So in the hospital, I met Fred and he seemed like a blessed person, and he talks about helping other people, and he had a business card for a charity, and his theme is Tikun Olam, Repair the World… and he calls his foundation Xanadu Foundation.”
I said: “Sounds familiar,” but what I wanted to know is how he put Devlin together with Rick? I said to him: “Now, because Rick says that you were the common link, that you must have known Rick.”
In his rambling way, Jack explained how he had come to know Rick: “So my workplace, there were gang members and weapons involved, and I intervened, and I had a spinal cord injury, and a head injury, and that was 2005. So I was disabled with a seizure condition.
“Since then, and I came to, and after refusing palliative care, I found cannabis, and that’s what I was prescribed by my neurologist. And that’s how I came to Rick and his website.”
Rick, it turns out, has a very popular website devoted to the promotion of cannabis. He also has a business selling cannabis. (I won’t disclose the name of Rick’s website because, just as I promised everyone else in this story with whom I communicated, I would keep their identities hidden.)
Jack, however, wanted to describe in great detail the medical benefits of cannabis, but I wanted to bring him back to explaining how it was that he put Rick and Devlin together. He said that when he was younger he worked at a gas station and he used to read magazines at night while he was at the gas station. One of the magazines had an article about Fred Devlin. (I referred to that article in the business magazine at the beginning of this story.)
It’s actually quite amazing that having read an article in a magazine over 30 years earlier, Jack remembered the name “Fred Devlin,” but when he met Fred in the psychiatric ward, he immediately recalled that article – and that the article had mentioned Izzy Asper was a mentor of Fred’s.
Jack said he actually knew Izzy Asper (who died in 2002): “I am an acquaintance of Israel Asper and I spoke with him when I was 17 and 18. I spoke with him a number of times. We used to see each other. We used to frequent the same place on Fridays.” (I love his use of the word “frequent.” That’s open to all sorts of conjecture what he meant by that.) “So we would see each other on a Friday -f requently. And we spoke a number of times. And if you’ve ever spoken with Israel Asper, he is clear in guiding.”
I was rather astonished that Jack was able to recall an article he had read some 30 years earlier. I said to him: “And this is some 30 years later, right? So, you remembered Fred’s name from having read that article?”
Jack: “I have been documented with an over 160 IQ, intelligence quotient.” (Who knows? Maybe he was telling the truth. It is rather remarkable that he remembered an article he had read 30 years prior.)
Still, I wanted to get back to how he put Rick and Devlin together. Jack explained: Devlin said he was “looking for a businessman to start a business and bring cannabis as medicine.”
That led to Jack contacting Rick and putting him in touch with Devlin. As I explained in my chapter about Rick, Rick was wanting to expand his publishing business and Devlin had promised him $10 million toward that end.
It was in January 2026, however, that Jack met Devlin once again in the psych ward at Victoria General Hospital. This time though, Devlin blamed his having ended back in the psych ward on Rick, saying “Rick is doing something to harm him (Fred) and his reputation and his (Rick’s) website’s been taken down…“
But, Jack said, he told Fred “I’m not very certain about Rick. So I will not be easily convinced that Rick is doing anything.”
Jack then veered off into a long tangent – something that by this point I had become accustomed to hearing when it came to speaking with individuals who had had an association with Fred Devlin.
It was also when he met Devlin the first time during his stay in the psych ward that Devlin invited Jack to “join him with his charity foundation.”
As Jack explained: “I’m a Christian man. I’m also a Catholic. I’m also a Baptist and I also love Judaism. So, when it comes to a religion that’s based on Mitzvahs and doing good deeds to help other people, I love that. So, I decided I would help Fred repair the world and try to do something better than is existing right now with him.
“So, we would get together and we started seeing each other and socializing and meeting together regularly. And we’ve been doing that for the past two years, roughly. 18 months, 20 months, somewhere in there.”
Jack went on to describe a story about having bought cannabis for Devlin’s wife who, Jack said, suffers from migraines. He also claimed that “Queen Victoria suffered from migraines and used cannabis daily for a neurology condition. That is historic and documented.”
(A quick check of the internet contradicted what Jack said, although there may have been a glimmer of truth in what he alleged. Here’s what a Google check came up with: “Reports suggest that Queen Victoria may have used cannabis tincture to alleviate menstrual cramps or pain during childbirth, as prescribed by her personal physician, Sir John Russell Reynolds, who frequently used cannabis in his practice. However, these claims are not definitively proven and remain disputed by some historians.)
Jack said he spent $945 on cannabis for Devlin’s wife (That’s some expensive cannabis, I’d say!) “but it was a disastrous for him and his wife. And this is how he has repaid that friendship for everyone with his deceit and fraud.”
Our conversation, which had already been 30 minutes, continued, but nothing else of consequence was said – if anything that I’ve already described of our conversation can be said to have been of any consequence.
The plan to convert Israeli jets for firefighting gets taken very seriously
As I’ve noted several times, Devlin’s background in aviation stood him in good stead when it came to trying to persuade various individuals that he was seriously interested in working with Israel Aerospace Industries. Dan Winthrop, especially, invested a great deal of time in a project that would have seen Israel Aerospace Industries convert jets for use as water bombers, spraying chemical retardants on forest fires.
But, when it came to actually negotiating with someone who had ties to Israel Aerospace Industries it was someone I’ll call Avi who was ready to play a key role in the project.
When I spoke with Avi I promised him I wouldn’t disclose where he lived, what he did for a living, or who it was that he was going to connect to Devlin. Avi was deeply embarrassed at how much he believed Devlin story – and the extent to which he was prepared to help Devlin’s supposed plan through to fruition.
What he did disclose though, was that he had “a personal friend who works for the Israeli aviation and space industry.” He went so far as to say that “she’s in charge of the non-combat aviation side of it, and she’s in charge of North America.” (Bob Anderson referenced receiving an email from this woman, whom I’ve called Dalit Galon.)
Avi said “So, she contacted me and said she has a client who sent, I believe that his name is Dan, who sent his associates to Israel to meet with her and to purchase airplanes.”
I asked: “That would be Dan Winthrop – right?”
Avi: “Correct…And Dan flew and met with her, and he was under the impression that he’s dealing with a serious guy who wants to do good to the world as a foundation, and he is going to use those planes to fight fires – all over the world.”
I was a little confused as to the timeline when all this occurred because when I had spoken with Dan Winthrop, he had mentioned broaching an idea to Devlin in 2021 that Devlin said he really liked and wanted to put up money to see that idea go forward. But, when I spoke to Dan he said he didn’t want to get into specifics about that idea, beyond saying that Devlin steals other people’s ideas.
Now, however, after listening to Avi, I was beginning to understand just what Dan’s idea had been, so I said to Avi: “Let’s just go back. When is all this happening? What year are we talking about?”
Avi answered: “Everything is the last two years.” That would mean that it took some time for Dan to find someone in the Israeli aerospace industry who would give serious consideration to his proposal.
As Avi reiterated, “So she called me and says, this guy came, he’s representing a serious guy who has the means and wants to do good for the world, and wants to purchase those planes to fight those fires. That’s it.”
The woman Avi was talking to then asked her whether he could give Avi’s number to Devlin, noting that “he (Devlin) said he loves Israel like you, and would it be okay if I give him your number?” (I should note at this point that Avi is very well connected, both to Israeli businesspeople – and to people in the government, including some very high placed politicians.)
Devlin did call Avi, as Avi explained: “He would be calling me. I didn’t call him. He would call me twice a week, three times a week and just ask me personal questions, talk to me. And then he mentioned, if there’s anything that I can do to help Israel or to help something with Israel, let me know.”
At that point Avi said the conversations with Devlin shifted to discussing a documentary movie someone wanted to make about Jews helping Israel. He said he told Devlin about that idea for a movie and Devlin said he wanted to be involved in that, too.
Eventually, we returned to discussing Devlin’s plan to convert Israeli jets so that they could be used for firefighting. Avi told Devlin that he would help to set up some meetings for him with important Israeli officials, but at that point he asked me to stop recording.
Although he asked me to stop recording Avi didn’t say that he wanted to go off the record. What he said next really floored me. He said that he had actually gone so far as to set up a meeting between Devlin and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. To Avi’s great relief, however, Devlin bowed out of flying to Israel to meet the prime minister, so the meeting was cancelled long before it was supposed to take place. He added that he would have been terribly embarrassed had Netanyahu actually shown up for a meeting, only to find that Devlin hadn’t come.
Avi admitted that it was only quite recently that he realized Fred Devlin was totally delusional, but unlike some of the others whose stories I’ve related thus far, he didn’t spend nearly as much time talking to Devlin as others had. Or course, he realizes now that whatever time he did spend was totally wasted but, as you’re about to read, beyond having spent time talking to Devlin, it didn’t cost him financially.
Coming next: The con man convinces someone to stop paying their debts – promising him a big payday around the corner
Features
ESports Meets Casinos: Overview of Bet Sport Gaming
ESports has become part of the interactive entertainment of online casinos. In fact, many fans already have the opportunity to use Dragonia Casino Bet Sport options while watching the matches of their favorite teams. The hybrid entertainment model opens up many possibilities and increases audience engagement. When video games intersect with betting, it creates a unique collaboration where participants have the opportunity to get a completely new experience right in their own home. At the same time, you can continue to enjoy the usual viewing of familiar tournaments and competitions.
How ESports and Casinos Interconnect
ESports has become a multi-billion-dollar industry that attracts spectators. Traditional casinos are focused on luck. But now they are introducing additional methods of encouraging their customers. Among such options, eSports events deserve special attention. Such bet sport offers combine the usual excitement with an element of competition. The structure of the casino entertainment provides participants with the opportunity to test their skills and reveal their own hidden talents. There are several forms of integration of eSports mechanics into the structure of a classic online casino:
- Competitive betting. Online casinos provide the opportunity to bet on eSports tournaments, which is similar to the usual sports betting. In addition, the possibilities are significantly expanded compared to simple viewing platforms.
- Skill-based casino games. Games inspired by eSports encourage players to actively participate in what is happening on the screen. The games reward the player’s results with certain prizes.
- Interactive arenas. Some casinos broadcast eSports events in real time. This allows players to follow the games directly online, which creates a feeling of real participation in familiar entertainment.
- Cross-platform interaction. Online casinos are introducing eSports-style leaderboards and achievements to attract more participants.
Such innovations appeal to new participants. Cultural changes are part of the development of the infrastructure of the classic casino, and eSports fans find a new environment for entertainment and communication.
Growth of ESports Betting
Global eSports revenue in 2025 exceeded $1.5 billion. Each bet sport option has made a significant contribution to the development. Surveys show that over 60% of players will express interest in betting on eSports, which reflects the demand and the need to develop an updated infrastructure for participation.
ESports events attract 15-20% more new participants compared to conventional casinos. The eSports betting market will exceed $20 billion by 2027, according to analysts’ forecasts, which encourages new participants to more actively watch tournaments and participate in various types of activity.
Why Fans Choose ESports
Bet sport gambling is gaining popularity. This is due to several reasons. For example, large casinos in Las Vegas and Macau now host full-fledged eSports tournaments alongside traditional entertainment. Venues are also experimenting with separate fan zones where sports betting and classic gambling are available.
Some of the most popular eSports disciplines are League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Some online casinos even introduce eSports mechanics into slots so that players can try something new.
In short, the intersection of eSports and casinos is a natural development of the industry. Competitive play and an optimized betting system create a comfortable environment for true fans who want to diversify their leisure time.
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Card Game Traditions: Complete Review from Casino Online Lolajack Experts
Card games have been around for centuries. They are constantly evolving and improving. For example, there are now many different formats of online games available. On sites like casino online Lolajack https://Lolajack.com/ca/, you can choose a title according to your preferences and skills. The traditions of card games date back to ancient times. To better show yourself, it is worth familiarizing yourself with these features. This way, you will gain experience, have a good time, and get acquainted with something completely new.
Roots of Card Games
Card games directly reflect cultural identity. They have a unique mathematical structure and thoughtful moves that make even professionals think. Depending on the tradition, the rules differ, but the basic principles always remain similar. Each game has a unique origin:
- Poker. It originated in the USA back in the 19th century. During its existence, many variations of gameplay have appeared. It combines risk, strategy, and psychology; therefore, it requires high skill from each player.
- Baccarat. This game has ancient origins. It appeared in the 15th century in Italy, after which it spread throughout Europe. Now it is the basis of any operator like casino online Lolajack.
- Rimmy and bridge. Card games require the cooperation of participants, so coordinated communication is important here.
- Blackjack. This is the perfect combination of skill and chance. The player needs to learn to make decisions quickly and monitor the circumstances.
Card games have their own origins and characteristics. Currently, they are an integral part of any online casino, offering a wide range of opportunities for participants.
Why Card Games Are So Popular
Experts from casino online Lolajack emphasize the importance of card games in many cultures. For example, poker remains the leader for a reason. There are more than 100 million active players worldwide who compete and work on their skills. Blackjack also does not lag behind the trends. The level of participation exceeds 40% of regular online casino users.
Every year, the level of online card games grows by 10%. This is possible due to digitalization and increased player awareness. In addition, seasonal events also increase the involvement of participants during peak periods.
Traditions of Card Games
Unique events attract the attention of fans. For example, the World Series of Poker attracts not only participants but also millions of viewers around the world. Sites such as casino online Lolajack also give participants the opportunity to try their hand and compete with professionals.
Baccarat is associated with high stakes. This is especially noticeable among the Asian audience, who like to put probability theory into practice. Blackjack also has an appeal among math lovers. The probabilities of the model and observations directly affect the decisions of players. Online casinos strive to ensure that participants have the opportunity to communicate and find an activity option according to their own preferences.
As a result, card games remain the true leaders of the gambling market. They not only entertain, but also develop attention, perseverance, and social skills. A large selection of various variations of classic games allows you to choose the version that suits your preferences. Developers do not lag behind trends and do everything possible to surprise fans.