Is the Wim Hof Method a Cult?

I wanted to clarify my position on this subject lest anyone get the wrong idea.

In the broader culture, "Cult"" carries some pejorative, or even sinister, connotations--for instance, Jim Jones's People's Church and Heaven's Gate which both ended in a mass-suicides, or the Manson Family which committed mass murder. Other cults in this vein would be David Koresh's movement in Waco, or the sex-scandal beset group NVIXM. As I mentioned in my video "The Rise and Fall of the Wim Hof Empire" as well as in the story I posted here, I do NOT believe that The Wim Hof Method or Innerfire are anywhere near as extreme.

When I have used the term "cult" in relation to the WHM, I'm drawing from an anthropological perspective whose definition is much more modest. In this framing, it's a "misplaced or excessive admiration of a particular person." In my opinion, this in undeniably true. There is a cult of personality around Wim Hof that limits critical thinking around the actions I have documented. He frequently speaks in scientific nonsense vocabulary, and endorses conspiracy theories. Hof's most ardent followers are beset by an unhealthy level of Group-Think and uncritically endorse Hof and his teachings. In my conversations with Hof, he has compared himself to Jesus, and conducted "baptisms" on his followers. This feels like the beginnings of a small religious order against the mainstream, which is yet another definition of cult that anthropologists use.

It does not appear that Wim Hof or his organization exert excessive control over the majority of its followers as I've documented with other religious groups, though there is a strange hierarchy among the various levels of WHM instructors that I believe could transform into something coercive. In my experience with the WHM it does appear that they favor certain members who show loyalty to the organization and cast out others that they see as potential rivals. This is concerning behavior. But they're also not at the level of total control that you would have seen at the other organizations I wrote about in the introduction to this post. I thought this would be good to clarify for anyone who is confused about how I use the terminology in my writings, videos and elsewhere. Here is a link to Google's definition for more clarity.