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Who is Herbal in The Game? How did Herbal know Style, and what was his role in Project Hollywood?
Herbal in The Game was one of the PUAs who lived and worked at Project Hollywood. Herbal in The Game had a tense relationship with another guru, Mystery, and the two had problems surrounding their relationships with a woman named Katya.
Herbal Joins Project Hollywood in The Game
After Papa, Mystery, and Style signed the lease on the Project Hollywood mansion, they posted on Mystery’s Lounge that they were looking for roommates to fill the remaining two rooms. The response was overwhelming.
They ended up bringing in three eager pickup artists (PUAs), including Herbal. The Game members of Project Hollywood included the following:
- Herbal, a 22-year-old from Austin who had made a small fortune in a gambling scheme.
- Playboy, a party promoter who had quit his job at a New York dance company in order to come to Project Hollywood. Playboy worked for Real Social Dynamics to pay his rent.
- Xaneus, a college student from Colorado who was willing to do whatever it took to live at Project Hollywood—so he slept in a tent in the backyard, worked as an intern for Real Social Dynamics, and paid for utilities and housecleaning.
The roommates laid out the ground rules for the house:
- Herbal was responsible for finances.
- Papa was in charge of social events.
- Guests couldn’t stay in the house for more than a month without approval from all the roommates.
- Ten percent of profits from any seminars held in the living room had to go to the house fund.
- No one was allowed to sarge a woman that another PUA invited to the house.
Project Hollywood hit the ground running. Playboy threw the first Project Hollywood party, and the turnout was 500 people.
Similar seduction venues started popping up around the world—in Austin, San Francisco, Sydney, and Perth.
Mystery and Katya Break Up, Herbal and Katya Get Closer
The tension and resentment between Mystery and Katya were reaching a peak.
As Mystery and Katya’s cold war continued—Mystery freezing her out, and Katya hitting on the other housemates—Katya and Herbal in The Game began developing feelings for each other.
Style advised Herbal to talk to Mystery about it; Mystery had given Herbal permission to pursue his ex once before, and Mystery didn’t appear to care about his relationship with Katya anymore. After Mystery had another fight with Katya that evening, he gave Herbal his blessing to act on his feelings for Katya.
Just hours later, Katya and Herbal were together, and Mystery immediately regretted what he’d said. The feelings of rejection called up the emotional neglect he’d suffered as a child, and he broke down, insisting that he loved Katya.
The next day, Mystery was still a wreck. The last time Style saw him depressed—before Mystery’s mom and sister checked him into a psychiatric ward—Mystery had been catatonic. This time was different: Rather than being void of emotions, Mystery was overcome by them, to the point of convulsing.
Style determined that he should get Katya and Herbal out of Mystery’s sight:
- Style asked Herbal to refrain from seeing Katya until Mystery was more stable, and Herbal agreed.
- Style asked Katya to move out of Project Hollywood for a while, and to stop having sex with Herbal. Katya agreed.
Still, Mystery began talking about suicide, which prompted Style to take him to a mental health center, where Mystery got prescriptions for Xanax and a sleep aid.
More Problems at Project Hollywood
Style returned from Miami to more drama in Project Hollywood.
Katya had been out of town for six weeks, during which Mystery had called her constantly, trying to get her back. Meanwhile, Herbal in The Game was also calling Katya regularly, and Katya’s feelings for Herbal were growing stronger.
When Katya returned to LA, she went straight to Project Hollywood and told Mystery that she wanted to date Herbal. Mystery acquiesced and agreed to back off—but, as soon as he saw Katya and Herbal kiss, it made him crazy.
One night, Katya was out late helping Papa with a Real Social Dynamics workshop, so Papa suggested that Katya sleep in Herbal’s room, though Herbal was out of town. Hours later, Katya woke up to Mystery, who kicked down Herbal’s door and started throwing things. Mystery screamed at Katya that she was merely a guest in the house, and the next time she was there without Herbal, he would attack Herbal.
Mystery and Herbal’s Falling Out
Style, Papa, Xaneus, and Playboy called a house meeting with Mystery and Herbal in The Game to resolve their issues. It appeared that someone had to move out:
- Herbal didn’t want to live there without Katya.
- Mystery didn’t want to live there with Katya.
- Papa didn’t want to live there with Mystery, because he was fed up with Mystery’s drama and outbursts.
The housemates appointed Style as a mediator. He came up with a compromise: Katya wasn’t allowed in Project Hollywood for two months, during which Mystery had to get over Katya, pull himself together, and stop destroying property and threatening people.
Mystery pushed back, saying that Style and the housemates were choosing Katya over him. At that, Style’s frustration with Mystery that had been mounting for months came to a head.
Style told Mystery that he was self-sabotaging by:
- Wasting his potential as an illusionist by talking a big game but never following through with booking shows
- Squandering his pickup business by not being more proactive and organized
- Pushing away all the women he got close to
Mystery broke down, and he acknowledged that he’d made a mess of his life. He said that he was broken, and that he didn’t know what to do.
Real Social Dynamics Takes Over Project Hollywood
Project Hollywood was falling apart. Physically, the house needed a deep cleaning and some serious repairs—but the social fabric was in even worse shape.
Mystery and Herbal made up just in time for Mystery’s move-out. Then Herbal moved back to Austin with Katya. Style was alone in the house with Papa, Tyler Durden, and their Real Social Dynamics minions.
Herbal in The Game was one of the gurus at Project Hollywood, whose problems eventually drove Style out of the business and out of the PUA community.
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Here's what you'll find in our full The Game summary :
- The secrets of the Pickup Artist community in seducing women
- How key Pickup Artist leaders fought with each other and split the group apart
- What author Neil Strauss took away about women from his years of training
