Nothing’s Off the Table with Louis Ruggiero

Sam Favata was a professional baseball player with a promising career — until a devastating injury changed everything. What followed was a gambling addiction so severe it spiraled into a $32 million Ponzi scheme, more than $10 million in gambling debts, and 33 months in federal prison.

In this episode of Nothing's Off The Table, Sam opens up about his rise through pro baseball, the beaning injury that derailed his career, how sports betting with an infamous bookie escalated from a hobby to a compulsion, and how he used his own mortgage company to fund his addiction — defrauding over 200 investors before it all came crashing down. Then he shares what prison, recovery, and redemption really look like on the other side of rock bottom.

If you've ever wondered how gambling addiction actually destroys lives — or you're struggling with sports betting yourself — this episode is a must-watch.

🔔 Real stories. Raw comebacks. Nothing's off the table.

I sit down with people who've faced it all: addiction, loss, redemption—and came out stronger. These are unfiltered conversations about resilience, recovery, and finding purpose again.

🎙️ Hosted by Louis Ruggiero


📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/nothingsoffpod)


📹 TikTok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@nothingsoffpod)


🔗 Linktree: (https://www.linktr.ee/nothingsoffthetable)


🧢 Buy a Nothing's Off The Table Hat: (https://nothings-off-the-table-with-louis-ruggiero.myshopify.com)

🤝 Proudly Sponsored by Right Choice Recovery


If you or someone you love is struggling with gambling, drugs, alcohol, or addiction, please reach out. Louis personally recommends Right Choice Recovery, a team that genuinely cares and treats every client like family. They provide compassionate, individualized support and can help connect people with the resources they need to begin their recovery journey.

Learn More:

🌎 Website: (https://rightchoicerecoverynj.com)


📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/rightchoicerecovery)


☎️ Contact: (732) 808-2725

🤝 Presented in Partnership with Lucy
Nothing's Off The Table is proud to partner with Lucy, makers of premium nicotine pouches. Use promo code LOUIS for 20% off your first order.

🌎 Website: (https://lucy.co)


💥 Promo Code: LOUIS — 20% off your first order

⚠️ Warning: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. 21+ only.

🎙️ Connect with Our Guest

👉 Instagram:
(https://www.instagram.com/sam.favata3)

👉 TikTok:
(https://www.tiktok.com/@sam.favata3)

👉 Website: (https://www.facebook.com/sam.favata44)

About the Show

Hosted by Louis Ruggiero, a restaurateur, entrepreneur, and advocate for recovery, Nothing's Off The Table is where real people share their real stories. From battling addiction to overcoming life's toughest challenges, Louis and his guests uncover the moments that spark change and fuel unstoppable comebacks. Expect raw honesty, deep insights, and stories that hit home.

Meet Louis

Louis Ruggiero turned his life around after years of struggling with addiction, gambling, and substance abuse. Now, he's on a mission to amplify voices—from celebrities to everyday survivors—sharing their journeys of grit, growth, and healing.

#AddictionRecovery #WeDoRecover #NothingsOffTheTable #LouisRuggiero #RecoverOutLoud #ComebackStories #RecoveryIsPossible #MentalHealthAwareness #RecoveryCommunity #RightChoiceRecovery

Disclaimer: The stories and views shared on Nothing's Off The Table are personal experiences and not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult qualified professionals for guidance on personal matters.

Copyright: © Nothing's Off The Table with Louis Ruggiero. All rights reserved. Feel free to share or embed episodes with proper credit and a link to our official pages.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 30 years old, Adriana was in a coma with liver failure and cirrhosis. Doctors read her last rites and her family signed a DNR. She survived — then went back to drinking anyway.

In this episode of Nothing Is Off the Table, Adriana shares her raw, unfiltered addiction recovery story: how alcoholism started at 15, drinking a handle of Tito's vodka a day, relearning how to walk and read after liver failure, the relapse that cost her her job, the moment her mom caught her drinking, and the two-and-a-half week blackout bender that finally sent her to rehab. Now sober, she opens up about alcohol withdrawal, life in recovery, rebuilding family relationships, dating in sobriety, and her best advice for anyone still struggling with alcohol addiction.

If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or alcoholism, this conversation is proof that no one is too far gone.

🔔 Real stories. Raw comebacks. Nothing’s off the table.

I sit down with people who’ve faced it all: addiction, loss, redemption—and came out stronger. These are unfiltered conversations about resilience, recovery, and finding purpose again.

🎙️ Hosted by Louis Ruggiero
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/nothingsoffpod)
📹 TikTok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@nothingsoffpod)
🔗 Linktree: (https://www.linktr.ee/nothingsoffthetable)
🧢 Buy a Nothing's Off The Table Hat: (https://nothings-off-the-table-with-louis-ruggiero.myshopify.com)

🤝 Proudly Sponsored by Right Choice Recovery
If you or someone you love is struggling with gambling, drugs, alcohol, or addiction, please reach out. Louis personally recommends Right Choice Recovery, a team that genuinely cares and treats every client like family. They provide compassionate, individualized support and can help connect people with the resources they need to begin their recovery journey.

Learn More:

🌎 Website: (https://rightchoicerecoverynj.com)
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/rightchoicerecovery)
☎️ Contact: (732) 808-2725

🎙️ Connect with Our Guest
👉 Instagram:(https://www.instagram.com/theadgeofsobriety)
👉 TikTok:(https://www.tiktok.com/@Theadgeofsobriety)
👉 Website: (https://stan.store/TheAdgeofSobriety?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPOTM2NjE5NzQzMzkyNDU5AAGn269XoYEJ8-XUFZI2bucMc5NWVunqUy2TG7oykwcpmX0vgog7Nao7q-agyo4_aem_j3IE-wctKVPUkJ6XkN3kCQ)

About the Show

Hosted by Louis Ruggiero, a restaurateur, entrepreneur, and advocate for recovery, Nothing’s Off The Table is where real people share their real stories. From battling addiction to overcoming life’s toughest challenges, Louis and his guests uncover the moments that spark change and fuel unstoppable comebacks. Expect raw honesty, deep insights, and stories that hit home.

Meet Louis
Louis Ruggiero turned his life around after years of struggling with addiction, gambling, and substance abuse. Now, he’s on a mission to amplify voices—from celebrities to everyday survivors—sharing their journeys of grit, growth, and healing.

#AddictionRecovery #WeDoRecover #NothingsOffTheTable #LouisRuggiero #RecoverOutLoud #ComebackStories #RecoveryIsPossible #MentalHealthAwareness #RecoveryCommunity #RightChoiceRecovery

Disclaimer: The stories and views shared on Nothing’s Off The Table are personal experiences and not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult qualified professionals for guidance on personal matters.

Copyright: © Nothing’s Off The Table with Louis Ruggiero. All rights reserved. Feel free to share or embed episodes with proper credit and a link to our official pages.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cormac is an Irish-born fitness coach, model, and former Love Island USA cast member — and he's now nearly four years sober. In this raw, no-holds-barred episode of Nothing's Off, he sits down to share the full story behind the highlight reel.

We get into his last drink at his brother's wedding in Australia, just months after losing his father. His battle with cocaine, Adderall, and alcohol that dropped his weight to 162 lbs. The suicidal thoughts that started at 21 and the multiple rock bottoms that followed. And the moment he watched himself on national TV and realized he hated the person he'd become.

But this is also a story about coming back. Cormac opens up about going to rehab in 2020, the relapses in between, walking into the rooms again and again, and how recovery, fitness, and brutal honesty gave him a "ladder out of the dark hole." Today he runs an online coaching business and uses his platform to spread awareness around addiction, sobriety, depression, and men's mental health.

If you or someone you love is struggling, this conversation is for you. As Cormac says: everything is going to be okay — one minute, one hour, one day at a time.

Topics we cover:
* His last day drinking & drugging (4 years sober July 12th)
* Losing his father and the emotional spiral that followed
* Coke, Adderall, and the lifestyle that nearly killed him
* Multiple suicide attempts and the shame around them
* Why men don't talk about their feelings — and why that has to change
* His Love Island USA experience and the trauma behind it
* How fitness became a non-negotiable in his recovery
* Accountability, amends, and learning to like who he is
* His best advice for anyone still sick and suffering

🔔 Real stories. Raw comebacks. Nothing’s off the table.

I sit down with people who’ve faced it all: addiction, loss, redemption—and came out stronger. These are unfiltered conversations about resilience, recovery, and finding purpose again.

🎙️ Hosted by Louis Ruggiero
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/nothingsoffpod)
📹 TikTok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@nothingsoffpod)
🔗 Linktree: (https://www.linktr.ee/nothingsoffthetable)
🧢 Buy a Nothing's Off The Table Hat: (https://nothings-off-the-table-with-louis-ruggiero.myshopify.com)

🤝 Proudly Sponsored by Right Choice Recovery
If you or someone you love is struggling with gambling, drugs, alcohol, or addiction, please reach out. Louis personally recommends Right Choice Recovery, a team that genuinely cares and treats every client like family. They provide compassionate, individualized support and can help connect people with the resources they need to begin their recovery journey.

Learn More:

🌎 Website: (https://rightchoicerecoverynj.com)
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/rightchoicerecovery)
☎️ Contact: (732) 808-2725

🎙️ Connect with Our Guest
👉 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/iamcormacmurphy)
👉 TikTok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@iamcormacmurphy)
👉 Website: (https://beacons.ai/iamcormacmurphy?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPOTM2NjE5NzQzMzkyNDU5AAGni6ohbn7QcNIqHSQXs5-3ybpoAwuwqPPW8Nuz11ss-RupCnxXeIRg594VBvI_aem_un2FA0a8XhytKxgW0rTP3Q)

About the Show

Hosted by Louis Ruggiero, a restaurateur, entrepreneur, and advocate for recovery, Nothing’s Off The Table is where real people share their real stories. From battling addiction to overcoming life’s toughest challenges, Louis and his guests uncover the moments that spark change and fuel unstoppable comebacks. Expect raw honesty, deep insights, and stories that hit home.

Meet Louis
Louis Ruggiero turned his life around after years of struggling with addiction, gambling, and substance abuse. Now, he’s on a mission to amplify voices—from celebrities to everyday survivors—sharing their journeys of grit, growth, and healing.

#AddictionRecovery #WeDoRecover #NothingsOffTheTable #LouisRuggiero #RecoverOutLoud #ComebackStories #RecoveryIsPossible #MentalHealthAwareness #RecoveryCommunity #RightChoiceRecovery

Disclaimer: The stories and views shared on Nothing’s Off The Table are personal experiences and not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult qualified professionals for guidance on personal matters.

Copyright: © Nothing’s Off The Table with Louis Ruggiero. All rights reserved. Feel free to share or embed episodes with proper credit and a link to our official pages.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Joseph spent over a decade as a compulsive gambler — losing $5,000 to $10,000 a week, blowing $20,000 in a single 15-minute blackjack session, and hiding it all from his wife for the first 10–12 years of their marriage. To everyone around him, Adam was the responsible one: a business owner, a baseball coach, active in his church, a devoted family man. Nobody suspected that "Adam's dirty little secret" was quietly gambling away a fortune.

In this raw episode of Nothing's Off the Table, Adam takes us from the very beginning — a $100 bet on a golf course at 21 — through casino floors, sportsbooks, relapse after relapse, and a near-death COVID hospitalization where he prayed it might finally be the only way to stop. He opens up about the lying, the manipulation, the shame, and the moment his wife finally caught him for the last time on November 5th, 2022.

Now over three years clean, Adam shares how he found freedom through recovery, why sponsoring other men at Celebrate Recovery became the most fulfilling work of his life, and the one message he wants every person still suffering in silence to hear: you are not alone.

If you or someone you love is struggling with gambling or addiction, this conversation is for you.

In this episode:
* Adam's last day gambling and how he got caught
* How a $100 golf bet spiraled into a full-blown addiction
* Losing $20K in 15 minutes at the blackjack table
* Hiding a double life from his wife, family, and church
* Hitting bottom in the ICU during COVID
* Finding recovery, faith, and purpose on the other side

🔔 Real stories. Raw comebacks. Nothing’s off the table.

I sit down with people who’ve faced it all: addiction, loss, redemption—and came out stronger. These are unfiltered conversations about resilience, recovery, and finding purpose again.

🎙️ Hosted by Louis Ruggiero
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/nothingsoffpod)
📹 TikTok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@nothingsoffpod)
🔗 Linktree: (https://www.linktr.ee/nothingsoffthetable)
🧢 Buy a Nothing's Off The Table Hat: (https://nothings-off-the-table-with-louis-ruggiero.myshopify.com)

🤝 Proudly Sponsored by Right Choice Recovery
If you or someone you love is struggling with gambling, drugs, alcohol, or addiction, please reach out. Louis personally recommends Right Choice Recovery, a team that genuinely cares and treats every client like family. They provide compassionate, individualized support and can help connect people with the resources they need to begin their recovery journey.

Learn More:

🌎 Website: (https://rightchoicerecoverynj.com)
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/rightchoicerecovery)
☎️ Contact: (732) 808-2725

🎙️ Connect with Our Guest
👉 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/adamdink)

About the Show

Hosted by Louis Ruggiero, a restaurateur, entrepreneur, and advocate for recovery, Nothing’s Off The Table is where real people share their real stories. From battling addiction to overcoming life’s toughest challenges, Louis and his guests uncover the moments that spark change and fuel unstoppable comebacks. Expect raw honesty, deep insights, and stories that hit home.

Meet Louis
Louis Ruggiero turned his life around after years of struggling with addiction, gambling, and substance abuse. Now, he’s on a mission to amplify voices—from celebrities to everyday survivors—sharing their journeys of grit, growth, and healing.

#AddictionRecovery #WeDoRecover #NothingsOffTheTable #LouisRuggiero #RecoverOutLoud #ComebackStories #RecoveryIsPossible #MentalHealthAwareness #RecoveryCommunity #RightChoiceRecovery

Disclaimer: The stories and views shared on Nothing’s Off The Table are personal experiences and not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult qualified professionals for guidance on personal matters.

Copyright: © Nothing’s Off The Table with Louis Ruggiero. All rights reserved. Feel free to share or embed episodes with proper credit and a link to our official pages.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"He shot me up with heroin for the first time" — and that single moment sent Lauren G. into a years-long battle with addiction that nearly cost her an arm, a foot, and her life.

In this raw, unfiltered episode of Nothing's Off The Table, Lauren G. (Philly / Kensington) opens up about the addiction story she's never fully told. From taking her first drink at 14, to a trauma bond that pulled her into opiates, to shooting heroin despite being terrified of needles — Lauren holds nothing back.

She walks us through the hardest chapters: multiple DUIs, stealing from her own mom, watching her sister break down crying through prison glass, blood infections that nearly took her left arm, cellulitis that nearly took her foot — and why even THAT wasn't enough to make her stop.

But this is also a story of hope. Lauren shares how a year in prison, Bucks County drug court, and finally hitting the point where "the pain gets great enough" led her to over 7 years of recovery — and a life beyond her wildest dreams. If you or someone you love is struggling, this conversation is for you.

🔔 Real stories. Raw comebacks. Nothing’s off the table.

I sit down with people who’ve faced it all: addiction, loss, redemption—and came out stronger. These are unfiltered conversations about resilience, recovery, and finding purpose again.

🎙️ Hosted by Louis Ruggiero
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/nothingsoffpod)
📹 TikTok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@nothingsoffpod)
🔗 Linktree: (https://www.linktr.ee/nothingsoffthetable)
🧢 Buy a Nothing's Off The Table Hat: (https://nothings-off-the-table-with-louis-ruggiero.myshopify.com)

🤝 Proudly Sponsored by Right Choice Recovery
If you or someone you love is struggling with gambling, drugs, alcohol, or addiction, please reach out. Louis personally recommends Right Choice Recovery, a team that genuinely cares and treats every client like family. They provide compassionate, individualized support and can help connect people with the resources they need to begin their recovery journey.

Learn More:

🌎 Website: (https://rightchoicerecoverynj.com)
📱 Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/rightchoicerecovery)
☎️ Contact: (732) 808-2725

🎙️ Connect with Our Guest
👉 Instagram:(https://www.instagram.com/laurgaff)
👉 TikTok:(https://www.tiktok.com/@lala.g730)

About the Show

Hosted by Louis Ruggiero, a restaurateur, entrepreneur, and advocate for recovery, Nothing’s Off The Table is where real people share their real stories. From battling addiction to overcoming life’s toughest challenges, Louis and his guests uncover the moments that spark change and fuel unstoppable comebacks. Expect raw honesty, deep insights, and stories that hit home.

Meet Louis
Louis Ruggiero turned his life around after years of struggling with addiction, gambling, and substance abuse. Now, he’s on a mission to amplify voices—from celebrities to everyday survivors—sharing their journeys of grit, growth, and healing.

#AddictionRecovery #WeDoRecover #NothingsOffTheTable #LouisRuggiero #RecoverOutLoud #ComebackStories #RecoveryIsPossible #MentalHealthAwareness #RecoveryCommunity #RightChoiceRecovery

Disclaimer: The stories and views shared on Nothing’s Off The Table are personal experiences and not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult qualified professionals for guidance on personal matters.

Copyright: © Nothing’s Off The Table with Louis Ruggiero. All rights reserved. Feel free to share or embed episodes with proper credit and a link to our official pages.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices