True story behind twisted new Netflix documentary that knocked Baby Reindeer off number one spot

For weeks now Baby Reindeer has dominated the Netflix viewing schedules, with Richard Gadd's harrowing account of being stalked hitting close to home for many viewers.

The fallout from the show has been quite substantial too, what with the furore over people tracking down the real 'Martha' despite Gadd's pleas not to.

Now, there's a documentary taking the top spot on Netflix (at least until Bridgerton showed up), and those involved have signed up to speak on it themselves as the true story of the scandal behind extramarital affairs website was revealed.

Baby Reindeer was top spot for weeks on the streaming site. (Netflix)

Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal digs deep into the 2015 cyberattack on the affairs site which bore the phrase: "Life is short. Have an affair."

Some of the people who used the site for just that purpose ended up appearing on Netflix in person to try and explain what they'd been doing.

For those not in the know about where to go if you want to cheat on your spouse, the website Ashley Madison was a dating site designed to cater to this niche.

This was apparently a popular enough niche that the site's user base grew to over 30 million people, and then in 2015 Ashley Madison got a warning from hackers who said they must shut it down or data about the people on the site would be released.

In 2015 a website for people who wanted to have an affair was hacked, releasing their data. (Netflix)

That'd mean a lot of cheating was about to be exposed, as the data included people's email addresses, login details and payment information.

Basically, the information the hackers obtained could blow the lid off any anonymity the site attempted to provide, and throughout the Netflix documentary attention was drawn to messages on the dating site's page which claimed it was safe.

The release of data led to the exposure of celebrities, politicians, public figures and pretty much anyone and everyone who'd been on Ashley Madison, which resulted in some devastating consequences.

The documentary recounts that marriages were destroyed, reputations ruined and lives were even lost. (Netflix)

The Netflix documentary recounts how marriages were destroyed and reputations ruined, as well as how some people even took their lives after the data was released.

The controversy and catastrophe surrounding the hack did not seem to slow the pace of the site's growth, as a report from 2020 claimed that the user base had grown to 70 million.

In the documentary, there are claims that many of the accounts for women on the site were actually fake.

People watching the documentary have been stunned to see the true story all put together, saying they were 'not prepared for just how f**ked up' it would be to watch and that they were 'rooting for the hackers'.

"Probably the most insane documentary I've ever seen, and I'm only 20 minutes in," was one viewer's verdict.

Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal is available to stream now on Netflix.