Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Entertainment, Netflix, TikTok, True Crime
Marissa Dow
There is something hauntingly catchy about watching back the viral TikTok dances in the latest jaw-dropping Netflix documentary, Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult before anything even goes wrong. Being shown the hidden dark side of social media will hopefully provide a friendly reminder to all of us at home that everything you see online isn’t exactly what it seems. Now that the three-episode investigative doc is available to keep you up at night, you’re probably wondering what’s happened to the dancers still working with Robert Shinn’s self-described management company, 7M. The series focuses on a handful of Shekinah church members including popular sisters Miranda Wilking and Melanie Wilking, who were the “perfect prey” as impressionable young women with huge dreams of making it big as social media stars. What happened to Melanie and Miranda Wilking since the Wilking family shared their cult concerns about 7M with an Instagram live that got the world’s attention? Here’s everything we know.
Miranda Derrick, formerly Wilking before marriage, is currently still living in Los Angeles and posting as a part of the 7M group with her husband James Derrick AKA BDash. It does appear she’s gotten back in touch with her family to some degree: She posted a Mother’s Day tribute to her mother Kelli (who is featured in the documentary expressing concern for Miranda) using recent clips of the women of the Wilking family dancing together including Melanie; she even more recently attended Melanie’s wedding (though she didn’t share a picture with her sister). The Wilking family says in the documentary that this contact is solely to placate the public in light of the accusations against Robert Shinn’s organization.
Miranda and her sister Melanie have been dedicated dancers since they were kids in Detroit. First Miranda and then Melanie moved to LA to pursue careers as professional dancers but when auditioning together became difficult, the Wilking Sisters decided to create their own successful joint dance personality on social media. From the moment Melanie was introduced to Robert Shinn through Miranda and her then-boyfriend BDash at a private dinner she knew something was wrong. The pastor was aggressive in his religious practices, and as noted by others in the documentary, quick to combine 7M’s business with that of the invite-only Shekinah church services. Melanie chose to fall back from the religious side of things. Shinn instructed his followers to “die” to themselves and their families so they could evolve without them, which became apparent to Miranda’s family when she skipped her grandfather’s funeral back home in January 2o21, after participating in the 7M movement for over a year. They called the police to make sure Miranda was safe, and from then on Miranda phased Melanie and her family slowly out of her life.
Advert
Since news of the 7M scandal first broke in 2022, Miranda has released a number of statements all denying she was ever “held against her will or a hostage” or intentionally quit the Wilking Sisters brand she had created with her sister. She did concede her new religious beliefs have changed her, in her opinion, for the better. Miranda told The Cut in their 2022 exploration of 7M that she chose to prioritize her solo career “to make time for other things including my relationship with James, Bible studies, making music, and just having some time off to myself.” Following Dancing For The Devil, Miranda Wilking declined to comment further.