i'll never let you go, if you promise that you never fade away ♪ let me hear you ♪ hold you in my arms ♪ tonight on "nightline," she is responsible for some of the hottest bodies, is there too much pressure to look tiny? and tonight, we're on the trail with a father whose desperate search for his son, gone in seconds. 50 shades of frenzy. it could be the hottest movie of the year, fans wonder, could robert pattinson play from new york city, this is "nightline," with juju chang. good evening, and thank you for joining us. summer is here, and every year the sizzling onset of bikini season helps to fuel the well-oiled million dollar business, catering to our fitness. one woman is tracy anderson. guru and workout problem. but it is not cheap, and some wonder if there is too much pressure on moms to get fit. >> reporter: she is the reigning queen of fitness, the secret behind some of hollywood's hottest bodies, from molly sims, to stacey kiebler, to gwyneth paltrow. >> i started with her, she was amazing, really transformed my body, i thought women should have access to it. >> reporter: it encompasses dvds, and now her own line of food. it is an intense cardio-based workout, that anderson believes you can achieve, no matter the body you're born with. >> even if every woman in your family has had big hips for the last 17 generations, you don't have is to. >> this is the real method that can take people thousands of miles in distance. i have proven it. >> reporter: the workout is designed to given women a tight, toned body. but some critics argue that that is not sustainable for many women. >> the fact is when you're surrounded by that imagery, it affects how we feel about our body. we can't meet it. i think women feel like they fall short. like they have not done it the right way, or enough. >> don't you think you're partly responsible for creating the standard that we have to look a certain way? >> i hate that, actually, that is hard for me, because unfortunately i did get pinned with a lot of ñrteeny tinies. and just because i can create a body that creates balance and gets rid of problem areas doesn't mean that i think that every woman needs to be teenie tiny. >> reporter: some parts of the workout may look odd with the trampolines, and free art. >> i use the brain's connection to the body, and people's weaknesses through the content to be able to create a balanced, strong structure. >> reporter: but those results don't come cheap. if you want a membership at one of her studios, it will run you $900 a month. >> so expensive, how are you still able to relate to those that are not celebrities and don't have that disposable income? >> you know i didn't spend over a decade creating this for celebrities, but it is expensive to have a gym like this. very expensive and to do it right. but if you really take the $900 a month against my philosophy that you need to work out six days a week, it is under $35 a class. >> reporter: it is prices like these that have turned tracy anderson's method into a huge business. with so much at stake, anderson is wary of what she calls copycats. >> there are really troubling circumstances, along the way, for sure. but people always tell me like when you do something great you will get ripped off. >> reporter: anderson herself recently had her second baby. and mothers are a big part of her client base. >> i'm really excited that you're going to let me help you get your body back. >> reporter: in fact, during her pregnancy, she created the pregnancy project. >> when you're a first-time mom you can't become informed enough. >> reporter: a set of workout dvds for nine months. >> what do you think? get started on our workout. >> reporter: and once you have your bundle of joy, tracy will help you get back in shape. but for a lot of moms looking like this postpartum, this is not realistic. >> it is not the real world, and to aspire to look like these models, will set you back. >> reporter: is it fair, though, that women who have a baby, get in shape so quick? >> no, you have to reconnect with your body, you know what it is like to work out again after being pregnant. it is the worst thing ever. >> reporter: and even some of her celebrity clients can't live up to the new standards. new mom, kim kardashian trained with tracy but was still criticized in the magazines for gaining weight. >> i feel bad for her, because anybody who is photographed under pressure, that is the last thing you want to do. >> reporter: that criticism didn't stop kardashian from walking the red carpet at anderson's studio. and co-owner gwyneth paltrow was on hand, as well. it is hard to believe, but after having two children, paltrow claimed she was out of shape. and that tracy told her so. >> she gets you naked and she criticizes every part of you. >> the first time she met you, she pulled down your pants and said your butt is lifeless. >> she pulled my pants down, said your butt is so long, at that point, i had touched and changed so much butts, it was like standard practice. >> reporter: could the gwyneth treatment work for me. >> i have to see how your genes are. >> reporter: being a burger loving person in my 30s, something possessed me. not sure what. to take one of her classes. >> this is your muscles, and you have is actually built it out. >> reporter: and what about my backside? >> okay, so how do you describe my butt. >> i would say that -- only if you're going out, only because it is longer than it needs to be, like hanging down more than it needs to. >> reporter: hearing i have a long glute, that was motivation enough to get busy in her two-hour master class. and eventually, quitting half way through. i don't think i'm going to be able to walk tomorrow. while her devotees continued on, unphased for another hour. >> i cannot feel my body from the waist down. >> reporter: i now know there is a method to tracy's madness. i can't hang, i'm waving the white towel. >> serious props to paula farris. coming up, a tranquil hike on a family vacation turns into a nightmare. we're along as the father searches for his missing son. uh-oh! guess what day it is?? guess what day it is! huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is?? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! yay!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. >> it is the stuff of hollywood suspense thrillers, except it is real, playing out now for an american family in ecuador. off for a hike in the hills, the couple's teenage son vanishes in a matter of seconds. as it turns out, these types of things happen abroad more than you think. we went along as the father searches for his missing son. >> reporter: chris reger has been over this route time and time again, a father in search of his son. >> reporter: have you retraced your steps? >> quite a few times. >> reporter: somewhere on this steep trail in ecuador, his 18-year-old boy vanished on a family hike, right after they stopped to catch their breath on this wooden pavilion. a horror story unthinkable for any parent. >> that is the last time you ever saw him? >> right. >> reporter: the last known photo of august reger. what do you think happened? >> i just don't know. >> reporter: moments later he vanished without a trace. >> so we assumed when we didn't find him he probably took the other part of the trail. so we continued our hike. and we came down to the hotel room about 2:30, and he was not there. that is when we got worried. >> reporter: so he just disappeared? you heard nothing, saw nothing. >> we were about five or ten minutes behind him. >> yeah, maybe less than that. how much much faster he could walk than we could. >> reporter: that was two weeks ago, chris and his wife, randa reger have been reliving that day ever since. the family came there because august wanted to work on his spanish, he just graduated from the oklahoma city school. he was a national merit scholar, heading to college on a full ride. a brilliant musician, he composed this music for this dance recital at school. in april, he went to the prom with his girlfriend, kaley locket. >> he is very close to his family. he is not a depressed individual. i know he loves his girlfriend very much and wants to come home and see her. >> reporter: she says she is sure he didn't run away on purpose, but what did happen is a mystery. >> i'm trying not to think about the hundreds of scenarios that pop into your mind, i'm trying to think optimistically. >> that is where they searched. they searched this whole place. >> reporter: for two weeks, the ecuadorians have thoroughly searched the trail and found no trace of august. the only word of his fate? a glimpse on the back of a pickup truck. somebody thought they recognized him from one of the posters. a special kidnappi inping squad the ecuadorian police is on the case. >> some girl thought she had information. >> reporter: the truck reportedly headed to the amazon in the jungle. >> i think he was either kidnapped or somehow, he went with somebody, for some unfathomable reason, and it doesn't even make sense. >> reporter: at this point you hope he was kidnapped? >> well, i guess, i wouldn't want him to be on the mountain. because i don't see how he could survive that this long. >> reporter: kidnapping is not unheard of in ecuador, but ecuadorian officials say it has never happened in banos, we asked the state department of what they know. >> are you aware of reports he has been kidnap insiped? >> again, we can't comment on the case. >> reporter: not much they could say. but they met with the ministers. as the reger family is aware, cases like this require ongoing attention. this woman disappeared last january in turkey. for surai, an avid photographer, it was the trip of a lifetime, complete with instagram posts she shared back home. they were shocked when she didn't return back home. >> i called united airlines. they stated she didn't board the flight. >> you know, you have so many thoughts going through your mind. you don't know what to think or believe. you don't know what to expect, what is coming out of this. >> reporter: turkish police released photos of her before she vanished. but later, her body was discovered along the ruins of the city walls. cause of death? blunt force to the head. police later arrested a homeless man for her murder. these two from california were on a bike tour to peru in february, when frequent posts upcoming their journey suddenly stopped. the alarmed family contacted the government. the couple was located on a river ferry. jeff dunn started the missing american's fund, after his brother went missing. the state department was not able to help him. the site has hundreds of people who seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. >> it is absolutely frustrating. there are gatekeepers everywhere, if you don't know who the person you should be talking to is. then you can be sure that the person you're talking with is not the person you need to be talking with. >> something unexpected is going on. so you know, we could -- it could be a ransom kidnapping. you know? might have to wait a long time to be sure it is not. >> reporter: the regers know one thing, they can't leave here without answers. >> the main thing is, i don't think i will be able to go home as long as i think i am doing some good here. >> there is no way you can get on that plane? >> yeah. >> reporter: i'm david wright, for "nightline," in ecuador? >> our thanks to david wright and our best to the regers. coming up next, the hottest movie of 2014. could be "50 shades of gray" could it be robert pattinson? lo. in tonight's feed frenzy. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. 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[ doorbell rings ] ...and let the good life in. value, valedictor . alec baldwin, latest twitter outbreak, bert and ernie cozy up. and who might be the latest to act in the movie "50 shades of gray." 50 shades of speculation, who will tie up the role? will it be a superman, a white collar man, or a lost man? everybody is guessing, but the author is not talking. desperate for clues, latest dark horse candidate, people magazine recently reported that she was at a party with "twilight" star, robert pattinson. and they came to pay their respects to james gandolfini, and now, alec baldwin is defending his wife, saying she did not tweet at the funeral. he said how much are people supposed to take? my wife didn't use her phone in any capacity at a friend's funeral. baldwin disabled his twitter account, and later said it is disgraceful that the reporter manufactured a story and never called for comment. and outing on bert and ernie, there is speculation. >> but i like you. >> are they more than just friends? now on the coattails of the supreme court ruling giving gays equal rights status, they were now celebrating the victory. they had a positive tweet, sesame street already addressed their relationship back in 2011, stating bert and ernie are best friends. they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation. good thing my kids are sleeping. thank you for joining us, as always, we're on abc.com. good night america.