Oobah Butler

Oobah Butler is an English author, filmmaker, and journalist known for exploring digital culture and media manipulation through real-world social experiments. Butler began writing for Vice Magazine after pitching an article in which he challenged himself to outperform a Jehovah's Witness as a door-to-door salesman. His early freelance work included crafting fake TripAdvisor reviews for restaurants seeking to manipulate their rankings, an experience that inspired one of his most recognized projects.

Drawing on his experience with online review manipulation, Butler devised a plan to get a non-existent restaurant verified on TripAdvisor. He created a website for the fictional restaurant, The Shed at Dulwich, featuring images of fake food made from household products. Over six months, Butler enlisted friends to post fabricated reviews, ultimately making The Shed the highest-rated restaurant in London. Following the release of his article and the documentary "How to Become TripAdvisor's #1 Fake Restaurant," the story gained viral attention, with Vice reporting significant global viewership. The project sparked international discussion, with Singaporean parliament referencing it in debates on fake news and The Washington Post describing Butler as "the Donald Trump of TripAdvisor."

Butler continued to examine themes of identity and authenticity. He released the short film "How I Faked My Way to The Top of Paris Fashion Week," in which he posed as fictional designer Georgio Peviani. The film was viewed widely and selected for the LA Fashion Film Festival. Butler also explored the nature of celebrity by sending lookalikes to conduct interviews on outlets including Breakfast Sunrise in Australia, WION in India, NOVA television in Bulgaria, and BBC Radio 2. He authored the book "How to Bullsh*t Your Way to Number 1," which reached the top of the Humor category in USA Today and ranked on the Los Angeles Times paperback non-fiction chart.

Butler became co-host of the first UK version of the American show "Catfish" with Julie Adenuga on MTV. The series trended in both the UK and US, appeared on Gogglebox, and ran for three seasons. His documentary work includes "The Great Amazon Heist," which received critical acclaim and a five-star review in The Daily Telegraph, and "How I Made £1 Million in 90 Days" for Channel 4, which focused on cryptocurrency and startup culture and received positive reviews in The Guardian.

Butler has received four awards for his work, including Best Use of Video: Weird at the Webby Awards, Content Creator of the Year at The Drum Online Media Awards, and Video Project of the Year at the British Media Awards. The Independent has listed him among notable pranksters in media. Butler's work continues to examine online reviews, corporate influence, and the construction of identity, establishing him as a significant figure in journalism, documentary filmmaking, and digital culture commentary.