Prankster Shares How His Fake Restaurant Became the Number One Spot in London on TripAdvisor

Prankster Oobah Butler who is also a freelance writer for Vice, performed a brilliant trick for which he created a fake restaurant named for the shed in his backyard and submitted it to TripAdvisor to be reviewed. Butler, who had been paid in the past to write restaurant reviews, created just the right amount of chatter to literally get the phones ringing. Because The Shed at Dulwich was always booked, the wish to reserve a table became more even desirable and the restaurant to the top of TripAdvisor’s charts as the number one rated restaurant in London. After eight months of this charade, Butler recruited some friends to help make The Shed at Dulwich a reality for one night before revealing his secret. Legendary prankster Joey Skaggs would be proud.

The Shed at Dulwich was the number one rated restaurant in London, with foodies, celebrities and bloggers trying to get a table. The main obstacle for them, however, was that it didn’t exist. Over the course of 8 months VICE’s Oobah Butler used an assault of fake reviews to get his ‘restaurant’ to the hallowed top spot on TripAdvisor.

After the prank was revealed, Butler appeared on Good Morning Britain where he was gently admonished by host Susanna Reid for perpetuating fake news.

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Thanks Michael Lyons!

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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