This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

Your Favourite Viral Video Was Probably Faked By The Woolshed Co

We're not even mad.

Remember the video of the snowboarder being chased by a bear? FAKE.

What about the great white shark surprising a cliff jumper at Manly? Fake.

And the hilarious response of a couple being nearly struck by lightning? Totally fake.

Basically all your favourite viral videos are a lie that have been artfully produced and disseminated under fake names by independent Melbourne studio The Woolshed Co.

Managing director Dave Christison told The Huffington Post Australia it was pretty easy to keep them a secret and there were some big hints as to their origin.

"It's pretty easy to create a fictitious YouTube account but what's funny is we created Terry Tufferson for our first video -- the shark in Sydney Harbour and it was completely self funded -- it was us dipping our toe in the water to see what kind of momentum we could make.

"But then our second video was client commissioned and it was on the same account.

"Roadshow Films was the client and we created a it for an upcoming film called Into The Storm, on the release date, we revealed it was a hoax. We won an award in the States, it's still up on our website, but when we put our next viral videos on the same Terry Tufferson account, no one drew any parallels."

Over two years they posted eight hoaxes, attracting 205 million combined views and world news coverage falling hook, line and sinker for the unbelievable videos.

Now, Christison said they were ready to reveal the project as the ultimate calling card to attract new clients.

The full Viral Project

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia. Certain site features have been disabled. If you have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ or contact support@huffpost.com.